We made great machines to lift us
away from the earth, roaring on
engines that growled with noxious
fuels, then rockets that shot us into
space. But once we were there, we
realized it wasn't enough. We grew
restless. We waged war. We won, and
we lost, and we brought the earth to its
flaming knees. The sun tore open our
irradiated, weakened atmosphere, and
life dwindled to ash.
And now, nearly three hundred years
after the end, we survived. Hidden
behind the thick outer walls of the
Tower, we served the monstrous
structure that was both our salvation
and our prison. Once, we had dreamed of flying. Now,
we didn't seem to dream at all.
"Squire Castell." Gerome, my
commanding officer, snapped me out
of my musings, and I cringed. I'd been
daydreaming again, and not about
p
