by Patty Jansen
“Do you think I’m stupid to do this?”
“Yes. But also very brave.”
“I’m not looking forward to it,” I confessed. I wanted to say so much more, like What is your father up to? and What do you know about these guards he’s sending with us? or Does he hate me or expect anything from me or is he trying to push his own take-over bid? or even just Do you know what the fuck is going on? but this room was probably bugged and we didn’t have time for long discussions.
She stroked my hair out of my face. “You’ll be fine.” But there was no conviction in her voice.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All right then, let’s go.”
Chapter 9
* * *
FROM THE LITTLE ROOM, we were escorted down the walkway and through a long corridor to another part of the station facing away from the planet. Via an arched entry hall, we came into a huge docking bay carved across at least six levels into the station, as with the slash of a giant knife. Along both walls, there were hundreds of shuttles stacked in rack-like structures. The ceiling and far side of this hall was open, displaying the brilliant firmament of stars. The view was so clear that it looked like the bay opened directly into space. How on earth would they keep the pressure in?
It was dark and quiet in this hall. Not even our footsteps made any sound, as if the floor and walls absorbed all sound. I had started to wonder if all the ships up there were lifeboats when a craft floated through the middle of the hall and settled into a shelf with a merest minimum of noise. It was strange. I knew those downward jets were noisy, but it was like watching a movie with the sound turned down.
Two of Asha’s guards were talking to each other, but I couldn’t even hear their voices, let alone understand what they said.
How the hell did they do this?
Thayu mouthed to me, Sound-cancelling waves.
I nodded, and now started looking for the equipment emitting those waves; not that I saw any, or knew what to look for.
We went into a lift in the right-hand wall, which took us up to the second level, a broad gallery shrouded in semidarkness with small pinpricks of different-coloured lights.
The craft that was taking us down stood at the end of the gallery, a regular Asto-built shuttle. As with the craft Asha had used to come down to Barresh, the only indication of military ownership was a small emblem next to the door. Lights winked on and off in the darkness, showing that the pilot was going through pre-flight tests. The rest of our party were already on board and strapped in, and once we arrived and climbed in, deck crew shut the door.
The interior of the craft seated about twenty, in rows of two or three. There was a little drink bar at the back and tables interspersed with the seats. To my surprise, most of the craft’s side walls were transparent. The cabin looked like a glass bubble.
Every seat had a fold-down display and a comm outlet, now all lifeless.
No sooner had I strapped myself in than we were off. The craft lifted off the gallery and flew slowly into the centre of the hall, then it went straight up and through the glass. I could see it glow as the craft pushed its way through it with a slight shudder.
“Biosynthetics,” Thayu said in a low voice.
Bacterial glass, just like the screen on my reader, which I’d bought in a regular electronics shop in Rotterdam, but which clearly used Asto technology, no doubt financed through Earth-based banks owned by Asto bigwigs.
I knew that this interlinking of technology was going on. Everyone at Nations of Earth knew it, and there was not a damn thing we could do about it. People wanted fancy new technology. Coldi brought their knowledge, first through refugees, then through businesspeople. And now the two were inextricably intertwined with technology on Earth, especially after the wars.
Those people at gamra who said that Earth was being turned into a Coldi colony by stealth were not wrong at all. Whether it was a good or bad thing didn’t matter. It was happening. We needed to be aware of it and let our laws reflect it.
As the craft drifted away, I strained in my seat to catch a glimpse of the station; but that part of the cabin had gone opaque and I only saw a shadow tracking over the cloud deck below, which was actually over the top of the cabin as we were flying upside down. I had to close my eyes because the brief foray into normal gravity had already upset my ability to cope with weightlessness.
As soon as we were far enough from the station, the pilot opened all the outside inputs so that we could appreciate the magnificent kaleidoscope of colours. There was not a colour that wasn’t represented on the surface of Asto. The oranges and reds of the desert, the yellows and browns of the oceans, the greens of the mountain ranges and the floors of the aquifers, the blues and aquas of the mountain lakes. The landscape was scarred and chemically tainted because of the meteorite impact, but seen from above, deeply beautiful. The sky overhead was deep blue, with a very bright and pale blue speck that was Ceren.
When I had come here with Ezhya, we’d been nowhere near as close. Also, there had been no huge cumulus cloud formations stacking cauliflower upon cauliflower over the mountain ranges. Those clouds hung huge and towering to the west of Athyl, tinged blue with the haze of ozone. It also seemed to me that the atmosphere was clearer, less hazy. It could be the season, but I had a feeling that the planet was changing rapidly.
Re-entry into the atmosphere made the craft shudder. The light and screens were turned off. The transparent sides of the craft glowed with the heat.
I hung onto my chair. This was the part that you didn’t get to see on commercial flights. Not only did they have solid walls, but the Exchange didn’t take craft this far above the atmosphere.
