GeneStorm: City in the Sky

by Paul Kidd

  Throckmorton had found the only markings that had been placed on the bare walls: a great, glossy diagram showing coloured lines joining several large dots. The dots were all marked with names. He honked and drew the attention of the others. Snapper and Kitterpokkie wandered up to look at the huge design in fascination.

  Kitterpokkie gave a frown.

  “Artwork?”

  “A map.” Snapper pointed to a dot marked on the diagram. “Padbury. Those are the ruins where the Screamer tracks all disappeared…” Snapper looked at it in fascination. “Padbury…”

  One red dot was clearly marked ‘You are here: Cliff Base Station’. Coloured lines ran on to Padbury then off beyond. There were cross lines running from Cliff Base to Padbury, then heading east, on to other dots. Other lines ran to the north. Clearly a major hub was close nearby. Snapper reached up to point towards it, reading out the words.

  “Nambeena City.” She brightened. “It’s there!” She adjusted her spectacles and looked to a little symbol marked beside the dot and joined by a dotted line. “Mistral Air Hub…?”

  Kenda came to look.

  “Mistral…”

  Kitterpokkie mused upon the map.

  “The map is only in simplified form… So navigation was point to point, without possible detours.” She frowned. “Surely not highways? There is no evidence of them. None at all.”

  “Tunnels!” Snapper looked at the map, then pulled out her notepad. She began making a sketch of the dots and lines. “Railway tunnels! There must have been a transport network below the ground. They must run for hundreds of kilometres!”

  “Beneath us here?” Kitterpokkie looked at the dark corridors beyond the main cavern. “Yes, absolutely! Subterranean rail!”

  Beau moved slightly further away from the dark, dank tunnel mouths.

  “Would they be damp at all?” He was more and more reluctant to stand about in the gloom. “Surely nothing could be – aaah – living there?”

  “Well, mutated cave forms, certainly!” Kitterpokkie nodded enthusiastically. “Numerous pre-GeneStorm forms were adapted to subterranean life. Roaches, bats, carnivorous crickets, spiders, fungi…”

  “Perhaps we might vacate the area.” The fox-bird sounded anxious. “Best to be in the open air…”

  Snapper finished sketching the map of the ancient tunnel system. She folded away her notebook, then settled her glasses firmly on her nose. The glimpse of blue sky at the top of the sloping shaft was wonderfully attractive.

  “All righty. We should get started. The mission is all the way up there!”

  Everyone felt deeply tired. They all looked up the immense, long staircase, and heaved a sigh. Beau blew out a tired breath, then squared his shoulders.

  “Right! We shall go on. Adventure never sleeps!”

  Kitterpokkie hung back, peering at the other tunnel mouths. “Do you think we should investigate? Perhaps take a brief survey to see whether the tunnels are open or collapsed?”

  “Another time, perhaps!” Beau hustled the mantis onward. “We have a mission, after all.”

  They sorted themselves into two columns – Snapper and Kitterpokkie on the left set of stairs, Beau and Kenda to the right, with each of them followed by their animals. Throckmorton elected to float along in the middle. The pack animals grumbled, wanting to rest. Snapper gave a sharp tug on one beetle’s lead rope, pulling the agitated beast to heel.

  There was nothing for it but to make the long, long trudge up the concrete stairs.

  Snapper’s legs were burning by the time she was half way up. Her thigh wound was itching fiercely. Throckmorton whirred happily along beside her, slowing his pace as the shark became more and more weary. He helpfully drew ahead and honked his horn for attention.

  “Shall Throckmorton look for danger outside?”

  “OK – yeah, take a peek. Be careful. Really careful.”

  “Throckmorton shall.” He waved his tentacles in farewell. “Keep climbing! Stairs are supposed to be good for reducing the size of your bottom!”

  “That plant is going the right way for a spanking.” Snapper sighed as she watched Throckmorton flutter ahead up the shaft. She looked back down the stairs, seeing Onan and her beetle behind her, with Kitt and her own animals behind them. Across the shaft, Beau was trudging upward stair by stair, nudged onward by Pendleton, who seemed to find the whole affair wickedly amusing. The creature seemed oblivious to fatigue.

