There was a long tradition of cutting farms into square mile segments or so it seemed. Out in the rural areas you could almost set your pedometer from intersection to intersection. This land had been tilled and harvested for a century and half but the time for that was coming to an end.

This particular area had been surveyed already. It held the tell-tale signs, windsocks and anemometers. They detected an area that was well suited for their purposes and so far, farm land was a boon to them.

Usually an arrangement was made where very small plots would be leased from the farmer. Basically just the footprint of the actual windmill and some small support buildings along with right of way. Very seldom did they buy an actual farm.

This time was different. Sam made certain of that. The land was all fairly similar here, soft rolling hills with trees only near the main roads and farmhouses. He’d selected this piece because of it’s proximity to interstates. Being something of a local hero didn’t hurt either.

He looked to the plots on the other side of his new property. His new neighbors didn’t know it yet, but he was going to make them all very rich. He hoped it would pay them back for the coming nuisance that heavy construction would bring about. Some quick mental sums reassured him that it should.

He’d thought of buying more land but this project would stretch his personal budget quite enough on it’s own. No need to risk more money than he needed to. Would he regret it in ten or twenty years? On paper maybe, but he’d long since passed the financial point where he needed to chase every profit possible. Well, maybe one small adjoining plot.

He looked at the ring of stakes a couple of hundred feet from him. That’s where the main construction would go. There would be parkland and parking lots on the rest. A quick shiver of excitement passed through him. This was an unusual feeling for Sam.

The Tower had visited his dreams for several nights running after he decided that was the way to go. He could still see it, a double helix of steel rising slowly up and up and up. The finished design still featured it, though not as impossibly tall as his dream had suggested.

The idea was simple, the outside of the Tower consisted of a pair of walkways twisting around each other in a wide loop. One walkway would go up and the other would be for walking back down. The whole thing would be a pretty good workout, though not impossible. Elevators would also be there.

Inside of the loops, every 50 feet or so, would be the various levels. He could already see his aerial park 100 feet in the air. The fancy restaurants would be another further up. The top level would be more than 400 from the bottom and there would be a kind of witches hat on top that would sit on top of that.

At the very top, like a cherry on the most vertical sundae ever, was the North Star. He’d had programmers and engineers working on this one point for weeks now. It was a ball, seven feet in diameter, that shone brightly in quickly differing colors. He wanted it to be almost hypnotic and it succeeded.

Along the outside of the Tower, along the ramps, there were also sets of lights. The raced and chased each other. Usually, there were in subtle tones but each hour they gave off a brief show. Sam had stolen this touch from the Eiffel Tower, but he didn’t feel too guilty about it.

To reassure himself he went through the levels in his head. The lower level would have administration buildings as well as medical staff. He’d leased some office space to a stock brokerage as a private joke.

The second level would consist of dance clubs. A wall could be removed to create a stage in case he wanted to host concerts or benefits. He could already picture throngs settled in on the grass or seats put up in the parking lot.

The third level was the park. There would be shrubs and real live actual trees. That was one reason for the wide space between the levels. He wanted that area to grow. To help with that, the next level was left completely empty. Fifty feet up was another level that had no floor, simply mobiles and hanging sculpture. Tucked inside all of this was a large clock and sprinklers for the park.

Above that was a level with space for four different restaurants. Sam pictured fine dining and supper club type atmosphere. Maybe one of them would cater to a more meat and potatoes sort. He’d let the market work itself out on that one.

Level seven would be ringed with observational telescopes. The floor would be some kind of brick or stone. In the center was a structure not unlike a gazebo. He pictured weddings there, or some other get-togethers.

Directly overhead of the restaurants was the aquarium. Nothing large. If he was putting this in the clouds, he needed to be realistic. He wanted smaller tanks with very unusual fish. There was a large emphasis on beauty.

The top level would have shops and fast food. Sam insisted that a video arcade be included. He’d own it himself. Even though it would sometimes be literally in the clouds he called it The Underworld.

The building at the top was intentionally small so as to leave lots of open space. He’d let the top be used for star parties, even turning off the North Star to give the observers better conditions.

His designers wanted to play with the arrangement, telling him that an aquarium on a lower level would be much easier to work with. Sometimes they told him that the dance clubs should higher up to maximize the view and therefore the profits. The same argument was given to raise the restaurants. He simply told them that he had his reasons and they would follow them. They could tell he had made up his mind and soon they stopped bothering him.

Sam could see it all in his mind’s eye. The view would be spectacular from up there. The companies windmills would be on all sides. It would be quite a kick to look down on these massive structures. He looked forward to the first foggy day, imagining himself standing on solid ground and looking down at the clouds.

Still there were constant details to work out. The wind that gave the place power would also keep people away if they weren’t protected from it all the way up there. Plexiglas shields perhaps? There was also a question of what to do in case of fire. The ramps would make for handy exits but they’d need a water tower or something like that. How could he include that without spoiling the clear vision in his head?

That’s what the architect was paid for, right? He promised himself (again) that he would be ruthless towards this design, not compromising if he could possibly help it. The results would almost certainly be better for it.

Would people come to see it? He really thought that they would. If he was a private citizen, he would have. An enormous tower, rising from the prairie, how could he resist?

He hoped that they ability to walk the whole thing would be a special draw. In his thoughts, he pictured it becoming an appeal to environmentalists. They’d talked up wind power for decades and here was their chance to come enjoy it.