The Farthest City

by Daniel P Swenson

  Sheemi wasn’t sure if it was their new mission or Omeri’s appeal, but Dr. Meszaros looked radiant.

  “Report to the bus lock at zero five hundred,” Ciib said. “We’ll disembark and occupy our new quarters. First sergeant has a list of equipment and supplies we’ll be taking with us. Assignments are posted. Any questions?”

  “Respectfully, sir, why don’t we go back to Earth and drive them out right now?” Jerrold asked. “That’s where the fight is.”

  “I know time is of the essence. Repairs and retrofitting should take only four days. Four days and we’ll strike at the heart of our enemies. Then we return to Earth with our chine allies.”

  “Are they going with us?” Trediakovsky asked. “On this mission?”

  “No.” Ciib rubbed his forehead and frowned. “I know some of you have misgivings about this plan. It’s not exactly what we set out to do. Our mission was to find help, not to go on the offensive. We asked for a shield, but they have given us a sword. Sometimes you have to attack in order to defend. I think this is a good thing the chines are offering—a chance to end this war once and for all. How can we refuse? I’m a soldier. Most of us are soldiers. We must take the sword in hand and strike a blow. That’s our job.”

  “That’s all, folks!” Mertik shouted. “Check your assignments and get to work. We’re moving out in two hours.”

  Everyone scrambled. Sheemi collected a few personal items before going to assist the science staff. Voices came through the open lab hatch.

  “He’s the ranking military officer,” Omeri said. “It’s his decision.”

  “Gavin is our ambassador,” Xin said, her voice rising in protest.

  “In a war,” Omeri said, “diplomacy yields to military necessity.”

  “Why do they want us to do this?” Xin asked.

  “They don’t want anything,” Omeri said. “They’re offering us the choice.”

  “This isn’t right, Michael,” Gavin said. “It’s genocide, and you know it.”

  “Perhaps,” Omeri said, “but the Hexi have already committed genocide, have they not? For all we know, we may be the last of our kind. Earth may be a cinder by the time we get back.”

  “That’s a horrible thing to say,” Xin said.

  “Yet true.”

  As much as Sheemi now considered them friends, the scientists were still civilians. They hadn’t seen what she’d seen. They couldn’t understand. Why couldn’t they share her joy at the news? This was what they’d fought for.

  She entered, and the scientists ceased their argument. Gavin became businesslike and explained what needed to be packed.

  Before she knew it, she and Neecie were helping Gavin out of the lock. They countered the ring’s spin, maneuvered to the dock, and stood by, waiting for Ciib to direct them. Twenty crew members stood uncertainly before the massive wall of the disc. The wall’s surface was veined with cables and pipes and etched with curving tracks.

  Ciib led them forward to where three chines waited. Sheemi recognized the two huge, crab-like chines, but the third one was new. Standing just above human height on five appendages tapered to points, it focused its central sensor on them, a murky sphere wedged inside a jaw-like housing. It twitched as they came closer, looking down on them.

  “Greetings, Captain Ciib,” it said, somehow speaking over their suit comms. “I welcome you and your crew to the City of the Six Suns. I identify as Interlocuter-Proxy, 47,712,905,361st citizen of the Six Star Array, City of the Six Suns. We appreciate all you’ve done for our brethren, Translocator. It has told us much of what transpired.”

  Did it know they were the ones responsible for drawing the Hexi to the chine settlement in the first place? Probably better not to mention it.

  The chines led them through a lock and onto a moving walkway. Sheemi wasn’t sure how far they went through the disc, but it seemed a long way. The walkway ended, and they emerged into a city unlike any Sheemi had ever seen.

  “We are entering the Surface Minima,” Interlocuter-Proxy said.

  Sheemi had difficulty gauging the scale and function of their surroundings. Buildings so tall their tops seemed to touch. Light flashed somewhere high above. She squinted to try and make out the source, but couldn’t see much past the dense canopy of structures. Even the shapes of those structures were strange—full of unexpected angles, spiraling arches no human could traverse, intersecting surfaces like pages stacked at random, walkways and cables and roads going up, down, and every which way.

