The sea came up with an arrogant glitter.
The starship's speed remained constant, but the surface of the water approached as I angled the spacecraft towards it. Wavelets merged into a sunwashed blur beyond the forward windows. I could make out nothing of the jungle to my left even when I turned and briefly peered at it. It was just a constant deep green ribbon, mounting slowly through a series of mist-filled ridges.
I was following the coastline north. It had been easy to overtake the ship behind me, but they wouldn't stand for it long. I still had a third of the ship's speed left, and judging by the closing distance between us on my scanner, I'd need it. Unless they'd bought an upgrade and kept their secret, they'd be just about at their limit. And I was in a mood to show off.
I spared a glance down at the illuminated board. All of it was in my inner sight if I wanted it, too, but there was nothing like seeing that tense rainbow of data laid out before you.
The air tensed around the ship. I felt it through the side-stick in my hand. Sure enough, the green foliage to my side abruptly disappeared and was replaced by higher grassy ridges. I toned down the engine power and gave the ship a chance to glide through the transition. All the dials laid out in the front array, just below the edge of my focus, betrayed not a twitch off the calculated thresholds of safety.
How long would the glide go on? Just long enough. The ship behind me closed faster, and I smiled. Out the windows to my right, the sea held a scattering of small islands, after which was blue infinity. I eased the stick forward and over, tilting the ship a little that way. The water was the same sapphire as the dormant nav-drive built into the side of the cockpit, a small twisting tree, full of promise. I forced myself to look back at the front horizon, to enjoy what I had.
I let the silver ship behind me creep just close enough to activate the small proximity screen on the control board. Then I slid my left thumb up the throttle. The burning scream of the engines held an animal joy, and I held everything at once, right in its heart.
The proximity screen flicked back off.
After one particular ridge, I saw in the distance the back of a gigantic stone figure. The enormous statue seemed to grow out of the grass-covered headland on which it stood. It was Damordra Li, after whom the city, and the continent, had been named. I checked the longitude readout. There would be plenty of space to pass.
Pull a little back, climb just a bit.
Here the wind off the headland ramped the ship up and up -- and after a snap decision, I banked right around the massive carved back of the great stone figure that stood there, sparing a glance at all the tiny people on the viewing platform she carried on her shoulders --
The wide mouth of Reiddeen Bay opened before me, a kilometer wide. Once, long before, it had been a lake, with only a small stream twisting through a sandbar to empty into the sea. That was before the Adjustment allowed people to live here again. They'd returned to a beach twenty meters thinner, and now washed with salty waves.
Reflections travelled around the cabin as the ship turned, one wing tilted ever so slightly towards the rushing sea.
And now a great wide curve, as the horizon divides the forward screen at an unnatural angle. Then I levelled the starship back out. I cut power to all but one engine, and let this glide take me straight into the mouth of the bay.
The sun was low ahead of me as I approached the city of Damor. The skyline loomed on the forward horizon, dark and sparkling, silhouetted in gold. But my destination was well short of Damor's spaceport. Warm currents of tropical air off the bay vibrated the hull, as I switched over to vertical power and put down the landing gear. Near the jutting tip of a ridge that enfolded the north side of the bay, the main city marina kept a landing pad just for this purpose. With practised delicacy, I placed the starship in the centre of it. Once I was sure of its footing, we carefully rolled to a spot by the side.
It was quick to power down, sounding satisfied with itself. I stripped off the helmet and coverall and tossed them into the refresher. Just as I opened the hatch door and jumped out, my rival passed overhead. I shaded my eyes and looked up, grinning. Just who I thought it was, Raila Akeyo in the Saturnus J-7. Racing practice for her, then. How I wished --
"Nice ship," Jasha said behind me. "Who'd you steal it from?"
I turned. He was coming across the landing pad towards me. His auburn hair looked coppery in the late sun, and he was wearing loose brown trousers and a sleeveless shirt. Our friend Katiat was beside him in a bright pink sundress. She put her arms around me in a tight hug.
"From Pach," I replied. "Though he's coming to steal it back in a few minutes. Hi, Kat."
"Hi, Jessyn," she said. "Did your test go well?"
"It wasn't a test flight today, just bringing a ship up here for a paint job." In truth, I liked the pale blue it currently sported. But the owner had settled on dark purple, and I was curious to see the final result. "Thanks for meeting me."
