Her brow creased. “I don’t understand. Why not just use another energy source? Why kill for one that was running out anyway?”
Raven crossed his arms and shrugged. “Now that’s the million-dollar question.”
She stared back out as the little jet glided gracefully over the treetops. “Where is the city?” she asked.
He smiled, and relaxed his arms. He pointed ahead, to where trees dotted the grassy landscape. “This is it.”
“Sanctuary City . . . is a forest?”
“A living, breathing ecosystem. We’ve managed to bring back some of the animals who lived here. This all used to be treeless tundra, with ice frozen in the soil. Not a lot could grow up here. But as the earth warmed up, biomes moved northward. These rich, pine-forested areas used to grow much farther south than this, but now it’s too hot and dry for a forest to thrive where it once did. So the pine forests shifted north.”
“How do you protect yourself against the PPC? I mean, if they did come up here?”
“They don’t know about the hyperloop that the oil companies built here. If the PPC did come up this far, they’d have to come by air or land, and we’d see them coming long before they arrived. Cal has an extensive radar setup here.” He caught himself, but she could see his grief for his friend consume him. “It’s actually an old one he retrofitted. It had been used during a war long ago, when people feared invaders would come from the continent directly to the west of here.”
Her eyes widened. “There’s a whole continent right next to us?”
He nodded. “And the north of it is largely uninhabited. Endless desert advanced over much of it when things warmed up. The continent is vast, and the weather extremes were too much for people to continue living in the central region. Most moved into megacities or . . .” He didn’t finish.
“Or?” she nudged him.
“Perished.”
She pointed out the window, to what appeared to be giant white blankets tethered to the ground and flapping in the wind. “What are those things?”
Raven sat down beside her, following her gaze. “Our wind sails. It’s one of the ways we generate electricity.” She saw that they were curved and billowing. Wind catchers.
A little farther out she saw enormous hunks of metal, rotating on vertical bases. “And those?” she asked, pointing.
“Wind turbines, also for power. We have to take special precaution with those.”
“What do you mean?”
“Some of the creatures we’ve brought back up here are vulnerable to turbines like that. Having the rotors spin on a vertical axis rather than a horizontal one helps. We light them with UV during the night. One of the creatures that’s at risk is bats.”
H124 remembered the pictures of them in the cavern beneath Delta City. She’d looked them up since she came to stay with the Rovers. “I’ve seen photos of them,” she said.
“They were susceptible with some of our earlier designs. But bats don’t tend to fly as much in high winds. We only have the turbines kick on in gusts above 6 mph, so the blades aren’t spinning when the bats are out. We barely lose any energy, and they remain safe. We also have these emitter boxes that broadcast ultrasonic frequencies between 1 kHz and 100 kHz. It essentially jams the bats’ echolocation abilities, so they avoid the area.” He pointed west. “And you can’t see it from here, but we also use solid state wave energy.”
“What’s that?” she asked, still staring down at the distant turbines.
“It’s way out in the ocean. We have electricity-generating floats out there. The power is transmitted here through a network of underground cables. It’s clean, boundless energy from the motion of the waves.”
Gordon descended, passing close to the trees. She saw places where they were interspersed with layers of other foliage along tiny green hills. She gestured toward them. “What are those plants between the trees?”
“All kinds of food. Barley, kale, peas, beans, apples. Growing them in rows with trees provides shade, and prevents erosion. It’s a great way to recharge groundwater. We call it stratified agroforestry.”
She gazed out in wonder. The whole place felt so vibrant, so alive, even from the air. She couldn’t wait to land, to feel all that lush soil beneath her feet. She could only imagine how good the air would smell.
Then she saw something that robbed her of her breath. In the distance, out on a wide, flat, grassy plain, dozens of creatures roamed in a cluster, grazing on vegetation. She pulled out her diginocs. “What are those?”
Raven grinned. “Perhaps our biggest accomplishment. Thousands of years ago, all kinds of grazers roamed this land—mammoths, woolly rhinos, saiga antelope, elk, caribou. Back then it was full of grasses, willows, and sedges, not shrubs and trees. Permafrost lay beneath the grass, locked up in the soil. It was a huge carbon sink. Then humans came, hunting most of the animals to extinction. The landscape changed without the grazers. Trees spread across the area, soaking up sunlight and heating the soil. Vital areas that used to sequester carbon melted, releasing methane and CO2. The entire region transformed. So one of the first things we did up here was de-extinct as many grazers as we could. We’re hoping to return it to the grassland it once was.”
She watched as the creatures snatched up vegetation. Some were slender with strange snake-like noses, while others dug up the earth with massive antlers that looked too heavy to lift, long, snaking appendages sprouting from their heads.
“Those,” he said, smiling, “are saiga antelope and caribou.”
The antlers gleamed in the late afternoon sun. They moved together as a unit, with some smaller, younger caribou frolicking among them.
“We also revived woolly rhinos and musk oxen, moose, mammoths, and Beringian bison . . . Since we’ve brought them back, the original floral composition has begun to return. It’s been amazing to observe.”