The orange glow faded and was replaced by the unfamiliar sound of rushing air past the craft’s wings. The pilot turned us the right way up.
We flew over endless expanses of canyon-scored desert, plains of featureless pink, with crevasses a few hundred metres deep where water flowed, sometimes above ground and often under it, and where people grew things. The little settlements along these waterways grew more abundant until we came over encampments in the desert, then a jumble of shacks and simple stone buildings. That had to be the Outer Circle. Then we crossed the wall of the Eighth Circle with checkpoints at the entries, followed by neat houses and streets, larger buildings with storage yards that looked like industries.
We flew over a few more circle walls, the density, quality and height of buildings increasing with each one.
I could spot the airport in Third Circle, a huge, multi-pronged building with landing platforms set in a circular arrangement surrounding the main hub, and attached to each other through curving arms that made the structure resemble an opening flower. It was a fabulous building, one of the architectural wonders of the universe, but we weren’t going there. Our destination was the army headquarters.
As we neared, the craft sank deeper and deeper into the haze that coloured the sky white at ground level. The vast cloud-stacks over the mountain ranges disappeared from view.
Thayu had been rummaging in our packs and slipped into the seat next to me while doing up her harness. “When we land, we need to get you into a building as soon as possible. We will rush you through as a special guest from Ezhya. After that we’ll have to leave you. Sheydu and Veyada are good guards and they’ll look after you well.” But her eyes said, They’re Ezhya’s guards, so don’t trust them too much. “Please, Cory, be careful. Taysha Palayi is not a nice man.”
I nodded, fully aware of that fact, probably more than she realised.
“Don’t let him know that you have the key.”
“I know, we’ve been over this.”
She sighed. “I wish I could come with you.”
I did, too. On the other hand, she
shouldn’t have to face this man now that I’d bought out her contract with him. I still couldn’t believe that I’d actually done that. On the other hand, Thayu knew a lot more about him than I did and might pick up on things I missed. Were these two guards going to give me subtle warnings if I was about to do something stupid?
The craft was going down fast. My ears were popping. It felt like we were in freefall. There was no stopping it now.
I clutched my chest through my protective suit, hoping this had been a wise choice, hoping that Ezhya had been right about the temperature.
We flew very low over roofs, many in pink stone, but some were structures of metal or glass.
Forward movement slowed and slowed further. We drifted over a high wall into a complex with many low buildings interlinked with footbridges or covered walkways. The craft’s engines were now roaring.
Then the noise stopped, I felt a thump and the only sounds were the ticking of cooling metal and the rush of air out of the ceiling vents. Thayu rose from her seat first.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded, my mouth too dry to speak. At the press of a button in the arm rest, the safety harness retracted itself into the seat. I pushed myself up, wobbled, dizzy. My legs felt like they were glued to the floor.
“Whoa.”
I took a few careful steps. How was that for gravity?
“Be careful.”
A few deep breaths. “I’m fine. Really.” The first non-Coldi on Asto for thousands of years.
I put on the vest that held the cooling tank. Nicha helped me attach the hoses.
Damn, it was so heavy.
Thayu handed me the protective hood and mask, and I slid both over my head. Turned on the coolant supply from the tank. A cool breeze wafted over my face. Beautiful.
“Ready?”
I gave her the thumbs up.
Someone had opened the door and the guards all lined up ready to go. There seemed to be some sort of entry tube involved.
I followed Thayu to the entry hatch. Ezhya’s junior female guard and a companion followed us like little ducklings. They had to be Sheydu and Veyada.
The inner door opened, and then the outer door. I walked through, feeling awkward with the weight of all this gear in the high gravity.
The tube was short, nothing more than a covered ramp from the craft entrance to the ground. I took that last step, onto the dry packed earth, with the seriousness of this occasion pressing on me.
Once, many lifetimes ago, a man stepping on the surface of the Moon had said, “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.” This occasion had that kind of feel about it.
Asto.
Humanity in all its various forms had originated here, on this planet, in a different era.
We had landed on a dry and desolate-looking stretch of concrete-like paving. A number of aircraft like the one that had taken us from the station sat in one corner. Low buildings surrounded the field, some with windows overlooking the area.
And shit, the light. No one can tell you what twenty percent more solar interception means until you see it. If people could go to the surface of Venus, this is what I imagined it would look like.
The air shimmered with heat and the scent of hot stone seeped into my helmet. Like everyone had always said, the sky was white and the ground pink. A few pink-tinged grey clouds hung over the horizon.
To come to Barresh from Earth was a big difference, a huge adjustment. This was something different altogether.
For a moment I staggered, feeling unable to breathe. Somewhere deep inside me, the fear told me: This is Asto. You’re not supposed to be able to survive here. I sucked deep breaths of cooling air from the tank.
A number of people came towards us. They walked in a classic association formation: one at the front, two behind and four behind that. They wore silver suits and big belts bristling with weapons. They were wider than me, some of them taller. Asha went up to them. They welcomed him with subservient greetings, nods and hand signals.