  Kenda strode along in silence – eyes sharp and calculating. He kept a wary eye on the tunnel below, watching carefully for ambush. His hand never wandered from the hilt of his sword.

  Another two hundred metres of long, slow climb brought them almost to the top. Throckmorton reappeared, descending with wings spread wide and a smile on his many little faces. The plant swooped down, honking happily, and beamed at his friends.

  “We have found a pretty!” Tentacles reached out to tug Snapper and Beau on up the stairs. “Come! Come!”

  Snapper found a second wind: urged on by the plant, she moved faster and faster up the stairs. The air from above held a wonderful sharp scent – bright and fresh and herbal. There were faint sounds in the air – wind, leaves and living things. Snapper could feel an electrical tingle of life in the air – wonderful after the stark, empty silence of the radiation zone.

  They emerged into a world of marvellous green. Colours so bright that it seemed almost a dreamscape. Blue sky and plants of bright, lush green, and a wind that sighed cool and soothing all around them.

  The tunnel emerged out through an old ruined building – a place with walls overgrown by a dozen kinds of lichen. Some of the plants were animal hybrids, with little feelers that moved to sniff at the newcomers. Eyes wide, Snapper climbed up and out of the tunnel, passed beyond the ruined walls, and stood on the threshold of a staggering new world. Onan walked up beside her, his crest rising in joy as he looked out across the stunning view.

  It was a field of giant dandelions.

  The flowers grew all about them like a forest. Stems stood four metres tall, each topped with a great hazy clock of tufted seeds. Little creatures, part finch and part ladybug whirred softly from plant to plant. The great, broad green leaves were soft and fresh, tangled almost like a jungle. Beau, Kitterpokkie and Kenda emerged from the tunnel, towing their beasts. Throckmorton turned a happy little circle above them, clearly pleased with it all.

  “Oh my God-Fish!” Snapper was thrilled. The view was absolutely alien. “Oh my...”

  Kitterpokkie clambered up a sheer wall of the ruins, emerging high above the ocean of dandelions. She stood and looked about herself in amazement, turning slowly to search the restless, swaying blanket of dandelion tops, revelling in the cool feel of the breeze. Looking to the north, the mantis saw a stand of great, tall woolly trees.

  “Snapper? There’s a break in the plant tops to the north. Looks like a big clump of taller trees!”

  “Might be water. We should make for that.” Snapper’s thigh wound was burning. “Mount up! We’ll get a better view through all the stalks.”

  They heaved themselves up into their saddles. Onan was tired enough to not even insist on a salty cracker.

  They rode through a weird fairyland of plants. Giant dandelions were everywhere, releasing floating seeds that drifted, dream-like around the travellers. The leaves smelled wonderfully fresh – the foot falls of their riding birds and beetles were muffled by greenery. Here and there, long flying centipedes took flight, circling lazily up into the air on gossamer wings.

  Kitterpokkie was enchanted. She looked to Snapper, who was suffused with a dream-like joy. The shark rode quietly, reaching out to touch the plants around her.

  She looked back to Kitterpokkie, radiant with delight.

  Two kilometres onward through the dandelions, they quite suddenly emerged out onto flat ground covered in blue/grey moss. Bright coloured plant-animal flowers grew in abundance all around, waving long slim tendrils up into the breeze. Limestone rocks jutted up in
to a ridge nearby. A wide strand of lush green trees stood grouped in shady comfort all about a broad, clear pond. Water welled out of a spring, splashing down across the rocks to trickle through great beards of moss. The riding beasts moved more swiftly as they scented water, and Onan flapped his gorgeous apricot wings.

  Several animals were grazing by the trees – hammer-headed things with long, sinuous bodies. The creatures walked slowly away, swishing long stiff, bony tails tipped with glowing bio lights. Kitterpokkie took a photograph, carefully storing the photographic plates inside her saddle bags.

  This was what Snapper had always dreamed of. To come to places utterly alien, yet perfect in their own weird beauty. To cross horizons and find something new. She rode forward, tired and completely happy. Instincts kept her scanning the shadows and brush, watching for signs of danger. But the spring-fed pond seemed clear and quiet. A few flying frogs leapt from tree to tree, soaring on astonishing orange and green wings, but other than that, all seemed perfectly at peace.

