The building that the people were all queuing to get into was a triumph of architecture. It was crafted from a blue translucent stone, clad in places with bars of while marble. In the midday sun it shone in the plain, surrounded by yellowing grass and the last wandering remains of the great herds, which had once roamed the planet.

Two people stood near the dark rectangle in the side of the sky blue building, looking expectantly into the blackness. They were ushered through by smiling attendants, and bid a warm "good morning." Inside the noise of a thousand conversations hummed in the air and they walked in silence for a few minutes, just getting used to the new sounds and sights. And what sights they were. The building had a huge vaulted chamber, held up by pillars of the same marble that clad the outside, and they discovered quickly that the walls were indeed translucent. Warm blue sunlight washed all the faces inside. The two people walked in a daze of wonder towards the ranks of seating. They were so intent on finding a seat that they didn’t look up at the head of the building until they were sitting down. When they did, smiles grew into grins and they sat back basking in the aura of the moment.

More people filed into the building and it slowly filled and strangers sat side by side and became fast friends in a few minutes. The doors were closed, and silence drifted into the hall.

From the raised podium at the front of the hall a hum rolled out. It tickled the beating hearts of the people who seemed to be drifting higher just by being there. Someone giggled, and it quickly grew to laughter of pure joy. No one was annoyed because the happiness was infectious. There were quiet chuckles, giggles and full-bodied guffaws from around the room. Pods of children scuttled down the aisle, chasing each other and no one told them to stop.

There were a few people who entered the hall in black moods. They scowled at the smiles and sat with their arms folded, cloaked in their own small world of darkness. One by one they looked around and felt themselves in the room. They slowly realised where they were and what they were doing, and finally they smiled as well.

The euphoria ebbed away slowly, leaving an almost palpable feeling of contentment. As one the crowd let out a breath, a sigh. At the opposite end of the hall, under the podium, a door opened, and the people started filing out of the hall. They walked under the stone doorway, into darkness as the tunnel led them not out onto the plain but down, into the rock. They walked, still drifting on a warm breeze of joy. The passage became rougher, and the walls were slimy with water. Some people stumbled in the darkness. There was no light, and no one knew where they were going, and no one could see the person in front of them.

Finally they had a feeling of space, as though they were standing in a vast invisible cavern. When everyone had wandered in lights flared. Harsh white lights hanging from the roof far above. There were lines of tool in racks against one wall. With nothing else to do, they each took a pick, or a shovel, and wandered off down the only exit to the cavern. It was a small tunnel, barely big enough to walk down, and it was blue. It shone with blue sunlight, much like the same light that had graced their faces no fifteen minutes ago in the hall above. Here, in the darkness and damp, it wasn’t warm. It was a cold light, like winters dawn seen through ice on a mountaintop. A few steps into the tunnel and a chill breeze tugged at their clothes, making the people shiver and the children frown. There was no room to run down here, and the smaller ones had to se both hands to drag their heavy tools down the tunnel into the face of the cold gale.

The tunnel branched, and the crowd split up. They stood in front of blank blue rock faces, with the cold wind caressing the backs of their necks with icy fingers, and as one heaved their tools into the first jarring impact on the rock. The tunnels filled with the clattering of thousands of workers. In a short while this was joined by the plaintive howls of the first of many broken hearts.

Far above, in the circular houses huddle don the plains under the light of the blue sun, people were receiving news of a celebration. The first few, eager individuals, wandered across the plains towards the distant blue building.