The Lost Colony

Chapter 32

"It's heresy, of course," Sparr overheard Lord Gast explain. "Omm himself cast down the machines. It isn't ours to do so again."

"But it's as I said the other evening," his wife cut in, "If the casting down of the machines is more a metaphorical expression than an embodiment of a discreet act, or series of acts..."

Sparr fell back, shaking his head. Undeniably, something had happened on Kaybe to disrupt the colonization plan. The answer, he was sure, would be found in Shong itself, not in the teachings of the Origin.

The Shong valley, really more of a flat plain bordered by shallow ridges on either side, wasn't quite as desolate as it appeared from a distance. As the caravan trundled along, it became increasingly obvious that it had at one point been inhabited. The foundations of buildings, outlines of long-abandoned streets, and the occasional debris pile said as much. Sparr found the place spooky. Where there should have been streets, homes, parks, and people, there were little more than ghosts of what once had been, a world abandoned for hundreds of years. Here and there, the erratic breeze kicked up swirling clouds of dust.

Meanwhile, the spires of Shong itself loomed ever closer. Each competed with the next to own the sky, rising higher, twisting more radically, or glinting against the sun with more intricate decorations. Some clearly had been residential, with elaborate balconies. Others must have been office space, although no sign remained of which interest had erected them. Sparr wondered if the predecessor to K2 Genetics was among them. How much progress had they made studying and decoding the native life before things had collapsed?

Closer in, it became easier to imagine the outskirts of a city. Sparr could make out the boundaries of roads, and more and more of the buildings were partially intact. What must once have been a common space was still identifiable, but with little left aside from brambles and piles of rock where walls or benches must have been. Scores of gaunt, silver and brown birds fought for space on one of the few remaining trees.

"We will walk from here." The wagons had reached a turnaround in the road, just shy of the city center. Liette summoned the pilgrims, Kern, and most of the guards. "You'll see several families among the ruins closer in. Do not be alarmed. They have made Shong their home, and seek only to scavenge and trade. After we stop, you'll have some time on your own to explore and barter."

The group followed Liette, eager to reach what for many was the ultimate stop on the pilgrimage. Shong, and its ruined machines, represented the corrupt world against which Omm had struggled, and served as a stark reminder of what had befallen those who worshipped machines. Nothing was more central to the faith of the origin. Even Sparr, who disdained the exploitative religion, was curious what he would find. Above all, he sought any still functioning machines. If anything still was left intact, Sparr would find it. With luck, he could signal the Odysseus.

The well-worn path snaked between several squat, substantial buildings. Here the group first spotted the local inhabitants. Two girls sat somberly, at either end of a wooden display rack loaded with cut glass of all sorts. Most were decorative, either cut in the shape of the Origin symbol, or more abstract shapes such as teardrops, stars, or spirals. A few had been delicately etched. One of the girls was focused intently on etching a glass fragment held in her lap. The other called out to the pilgrims. "A memory of your spiritual journey! Celebrate your faith. You'll pay twice as much at the Overlook!" Liette hustled them by.

The Overlook, it turned out, was their destination. The sight practically stopped Sparr's heart in his chest. Even ruined, the towers of Shong were inspiring from a great distance. The pilgrims had been treated to glimpses of their crumbling majesty off and on for a day and a half. The overlook, in contrast, provided a close up view of the city's slowly-unfolding destruction. A massive canyon ran through the city center, its origin unclear. At the near end, where the pilgrims gathered, were a viewing platform and plaza. The canyon sloped down and away from there, carving a hideous gash through Kaybe's rocky soil. The basements and sublevels of the adjacent towers were visible, their exposed sides split open to reveal catacombs within. One of the towers had eroded away until it collapsed into the canyon, sending debris for a half kilometer. The bottom of the canyon was filled with stagnant water, edged with algae. The vista was achingly depressing. How, Sparr wondered, could anything useful have survived?

The rest of the pilgrims were equally in awe. The bachelors, for a moment, forgot their bluster, each falling silent as they gaped at the scar that was the canyon. The couples stood close together, either embracing quietly, or pointing out some particularly interesting detail here and there. Liette, for a time, wisely said nothing. The moment lingered heavily, the scale and degree of the damage difficult to process.

"We'll have the lesson over here," Liette said, finally. She summoned the pilgrims, who found seats near the edge of the viewing platform. "Here, in the shadow of what was Omm's greatest test, we will discuss the sixth step on his journey."

As always, Sparr tuned out the lecture, choosing instead to study the vista. Foot paths had been carved into the side of the canyon, allowing the locals a way not only to cross, but also to access the sublevels of those towers closest to the edge. Either through erosion and collapse, or the work of the inhabitants, scores of openings now allowed access to what once would have been building systems, storage, or underground passages. Sparr spotted telltale traces of smoke wafting from several of them. At least a few were occupied.

Further overhead, the towers themselves were gradually being dismantled. From a precariously-supported scaffolding hundreds of feet off the ground, two people cut away sheets of glass from a tower. As Sparr watched, the two finished separating one such sheet from the window that it once protected, then slid it back inside. On a lower level of the same structure, a crew was flinging out handfuls of wire, pipes, sheet metal, and fittings of all sorts. When they paused, another crew on the ground hauled the pile away for sorting.

Trying not to attract too much notice, Sparr glanced at his communicator. Just like the last one hundred times he had checked, the device located no radio signals of any sort. He groaned in frustration. The city was so massive it would take days or weeks even to walk it. There were no lights, no radio waves, no sign that any of the technology that had been used to build and sustain it survived. When Liette summoned him and the guards, he shuffled back, depressed and listless.

"We'll leave in two hours," the priestess announced. "You may visit the stalls here at the plaza. Many of them sell unique souvenirs. And there is another shopping area around the way there. You may find it more varied, although I cannot attest to the quality of the merchandise. Kern will lead a group there in five minutes."