Under the Burning Clouds

by Steve Turnbull

  “What was that?” said Constance.

  “Acknowledgement of my status as a goddess,” said Maliha and sighed.

  Constance turned towards the door. “It’s a shame we’re not Irish.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if we were we’d be having a wake and drinking more than is good for us, to celebrate the dead and the living.”

  “I have no desire to drink more than is good for me,” said Maliha. “Besides, we’re docking very soon.”

  iv

  Heat had been radiating into the passenger area from the inner walls of the hull for the last half hour. It had started shortly after they had broken through the high cloud cover.

  The vessel was sealed against the vacuum of the Void and yet, to Maliha, it felt as if the air inside was getting damp. It was the Venusian day and the upper clouds were so bright they were difficult to look at for long. Mostly white, but there were glowing veins of red and yellow running through them: the burning clouds.

  Fifteen minutes or so after the first layer of cloud, they approached a second—this one more closely resembled those she had flown above in Valentine’s vessel, Alice. They were fluffy and mountainous, unlike the higher blanket of solid coverage.

  It took several minutes for the shuttle to descend through these ones, in almost complete darkness apart from the flashes of lightning, which sometimes lasted for long seconds. The winds must have been tremendous, as the stubby-winged ship was thrown from side to side.

  Unlike those on Earth, these vessels did not possess complete gravity nullification—they only had the normal Faraday Effect. They used rockets to assist their launch into orbit, and gravity to return.

  They emerged through the cloud and the windows were immediately streaked with thick rivulets of water. That it was raining came as no surprise.

  Venus possessed almost no seasons, since it had nearly no axial tilt with respect to its orbit around the Sun. The burning clouds never broke, so the Sun was always hidden during the day. The lower cloud levels were more like Earth’s, but when they cleared, the heat at ground level increased and so did the evaporation of water from the ground.

  She had read the joke about Venusian weather: “How do you know it’s not raining on Venus? An umbrella can’t keep you dry.” When it wasn’t raining, the humidity increased to murderous levels.

  Waterproof boots were an essential and it was recommended that each person in a party be responsible for the condition of the feet of one other member. The war in the Crimea had been the first time medical attention had been directed to the rotting that could occur on feet that were continuously damp—and that included keeping them locked up in one’s boots or shoes.

  ‘Venus-foot’ they called it. If you were responsible for your own feet, you might forget to check, or pretend everything was all right. Being responsible for another meant you were more likely to check.

  There had been people selling quinine on the Void-station, in the form of tablets and drinks to be taken orally, and suppositories for the other end. And all for exorbitant prices. But the doctor’s information was that black-eye was only contracted in the lowlands. As long as they kept to the highlands they would be fine.

  Something large and bulbous appeared momentarily through the window, veins threading through a balloon-like bag that resembled leather. One of the floaters, medium-sized. They were hunted as easy sport but lacked any intelligence so did not try to escape, nor did they make very good trophies once they were deflated.

  One of them must have hit a rotor because a lump of something fleshy splashed against the window and was promptly washed away by the rain and wind.

  Maliha peered out. There were rectangular shapes in patterns of light and dark in the distance; it was hard to see anything through the deluge, but that must be the city of Regina. The British capital of the polar highlands. Although there were no seasons and the planet was hot across its entire surface, the polar regions were cooler than the tropics and the highlands cooler again.

  It made this part of the planet at least tolerable. Barely tolerable, but humans had an insatiable desire to spread across any territory they could. One only had to think of the Eskimo living on the ice of the poles, or the Bedouins in the hottest deserts of the world.

  Now they also lived in the wettest place in the whole of the Sun’s family, short of being under water.

  Inside the vessel the engines’ whine increased, indicating the rotors were beating hard against the atmosphere. Maintaining ships in an airworthy condition in such a place must be a nightmare in itself, Maliha thought.

  The ship landed with the very slightest bump. The normal Faraday gravity had been wonderful after more than two weeks in almost complete weightlessness, but then the steward called out that they would be going heavy and counted down from ten.

  Maliha braced herself. Their muscles were certain to have weakened during their time in the Void and this was going to be difficult.

  The steward reached one and Maliha sank further into the chair as she returned to full weight. Her first reaction was to pant. The crew of the shuttle were used to this and they gave the new arrivals time to adjust.

  Maliha turned to Izak beside her. He looked worried. She forced a smile onto her face. “Are you all right?”

  “I feel weak like a baby, Goddess.”

  “It may take a few days to regain our full strength,” she said. “Do you think you can stand?”

  He did not reply but unbuckled his belt and slid forward on the chair. His movements looked awkward and he had to concentrate to make them work. He slipped off the edge of the chair and his legs folded beneath him. She caught his arm and steadied him as he got his legs under himself properly and stood.

  “Good,” she said. “Let me try.”

  “I will hold your hand,” he said in a tone that brooked no disagreement.

  She undid her belt and took his hand. She grabbed the back of the seat in front and carefully pulled herself upright. The old injury in her leg ached. Did it mean that she would have to return to using a stick?

