Ellie Quin Book 3: Beneath the Neon Sky Read Online Free PDF

imported off-world chat-show. With Jez’s loud announcement breaking the fug of creeping boredom, the toob was instantly forgotten and all ten passengers crowded to either side of the suite to look out at the approaching spectacle.
    Jez joined the billboard brothers, Corin, and one of the middle-aged couples in one window and stared out at the approaching ice sheet, now as thick as a thumb held out at arm’s length. She had anticipated that the transition from non-arctic to arctic would have been gradual; starting with small patches of ice and snow that gradually grew in size and density. She couldn’t have been more wrong. As they drew closer, hugging the dusty ground below them, she could see they were approaching a towering wall of ancient ice, several hundred feet tall. Its base was littered with shattered blocks of ice, a glittering rubble heap of shards and glistening faceted boulders of melting ice.
    ‘As you can see, if you look at the bottom of the shelf approaching us, there is a lot of freshly broken ice. That’s ice that has broken away from the shelf as it continues to melt and withdraw northwards.’
    Jez had tried to find some information on the arctic region of Harpers Reach on the Toob-GEO Interactive channel. Despite a heroic effort on her part, she had found very little on it. After a long time patiently scanning through the lists of content, and being sidetracked a couple of times by a juicy celebrity gossip page, she had eventually found a menu devoted to natural history and a page of historic notes on the Big Warming of Old Earth. Jez decided the facts and figures she pulled up there, dating from the first half of the 21 st century onwards, were probably good enough to pass as data harvested from below.
    ‘Detailed measurements taken here, over the last twenty years…’
    Go on then girl, make it sound authentic and official.
    ‘…conducted by the Colonial Bureau of Arctic Studies, have shown that the shelf is withdrawing northwards by three miles every year. That the ice-mass of the north polar region is decreasing by two-and-a-half percent every year, as the temperature of the planet warms up,’ she announced, checking out of the corner of her eyes to see whether she was being given any skeptical frowns. Encouraged, she tried to remember some more of the little factoids she had read on the dying days of Old Earth’s polar caps.
    ‘If you look at the ice face itself, you’ll see different layers of white and grey. That’s where the density of the ice changes and is a reflection of environmental changes here on Harpers Reach from long before man settled on the planet. As you can see, there have been climate changes in the past, but this time round the warming will eventually melt all of it.’
    ‘So why IS the world warming up?’ asked the middle aged lady next to her.
    Jez concentrated for a moment as she recalled the detailed explanation Aaron had given her a few days ago. Somewhat bored and irritated by his lecturing tone, she hadn’t listened to all of it but, but she could recall enough of it to parrot-it-back.
    ‘As the atmosphere thickens across the planet, thanks to the work of the Oxxon refineries right at the very top of the world, the surface heat of the ground, warmed by the sun, is then trapped beneath it. The atmosphere functions a bit like a one way mirror, allowing…’
    Crud, technical words coming up. I hope I get this right….
    ‘…
infrared
and
microwave
energy in one way, but not out the other. In effect, functioning like a layer of insulation,’ Jez said, proud with herself that for a few moments there, she’d managed to sound vaguely like an egg-head, even if she didn’t really understand the first thing of what she had just been saying.
    The shuttle began to rise in altitude as the mottled white wall ahead of them loomed up large and intimidating. As the final thousand yards distance dwindled, the shuttle rose and dramatically skimmed over the top of the