Belém, Brazil
26.FEB.2283

FIFTY METERS ABOVE the Earth, the climber car slowed to a crawl, exactly as programmed. At twenty meters it would halt altogether and Skyler would finally be able to open the hatch. This simple climber car had no external camera, and just one small porthole window through which he could see only cloud-filled sky and endless rain forest.

He checked his equipment again, though he knew everything was ready. He’d gone over it a half-dozen times during the long trip down from New Gateway. Nervous energy coursed through him, relentless and distracting. The only thing that seemed to quell it was the tightening of straps, the adjustment of buckles. Busywork.

Skyler glanced at his volunteer companion, Karl Stromm. He wanted to inspect the man’s environment suit once more. Karl had waved him off the last time, and he looked almost annoyed now. He had every right.

“Almost time,” Skyler said.

Karl just nodded. Soon he would risk his life, or sanity, by opening that suit—an act of bravery he’d been quick to accept.

“He’s one of the men Neil trained in secret. A former firefighter, I think. He organized the mutiny on Anchor,” Tania had explained. With a grin she had added, “You’ll get along fine.”

The climber car lurched and came to a stop. A moment of unsettling silence passed before the small light by the hatch turned from red to green.

The bare-bones vehicle had no windows or monitors like the ones that regularly made the trip along the Darwin cord. Skyler could only hope the altitude sensors had done their job.

Skyler moved to the handle and grasped it. “Ready?”

“Let’s get it over with,” Karl said, voice tinny through the speaker on his helmet.

The man carried himself with a natural calm. The disposition reminded him of Jake, and Skyler found reassurance there.

With a grunt he pulled the locking arm aside, grasped the inner handle, and turned it in a half circle. Air hissed as the pressure equalized. A line of sunlight appeared and grew, soon filling the cramped cabin.

Heavy, warm air brought with it the rich smells of wild vegetation. Skyler inhaled it deeply. In the last few weeks, between Darwin and then space, he’d forgotten the simple pleasure of breathing fresh air.

As the hatch swung away, Skyler found himself facing south. A wide and fast river rushed by, east to west. Freshwater, then, and close. Not a bad start, he thought.

On the far bank, a thick green marshland stretched out for miles. Farther west, lush hills gave way to mountains. To the east he saw a blanket of lush forest canopy, marred only by a smoke plume a few kilometers away. Too big to be a campfire. Fallen debris from the destroyed climber, he guessed. Skyler inched up to the opening and poked his head out to look below.

He froze, mesmerized by what he saw.

“Tell me,” Karl said, behind him.

Skyler searched for words, and found none. The Elevator made landfall in the middle of what was once some sort of business park, or school. The area around the cord had been leveled by the Elevator’s arrival, but it wasn’t empty.

Jutting out of that land, at perfectly spaced intervals, were buildings. Alien buildings.

“There’s a … city,” Skyler finally managed to say.

“Belém. Why are you whispering?”

“Not Belém,” Skyler said. “The Builders.”

The surface of the matte black structures resembled the flower ship, so high above. Skyler realized they might not be buildings at all. He saw no entrances or windows. Just solid masses, arranged in concentric squares around the cord of the Elevator. The ones near the outer edge were ten meters tall, and toward the center, at least thirty meters. No two had quite the same footprint, though the shapes were similar enough that Skyler sensed they all had a shared purpose.

At the base of the cord itself, where a crater should be, Skyler saw a huge black disk with notches all around its edge. It looked like a big gear, lying on its side.

Karl moved behind Skyler, trying to look over his shoulder. His breathing came in loud, excited bursts. “Do you see any … any of them?”

Skyler shook his head. Other than birds, and swarms of insects, he saw no signs of life. “Let’s drop the ladder and have a look.”

For fifteen minutes they walked in silence, exploring the alien structures. The more Skyler saw, the more he thought of it as an outpost rather than a city.

It consisted of perhaps two hundred structures. More than the number of “pods” that had raced down the cord from space.

“No sign of the Builders,” he said, to himself as much as Karl.

“Automated construction,” the other man said. “Like the Elevator.”

For what purpose, Skyler could not imagine. He stepped close to one and studied the material. The elegant, faceted walls were laced with fine, geometric patterns, all straight lines and right angles in a chaotic mix. The grooves varied in depth from the barest hint to as much as a centimeter, just like the iris he’d found below Nightcliff. “I can’t wait until Tania sees this.”

