Ring Around the Sky - Allyn Gibson [13]
Gomez came up to Tev’s side. She nodded in the direction of the departed Eevraith. “An old friend, Commander?” she asked with a flash of humor.
“Friend?” Tev snorted derisively.
Gomez rolled her eyes. She tapped her combadge. “Da Vinci, two to beam aboard.”
Gomez’s last sight of Prelv was of the Ring glittering in the daytime sky. As the transporter beam took them, she wondered who would suffer more this mission—the people of Kharzh’ulla if they had to abandon their world, or Tev.
Chapter
4
Gomez reached up, took the environmental suit helmet in her hands, and gave it a sharp turn counterclockwise. She heard the hiss of atmosphere as the pressure seal broke, and she lifted the helmet off her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nostrils. She smiled. Every planet had a distinctive smell, and Kharzh’ulla IV was no different. The air was tangy and sharp, but not unpleasant—a welcome change from the processed smell of the da Vinci, or the earthy or industrialized smell of far too many worlds she’d visited in her career.
“Commander,” she heard. She turned to Pattie, standing beside her, and the only one not wearing an environmental suit. The Nasat was pointing up with three of her limbs.
Gomez, Tev, Pattie, and Eevraith had beamed from their inspection of the elevator shaft damage to the manufacturing plant at the base of the elevator that was constructing the new hull to replace the phaser-damaged areas.
The elevator rose upward from an artificial island raised in the middle of Kharzh’ulla’s ocean. Gomez followed Pattie’s gesture to view the structure, and she found her mind temporarily unable to comprehend the size of the thing. In orbit as they floated in environmental suits scanning the damage with their tricorders, the elevator lacked scale. She knew instinctively that in orbit the elevator shaft was forty or fifty kilometers in diameter, and she had seen and worked with starships or space stations of that size many times in the past. Even though it dominated her experience, she could conceive of it as an object. But here at the base, the elevator was two hundred fifty kilometers around, and even at a kilometer’s distance she lacked the perspective to see it as anything more than a wall that stretched from horizon to horizon. It had curvature, but she couldn’t see it. It had shape, but it was formless to her. It rose before her, and as she craned her neck upward it filled the sky. The Ring was overhead, but she couldn’t see it. Someone envisioned this, someone built this. She felt small, she felt insignificant, she felt…
She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Sonya,” said Tev in an uncharasteristically soft voice. “Turn around. Please.”
Her eyes blinked a few times rapidly, and she turned at the sound of Tev’s voice. “What…?”
“The sight of the elevator from the base can be…overwhelming, if you don’t know what to expect.”
“But…” she began.
Tev nodded. “You knew, up here,” and he tapped his head. “But knowing doesn’t mean understanding.”
“Is everything all right?” asked Eevraith as he hurried to their side.
Gomez nodded. “I’m fine, Minister. Just a touch of agoraphobia.”
Eevraith looked from Gomez to Tev, uncomprehending. Tev merely shrugged in response.
Two Kharzh’ullans approached the group. Both were tall, nearly three meters in height, and wore red coveralls and yellow helmets. Seeing Eevraith, the Kharzh’ullan in front smiled.
“Commander Gomez,” said Eevraith, “may I present the restoration project leader, Gringa.”
Gomez held out her hand, and Gringa took her hand in his and touched them to his forehead. “A pleasure,” he said as he rose.
“Commander Gomez and her team have come to assist in our repairs of the elevator,” said Eevraith. “They wished to inspect the new elevator shell.”
Gringa nodded. He turned to Gomez. “I believe you’ll find our work satisfactory.”
“Let’s take a look,” said Gomez.
Gringa led them down a metal staircase, across an open field, and into a large warehouse. Inside the entrance,