  And everywhere chines. A sea of chines crowding about them. She and the other humans were becoming an attraction as they moved along a relatively flat path. Many of the chines in the crowd seemed curious. Some tried to approach, but their guards interjected themselves.

  Sheemi shared their curiosity. Everywhere she looked, something interesting was happening. The chine traffic didn’t move along streets and sidewalks as humans would have. Crowds of chines walked, rolled, or flew around them, moving along the walkways, under walkways, and along cables overhead, as well as right up walls using the etched tracks she’d seen earlier. Everything seemed more three-dimensional than a human environment. It took some getting used to.

  A spiral walkway sped them up a building to where a bus-sized flier waited. She called it a flier, but it turned to regard them with a sensor-studded surface and seemed to have an exchange with their guide before opening. They boarded. The flier rose up, and the comm broke out with cries of amazement.

  Sheemi craned her neck to see where they were headed and caught a glimpse of something spanning the sky, a shimmering structure of crystal and light, the source of the flashes she’d seen high above.

  “You see the Apex Core,” Interlocuter-Proxy said. “Seat of our government, center of high commerce, habitation of the wise.”

  As they approached, another city surface came into view above and beyond the Apex Core, the opposite side of the cylinder. Vertigo threatened to overwhelm her until she closed her eyes and forced herself to breath slowly.

  Soaring alongside the Apex Core, their flier slowed, then lurched to one side as it changed course and landed on a platform. Sheemi disembarked with the others. Only a few other chines beside their escorts shared the platform, waiting to board vehicles of their own. Some of these turned their way as Sheemi and the others followed their escorts onto a walkway into the Apex Core itself. They passed through another airlock, stowed their vac suits, and entered their new quarters.

  Sheemi stood with the rest, taking in their surroundings. A spacious atrium full of furniture occupied a central place overlooked by upper levels. Stairs of polished gray and white at either end led up to rows of doors in two opposing arcs. The floor of the atrium was a translucent gray.

  Sheemi could make out dim shapes moving below them. She found it somewhat disconcerting, as if she was looking into an aquarium. Was she viewing the fish, or was she one herself? Where the two levels met, rows of windows angled out so far she could lie nearly flat with nothing between her and a vast plunge but a transparent pane.

  Space—so much space inside a structure. Sheemi wasn’t used to it after so much time on Dauntless. “Reminds me of the government annex back in King,” she said to Neecie. “I went there with my father a few times.”

  “We wish you to make yourselves at home,” Interlocuter-Proxy said. “The air should meet your respiratory needs. There is liquid water and waste management in each room. I apologize, but we could not fabricate any organic material fit for your consumption on such short notice. This is our first attempt at human habitation based on records from Earth. We hope it suits your needs while you are guests in the city.”

  “Thank you,” Ciib said. “We appreciate your hospitality.”

  “We’ll leave you now,” the chine said. “If you need something, you have only to call using these telecommunication devices.” It pointed one of its spike-like appendages at a set of thin glass wafers on one of the tables. “Tap and speak—we will respond. Goodbye for no
w.”

  Sheemi watched through one of the many windows as the chines boarded their flier and dropped from sight. After coming so far, having finally reached their objective, everyone was strangely quiet.

  Ciib dismissed them, and Sheemi claimed one of the upper-level rooms. The room had a sink, toilette, and shower. She ditched her gear and stood in the hot water, lost in the unexpected luxury of it. Afterwards, she fell into bed—a real bed. It was soft and warm. There was no ship noise or snoring bunkmates. The silence lulled her to sleep.

  In the forest, leaves swirled aloft on a hot wind. The insects sang, and a baby cried. She woke in the dark, sweaty and disoriented. Only half her assigned sleep cycle had passed. Just a dream, she told herself, but she slept uneasily thereafter.

  #

  Joining the other early risers, she saw the tables had been laden with a peculiar breakfast—a dish of what resembled rock candy, a passable imitation of fruit juice, meaty-tasting food bars, and bowls of clear gelatin.

  Neecie tried the gelatin and grimaced. “Bitter.” She spat it out.