Karl managed a chuckle. “Not just her, the whole lot of them. They’ll be tripping over each other to study this.”

They surveyed the entire area. With each step, Skyler felt his sense of wonder fade. He reminded himself of the work to be done. Because of the alien structures, there would be no room to build around the base, making construction of a climber port tricky.

The human city of Belém waited beyond like an over-grown fruit tree, Skyler thought, just begging to be exploited. Supplies could be harvested from there for years before needing to explore farther out. And even then, the Americas were wholly untapped since the disease had struck the world. None of the scavengers in Darwin could range this far. His mind reeled at the possibilities.

“We’re going to be busy,” Karl said.

“I feel,” Skyler said, “like a colonist.”

The other man grunted. “Near enough the truth.”

Skyler studied the edge of Belém more closely. He’d seen a hundred cities like it in his forays into the Clear and found himself noting which structures might provide valuable resources, and which could be inhabited. Hospitals, hotels, and warehouses topped his list. He wondered belatedly if there were any airports close by.

A good portion of the city fell within the Elevator’s protection, assuming it offered an Aura. The thought reminded Skyler of why they had come.

“I think it’s time,” he said. “If you’re ready.”

Karl, still stoic, gave a terse nod.

Skyler slung his rifle and came to stand in front of the man. “Keep your eyes on me,” he said. “Any strange thoughts, you need to tell me. We’ll seal you right back up.”

“If it’s bad,” Karl said, “you shoot me. No debate. Kill me right here.”

Skyler reached out and grasped the clamps that held Karl’s face mask in place. “Ever smelled fresh air?”

Karl shook his head.

“There’s nothing like it,” Skyler said.

He pulled the helmet from Karl’s head and held it between them, ready to reattach it.

A minute passed, then two. Karl just stared at Skyler, his breathing fast at first. Gradually he got it under control, and relaxed. He inhaled deeply, once, his eyes closed. Skyler could see his nostrils flare, his eyes twitch. The man’s expression turned to pleasure.

“Wonderful,” he said. “The aromas …”

“Told you.”

“It’s like the first time I tasted a truly good wine.”

After ten uneventful minutes, Skyler sat down and beckoned Karl to do the same. He figured an hour of exposure would do, so they killed the time by trading life stories.

The hour passed. Karl showed no sign of infection.

“I think we should head back,” Skyler said. A comm capable of two-way communication with orbit had not been set up yet, and he desperately wanted to share their discovery with Tania and the others.

Karl nodded agreement and took the lead back to their ladder.

As they walked Skyler found himself looking up, watching the pillar-like shapes of the Builders’ outpost pass by. It brought a childhood memory back, a vague recollection of strolling along a tree-lined avenue, his head tilted up to watch the branches overhead—

Skyler tripped.

A bare tree root caught his toes and sent him stumbling. He reached out to brace his fall, without thinking, and placed his hand upon one of the Builders’ towers.

The object gave way. It moved as if weighing nothing at all, a deep creaking sound coming from the base.

Skyler watched from one knee. Karl stopped, too, his face blank.

The black tower, three meters across at the base and twenty meters high, drifted over the muddy ground as if it were in zero-g. It moved slower than Skyler’s walking pace.

He stared, watched it go. Some part of him recognized that it was not slowing down, and that the shape of its base constantly shifted to match the contour of the ground.

“It’s not stopping,” Karl said. “Skyler! It’s not stopping!”

The structure’s path would take it straight into another of the massive shapes. Skyler felt his heart drop into his stomach. What have I started?

Seconds before impact, the second structure began to move, too. It shifted its position just enough to avoid impact, and then returned to its original position, exactly.

The tower Skyler had pushed kept going. Another structure moved out of the way, then a third.

When the tower passed the last of its kind, it continued to move, speed never varying. A constant, straight motion in the exact direction Skyler had pushed it.

Toward the river, a few hundred meters beyond.

It moved at an angle to the wide body of water. Skyler found himself running, his feet pounding in the moist ground. He tossed Karl’s helmet aside and pumped his arms.

The shape began to descend the bank of the river, its base ever shifting to match the contours of the ground, allowing the tower itself to stay perfectly upright. Skyler couldn’t even begin to imagine what technology allowed any of this to occur. All he knew was that he couldn’t let the thing sink into the wide river.

With a few meters to spare, he ran around the drifting object and planted his feet between it and the rushing water. The shape loomed before him, creaking all the while like a great tree in a stiff breeze.