After a few exchanges of words, he waved me closer.
I went up to the group, facing emotionless expressions which I had come to associate with the Asto military, even though none of these men and women were in uniform.
“The Delegate needs transport. He has an audience with Taysha,” Asha said. “It is of utmost importance.” I’d never heard military pronouns used before. They were to indicate rank but were only used by military to speak to other military. As if the Coldi pronouns weren’t hard enough, they chose to add a whole extra layer to the issue.
Nods all around.
The man at the front of the association said, “Come with us.”
I guessed this was the part where our group split up.
I looked over my shoulder at Thayu. I had no idea if she could see my face behind the visor. Probably not. She looked at me, but her gaze searched the faceplate, trying to look beyond her own reflection.
I didn’t like the expression of worry I saw in her face.
She put her hand on my arm. “Do you want your travel bag?”
She carried it over her shoulder. It contained spare clothes, shoes, some toiletry items. Nothing I needed for talking to Taysha.
“You carry it. I’d look silly visiting Taysha with all that gear.”
“True. All right. I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah.” The sound of my voice echoed back at me inside the helmet.
I lifted a hand by way of goodbye and followed these new guards. Ezhya’s two junior guards were behind me. Thayu’s touch lingered on my arm.
Belatedly, I thought I understood part of Asha’s reason for not sending Thayu and Nicha with me. They clearly weren’t bodyguards, and if they came, Asha would have to lend me four of his guards so as to send me with a complete association, and that would make a sizeable hole in anything he might plan to do.
Creating a disturbance required more people than talking. I should have thought of that earlier. Stupid.
Still, as I crossed the paving, I wished I could see where the rest of the group was going, especially Natanu and Asha. The helmet’s visor restricted my vision and turning my head with the hoses and the weight of the helmet might make me trip.
When I caught a glimpse of the party, they were so far away that I couldn’t make out Thayu and Nicha anymore. I was really on my own.
The air was full of noise of my own breathing.
The heat seared the inside of my nose even under the mask. I pulled the cloth of the hood up to close the gap between the helmet and my face, but could still smell the hot-stone scent that I often smelled on Thayu’s skin. It was engrained in the air. The whole planet smelled like it.
Sweating, and heart pounding, I followed my guides in the direction of one of the buildings, a low blocky and functional structure made of pink stone with square windows at regular intervals.
In front of the building waited a bullet-shaped vehicle, and this was where the out-of-uniform troops took us. One of them opened the door. I stumbled up the steps into a typical maroon interior. Whoa, that gravity really dragged me down.
My head was reeling. Not coping very well right now. Inside the cabin it was even hotter than outside. Sweat trickled over my back under my layers of clothing.
I dropped into the nearest seat and I fiddled with the setting on my tank to increase the cool air flow.
And I was meant to survive this expedition?
One of the local men took the controls of the vehicle. Ezhya’s male guard Veyada sat next to me and the junior female guard Sheydu sat opposite me. She was of Thayu’s build, a bit more heavy than normal for a Coldi woman but quite a bit older than Thayu. evidenced by white streaks in her
hair. Her flat chest told me that she’d never had children. Many high-ranking Coldi forfeited their two allocated children.
The vehicle started moving and left the military compound through a forbidding gate with sentries on both sides. We entered a wide street of the Second Circle lined on both sides by magnificent buildings: made out of stone, blocky or domed, with glass rooms, elaborate towers, metal support arches, cables, leaf-shaped slate, carbon fibre plating, and those were just the materials I recognised. There were dozens I couldn’t identify. I’d only ever seen pictures of the rich and varied architecture of the inner circles of Athyl. Even in those pictures the arches, the domes, the blocky or flowing and elegant structures had amazed me. Reality made it so much more wonderful. No two buildings were the same. Glass buildings with clean lines stood next to stone buildings with intricate carving and steel structures with impossible curves. And then the colours. The stone was mostly pink or ochre, but doors, fittings and window frames had every imaginable colour, including lurid purple, bright green and sky blue.
After passing into the First Circle, the houses grew even more intricate, and then the Inner Circle complex came into view.
Seen from a distance, the building looked like a pile of domes stacked in a pyramid, built on what was probably a hill in the landscape that was now completely hidden underneath the structure. There were towers and balconies and stairs, all interlinked and stacked so that no two corners, entrances or sections of wall were the same.
We had to leave the carriage at the Inner Circle gate, so we went into the searing heat and through another checkpoint with humourless guards. They spoke to Ezhya’s guards in subservient manner and eyed me and all my gear like I was something out of a curiosity cabinet—which I probably was.
On the other side we had to cross a wide and glaring expanse of paving. The heat radiated through the soles of my boots. I glanced at the little temperature gauge I had attached to my belt. Fifty-eight.