Vera is not old. Forty years on from the first landings, it still has the feel of a place being figured out in real time — a government that writes its rules as it needs them, a bank minting a currency it invented, a network that reaches Earth but takes its time about it.
For the arrivals Vera is preparing to admit, that unfinished quality is the appeal: room to be had, low registry numbers still unclaimed, a colony whose record is, in a real sense, still being written.
The Administration would like you to know it is glad you’re coming. It would also like you to know the housing office is aware of the wait times, thank you.