Unsure what to do, Skyler put his hands out and grimaced. He dug his feet into the mud and leaned in as the object arrived, intending to push with all his might to try to stop it.

The pressure against his hands felt impossibly solid when it touched his skin, and yet in the span of a heartbeat it slowed and stopped.

The creaking sound faded.

Water licking at his feet, Skyler stood before the obelisk and scratched his head. On a whim he stuck out one finger and pushed against the black surface. He heard the creaking again, quieter, and the tower began to move away, so slow he didn’t notice it at first.

“Unbelievable.”

Karl arrived. He stopped next to Skyler and put his hands on his knees, panting. It would take him a few days to adjust to the humid air, Skyler realized. All of them.

“What does it mean?” Karl asked.

The mass continued to drift back toward the others, as if riding on an invisible pocket of air. All the while, the base of it emitted that eerie creaking noise, like an old wooden ship listing on a calm sea. Skyler could only shake his head.

They watched from the water’s edge. The object crept along, back the way it had come.

“I wonder how far it would have gone had you not stopped it?” Karl said. “Assuming they can’t sink.”

“Good question,” Skyler replied. “I don’t know why, but I think it would have gone a long, long way.”

Even as he said the words, the object reached its counterparts. Skyler watched in awed silence as the other towers drifted out of the way, then back as the moving object passed.

“We should go,” Skyler said. Tania needed to hear about this. He could already picture the look on her face.

“Mmmph,” Karl muttered. He dropped to one knee, fingers pressed against his temples.

“What’s wrong?” Skyler asked. Karl was clawing at his temples now. “What is it?”

“What do you think?! We wandered too far!”

Skyler threw his arm around Karl without a second thought and hoisted the man to his feet. Karl fought it, moaning in agony. Every step of the way he tried to free himself from Skyler’s arm. The disease’s initial infection affected many this way—they were the ones who died quickly.

Four hundred meters, Skyler judged. They’d only gone four hundred meters from the base of the cord, and already they’d reached the Aura’s edge. Not even close to the nine kilometers provided by Darwin’s Elevator. The limited range threw their plans, and everyone’s survival chances, into doubt. There would be so little room.

“Slow down,” Karl said. “I’m all right. The pain’s gone.”

Skyler eased the man down to the ground and sat beside him. They had only moved about fifty meters toward the Elevator.

“It came on so fast,” Karl muttered, still rubbing at his temples.

Skyler watched the dark obelisk as it drifted back through the others. He turned and glanced back toward the river’s edge. “Stay here,” he said to Karl.

Acting even as the idea formed, Skyler jogged back to the wandering tower, moved to the opposite side, and guided it back toward the river. He found he could manipulate its direction with minimal effort by pressing lightly on either side as it “floated” along. For a short span, Skyler crawled along beside it. He could see no visible gap between its base and the muddled soil beneath it, and yet somehow he knew it was floating. He wondered why the wind seemed to have no effect on it, yet even the gentlest touch he provided could change its direction.

He guided the tower into a position about halfway between Karl and the Elevator’s base.

“What are you doing?” Karl shouted. “You’ve got a funny look in your eye, I can see from here.”

“How bad was it, really?” Skyler yelled back.

“Bad.”

“Bad enough you won’t take a quick test?”

Karl arched an eyebrow. “I guess I’m game. What’s your idea?”

Skyler stood next to the huge object and brought it to a reasonable stop. “Walk toward the river again.”

Karl glanced behind himself. The river loomed fifty meters away.

“Shout the moment you feel the pain,” Skyler said.

Dubious, Karl started back toward the water. Ten steps later he doubled over in pain.

Skyler leaned into the tower and shoved. Again he felt an initial hesitation, as if the thing were every bit the solid mass it appeared to be. Then the weight of it melted away, and the object began to move.

When it traveled the same distance Karl had walked, Skyler saw him struggle to his feet and steady himself.

“I’m okay!” Karl shouted. “Holy shit, I’m okay!”

My God, we can shape it, Skyler thought.

Two hundred towers, each capable of creating pockets of protected area. Smaller than Darwin’s, yes, but mobile …

Possibilities unfolded in his mind. Aura “roads” extending from the Elevator into the most useful areas of Belém. Pockets of safe, defensible ground. Teams venturing out into the wilds, a tower always at their center, exploring as far as they wished to go.

It was a scavenger’s dream.

He grinned, broad and unabashed. A smile born of pure joy.

A smile born of discovery.