Valhai (The Ammonite Galaxy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

finally she dropped into a deep sleep, disturbed only by her dreams. In her sleep, she was running free on Coriolis vanquishing single-handedly an army of untouchables from Kwaide. It was a pleasant dream.

Chapter 3
    GRACE CHECKED THE bodywrap she had donned and the spare mask pack she had carefully threaded through her belt. Although there was nobody on the 48 th floor to witness her descent, she looked around her rather apprehensively. She would have to take the back lift to get outside. The front lift would take her directly to the horizontal orthogel tubes. They would take her outside, certainly, but only to the fully covered and oxygenated park or zoo areas, where her oxygen masks would not be needed. If she went there she would find a smattering of other Sellites, especially those with young children. Mothers sometimes forced themselves to take their children to spend a few minutes “outside”. But the force field which held the air in would obviously keep her corralled in too. No, she had to take the back lift down to the first level, and then use the stairs set into the rexelene in order to climb down to planet level. Then she would truly be bare planet.
    She pressed a button to summon up an ortholift to take her down to the first floor. Within seconds the slightest hiss told her that it had arrived. She stepped through the thin membrane, marveling as she did at the technology which had enabled orthogel to be used as a transport service.
    The lift arrived on the ground floor, and she made her way back out through the membrane, and as she did so she seemed to hear a faint sigh.
    “Is there anybody here?”
    Of course there wasn’t. The only people on this level had been dead and entombed for over forty generations!
    As in all the skyrises, the lay-out was identical from floor to floor, so she was able to make her way directly to the outside terrace. Stopping now only long enough to push the first mask pack over her face, she found the metal steps leading from the terrace downwards, and swung herself out over them. There were more than she had thought. Not only did they cover the last floor down, but they skirted the enormous blocks of rexelene which served to protect the building from any tectonic activity nearby. The rexelene was as high as two of the normal skyrise floors, so it took her quite a lot longer than she had thought before she was able to step down onto the planet.
    It was electrifying! As if she were the first person ever to come out here! She thought of all the other Sellite families, unknowingly carrying out their tasks shut up in their respective skyrises and knew straight away what it was that had been bothering her. She had been suffering from claustrophobia. She had needed to get out onto the surface of the planet, experience it first hand, even if through a bodywrap. At last. It felt right, a homecoming.
    In this euphoric state she made her way down past the line of skyrises towards the valley. She made good speed. There was little impediment to walking here in the valley, and the light gravity made it easy to move her slim body.
    About an hour later she decided to stop for a rest. She had reached the hill slope above the main orthogel lake and the view down to the inky liquid below was stunning. She sat down on the dry sandy ground and sipped some water out of the bottle she had brought with her. It wasn’t easy, but there was a special vent in the mask pack designed for that purpose. The two mask packs she had brought with her were good for at least five hours, so she was in no hurry. She sat happily back, enjoying the view over the lake. It was absolutely silent out there, a true silence she couldn’t ever remember hearing before. It was very soothing.
    She must have nearly nodded off in her reverie, because she became suddenly aware of a noise, and saw that two figures had disembarked from the orthogel cabin onto the central jetty. One was small and thin, of unknown origin. The other was