  They made camp by the beautiful springs, under the shade of dark green trees. Snapper found a wild macaroni bush, and there was fresh greenery and dandelion leaves for Pendleton and the beetles.

  The big kernels from giant dandelion seeds proved to be magnificent eating, and when roasted had a flavour rather like nuts and butter. Onan and the budgerigar ate their fill, falling peacefully asleep beside the stream.

  With sunset coming at last, Kitterpokkie and Snapper walked together away from the campfire. Beau was playing his banjolele, with Throckmorton sitting happily beside him watching the frogs. Kenda tended to his equipment.

  Kitt and Snapper walked side by side, off and away through the moss, heading towards the sandstone outcrop a hundred metres away. The tendrils of the local plant animals all glowed pink, green or blue in the falling light. Out across the moss the herd of hammerheads was still moving about, the bio lights on their tails sweeping in spectacular arcs as they walked. Flying frogs were croaking, and all seemed well with the world.

  “We got here.” Snapper looked to Kitterpokkie. “Thank you. Thank you for the suits. Thank you for the inspiration.”

  “You are most welcome.” The mantis gazed about herself, utterly at peace. “Look at what we’ve found!”

  They climbed the rock outcrop together – up, up to the peak, where a few weird spiky trees grew and a family of bug-mice cavorted in the deepening shade. The two friends stood at the crest and looked to the north, standing there caressed by the cool evening breeze.

  The land fell away into a vast, broad valley that stretched on to the horizon. There were steep valley slopes covered with dense forests of flowers, and mesas standing like islands in the haze…

  And there, just a few kilometres away, stood a gigantic city.

  The city had outskirts utterly overgrown with trees – a gold-green jungle pierced here and there with building tops. Vast towers reached up from the valley floor, reaching to impossible heights above the ground. The towers all rose up out of a great, broad lake that glittered in the sunset. There were massive floating leaves all through the lake – gigantic lily plants with great blooms closed up for the night.

  Waterfalls hissed down from the gorges, feeding the great, wide lake. The light of sunset shimmered in the mist, filling it with streaks of rose and gold.

  The two friends stood and stared in awe. Finally Kitterpokkie reached over and quietly kissed Snapper upon one cheek.

  “Thank you.”

  They sat together and watched as sunset turned into a beautiful turquoise night, and were utterly content.

  Chapter 13

  As dawn touched the dandelions with soft grey light, the group readied themselves for a day of exploration. The lead suits – reassembled into new leather covers – were cached beneath the trees. Onan, Pendleton and the other beasts were groomed, saddled and fed. Throckmorton made a quiet patrol, ensuring all was well while the others rapidly wolfed down breakfast and buckled on their equipment.

  Snapper was keen to be off and away. For the first time, she laid hands upon Kenda’s camp gear, wanting to help him pack and saddle up. The man scowled and immediately came over to take his pack out of her grasp.

  “I’ve got it.”

  The shark blinked, surprised at how swiftly the man had moved to reclaim his possessions. He was already buckling his bedroll into place behind his beetle-horse’s saddle. Snapper scowled – and then sniffed as a brief tingle lingered on her snout.

  “You have something electrical in there?”

  “Old batteries. Trade goods.” The man pulled everything tight. “I can handle my gear myself.”

  Snapper watched the man for a moment, then swung back to check the camp. The fire was out, the ashes wetted thoroughly down and the pack animals were ready. Kenda was definitely prickling Snapper’s nerves. She fumed for a moment, then swung up into Onan’s saddle. Nothing was going to spoil this perfect day.

  They rode out, picking up Throckmorton and heading off towards the north. A herd of the big, hammer-headed herbivores were drinking at the far side of the pond. Snapper kept a careful watch for predators, but nothing could be seen. They rode to the brink of the great valley, and gazed down upon the ancient city just beyond.

  In the daylight, the city could be seen in all its ancient, brooding majesty.

  The valley was filled with ruins: buildings, roads and fallen walls all overgrown with mighty trees. Plants and vines, titanic weeds and tangles of plant-animals had turned the city outskirts into a jungle. Creatures that looked like flying flowers drifted quietly through the leaves.

