The space elevator's ground terminal resembles a flotilla of nuclear aircraft carriers lashed together floating freely in the open ocean.
Four thin ribbons (actually made of carbon nanotubes) stretch vertically from anchors on the floating platform and apparently join at a point directly overhead.
Elevator climbers carrying passengers and cargo ascend and descend the ribbons at intervals minutely planned to keep the elevator positioned stably. Powerful lasers on the platform beam energy to the climbers. Although the climbers move at the speed of a high-speed railway, it takes from several days to weeks to travel from the surface to the various docking platforms fixed at intervals along the ribbons.