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From here, you have a clear view down to earth.

Currently, your pod is traveling at an altitude of more than 22,000 miles above the surface,

which puts it in geosynchronous orbit. That means your humble craft is matching the rotation

of the planet below. Through the glass, you have a satellite's perspective of your home and its

geography. It fills your view completely as though you were watching a film play out on a

large screen just feet away. Africa and the Americas cut jagged lines into the oceans around them.

It is nighttime across Europe. Little spider webs of gold crisscross the continent,

illuminating its populous cities. Lights twinkle over London and Amsterdam.

Prague and Budapest are settling down for a good night's sleep.

You imagine people are still out and about in Madrid and Barcelona, perhaps finishing up their

evening meal. But from this altitude, the comings and goings of individuals happen unseen.

It is the shifting weather patterns that catch your eye, like the wisps of clouds moving over Italy and Greece.

You contemplate the different scale of things in space. Time seems to move more slowly here.

Rainstorms in the Amazon and blowing winds across the Sahara are but a blip on the great green and

blue canvas below you. As your pod begins to rise out of orbit, the edges of the earth come into

focus through the window. You watch the outline shift from curved in the distance

to completely circular as your home transforms to a sphere before your eyes.

...