Harvest Time

9 - A Different Roof

"Come on, Toquin," came Emla's voice from above my head.

I started following her up into the branches but this was so different from shimmying up a mirror tube in lighter gravity.

"I can't see where I'm going, or what to hold onto," I whispered.

"Here," she said, her hand finding mine and positioning it on a branch that allowed me to haul my body up a couple of feet.

It took me several minutes to reach the upper branches. I was conscious that we had also moved horizontally as well as upwards. Then Emla lowered herself onto the roof of the Harvester depot. After beckoning me down, she held my hand and led me to one of the furthest corners where a panel in the roof had been bent upwards by a growing tree branch. The tree had entered the building via a cracked side window before pushing its way back out through the roof. On our way there we passed glassy panels that were connected to larger boxes that dotted the perimeter of the roof.

Emla descended the branch until it joined some sort of walkway suspended about eight feet below the roof and about five feet from the wall. It had guard rails to prevent falling and extended three-quarters of the way around the building, leaving only the front wall free. Like the walkway inside the Harvester, it was made from thin metal woven into a diamond mesh pattern that could be seen through but was strong enough to walk upon. Inside, the building was dimly lit by hundreds of tiny lights grouped around the walls. Emla sat down on the walkway and beckoned me across. With shaking legs, I descended the tree branch and inched across to join her.

"Are we safe?"

"Yes," she said, confidently. "Look right below us."

I did so. There were no Harvesters nearby, the closest being about fifty or sixty feet away. But the ground below us was lined with five channels that gently sloped towards the front of the building.

"There's nothing here," I said.

"Yes, that's what I mean."

"I don't understand."

"It means that, in the past, there used to be Harvesters to fill these empty rows. With five Harvesters to a row, that means there are dozens of Harvesters missing. And, not all the other rows contain five. And the ones there are often missing bits."

"So?"

"So, it means that there are now fewer Harvesters than there used to be."

I frowned, as I didn't see what she was getting at. "What happened to them?" I asked.

"Some either don't come back or they come back broken. I've seen the rats take..."

"Rats?"

"Oh yes, it's what I call the smaller machines. They scurry around like rats over the Harvesters."

"No one else calls them that?"

"No, except Elcanah sometimes."

"Anyway, the rats often take parts out of one of these Harvesters to fix the ones nearer to the front. The broken ones are always at this end until there are no longer any parts left to use and then their remains get dumped outside. The others have used those parts for making things like axes, cups and so on."

"Like the cauldron?"

"Yes," she said.

"But what does it all mean? Why are there less Harvesters?"

"Look," she said, "it's simple. There are fewer men-things left to be fed. So, there's no need for as many Harvesters as there used to be. When they break down, they don't get replaced. Maybe one day there won't be any left."