GeneStorm: City in the Sky (31 page)

Salty crackers were shared all around. Onan sat like one of the group, nibbling and munching, while the adventurers finally managed to look out across the dead lands all around.

They sat upon a limestone outcrop raised well up above the radiation. A few tiny scraps of grass and weed grew here and there. The birds rested quietly – clearly there was no radiation here worth mentioning.

Beau flopped onto his back and looked at the cliffs upside down. They were solid and unbroken – there were no slopes or passes. The exhausted fox-bird pointed vaguely with one finger at the rock.

“There’s no pass.”

“It’s there.” Snapper waved a hand towards the cliffs. “See the concrete patch there on the cliffs? That’s the start.”

Kenda turned to look. He was nursing a headache, but instantly alert. “Right there?”

“This is it!” Snapper tried to rise. “Here. Toby said you had to be pretty close to – ah!” The shark froze half way up to her feet and slammed back onto her backside, grabbing at her leg. “Ah!”

Kitterpokkie started in alarm.

“What?”

“Charlie horse!” The shark stretched out her calf. “Damnit!”

“Here – let me massage the leg!” Kitterpokkie unfolded two arms and two claws, setting to work in a skilful massage. “Everyone, eat some more salt. Just sip your water – it takes a while to rehydrate.”

Beau broke out more crackers and water. Snapper hissed as Kitterpokkie skilfully kneaded at her leg, pulling Snapper’s foot to stretch the cramping muscles. The mantis worked firmly and quietly. She kept her pink eyes upon her work.

“Thank you for… for the carry. The run. Thank you.”

Snapper closed her eyes. “You’re most welcome.”

Kitt’s fingers worked magic. “Rest awhile. The stone’s nice and cool.”

It took half an hour before they finally managed to stir themselves. More water, more salt, and walking back and forth to work away the heat cramps took half an hour more. The riding beasts and pack animals all needed to be loaded up once more, and everything made secure.

Weapons, armour, helmets… the group buckled up, feeling cool at long, long last. They finally moved on, moving through the blue shadows of the cliff towards the great, soaring wall of stone.

A tall area of sculpted concrete had been set into the rock. A great, smooth archway made of bottle-green polymer pierced through the concrete, leading back into a cool, shadowed place beyond.

Throckmorton drifted down to float along beside his friends. Step by step, they moved to the giant doorway. Eyes wide, Snapper moved in across the threshold. The others joined her, looking about themselves in wonder.

They stood at the edge of a great hall a hundred metres long. Columns of green polymer soared up into a ceiling that was utterly lost in shadow. Side halls reached off into the darkness. Some were partly blocked with rubble, while others still held old turnstiles and booths all hung with cobwebs. But most astonishing of all was the great sloping oblong shaft that lead diagonally up and out of the chamber – up, up through solid rock, finally reaching the world atop the cliffs. Sunlight streamed inward down the shaft, filtering out to make a gloomy, musty light.

Metal rails ran up the shaft. Sitting at the base was a weird little train – a funicular tram designed to run up and down the steeply sloping tunnel. The shaft itself must have been made by shifting countless thousands of tons of rock. Moving deeper into the cavern, Snapper turned around and around, looking up at the ceiling and opening out her arms.

“This is it! This is what they found.” She was chilled with awe. “We’re here.”

“Amazing.” Beau walked to a column, and laid his hand upon it. “How did they construct such a thing?”

“Human. Human engineering. Human competence.” Kenda walked forward. “A world bent by sheer force of will.”

There were bones at one side of the cavern. Some were human – others were warped and twisted, with misshapen heads and twisted limbs. There seemed to be dozens of them. Kitterpokkie quietly crossed over to the bones and knelt to examine them, carefully turning old fragments of cloth and plastic over with her probe.

The humans here had clearly died violently – and several of the mutant skulls showed the glassy wounds left by plasma guns. Kitterpokkie sat back on her haunches, and quietly put her probe away.

“Mere will was apparently not enough.”

There were white chips in amongst the bones. Kitterpokkie left them alone, and quietly walked away. She joined the others as they stood with all the animals at the base of the great tunnel that led up into the light.

The strange train carriage almost totally filled the sloping tunnel. But there were also steps to either side of the rails. The way to the surface was perhaps six hundred metres of steady, exhausting uphill slog. Snapper checked the tunnel and it seemed secure. There were no obstructions, and a distant square of blue sky awaited at the upper end.

“Goes all the way up! Looks clear and solid!”

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 into 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.