  She released Izak’s hand. “Let me lean on you,” she said and placed her palm on his shoulder.

  “Are you all right, Goddess?”

  “I will be.”

  Together they slid out into the aisle. Around them others were getting to their feet; she saw Françoise in her male guise helping Constance. Someone was crying.

  Maliha allowed Izak to guide her to the exit, where they arrived ahead of anyone else. The steward smiled. “Your first time?”

  Maliha nodded.

  The steward’s grin expanded and he flipped a large switch on the inner wall. A grinding of machinery heralded the inner door sliding sideways as the outer one swung upwards. Maliha and Izak looked out on the bright, and very damp, new world.

  v

  The entire sky shone with an almost uniform brilliance. The hidden brightness of the much-closer Sun was dispersed and re-emitted from the cloud cover. What shadows there were hid beneath their associated objects. Every surface exposed to the sky reflected the same light. The effect made everything look flat like a child’s painting.

  Hot, moist air swept in as a gentle wind pushed it around and the air sparkled in waves of rainbow colours. Maliha gasped at the sight. It was as if the sky were full of rainbow fragments floating on the breeze. They came in waves, growing and shrinking, then dissolving into nothing but light.

  “Every time,” said the steward, but his voice sounded as if he was smiling. “You came on a good day.”

  “Rainbow breezes,” said Maliha. “I read about them, but the descriptions were nothing like this.”

  “If you’d like to exit via the ramp and go into the immigration building over there to the right, your luggage will be unloaded and brought to you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Maliha and Izak stepped out into the sparkling atmosphere. Of course, the rainbows were always just out of reach. She understood that, because the whole sky
was bright and the air was frequently full of suspended droplets of water, this caused the rainbow effect in all directions. It was not an uncommon meteorological event here on Venus, but it was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. She could not imagine she would ever grow tired of it.

  Once out from under the protection of the shuttle, they were victim to the more unpleasant aspects of the Venusian atmosphere. She could feel the intense radiant heat beating down from all parts of the sky. The clouds through which they had descended were moving swiftly away. Probably to the south, since most directions this close to the north pole were South.

  They were wet through in less than a minute, not from rain but from the water suspended in the air. Being wet was something one learnt to live with on this planet. It was impossible to get away from, even here in the highlands.

  Every building had a canted roof, just as they did back in England, but there was no guttering. The eaves protruded a long way from the walls and were shaped over the doors to turn any water away. The perimeter of the air-dock was marked by a fence constructed from some sort of dark wood.

  There were numerous vessels of different types crammed into the space. Their sizes ranged from small passenger vehicles to big cargo vessels, but Maliha did not recognise any of the designs. The majority had large horizontal drums instead of wings or rotors. To Maliha’s eye they looked ridiculous though she was aware there were other methods of obtaining lift—why this approach should be so prominent on Venus was a mystery.

  They stepped out across the wooden boards that lifted them from the surface of the planet; there was a moss-like growth covering every inch of the ground she could see. Its green colour was more vibrant than any plant she had ever seen on Earth.

  The boards changed into steps down from the raised area where the shuttle had landed. She glanced back and realised that even the shuttle was not sitting on the ground but was on a raised platform. Something moved in the green and caught her eye.

  Where the water ran in rivulets from the higher ground to the lower, a spindly leg, reminiscent of a spider’s, emerged from the depth of the green. It touched here and there, as if searching for a place to rest. In a sudden motion it plunged into the foliage. When it lifted back up, its end had pierced a soft-bodied wriggling creature like a fat worm. The leg, if that’s what it was, withdrew with its prey into the moss.

  Maliha shivered. It was not that she was afraid, but it was so alien. She did not know of any earthly creature that behaved in that fashion. She understood the flora and fauna of her own planet. The rules were different here.

  They had moved ahead when there were raised voices from the shuttle. Maliha stopped and looked back. Several of the passengers were now following her out and down to the immigration building, but at the vessel’s exit a man was protesting. A woman, perhaps his wife, was remonstrating with him, and the steward seemed to be coaxing him, but he would not leave. He turned and disappeared back into the vessel.

  Maliha looked up as a flock of ... birds? ... passed overhead. They were high and there was no sense of scale against the bright sky. They did appear to have wings, but she could not be sure of the details.

  “Don’t look up,” said a man as he passed her. She recognised him as one of the passengers. He was right; it was recommended not to look up when the burning clouds were exposed.

  “Alice!”

  Maliha turned and waited for Constance and Françoise to catch up. Her clothes were heavy with water and her legs were getting tired. Her thigh ached even more. She would have to get a walking stick.

  “Isn’t this the most amazing thing? Did you see the rainbows?” Constance was full of enthusiasm. She had shunned her heaviest dresses and wore something Françoise might have chosen.

  “We should get inside,” said Maliha. “It’s not healthy to stay out in this heat too long.”

  “I thought you’d be used to it,” said Constance.

  “Heat combined with humidity is very taxing on the body,” said Maliha. “Without the ability to sweat we overheat, and too much will kill you with heatstroke.”

