ToxPower

The Heart of Horizon City

Deep beneath the bustling streets of Red Level lies the true foundation of Horizon City - the massive ToxPower facility that provides energy to the entire arcology. What began as a geothermal power plant has evolved into something far more complex and dangerous: a facility housing thousands of Feynman batteries that harness the power of gravity itself, with the potential to destroy the Earth if containment fails.

Physical Environment

ToxPower's physical environment is a testament to industrial scale and technological ambition:

• Geothermal Section: Massive turbines stand 30 feet tall, connected by glowing red-hot pipes to pumps and water tanks in a closed system that harnesses the Earth's heat.

• Battery Storage: A warehouse-sized space houses 3,804 Feynman batteries - 12-foot high metal canisters arranged in rows that stretch for miles, each containing particles with their own gravity field.

• Control Infrastructure: Metal walkways suspended above the facility floor allow technicians to monitor and maintain the systems, with specialized rooms for directing energy flow.

• Environmental Conditions: The facility is characterized by constant industrial noise, intense heat, and unusual wind patterns created by the energy systems and gravitational effects.

• Security Measures: Restricted areas are protected by multiple security layers, including airlocks, eye scanners, and lethal countermeasures against unauthorized access.

The sheer scale of ToxPower is disorienting, with some spaces extending so far that their boundaries disappear into the distance, creating the impression of an infinite industrial landscape.

Technological Marvels and Dangers

At the heart of ToxPower's operations are two key technologies:

• Geothermal System: The original power generation method uses high-temperature pipes made from proprietary meta-materials to capture heat from thermal vents, converting it to steam that powers turbines. This system is gradually cooling, losing about half a percent of efficiency each year.

• Feynman Batteries: Developed to address the limitations of the geothermal system, these devices use high-energy colliders to create particles with enough mass to generate their own gravity field. They are self-sustaining and incredibly efficient but pose catastrophic risks if containment fails.

The process of extracting energy from the Feynman batteries involves precisely aimed lasers that pass near the event horizon of the gravity field, gaining energy that is then directed back into the turbine system. This requires atomic-level precision maintained by ToxPower's advanced leveling technology.

Corporate Culture and Secrecy

ToxPower operates under a veil of extreme secrecy regarding its true operations:

• Public Facade: To the outside world, including UN inspectors, ToxPower presents itself as a renewable energy company using conventional flywheels for energy storage.

• Knowledge Compartmentalization: Information about the Feynman batteries is strictly limited to essential personnel, with new employees like Tricia carefully indoctrinated into maintaining the secret.

• Lethal Enforcement: The corporation collaborates with the Horizon Justice Force to eliminate potential whistleblowers, as demonstrated by Judge Rachelle's murder of Sharp.

• Corporate Evolution: Over time, ToxPower has evolved from a simple power company into a meta-materials and engineering corporation, with its energy production serving as both literal and metaphorical foundation for its broader operations.

Cultural Significance

To Horizon City's power structure, ToxPower represents both the essential foundation of the arcology and its greatest vulnerability - a necessary risk that must be carefully managed and hidden from public scrutiny.

The facility embodies the central contradiction of Horizon City: a technological marvel that enables millions to live in comfort while simultaneously placing them at risk of catastrophic destruction. It serves as a physical manifestation of how corporate power prioritizes profit and control over safety and transparency.

For the few who know its secrets, ToxPower is a constant reminder of the fragility underlying Horizon City's apparent stability - a single containment failure away from turning "the Earth into a second star." This knowledge creates a community of complicity among those who maintain the secret, binding them to the corporate system through shared responsibility for potentially world-ending technology.