  Most of the crew stuck to their rations.

  Looking out the windows, it was as bright as when they’d arrived. There wouldn’t be a night and day, she remembered. They weren’t on a planet. In the far distance, she could make out the massive gaps in the cylinder itself, long slits through the Surface Minima stretching from one end of the cylinder to the other. The light came through those slits and scattered off the Apex Core. Six suns. There wouldn’t be any shortage of light.

  Something hit the window, startling Sheemi. A tiny chine flier flapped its wings at her, looking not much different than a butterfly.

  “Hi, Sheems,” Jimmy said, taking a seat.

  “Hi, Jimmy.”

  She hadn’t seen him much since he’d made the drogue repairs. He acted cheerful, but red blotches covered his arms and face, and he looked thinner than before. How serious was the radiation sickness? She pushed the question out of her head.

  Mertik explained their new assignments and gave them a safety briefing as they ate. “We’ll keep a set of observers outside Dauntless. We’ll also be accompanying our science staff as they recon the city. Keep your vac suits on outside these quarters. Don’t stray from your chine escort. Follow their instructions. Don’t go where you’re not supposed to. Since the range on our comms is too short, check in on the hour with these.” He held up one of the wafers. “Doctor Omeri found they’re already programmed with our names. If you speak into one and say your buddy’s name, theirs will light up. If they tap it, they can hear you and you can hear them.”

  “How’d they know our names?” Jerrold asked.

  “Good question. Ask Doctor Omeri when you see him. Now, Doctor Na has come up with a list of sites the scientists want to visit, and I’ve assigned groups by site. Pradeep and Ridgeway will accompany Doctors Omeri and Meszaros. Wheatley and Birdel will accompany Doctors Na and Yang. Tanamal and Durskie will go out with Captain Rollins to observe work on Dauntless. Any questions?”

  #

  Sheemi and Durskie stood guard while Captain Rollins and Lieutenant Janik inspected Dauntless. They could barely see the ship, obscured as she was with scaffolding and chines climbing all over working on her. The chines doing the work seemed tool-like, as if their utility were the main thought in their design. Most were busy cutting and welding, throwing off showers of sparks. Larger chines moved materials and components up to the ones doing the modifications.

  Sheemi couldn’t tell exactly what they were building. The ship was being encrusted by barnacle-like devices with the compact, efficient look of military tech. Her gaze was drawn to something the chines had constructed between the drogue and the main fuel pods, a fat onion shape nestled within a metal chassis. The terminal end bristled with densely packed rods of varying sizes. If she hadn’t known Dauntless well, she might have mistaken it for some part of the ship, but all those EVAs with Enzo left her without any doubt. She was looking at the chines’ planet killer.

  The novelty wore off quickly, and then it was all about trying not to fall asleep in her vac suit as the officers moved to different vantage points. Desperate to stay awake, she considered biting her tongue, but Rollins announced they were returning to quarters just in time.

  After some sleep, Sheemi had a quick meal before going back on duty.

  “How’s it going with Dauntless?” Faj asked.

  “They’re working her over,” Sheemi said. “Can’t tell exactly what it is they’re building.”

  “Something lethal, I hope,” Jerrold said. “I don’t want to enter Hexi space without some damn big guns.”

  “How were the tours yesterday?” Durskie asked.

  “Strange,” Faj said. “This place is strange. More kinds of chines than I could ever think of. Meszaros and Omeri spent most of the time looking at stuff I didn’t even understand. Power grids, fabs, and something called the Department of Astronomical Observation.”

  “Meszaros sure likes to talk, though.” Connor mimicked a chattering mouth with his hand. “Talked those chines’ ears off.”

  “About what?” Sheemi asked.

  “Don’t know. But they seemed to have a lot to say back at him. Omeri dug into the tech stuff, but our cult friend wasn’t much interested in that.”

  “Tanamal,” Mertik called. “You and Fu have escort duty in twenty minutes. Doctor Na and Doctor Yang. Keep them safe. Keep them out of trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble, First Sergeant?” Sheemi asked. “Aren’t we guests?”