"Did you still want to come by my new studio?" Kat asked us. "It's taken a while, but I finally have it fixed up."
"Love to. What about it, Jess?" asked Jas.
"Definitely. Let me hand this over, and we'll get going." I scanned the marina, but didn't see Pach yet. The sea breeze from the east was pleasant, and it brought the sound of the surf up from below the cliff where we stood. Then a small inner chime let me know my one-time flight instructor had arrived.
He was about five years older than me, with tilted dark eyes and curly blond hair pulled back into a tail. We'd met through a mutual pilot friend while I was in my third year of university, and soon after he'd become my mentor.
Once I'd expressed interest in becoming a test pilot, he had pulled every string he could to get me in. I would never forget that.
"Good job, man, good job." Pach walked towards us from around the parked ship, looking it over thoughtfully. He started when he saw it wasn't just me standing there. "Oh. Hello."
"Pach, this is my foster brother, Jasha Silva, though his father. And this is my friend Katiat, an artist here in Damor. This is Pach Keller, the test coordinator at Southport."
"I've heard great things about you," he said to Jas, shaking his hand. Then turning to Kat, he added, "And not nearly enough about you." Looking back at the ship, he went on. "Any issues? Did she fly alright?"
"She flew perfectly." I didn't mention Raila. No harm done.
"Good, good. Lucky you were free today. You sure you don't want me to bring you on full time?" Pach gave me that speculative look, that had increased in frequency since I'd graduated a few months ago.
"I haven't quite decided yet," I admitted. "But thanks."
"Well, let me know," he said easily. "I'm sorry to make this fast, but I'm due to have her up at Northport before sunset. Katiat, Jasha, it was a pleasure to meet you."
We waved him off, and then he was into the ship and closing the hatch in his usual contained whirlwind. We stepped back towards the railing as he turned the starship towards the centre of the landing pad in a graceful curve, and fired the vertical power rings. Then the ship began to drift up and over the peak of the headland ridge. The main engines came on with a solid thrum. I watched it push upwards against the heavy sea air, until it was indistinct, a tiny blue bird against the wider sky.
" -- Jess?"
Her voice came to me as if from a far satellite. But Katiat was right there, her elbow digging gently into my upper arm. The breath I took felt like the first one to enter my lungs in a while.
"I'm hot," I said, as a halfhearted excuse. "Maybe I should jump in the water."
"In your clothes?" Kat scoffed. The wind blowing across the bay fluttered her blond hair into her eyes, and she tucked a long strand of it behind her ear.
"Ready to walk?" Jasha asked.
"It isn't far," she added. "As long as you don't mind heading over the slope. The autowalk goes the rest of the way. Almost."
We set off down the stairs of the landing pad to the main path of the marina. A kid somewhere to the left of us squealed with excitement, as the boat they were riding on tucked its foils beneath and lifted itself, dripping, into an overhead rack. The breeze misted a little of the spray over us.
The northern headland rose more abruptly than the twin it faced on the south shore of the bay, though they both angled impressive cliff faces out into the teal water. Instead of foothills, though, this side had one steep ridge -- brief to climb, but hot work.
Katiat led the way, but I was determined to keep up, even as the late-afternoon heat began to stifle me. I could sense Jasha settle into a similar stubborn pace right beside me, unwilling to bring up the rear. You'd think two university graduates would be too old for these petty competitions, but you'd be mistaken.
Mercifully, we reached the top of the ridge. It was a rewarding view out over the vast marshes to the north of the city. And up this high, the steady sea winds cooled us and dried our damp hair.
Katiat eyed Jasha and me, who were panting as quietly as possible in the refreshing breeze. She grinned. "A few more times up and down, and you might be fit to come out and see my real house."
"I wouldn't decline," Jasha said. "Next season."
I stretched casually, pretending that I wasn't winded. "I'm ready whenever." Jas rolled his eyes.
"As long as you knock this time," Kat teased me. "That apartment you were thinking about -- can you see it from here?"
"Probably." I scanned the seaside neighbourhood below us. "There."
She looked where I pointed. A new building rose from the community near the cliffside. Its base was broad and rectangular, housing a small shopping arcade. Twenty-five floors rose up from there, curving and white like the sail of an old vessel.
"It's certainly fancy," Jasha said, in that tone designed to get under my skin.
"It's not how the place looks that bothers me," I said. "It's that I got it through my dad. I'm skipping the queue."
