Skyland Read Online Free PDF

window, floor
to ceiling and covering fifty feet of the ship's curved side. The
sun had set, but it's light had not gone out completely. The Sky
was a dark indigo blue. True blue. The last blue before night,
before the stars took over the sky; one or two of the brightest
twinkled here and there, but the dark and solid expanse of blue
still dominated the heavenly field. The window faced out towards
the country and a onto handful of tiny buildings lit up by the city
lights four, five hundred feet below? Harper had never been up this
high. The ground seemed too far away to calculate.
    Inside the room, to one side of the great
window the red coat of a Transport worker stood out against the
dark blue of the Sky behind her. She sat at a desk sipping from a
steaming mug and reading from the screen in front of her. She
looked up and smiled as Harper and Zara approached.
    "You're the two farmers, right? We've got a
space for you up here. Room 2332 at the near end of the hall, just
here."
    She handed them a key. "Launch in fi–"
    "Launch in five minutes," The ship's
voice interrupted.
    "Yes, exactly. You can go to your room, but
there's no window in there I'm afraid. Not in the last minute
spaces; the ones with the good views were snapped up ages ago. But
you can watch the launch from here if you like."
    "We'll stay here." His voice overlayed
Zara's, and they looked at each other. Harper could practically
hear her thoughts, the same as his: We will have a last glimpse
of the Sky.
    "Great."
    The Transport worker took another sip from
the mug and Harper and Zara moved off.
    Now that Harper had lowered his eyes from
the expanse outside the window and looked around the room itself,
he noticed there were more people here than in the foyer, but still
only a few dozen. Some looked bored, swiveling in chairs set around
the window or sitting at tables in the middle of the room. Some
looked excited. And then there were the others...
    One old man was bent almost double, his
grizzled beard brushing his waist. He shook as he stood, covering
the side of his face with one hand, the side of his face facing the
giant window. His head twitched over to that side once or twice as
he peeked over his hand. Each time he shook his head and shivered
and hid his face once more. A child stared at the blue field, eyes
wide, face white, terrified. A young woman – his mother? – stood
staring blankly into the room with her back turned to the window.
The elderly couple that had been in the elevator held each others
hands across a table in the middle of the room.
    Villagers.
    As Harper and Zara moved over to the empty
seats by the window, they glanced at their fellow country folk, the
old man, the couple, the child, the young woman, but as soon as
their eyes met they all looked away, looked down, turned away,
hunched just a little lower. Harper spotted a short couch by one
corner of the window and sat down on it. It was soft, softer than
any of the metal stools he'd so often sat on in the country. It was
like sitting on a pile of blankets.
    But he could not get comfortable.
    His hands were shaking for the first time
that day. He closed his eyes.
    "Here, my Sky?" Zara's voice trembled beside
him. "Here?" she breathed.
    "We are going to see the Sky. Don't you want
to?"
    "I–I do."
    Her hand squeezed his shoulder. Then the
seat shifted as Zara sat beside him. A soft kiss brushed his
temple. Someone laughed loud beside them, and he opened his eyes
and looked over. A group of city folk was chatting, far more intent
on each other than the sight on the other side of the glass.
    ''How can they be so calm?" Zara asked,
staring.
    "The city dwellers have seen the Sky up
close before. They don't appreciate Her. Flight is not new to
them."
    He squeezed his eyes shut again.
    He could see his father's face behind his
eyelids. He could see the expression that would come over it when
he realized the launch was successful. His cheeks would twist as he
snarled. Tears, angry,