  Mertik gave her his special first sergeant glare, and she cringed inside.

  “The kind of trouble that gets you killed, Tanamal. Yesterday, some chine walker big as a fucking dinosaur almost crushed Doctor Omeri. He would have, too, if Ridgeway hadn’t pulled him out of the way.”

  Mertik leaned in, his voice ringing in her ears, emphasizing just how unacceptable he thought these events to be. “Then Captain Ciib was on his way back from Dauntless last night when they had a run-in with some other chines. They pushed on through the escorts, curious about humans, maybe. Said something to him before they were removed. Regular chine dust-up, the captain said. The escorts got them out of there fast. Seems all isn’t ice cream and cupcakes in the City of the Six Suns. Keep your eyes open and get back lickety-split if anything goes fuck-all.”

  “Yes, First Sergeant,” Sheemi said.

  She hadn’t had a chance to speak with Gavin or Xin since they’d arrived. She considered bringing up the topic of their new mission. Better not, she decided. She and Fu helped Gavin get into his vac suit, then into the powered exoskeleton the chines had built for him. The mechanism somehow sensed his intentions and moved with a near-normal gait.

  “You’re starting to resemble a chine yourself, Gavin,” Sheemi said to him, putting on her own suit.

  “I agree.” He smiled. “But not anything as impressive as our escorts.”

  He tilted his helmet toward the outer platform, where a heavy flier had touched down and disgorged Interlocuter-Proxy and two chine juggernauts. Bigger than the crab-chines she’d seen on their arrival, these were even more obviously designed for combat. Big uglies, she decided to call them as she boarded.

  The flier soared alongside the Apex Core before angling away toward the Surface Minima. Skyscrapers rose up to meet them. Up seemed to be toward the Apex Core, down away from it, but that could be in any direction.

  “How do they live where there’s no real up or down and everything’s in a circle?” she asked.

  “Earth’s a sphere,” Xin said. “It’s not that different, except they live on the inner surface and we on the outer.”

  “Right.” Sheemi hadn’t considered that. “But doesn’t that make them inside out?”

  “Or us,” Gavin said and laughed.

  Even Fu let a smile escape.

  Arriving at the first stop on their itinerary, Interlocuter-Proxy led them through the cultural museum Gavin had wanted to see.

&nbs
p; “Where are the other visitors?” Xin asked.

  “We reserved this facility for your use.”

  The museum’s layout was spacious, stacked cubes and more complicated shapes arranged throughout to house the exhibits. A rich white light filtered down from the skylights overhead.

  “This first exhibit features electromagnetic density sculptures done by a well-known artist,” Interlocuter-Proxy explained.

  All Sheemi could see were stacks of what looked like electrical equipment surrounding a cage of wires. The cage itself stretched far overhead.

  Interlocuter-Proxy handed out black visors that fit over their helmets. “We’ve constructed these adapters to allow you to view it in your spectral range.”

  “No thanks,” Sheemi said.

  Fu shook his head as well. Gavin and Xin attached the visors over their helmets.

  “You are meant to enter the field, even interact with it,” the chine said.

  The scientists walked forward, tentatively at first, then more quickly, turning, waving their arms, and finally laughing.

  “Gavin, Xin, are you all right?” Sheemi asked.

  “It’s wonderful,” Gavin said. “Is it abstract?”

  “The artist incorporated historical events, then added its own interpretation.”

  “Amazing!” Xin said. “I’m so glad I experienced it.”

  Interlocuter-Proxy sputtered an electronic chirping. “You’ve only seen the first of many exhibits. Shall we continue?”

  Sheemi’s head began to spin. Images and sculptures she could see but make no sense of, animations, and installations, as Gavin called them, some clearly representing chines or parts of the city, even of Earth, others that were completely incomprehensible. She’d never had a head for this kind of thing, but even Gavin and Xin seemed to have sensory overload after a few hours.

  When they decided to leave, their guide suggested they tour one of the city’s external communication nodes, given Xin’s interest in signal detection. They left the building through a side entrance, where their flier waited along a busy street.