Kathmandu seemed a likely place to look for culture uncontaminated by the crackpot pseudo-mystical theones of the natives of the north. Bogota, being the largest and most accessible population center, was the most likely to have been influenced.
For hours after they left the warm harbor of Harrison’s Fjord, flanked by the ice-packed coast of the rest of the northern continent, they skimmed the cold gray of the ocean, which didn’t particularly depress Matthew, as cold gray was one of his favorite colors. Huge chunks of ice floated in these waters, as large as islands or small continents themselves. Initial reports had suggested that the southern edge of the northern continent had many glaciers which constantly calved into the unobstructed oceans that girdled the planet.
The sun struck sapphires from the clefts in the ice, and the gray of the clear salt waters was sequined with darting fish. Schools of dolphins followed the copter’s shadow across the breast of the sea. Matthew was oblivious to them, as he was to the blowing and sounding of the Petaybean tube whales: so called because their ancestors had been bits of cells frozen and later incubated in test tubes. Brought to maturity in controlled environments, the large, strong mammals had then been released into the planet’s newly formed ocean. The whales, like the dolphins, seemed attracted by the novelty of the copter.
At last, toward evening, they were within sight of the southern coast, a sight so spectacular that even Matthew was forced to admire its grandeur.
Though the harbor, like its counterpart at Harrison’s Fjord, contained water warmed by the geothermal springs and rivers the planet seemed to have in abundance, the rest of the coastline was glacial. Huge cliffs of ice glittered white and crystal: deepest indigo in the recesses. and a rich bright cobalt where the setting sun struck the crevasses. Glaciers calved, huge chunks splintering off, plummeting into the sea with a roaring crack, surfacing through a rush of displaced waters, displaying new surfaces. On other floating chunks, seals and otters and big tusked walruses basked and swam in the frigid sea.
As the copter drew nearer the southern continent, the sun began setting, burning across the water to recast the scene in shades of mauve and tangerine.
Nearer yet, they saw herds of caribou race across the coastal plains, huge white bears lumbering across the ice or swimming in the lakes that studded the plains like chips of coral.
From those spectacular vistas, the sight of Bogota was a massive let down.
It contained a double row of barracks-type buildings, no more than a kilometer in length, a landing pad with a pile of fuel cans perilously near, and a number of small hide boats not dissimilar to the ones Matthew had seen at Harrison’s Fjord. As they over flew the town, they were close enough to observe those inhabitants who were lounging about. The native costume seemed to consist of cast-off uniform pieces from the company corps. The copter’s arrival caused no particular excitement: few heads even turned up to observe its passage.
With great delicacy, the pilot set the copter down right beside the fuel cans, shut off the engines, and without a word, climbed out and began to refuel. Oddly enough, no one came to check, though Matthew could see people less than a hundred meters away watching the process. While Greene fueled up, Matthew disembarked, demanding a few answers now that the man could not pretend he didn’t hear him.
“Shouldn’t someone be logging you in or something, Greene?”
“Why? They knew the copter, and they know it’s the one I fly. If I had something to deliver here, I’d have flashed my lights and someone would have come to make a pickup.”
Matthew digested that explanationyet another example of the nonchalance and indifference that were so rife on this planet and that would be rectified.
“Is this all there is to this town?” He gestured about the landing area and toward the two rows of dwellings.
“Bogota? Yes, sir. Nobody much lives in Bogota.”
“Why not?”
“It’s unstable, sir. You saw the glaciers. They make sure that the earth always moves for you, that’s one thing. You get rocked to sleep every night, though some rockings ‘re harder than others. Then there’s the bears. They mostly live on fish, but they’ll take anything that’s handy, including human beings if they’re hankerin’ for a change of menu.”