  “Well, you’re a bundle of joy, to be sure. Come on, Francis, let’s leave Miss Misery-guts to her foreboding.”

  But Françoise stopped. “Why don’t you go on with Izak and find us a place inside, cherie? I want to speak with ‘Alice’ for a moment.”

  If Maliha was not mistaken, a flash of jealousy crossed Constance’s face, but then she smiled. “Sure. Come on, Izak. Let’s give the ex-lovers a moment.”

  She headed away at a brisk pace. Izak glanced at Maliha. “Go with her, Izak. Make sure she doesn’t cause any trouble.” He hurried off after the American.

  “Sorry,” said Maliha, looking at the retreating figure of Constance Mayberry.

  “She is a willing pupil,” said Françoise. “Quite refreshing.”

  “And when you get tired of her?”

  “Our break-up will be her idea.”

  “As long as you are all right.”

  Françoise shrugged. “I still have some bruises and scars that will never heal, but I am alive and I have you to thank for that.”

  “If I had realised earlier, it would not have been so bad. I am sorry.”

  Françoise shook her head. “I am grateful you came when you did. Now I understand what you went through and for that I am a better person.”

  “You talk a lot of nonsense, Miss Greaux.”

  “Hush, Miss Ganapathy, did you not know I am in disguise?”

  Maliha laughed. Françoise was the only person other than Valentine who could make her laugh so easily.

  “Do you have a plan yet?”

  “I do have one, though I imagine you would think it impulsive.”

  “Whatever you need, Maliha, if it is in my power to give it, I will. This man had me tortured to make you suffer.”

  Maliha reached out and placed her hand on Françoise’s. “Thank you. For now, if you could lend me your arm—I am not adjusting well to this full gravity.”

  vi

  The immigration building was cooler, with significantly reduced humidity. Each room they entered that had an outer wall also contained a machine built into it that circulated the air, stripping it of both heat and water vapour.

  She had taken a moment to examine one of the machines and realised, as she passed her hand over it, that it contained a novel application of a Faraday grid. Though she had no real idea how it worked, she surmised the reduced gravity might lessen the air pressure, which would force some of the vapour to evaporate.

  Whatever it was, it made the environment more tolerable.

  The immigration process was not stringent; they were merely required to give their names, which were checked off against a list, and the purpose of their visit. The city of Regina was a British colony and subject to British laws.

  She noticed that the clerks and Customs men wore very light clothing, and all of them were deeply tanned. This would have been considered a terrible thing on Earth, their pasty skin reduced to a colour similar to the natives. It seemed that on Venus there was little choice in the matter.

  From the air-dock, they intended to take a taxi to the hotel.

  They stepped out into the heat once more. Maliha knew it wasn’t that the overall temperature was hotter even than Calcutta—although it was usually equivalent to monsoon temperatures—it was that the humidity was always higher and the resulting effect was torrid in the extreme.

  Deaths from heatstroke were common here, particularly among new arrivals, not to mention those that went quietly mad from the shadowless daylight. Perhaps the luckiest ones were those who took one look at the place and refused to get off the shuttle.

  Everywhere there were raised walkways primarily constructed from a native wood—anything from Earth would perish in no time from the damp and the corrosive effects of the plant and animal life.

  Why would anyone come here?

  The same reason they went anywhere: there were resources to be exploited.
The ‘granite wood’ fetched a good price, as well as all the normal minerals to be dug from the ground. There was coal to be had in abundance, along with petroleum products from which diesel fuel was distilled. And all of them available for those willing and able to work in such an inhospitable place.

  Once the travellers had dealt with the relatively simple administrative details, they stepped out into the city of Regina.

  Maliha rummaged in her carpetbag and pulled out two pairs of spectacles with heavily tinted blue glass; she handed a pair to Izak. He looked at her with a puzzled expression for a moment and watched as she put on her pair. He examined how the arms folded out, and followed suit. They were a little large.

  Behind her glasses the world turned blue and it was much easier to see what she was doing without squinting. There were additional curved strips that prevented the infiltration of light from the sides. With this level of protection she glanced at the high clouds again. Now, rather than the homogeneous colours, she could see with better contrast how even those clouds were on different levels and flowed in streams.

  The queueing area for the taxi rank was covered but open to the air. It did not make it any cooler, but she could imagine that an enclosed area would become like an oven.

  “You must come to dinner,” said Constance as they waited in the queue. Then she jumped and cried out as an insect with a body the size of Valentine’s hand fluttered past.

  The monster possessed numerous rudimentary eyes on the head section. There was the usual thorax and abdomen construction, but it had many more legs than one might expect and at least six pairs of narrow wings that spanned two feet. But its colours shone even through Maliha’s glasses. She slipped them off and squinted as the creature floated back out into the light. It glowed in iridescent blues, greens and yellows that flowed across its form.

  “It’s beautiful,” she murmured. She had seen plates in the book at the Johannesburg Consulate but had not believed the scale provided, and the printed colours did not do the real creature any justice.