"So what, if it suits you?" she replied. "Wouldn't it be nice to live in the same town together again?"
"You beat me into the city," I pretended to glower. She grinned right back at me.
"It's your own fault, Jessyn. You shouldn't wait to accept a spot like that." She looked out over the water. "And such a view."
"It faces north."
"That's still the ocean, you sprout."
A pedestrian street descended the ridge towards the city proper. Jas started down it, and we followed him. At this hour, most people who were out in this residential area seemed to have found an awning to sit under, or else in the shade of one of the ancient trees that sprawled across the corner parks. Some of the thickest branches rested heavily on tall white columns, or even dipped right down to the grass.
Just as the ground traffic began to increase around us closer to the business district, we came to the nearest gate for the public autowalk. Jas and I tapped our palms, and Kat used the grey off-worlder bracelet she'd worn for years. We stepped on a merge-path, this time in obedient single-file, and shortly the cooler air of the glass tunnels surrounded us.
When I was little, I'd thought this was what flying in a ship would be like.
But flying was so much better.
"I wish I could race this year," I confided suddenly.
Kat glanced briefly at my brother.
"Why?" Jas said. "Don't want to let Pach finally have his victory?" Scowling at him, I opened my mouth to protest, but he went right on. "Honestly, though, my solaires are on that team out west. What's that guy's name? Artizar?"
"Suno Artizar," agreed Katiat. "I've seen him onscreen."
"I know what you're doing," I said.
They both looked at me.
"I won't mope about it. Promise."
The moving walkway took us towards the busiest ring of downtown. We skipped carefully from one travelling pad to another as the paths through the city diverged. Around us, the white and silver masses of living and working spaces loomed and then disappeared, in time with the walkway curving between them. The shade amid these enormous complexes gave the illusion of twilight. Then we'd reemerge into a bolt of orange sunlight, or the white brilliance from a reflective glass building.
Eventually our path aimed towards the old industrial area north of downtown. It had never really been repopulated after the Adjustment. But every few years a collection of people would decide to get together and talk about revitalising the run-down buildings.
Kat pointed out the exit ramp, and we followed her down the spiral ramp to the ground.
The buildings around us had ceased being the skyscrapers of the downtown core, or even the blocky plascrete buildings of the gourmet district that we'd passed over. They looked to be spurious mix of empty warehouses, factories obviously experiencing a long pause in their use, and determined little theater spaces and craft galleries.
Katiat looked around for her bearings, then we followed her away from the exit gate toward one of the nearby lanes. The sun was at an angle, still blazing hot out here. The shadows cast by the whitewashed stone buildings looked sharp and inviting. There was a defiant silence in this neighbourhood, an intrusion of nature and age that held the urban energy far away. The empty lots between were taken over by fastelm trees that bore an unwholesome-coloured purple fruit, and by thorn-littered trails. I liked it.
We passed a small shop advertising wines and handmade snacks. "Let's buy some," I said.
Katiat and Jasha pored over the shelf of bottles for awhile. I left them to it, not knowing much about wine, and bought a bag each of candies and savoury bites. Once they'd paid the friendly woman on the couch near the entrance, I held the door open with a flourish. Something about this neighbourhood put me in good spirits.
We stood in the road for a few minutes, digging around in my bags and trying a few of the snacks. Kat took an extra piece of candy, then started walking up the street again. Jas and I fell in step on either side of her.
She pointed out various renovations in the buildings we walked past, and gave the names of their new owners. I took her word for it, as it all looked like makeshift scaffolding and rolled-up dropcloths to me.
"Here it is," Katiat said. She pulled a chip holder from her sleeve and touched it to the door.
Despite the rows of windows on the outside of the building, suggesting multiple floors, the inside was one enormous empty space. A few stacks of large wooden crates were the room's only ornament. In a near corner, a makeshift house had been fashioned from parts of a tall metal barricade. Katiat invited Jas and me in.
The absence of a ceiling allowed the ephemeral light of the giant warehouse to fill the small living space. Unlike the dusty main chamber, everything here had an air of cultivated purpose. A stack of beat up trunks was to my right. The trunks, at least the opened top one, were filled with art supplies. I could see rolled tubes of paint, coils of wire, and stained brushes sticking askew into the air. A scattering of note tablets lay atop a closed trunk, along with some wire cutters. I relaxed. It reminded me of old times.
Then I saw, over her bed, the tree.