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Ten minutes later, Brooks found himself waiting. He’d missed his shuttle, but that was all right. He could take another.
Right now, he decided to take a moment just to appreciate the view.
The Earth was small from here. Still over 300,000 kilometers away, Gagarin station orbited at Lagrange 1, the point of rough gravitational balance between the planet and its moon.
From here he could see the blue oceans, the wisps of clouds. A thin line seemed to intersect the planet, which he knew was the new planetary ring, constructed in the decades since the catastrophe.
For nearly ten years the Earth had been cut off from the outside. Now, it was almost like it hadn’t happened.
Once he was closer he’d be able to see the scars on the surface from the big impacts. Mostly centered around the equator, many had been smoothed over, reclaimed. But the badlands, areas of environmental collapse, wrecked by the savage swings of climate in the last thousand years, had not been erased.
Not all of them were dust bowls, either, he knew.
“Now boarding Flight 1016, bound to Southern Polar Regions,” the call came, and his system helpfully reminded him that this was his new flight.
He dawdled a moment, appreciating how beautiful Earth looked from here. It was nice not seeing the scars.
Tearing himself away, he moved to board his flight.
“Call ahead and arrange all the gear,” he told his system. “And rent a piloted crawler. I know the way.”
“Destination?” his system queried.
“Perry, Antarctica.”
Apollonia boarded the shuttle when bidden. She’d wanted to ask someone questions, clarify just where she was going, but she couldn’t think of how to phrase it – or get the attention of any staff.
She was going to Lundgren Tower, apparently, whatever it was.
It occurred to her that her tablet should, as Brooks told her, have her answers.
“What is Lundgren Tower?” she asked it.
It immediately answered back that the likely answer based on context was one of the Space Elevators that connected to the new – and still under construction – orbital ring around Earth.
“Where will the drone take me when I get there?”
The answer came back; “Wherever on Earth you want.”
Her heart thudded in her chest. Brooks was giving her a ticket to anywhere?
She wondered, though, if there was still anything left to see.
“Are there are any forests?” she asked.
A list of forests whose names she did not even recognize came up. “Are these natural forests that have been around a long time?” she asked.
The system seemed to ponder that question.
“Nearly all forests were planted since the Orbital Ring Collapse,” it finally said.
She asked for pictures, scrolling through the images of trees. They were small, not having had time to grow into the giants she’d always heard of and dreamed about.
She didn’t even notice when they took the dashgate, nor when they exited. She was just looking through all the images of trees.
“Please prepare for docking,” she heard, looking up. She had lost track of the time in her interest.
None of the forests were quite what she’d hoped for, and she didn’t know if she could get her tablet to really understand what she actually wanted. But if she had to she could just pick one of them.
The ship docked, and she tucked her tablet into her pocket, confirming that the card Brooks gave her was still with her.
With the others – none of whom seemed to pay her much mind – she exited the ship and got onto the station.
She found some amusement with the fact that she was more adept in the zero-g than most of the others, and flipped herself onto the ceiling easily to pass some of the slow-movers.
“Tourists,” she muttered, amused.
Outside of the docking area, she saw a drone waiting. It obligingly flipped over to be on her plane.
“Greetings, Ms. Nor,” it said in a pleasant voice. “If you would follow me, I will guide you to the elevator.”
“Thanks,” she said, then felt stupid for thanking a drone.
It floated away, and she pulled herself along the ceiling after it, moving more fluidly than most.
They moved past a window and she stopped.
Down, below, she could see part of the Earth.
It was blue, just ocean, with wisps of streaky clouds hiding some of the darker water.
It was the closest view she’d ever had of a planet. And it was the homeworld.
She lingered, the drone stopping and waiting patiently.
“What am I looking at?” she asked.
“You are viewing the Pacific Ocean,” the drone told her. “Lundgren Tower is anchored to the Earth at the equator, approximately 100 degrees West of South America. At its base end is a floating platform. It is not technically a tower, but rather a tether-“
“Why is it all so dark?” she asked.
“It is night time,” the drone replied.
She craned her neck to see if she could see the tower – or tether, apparently – itself. But she could not.
“Your elevator will be departing soon. If you wish to catch it, we should be moving.”
“All right,” she said, stepping away. “It’s just the first time I’ve seen it. I . . . I guess it means something to me.”
“Please follow me,” the drone said, oblivious to her words.
The space elevator was large, but not as impressive as she’d expected. The trip, her tablet told her, would take around seven hours.
She didn’t like that. It should take two-three minutes for re-entry, tops, in her mind. She’d heard of space elevators, of course, but in most thing she saw the people going down to a planet opted for an ablative re-entry, with all the dramatic plasma and glow that entailed.
Though, she reasoned, considering how often those went wrong in the shows, she was glad to take something that was perhaps safer.
A message appeared, from Brooks. Surprised, she brought it up. It was only a few lines of text.
“There’s no Rafflesia flowers, but there’s a forest I think you’ll like. Show the Guide Drone and it will get you there.”
An image came up, and she saw the forest. There was no name – only an image.
Oh yes, she thought. She liked that.
“Hey, drone?” she said.
“How can I help you?” it asked.
“What is this forest called?”
“It is the Sequoia Cloud Forest,” the drone told her.
She felt a tingle go down her spine. “Take me there.”
Other Terrestrial 