[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.They slowed as they approached.The mountain city filled half their vision.But was it a city? It looked.Louise struggled to work out exactly what it did look like.It looked like an artwork, sculpted out of a mountain of variegated crystals.It didn't look natural and it didn't look functional.But.did people live there? Well, not people obviously but.did someone live there? She couldn't see any signs of life: no vehicles, no space ships, no movement—except from the city itself which looked in a constant state of flux.Was it growing? Was it alive? Its edges wouldn't stand still.They grew; they twisted; they changed shape, colour and texture.It was.it was as close to indescribable as anything she'd ever seen in her life.Home, said a voice in her head."Your home?" she asked.Home, came the reply.Chapter Twenty-ThreeA dolphin appeared from nowhere and started to swim towards the island city, undulating its body through a waterless black void."I think we're meant to follow," said Nick."I think I feel safer out here," said Louise.He shared her misgivings.Up to a point.But another part of him was drawn to that incredible structure.How could anyone not want to take a closer look? It was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.It was the most amazing thing any human had ever seen.And it was there—right in front of him.Okay, so there was an element of danger but was that danger any less outside the island city? If the dolphin aliens meant them harm then a few miles wasn't going to provide much protection."If they meant to harm us, Lou, why spend so much time making us feel better?""To make sure we didn't try to escape.""So why didn't they restrain us or knock us out?""Maybe that comes next.""Suit yourself.But I'm going in.They're our only chance of getting back home."He focussed on the dolphin and pulled himself towards it.Louise followed.The city loomed above them, huge towers projecting into the void like feral skyscrapers of crystal and silk—they shone, they shimmered, they rippled in both colour and form.It was breathtaking.So much to look at, so much to comprehend.The dolphin led them to a chasm—or was it a street?—between two massive iridescent towers.Nick scanned ahead, looking for doors or openings—markings, anything—some clue as to their nature.Were they buildings or crystals, alive or inert? Maybe it wasn't a city, maybe it was the higher dimensional equivalent of a coral reef.But where was everybody? Were they waiting inside or was everyone invisible.Had Nick and Louise strayed into a part of the universe that evolution hadn't equipped them to comprehend? An infra-red, ultra-violet, ultra-anything-they'd-ever sensed-before realm cloaked from their sight?But if so, how could they see the city? Or were they only seeing a subset of the city? Was it even more magnificent for those with full-spectrum sight?The dolphin turned at an intersection.Another empty street cum chasm.This one appearing to narrow towards the top, the two sides of the street almost touching—hundreds, maybe thousands of metres above them.Nick drifted to one side.He had to look closer, reach out and touch.Were the chasm walls solid? Could he pass straight through?"Nick? What are you doing?" hissed Louise.She sounded like a worried parent who'd just noticed her six year-old reaching towards the most expensive vase in the shop."Investigating," he said."Do you think these are buildings? I can't see any doors but maybe you just float straight through."The wall changed as he approached.The previously flat, shiny surface suddenly incised with.a pattern? A triangle within a circle.Except the shape changed as he moved closer.The three sides of the triangle didn't quite meet and the circle was more like a spiral stretching impossibly back into the structure of the building.He reached out to touch it, ready to draw back at the slightest hint of danger.He.made contact.It was solid.He pushed harder.The wall didn't give."Come on, Nick.The dolphin's turning again."He reluctantly left the structure.The whole city had to be made of higher dimensional matter.If only he had an imager!He chased after Louise, reached the intersection where she'd last seen the dolphin, turned and.found an empty street."Where did it go?""I don't know," said Louise.There was a black horizontal line halfway down the far chasm wall [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]