Metramegopolis, The Flying City

by The New York Bear

This story is a futuristic epic which mixes the Happy Tree Friends with a lot of original characters as they embark on a cross continental journey in the titular city to escape the enemies who would destroy them. Rating is T for now, but may change.

56. Animal City Architecture

As always the standard disclaimer applies: I do not own the Happy Tree Friends; they are the property of Mondo Media. I own only my own characters and this story.

Feedback is always welcome but no flames please. Now here's chapter 56:

56 – ANIMAL CITY ARCHITECTURE

Loco and Barry walked down the streets toward Loco's residence. Loco lived in a house on the main military headquarters of the city.

The Animal City differed from Metramegopolis in a lot of ways. The first and most obvious way was that it was open to the sky. It wasn't all built on one level, since there were residences arranged higher-up or lower down, or underground, depending on the taste of the individual residents. The city was built over a series of hills which allowed for each different species to choose the elevation that suited it best.

One feature that all of the Animal City houses shared was that they were all constructed so as to be divided into two sections: an outer or "public" section, and an inner or "private" section. The "public" section of the house conformed to a standard that was citywide and was the same size in all cases. It was built so as to admit entry to all animals, regardless of size, from the smallest to the biggest. This was the part of the house where any and all interspecies dealings (i.e., business, visiting, partying, etc.) went on. The "private" section of the house was built separately to the scale of the animal who actually lived in the house, and this was where the actual business of living was done. Only animals of the same species as, or similar in size to, the occupant of the house, could enter this part of the house.

The system actually worked quite well. It allowed for the city residents to have both personal spaces and places where they could have guests of different sizes. The public parts of each house usually had a guest room or two so different species could spend the night.

All of the public buildings, all businesses, all entertainment centers, in fact all non-residential buildings were built on the "public" scale, although many of them were also divided into different sized sections for more personal business. The high-ranking officials of the city, however, all had to have public offices that anyone, of any size, could enter. The Mole often looked much too small in his enormous office (where he did business with the other city leaders), so he also had a smaller, more private office where he did a lot of his actual work, using his communicator system when he needed to talk to animals too big to come into his inner sanctum.

The architectural scheme of the Animal City worked so well that the animals of Metramegopolis had adopted it when that city was being built, although the Animal Quarters at Metramegopolis were built on four different levels and were enclosed by the all encompassing city structure. However the scheme worked just as well at the flying city as it did here. The one innovation made at Metramegopolis was that the "public" parts of the animal structures there were modified so that humans and A.I.s could also enter.

It actually wasn't a problem for a human to enter the public parts of the Animal City buildings, but almost no humans ever came there. Either they all lived in the flying city, or they were Marauders trying to attack it. On those rare occasions when a human or A.I. did come to visit the Animal City they were given quarters in special guest houses built specifically for them. Barry was the only human ever to live in an actual regular Animal City house, and that was only because of Loco's guardianship of him. Of course Loco was such a big animal that Barry, even when he would be fully grown, would never have any problem entering the private parts of his guardian's house.

As Loco was a big bear his house had seemed huge to Barry when he first arrived there at the age of six. Now, at fifteen, he still felt the house was very big, but not quite as big.

Loco formally adopted Barry one year after the boy's arrival at the city. At that time Barry had also been given citizenship – the only human ever to become a citizen of the Animal City. This meant that he could have his own house in the city someday if he wanted, with both public and private sections. It was not, however, seriously believed that he would come back to reside there permanently in the future, since he had returned to Metramegopolis six years before, but he retained both his citizen status and his friendships from his younger days.

Barry had his own room in Loco's house and as soon as he got there he went to it to get settled for his stay. It was furnished in a human style, with a bed, a couple of chairs, a desk, a dresser, and a communication system. Barry took a moment to look around the room that he had once lived in; it had once been decorated like any child's room would be. But now, six years later, the walls were mostly bare. It was still his room though, and he reclaimed possession of it at once by putting away his things, sitting on the bed, and kicking off his shoes. He lay back on the bed and briefly closed his eyes. Yes, he remember the feel of this bed on his back but it seemed smaller than it once was, more proof of the passage of the years.

Barry rested for a few moments on his old bed; it was very peaceful lying there and he would have stayed there much longer if he could have. But Loco was expecting to see him for lunch so he soon got back up, took a few minutes to clean himself up, and went downstairs to join Loco out on the back deck.

(To Be Continued)