Trope-a-Day: Eternal Engine

Eternal Engine: Quite a few of the Empire’s – and other advanced civilizations – larger factory complexes (mostly in space, to avoid heat-dissipation and environmental problems, but including things like most of ecumenopolitan Qerach) are like this, including city-like size.  The interiors are not particularly friendly to biosapiences, mostly because they’re very, very automated, so they’re not actually designed with the thought that anyone might go in there in person in mind.