technology, but didn’t believe it could ever reach across interstellar distances. They started three ambitious projects to build new habitats for humanity on Earth itself. Eden was a super-city built from scratch in Earth Africa. Atlantis was underwater off the coast of Earth America. Ark was underground in Earth Australia.’
‘Underground,’ Stone repeated. I could tell I had her full attention now. ‘Details, please.’
‘Both Atlantis and Ark were intended to be closed, self-sufficient habitats. Arcologies protected from pollution and climate issues. Ark would be underground, carved out of solid rock, accessible only by portal, with its own recycled air and water. It would grow its own food and manufacture everything it needed. They built Eden, they got as far as carving out the caverns for Ark and shipping the rock out by portal to form the Atlantis reef system, then we got interstellar portals so the whole thing was abandoned in 2310.’
‘That was over four and a half centuries ago,’ Stone said. ‘Ark still exists?’
I nodded. ‘I’ve been on an Ark tour myself. It’s just endless bare granitoid caverns. They built the air purification system as they went along digging the caverns because they needed to breathe, but nothing else was ever installed. Ark was intended to house over a billion people. If we were to use it as a refuge for the Handicapped, they’d have to take lights with them, but the rest … In the twentieth century, there was the Berlin airlift. For about a year, they used aircraft to fly in all the supplies for an entire city. Surely we could do something similar and portal everything in from Alpha sector worlds?’
‘Who has full information on Ark?’ asked Stone.
‘University Earth Australia maintains the air purifiers and takes people on tours.’
‘Right.’ Stone glanced around the hall. ‘If there are no other urgent suggestions, I have to get this moving.’
She was out of the door within seconds.
5
Fian and I headed back towards our quarters, getting what seemed to be more than our fair share of salutes on the way.
‘I’d never even heard of Ark,’ said Fian.
‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘Eden was completed, people actually lived there, and we excavate the ruins to find their stasis boxes. Atlantis is a forgotten artificial reef system. Ark is just empty caves. Why would off-world historians, even pre-history specialists, be interested in them?’
‘But you’ve actually been to Ark?’
I nodded. ‘My class went there on a school trip when I was 16. Lots of schools go to Ark. The caverns are all manmade and perfectly safe, so they just give you the introductory talk, hand out special helmets with lights, and let you go exploring in the dark. Our school was in Earth Europe, and Ark is in Earth Australia time zone, so we went there in the middle of the night.’
I grinned. ‘It was totally zan. We got to stay up all night, roaming around pitch-dark caverns. Our teacher kept yelling at us to stay together, but of course we didn’t. Issette thought it was spooky, and Cathan kept sneaking up on her and making ghostly noises to make her scream, so I stole his helmet and left him without a light. He had to sit on his own for an hour until someone came by and rescued him.’
Fian laughed. A few weeks earlier, I’d taken Fian to meet all my friends from Next Step, and Cathan kept talking about how he kissed me when we were boy and girling. I said that was a year ago, it was as pleasant as kissing a Cassandrian skunk, and Cathan should shut up about it or I’d throw him across the room. I’d actually done that to him once after I did some unarmed combat classes, but Cathan just smirked and said I couldn’t attack people in public or I’d get arrested. That was when Issette tipped a jug of frujit over his head, Fian called him a rude word that a nice Deltan boy shouldn’t even know, and we all got thrown out of Stigga’s MeetUp.
‘Maeth and Ross went off
‘Underground,’ Stone repeated. I could tell I had her full attention now. ‘Details, please.’
‘Both Atlantis and Ark were intended to be closed, self-sufficient habitats. Arcologies protected from pollution and climate issues. Ark would be underground, carved out of solid rock, accessible only by portal, with its own recycled air and water. It would grow its own food and manufacture everything it needed. They built Eden, they got as far as carving out the caverns for Ark and shipping the rock out by portal to form the Atlantis reef system, then we got interstellar portals so the whole thing was abandoned in 2310.’
‘That was over four and a half centuries ago,’ Stone said. ‘Ark still exists?’
I nodded. ‘I’ve been on an Ark tour myself. It’s just endless bare granitoid caverns. They built the air purification system as they went along digging the caverns because they needed to breathe, but nothing else was ever installed. Ark was intended to house over a billion people. If we were to use it as a refuge for the Handicapped, they’d have to take lights with them, but the rest … In the twentieth century, there was the Berlin airlift. For about a year, they used aircraft to fly in all the supplies for an entire city. Surely we could do something similar and portal everything in from Alpha sector worlds?’
‘Who has full information on Ark?’ asked Stone.
‘University Earth Australia maintains the air purifiers and takes people on tours.’
‘Right.’ Stone glanced around the hall. ‘If there are no other urgent suggestions, I have to get this moving.’
She was out of the door within seconds.
5
Fian and I headed back towards our quarters, getting what seemed to be more than our fair share of salutes on the way.
‘I’d never even heard of Ark,’ said Fian.
‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘Eden was completed, people actually lived there, and we excavate the ruins to find their stasis boxes. Atlantis is a forgotten artificial reef system. Ark is just empty caves. Why would off-world historians, even pre-history specialists, be interested in them?’
‘But you’ve actually been to Ark?’
I nodded. ‘My class went there on a school trip when I was 16. Lots of schools go to Ark. The caverns are all manmade and perfectly safe, so they just give you the introductory talk, hand out special helmets with lights, and let you go exploring in the dark. Our school was in Earth Europe, and Ark is in Earth Australia time zone, so we went there in the middle of the night.’
I grinned. ‘It was totally zan. We got to stay up all night, roaming around pitch-dark caverns. Our teacher kept yelling at us to stay together, but of course we didn’t. Issette thought it was spooky, and Cathan kept sneaking up on her and making ghostly noises to make her scream, so I stole his helmet and left him without a light. He had to sit on his own for an hour until someone came by and rescued him.’
Fian laughed. A few weeks earlier, I’d taken Fian to meet all my friends from Next Step, and Cathan kept talking about how he kissed me when we were boy and girling. I said that was a year ago, it was as pleasant as kissing a Cassandrian skunk, and Cathan should shut up about it or I’d throw him across the room. I’d actually done that to him once after I did some unarmed combat classes, but Cathan just smirked and said I couldn’t attack people in public or I’d get arrested. That was when Issette tipped a jug of frujit over his head, Fian called him a rude word that a nice Deltan boy shouldn’t even know, and we all got thrown out of Stigga’s MeetUp.
‘Maeth and Ross went off
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