“Where is this de-extinction lab?” she asked. “I have to see it!”
“I’ll give you a personal tour,” he told her.
She grinned, and the seeds of hope bloomed inside her. If the Rovers could do something so miraculous, revive extinct species and create a safe, thriving habitat for them, then maybe there was hope for all the remarkable animals she’d seen in books. If only she could see them out in the world.
Then she thought of Raven’s parents and the PPC and what they’d done to the experimental forest in the east. Somehow the PPC would have to be convinced to let more of these places exist. “Raven,” she said, hating to bring up such a sad subject, “how do you protect this place? I mean, after what happened to the forest outside New Atlantic . . .”
He stared out the window. “We use a sort of cloaking technology. Any electromagnetic signals we use in the city are shielded from going beyond the forest. This way the PPC won’t pick up any transmissions. Sometimes they send out unmanned scouting drones to various locations, but so far Onyx has been able to hack them, hiding our location. But mostly, the PPC doesn’t venture this far north or west. They stay south, in cities like Delta City and New Atlantic. When the PPC built the megacities, this site was too remote. They built on top of existing power grids like nuclear and coal fire plants, geothermal ones, too. There wasn’t an established electrical grid or infrastructure up here, so they didn’t bother.”
She leaned her head out the broken window, watching the caribou dip out of sight. She felt the jet’s landing gear clunk beneath them as it emerged from the belly of the plane.
“Is that an honest-to-goodness airstrip up ahead?” Gordon asked Raven.
The latter moved to the cockpit, scanning the area. H124 joined them. Ahead lay several landing strips with hangars on either side, not only intact but pristine. “Yes!”
Gordon set them down gently on the smoothest airstrip she’d ever experienced. As they glided to a stop, she looked down at the pavement.
“We
’ve done a lot of rehabilitation on this strip,” Raven told her, noting her interest. He turned to Gordon. “I think you’re going to like the collection of planes we’ve amassed.”
“Amassed?” Gordon said, turning in his seat as the engines powered down. “I like that verb. How many you got?”
“Twenty-two, last time I checked,” Raven replied.
Gordon whistled. “Hot damn.” H124 was used to cracked cement and rusted rooftops. These hangars were gorgeous. Lush, green vegetation grew on the roofs, each sporting a unique design.
“They’re living buildings. As are all the structures in Sanctuary City. They also generate more power than they consume. We call them ‘net positive buildings.’”
“They’re incredible,” H124 said. Gordon lowered the jet’s stairs, and she deboarded.
The hangar nearest her trailed with vegetation, a verdant display spilling over its sides.
Then she turned and saw Sanctuary City. Graceful buildings stood sentinel in a forest. She found herself drawn to it, stepping away from Gordon and Raven before she even realized her feet were moving.
She wound her way through the trees, approaching a two-story structure with tinted windows and a garden on its roof. Inside people milled about. A creek ran right into the building and out the other side. She spotted solar panels on top, tucked amid the rows of plants. A long, graceful pea vine snaked down the sidewall, sporting fresh green pods. She walked to it, caressing the delicate plant. Raven walked up beside her, the maglev sled hovering in tow, carrying the spacecraft section. He picked one of the beans, and handed it to her. “Go ahead.”
She lifted it to her nose. It smelled sweet. She’d never had unprocessed food before. She took a small bite, and the sudden burst of sweetness made her grin. Then she laughed.
“What is it?” he asked, peering at her curiously.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted!”
He picked another pea pod. “Have another.”
This one she savored even longer, breathing in its scent and enjoying its sugary taste. Her life hadn’t been very happy or contained many good moments, but right now, tasting her first pea, gazing around at the living city with Raven standing beside her and the spacecraft piece hovering nearby, she felt pure, unadulterated joy.
“This is incredible,” she finally managed to say.
He gestured toward the sled. “Let’s drop this off with Rivet, and I’ll give you the full tour.”
She nodded. They walked between the buildings, life teeming all around them. Flowers of every hue grew in patches of sun and shade, and she watched a small, winged creature with yellow-and-black stripes land on one of the blossoms. She rushed over to it. “What is that?” she wanted to know.
“Canadian tiger swallowtail,” he told her. “A butterfly.”
“Look at the colors on its wings!” She saw a long black thread uncoil from its head and dip into the flower. “Is that its tongue?”
She could tell he was amused by her curiosity. “Yes, it is,” he said.
She knelt down, coming to eye level with the delicate creature. So innocent. Pure. Hope swelled within her.
She saw Raven walking away. Reluctantly, she got up and left. She followed him through the city, passing Rovers who kept greeting him. She’d never seen such colorful, creative clothing. Each Rover looked completely unique, wearing jackets, pants, flowing robes, and shirts in a myriad of colors. Each item looked more like a piece of art than mere functional clothing. They passed one woman who wore a long flowing scarf that depicted a mountain landscape, while her shirt and pants were a deep shade of patterned green, almost like peering into a forest. The woman smiled at H124.
