498 Tokio
| 498 東京 498 Tokio | |
 | |
| Planetary characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Orbit | semi-major axis 2.649 AU, eccentricity .225 |
| Diameter | 81.83 km |
| Year | 1575.22 days |
| Day | 20. hours (based on fragmentary lightcurve(s), may be wrong) |
| Political Affiliation | Village Hidden in Asteroids, Fenspace Convention |
| Capital | Seijutaigakure no Sato |
498 Tokio, also called "Village Hidden in Asteroids" or simply "Hidden Asteroid", is a Main Belt asteroid that was discovered by Shin Hirayama on March 6, 1900. It is named after the city of Tokyo.
Also known as the Village of Hidden Asteroid or Seijutaigakure no Sato (after its largest city), Tokio is home to the Village Hidden in Asteroids faction[1] and the headquarters of the Ninjaburger fast-food franchise.
498 Tokio is in the process of being converted into a Vivarium-style station: there are no large windows in the surface, and any open internal spaces are dependent on artificial lighting. In accordance to the wishes of the faction, Rockhounds kept the pilot tunnels they bored into the asteroid small and well hidden in 498 Tokio's surface features. Combined with the extensive use of artificial gravity to avoid the need to spin the rock, 498 Tokio appears largely unchanged from its pre-colonization days.
When the construction of the village is finished, most of the interior of 498 Tokio will be hollow, however this work has barely been started and will likely take many years. Currently, while the Ninja are not a small faction, Hidden Asteroid proper does not take up more than a tithe of the available volume. The rest of the interior of 498 Tokio is given over to pseudo-wilderness and agriculture[2] - or at least that's what visitors are told.[3]
The Fenspace Travel Guide has given two stars to The Dancing Shinobi, a Japanese-style bar in Seijutaigakure no Sato.
Notes
- ↑ Better-known as the Ninjas
- ↑ Or will be once things get growing
- ↑ The actual secretiveness of Ninja is somewhat exaggerated. But, if you're going to tell a joke, you may as well take it too far.
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