At last the Crab docked at the Geostationary Node of the Sahel space elevator, in orbit over Africa. Here they had to wait for a tether-climber ride to the ground. Poole and Nicola made their way to the Caravanserai, one of the Node’s larger public chambers. A sphere of engineered carbon and radiation-proofed glass, full of cafeterias and reception desks for hotels and other facilities – and filled with light from the Sun above and the shining Earth below – this noisy, crowded volume was a place for passengers arriving from Earth or sky to acclimatise, to meet up, or just to come and be a tourist. Suspended as the Node was in geosynchronous orbit, circling the Earth in precisely twenty-four hours, there was only microgravity to be experienced; rather like Gallia, the internal space was spanned by a spider web of guide lines, and children and adults hauled their way along the lines with expressions of alarm or squeals of delight, depending, Poole supposed, on temperament and experience.
-Xeelee: Vengeance, Ch. 9