They passed a shaded stand of tall green poles, leaves snaking off them. Raven gestured to them. “That’s bamboo. What your shirt is made out of.”
She approached one of the stalks and ran her hand across its smooth surface. “Amazing!”
At last they reached a one-story building. The same creek wound through it, and it too had dark glass. “Why is the glass so dark?” she asked him, as they entered through a door.
“It changes throughout the day. It’s dark at the height of the afternoon. In winter, the glass would appear clearer this time of day, so it could soak up the heat from the sun. But for now it’s dark, growing lighter only as dusk approaches.”
She reached out, and found it warm to the touch. They then passed over a small footbridge, and descended a stair.
“Most of Sanctuary City is underground,” he told her. “It’s one way to minimize our footprint. Not to mention, the underground sections are self-sustaining. If the PPC ever found us up here, we could take shelter below.”
They approached a lab marked “Engineering.” Inside she saw Rivet leaning over a table, studying schematics spread out before her.
She turned as she heard them enter. “Raven! H!” She smiled, and started to greet them, then paused, her eyes drifting to the maglev sled in fascination. “You found it!” She veered over to it, examining the device it bore, as well as the clean skin draped over it. “Incredible . . .”
With a few commands on his PRD, Raven steered the maglev over to Rivet’s work table. The sled’s levers emerged, gently maneuvering the craft onto her work surface.
Rivet circled the machine, examining every inch, comparing it to the schematics. “I’ll get to work right away,” she said, turning her back on them and readying her tools. She didn’t even realize when they left.
“Tour?” Raven asked H124.
“Please.”
“First I’ll take you to my favorite area.” He led her down the hallway, through a warren of underground passages. At the end of a long corridor, they came to a double door marked De-Extinction.
The doors slid apart as they approached. The space beyond was cavernous. Shelves spanned every wall, and polished white tables ran its length.
A pair of technicians labored at different work stations. Raven stopped midway down the center table. A large glass box waited there, full of small, membranous sacs of every size. He checked the display next to the box. “This is an incubator,” he told her. “Let’s see who’s ready to come out.”
He scanned a nearby list, and read an entry: “LC143 Ovibos moschatus—Muskox.”
He donned a pair of sterile gloves, and opened a small door in front of one of the sacs. He gently lifted it out, and shut the door.
With nimble hands he pulled away the sac, parting it along a neat seam. Fluid drained out into a bin on the table, and Raven removed the sac completely, placing it on a large tray with similar sacs already opened.
H124 stepped closer. Resting in Raven’s arms was a brown, furry, hooved creature. It lifted its wobbly head as Raven wiped a viscous fluid off it, then examined it closely. “Hello, little fellow,” he said in a soft voice.
It made a bleating sound. Raven moved it to another case lined with cushioned bedding. He set up a tiny feeding tube full of white fluid, and the little muskox immediately began suckling it.
They both clustered around, watching it feed. Raven beamed. She’d never seen him so happy.
When he was sure the muskox was taking to the food, he faced her. “This is my favorite place. My mom developed a lot of this technology. When she was younger, she set off to travel through the country, see what parts might be suitable for species reintroduction. She met my dad at another Rover camp, and they fell in love. After they had me, we traveled around, restocking weather shelters and tending to the experimental forests and sites that the Rovers had planted over the years. It wasn’t until . . .” He looked back at the muskox. “Until after I lost them that I came here for the first time. A group of Rovers found me and took me in. I pored over my mom’s notes, not to mention she’d taught me a lot about de-extinction when I was young.” He cracked a smile. “The first animal I ever brought back was a raven.
She’d told me all about them, how smart they were, and resourceful. A lot of Rovers choose their own names when they get to be adults. But my parents named me Raven, and I wanted to keep it.”
“It suits you.”
He stared down at her with a bittersweet expression. “Thank you.”
She looked back to the incubator and display. “How does it work?”
They walked back over. “We’ve collected DNA for decades. Some samples are centuries old. We find DNA from specimens in old museums and labs. Also discovered a few cryogenic facilities over the years.”
“Cryogenic?”
“A long time ago, if people didn’t want to die, they could pay to have their bodies frozen. Some of these labs also preserved the remains of animals that were going extinct in zoos.”
She wrinkled her brow. “What’s a ‘zoo?’”
“Place where humans kept animals. At first it was just to entertain people. They kept animals in cages.”
“That was entertaining?”
“Some people thought so. As more animals became threatened, zoos started collecting the last surviving members of species, hoping that by keeping them safe, they could preserve the species, and eventually reintroduce them once a suitable habitat was secured.” He scanned the list. “But habitats weren’t protected, and many of these creatures went extinct. Even the last living zoo animals eventually died of old age. But since we have their DNA, we can grow them all over again in these little amniotic sacs. The goal is to restore a thriving, healthy ecosystem.”
“Is it working?”
“Well . . . it’s not ideal. It would have been better if these creatures’ habitats weren’t fragmented in the first place. There’s been a bit of trial and error. A lot of these ecosystems have been drastically changed, and it’s taken a lot of research to figure out how they’re supposed to be.”
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