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Authors: Gregory Benford
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hatchway and into a simple, comfortable control cabin. The ship lifted with scarcely a murmur.
“I am Rin,” he said, as though anyone would know who he was. His casual confidence told her even more than the name, for he was well known. She responded to his questions about the last few days with short, precise answers. She had rarely seen Supras, growing up. Kurani had come as a revelation. This one was not winning her over.
But as they rose with smooth acceleration, Cley gaped, not attempting to hide her surprise. Within moments she saw the lands where she had lived and labored reduced to a mere spot in a vastly larger canvas. As a young girl she had dreamed of flying like this. Now the magnitude of the Supras’ latest labors became obvious. She watched the mountains she had admired as a girl reduced to foot soldiers in an army that marched around the curve of the world.
Her Meta had known well the green complexity of the forests. Below, many fresh, thin brown rivers flowed through narrow canyons, cutting. These gave the mountain range the look of a knobby spine from which many nerves trailed into the tan deserts beyond. A planetary spinal axis, as though the Earth itself had a mind. She wondered if in some sense this could be so.
Brilliant snowcaps crowned the tallest peaks, but these were not, she saw, the source of the countless rivers. Each muddy rivulet began abruptly, high in a canyon, swelling as it ran through rough slopes. The many waterfalls and deep gullies told her that each was busily digging itself in deeper, fresh and energetic.
Cley pointed, and before she could ask, Rin said, “We feed the new rivers from tunnels. The great Millennium Lakes lie far underground here.”
This land sculpting was only millennia old, but already moist wealth had reclaimed much of the planet’s dry midcontinent. Rin sat back as he silently ordered his ship to perform a long turn, showing them the expanses. She caught a brilliant spark of polished metal far away on the very curve of the planet.
“Sonomulia,” Rin said.
“The legend,” she whispered.
“It is quite real,” he said, running his eyes over the display screens that studded the space around them.
“Did they go there, too?”
“The attackers? No. I have no idea why not.”
“Does Sonomulia’s name come from an ancient word for sleep ?”
“What?” His lip twisted. “No, of course not. Who said it did?”
“It was a joke we made,” she said to unknit his eyebrows. “That you Supras had been walled up in there so long—”
“Nonsense! We saved humanity, holding on against the encroaching desert. We—”
“And that green spot? Far beyond Sonomulia?”
“That’s Illusivia.”
“Illusive? As in hard to pin down?”
“No! Those ancient terms do not apply to the purpose of our cities.” Rin’s eyes blazed. “Look, I do not know what you Ur-humans do for amusement, but I do not find—”
“I was merely recalling some primeval humor.”
Rin shook his head. His eyes never left the screens, and she realized he was looking for a sign that the attackers might return again. How they could vanish so readily and elude the Supras, she could not fathom. But then, the Earth was large, and in these sprawling lands there were many places to hide. But perhaps not, for humans.
4
THE LIBRARY OF LIFE
T HEY DESCENDED ALONG the spine of snowcapped mountains. The craft was silent, save for the strum of winds at its prow.
Cley was surprised to find that seen this way, the soaring peaks were like crumpled sacks carelessly thrown on a tan table, all other detail washed away. She did know that in the long duration of humanity on Earth, even mountains had been passing features, froth stirred up by the slow waltz of continents.
These particular proudly jutting spires had first broken through an ancient ocean floor as the seas themselves drained away. The birth of the first peaks had been chronicled in a ledger, now lost in the recesses of ornate and
“I am Rin,” he said, as though anyone would know who he was. His casual confidence told her even more than the name, for he was well known. She responded to his questions about the last few days with short, precise answers. She had rarely seen Supras, growing up. Kurani had come as a revelation. This one was not winning her over.
But as they rose with smooth acceleration, Cley gaped, not attempting to hide her surprise. Within moments she saw the lands where she had lived and labored reduced to a mere spot in a vastly larger canvas. As a young girl she had dreamed of flying like this. Now the magnitude of the Supras’ latest labors became obvious. She watched the mountains she had admired as a girl reduced to foot soldiers in an army that marched around the curve of the world.
Her Meta had known well the green complexity of the forests. Below, many fresh, thin brown rivers flowed through narrow canyons, cutting. These gave the mountain range the look of a knobby spine from which many nerves trailed into the tan deserts beyond. A planetary spinal axis, as though the Earth itself had a mind. She wondered if in some sense this could be so.
Brilliant snowcaps crowned the tallest peaks, but these were not, she saw, the source of the countless rivers. Each muddy rivulet began abruptly, high in a canyon, swelling as it ran through rough slopes. The many waterfalls and deep gullies told her that each was busily digging itself in deeper, fresh and energetic.
Cley pointed, and before she could ask, Rin said, “We feed the new rivers from tunnels. The great Millennium Lakes lie far underground here.”
This land sculpting was only millennia old, but already moist wealth had reclaimed much of the planet’s dry midcontinent. Rin sat back as he silently ordered his ship to perform a long turn, showing them the expanses. She caught a brilliant spark of polished metal far away on the very curve of the planet.
“Sonomulia,” Rin said.
“The legend,” she whispered.
“It is quite real,” he said, running his eyes over the display screens that studded the space around them.
“Did they go there, too?”
“The attackers? No. I have no idea why not.”
“Does Sonomulia’s name come from an ancient word for sleep ?”
“What?” His lip twisted. “No, of course not. Who said it did?”
“It was a joke we made,” she said to unknit his eyebrows. “That you Supras had been walled up in there so long—”
“Nonsense! We saved humanity, holding on against the encroaching desert. We—”
“And that green spot? Far beyond Sonomulia?”
“That’s Illusivia.”
“Illusive? As in hard to pin down?”
“No! Those ancient terms do not apply to the purpose of our cities.” Rin’s eyes blazed. “Look, I do not know what you Ur-humans do for amusement, but I do not find—”
“I was merely recalling some primeval humor.”
Rin shook his head. His eyes never left the screens, and she realized he was looking for a sign that the attackers might return again. How they could vanish so readily and elude the Supras, she could not fathom. But then, the Earth was large, and in these sprawling lands there were many places to hide. But perhaps not, for humans.
4
THE LIBRARY OF LIFE
T HEY DESCENDED ALONG the spine of snowcapped mountains. The craft was silent, save for the strum of winds at its prow.
Cley was surprised to find that seen this way, the soaring peaks were like crumpled sacks carelessly thrown on a tan table, all other detail washed away. She did know that in the long duration of humanity on Earth, even mountains had been passing features, froth stirred up by the slow waltz of continents.
These particular proudly jutting spires had first broken through an ancient ocean floor as the seas themselves drained away. The birth of the first peaks had been chronicled in a ledger, now lost in the recesses of ornate and
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