  The overgrown ruins formed a wide green band about a lake – one that had swallowed the bottoms of a dozen mighty towers that soared into the sky. The towers were vast constructions – some with windows still intact. They soared fifty, sixty – perhaps a hundred floors above the surface of the lake below.

  The lake had flooded much of the old city: to the north, occasional buildings jutted up out of the water. Piles of rubble made strange islands, all overgrown with massive flowers and weeds. The surface of the lake was covered here and there by titanic lily pads, the flowers now opening to flash their brilliant colours in the sun.

  Life. The place was absolutely filled with life. Brilliant and ascendant – the new world leaping forward from the bones of the old. Snapper sat upon her riding cockatoo, her tail gently swaying behind her. She gazed upon the city, and felt wonderfully glad.

  The green world went on and on. Beyond the city, the remnants of an ancient highway led away from the lake. Overgrown with weeds – lost here and there beneath the soil – the road seemed to lead off into the misty distance, towards tall mountains covered in forests, and hills brilliant with countless plants and flowers. There would be ruins, wild spaces – vistas and mysteries. Snapper looked at it all and felt infinitely glad.

  Kitterpokkie was also gazing north – up into the empty air beyond the city. She started, then rose up in her stirrups.

  “Oh I say! I thought they were buildings!”

  Three huge animals were standing in the lake; massive creatures, part koi carp and part tortoise, with elephantine legs and long, curving necks. The creatures moved very slowly, browsing on plants that grew along the shore, or munching vast mouthfuls of water weed. It was only when Snapper saw one of the creatures pass the bottom of a skyscraper that she understood the sheer scale of the creatures. Their shells were easily wider than the Dancing Dugite pub.

  “Wow!”

  Kitterpokkie leaned on the horn of her saddle and carefully scanned the dense riot of overgrown chaos below.

  “Now then! We are looking for chemical compounds.” She tapped her lower mandibles with one finger. “We need to find an industrial zone, or a hub for ground transportation – somewhere that useful chemicals might be stored.” Kitterpokkie tried to see if any areas had larger buildings, but the trees were far too thick. “Perhaps we should ride the periphery, and see what can be seen?”

  “The tr
ees seem to be rather riotous.” Beau fluffed his feather cowl in thought. “We might not be able to see past the edge.”

  Kenda pointed off, away from the central towers. “Send the plant. It can make an overflight.”

  Snapper held up one hand, vetoing the entire notion. “We’ll keep together. I don’t want anyone wandering off. There’s a whole ecology down there. Throcky might get into trouble.”

  The shark returned to musing over the great, solid shapes of the towers.

  “Right. We need a better viewpoint.” Snapper pointed to the towers in the lake. “We should be able to reach one of the towers and scale it – they look pretty intact. Then we could look down and see if there are rail yards, or old storage tanks. Even overgrown, they’ll still stand out.” She thought she could see the fragments of an old road down at the tangled edges of the ruins. Several tall old streetlight pylons still jutted bare and gleaming above the trees. “Okay, that’s our way in. From this promontory I make the bearing… twenty five degrees off north…” She sighted through a homemade ring compass, then jotted the figures down in her notebook. “Alright. I’ll take point. Beau – you take the rear. Eyes open, and keep a round up the spout.” Snapper jogged her heels and Onan moved onwards. “Here we go.”

  Down they rode, descending the escarpment. They rode beside a little splashing stream – past walking fish that emerged to watch them curiously as they passed. Giant dandelions gave way to a flat, sprawling grass. Tall clumps of hefty bushes grew here and there, studded with green, unripe fruit that might have been mutated tomatoes.

  The first ruins appeared: fallen walls and old, gutted buildings filled with a hundred and fifty years of overgrowth. The old black surface of a road showed through mats of grass. Snapper moved carefully forward, pushing through a line of tomato trees, and came out onto an ancient, crumbled street.

  Old buildings lined a broad, weed-grown road. Tall metal street lights jutted high into the sky. Trees rose at every side, the tops joining to make a great, green canopy overhead. Light streamed here and there down through gaps in the magnificent green ceiling – shafts of gold that glittered as tiny insects danced in quiet joy.