Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Part 2 - Chapter 4.1 - Voyage

Day 31

You never appreciate the size of an arcology until it towers right above you.

The floors I grew used to rested topmost, I could tell, as they didn't prepare me for the vastness before my eyes. We drove near the outer wall's corner, where shelves of black plants greeted us through translucent windows.

One more corner of the building was visible. It was just barely within my line of sight, almost part of the horizon. The thin tip I saw wasn't the real one, but the one thick enough to be visible from my vantage point. I felt like a hiker viewing Mount Everest from its foot.

We had a long drive before us, giving me time to stare out of the window.

Through my gawking, I saw the true reason why the building appeared black from a distance. It wasn't due to the walls' color, but due to the plants that peeked through them. However, that only held true for the bottom floors. Towards the upper floors, I couldn't see any shelves through them, but black hull material. Either way, a building that made use of the sunlight - either to grow food or to produce electricity. The Seizers confirmed this when I asked.

Our car halted. Its interior was very much like that of the levitating car; spacious despite being empty. However, since we had no magnetic tracks here, it relied on wide wheels to push across the soft sand.

We got outside. A ramp extended and helped the short-footed Seizers get out. I was last.

Viewed from the outside, the car resembled a laterally wide cube with chrome paint sprinkled over it. With its autonomous driver, it returned to the arcology while we went to our next destination.

Crick led us down a ramp near the wall, leading underground. I and Helix tagged along.

My adventure with Sye didn't give me the slightest idea of how large those dark ramps were. From how suddenly these guards appeared after I threw the bomb, I guessed it was a few dozen feet long at most. But no, everything had to be titanic here.

The stairway led to an indigo blue station lit by enormous headlights. "Enormous" was relative, I doubted this room was larger than a football station. See-through tubes extended left and right.

Our focus was on the left tube where a bus-long saffron gondola waited for us. Did it just arrive or was it here before we came? No idea, magnetic vehicles were notoriously silent.

The tube's wall opened like a door, revealing the capsule. The capsule sprayed foam to fill the space between it and the tube.

As Crick explained, to us, the tube contained a vacuum. Its purpose was to eliminate air friction and ensure hypersonic transport speed. Hence, the foam had to keep air out each time the doors opened.

The capsule's hull opened, too, and we got inside. It was a bit like a train on Earth, only smaller, without seats and reserved for us. Notable was a mat to which the Seizers tied themselves with belts. I took out a belt and put it around my pelvis.

When it accelerated, I expected it to feel like in the levitating car. That was, too fast for how quiet it was, but ultimately manageable. Instead, it accelerated so fast that it yanked me down despite my belt.

My pelvis remained where it was, only my upper body was pushed back, forcing me to support myself with my hands. While I remained trapped in an amateur yoga bridge pose, buckets of blood shot into my skull. I would've passed out had the train not reached maximum speed soon.

I rose again. Why can't I just remove my helmet and vomit?

"Is your mental alertness insufficient to notice these?" Crick asked, pointing at a handle. "Even disregarding that, you could crouch down to tie your belt around your torso if you comprehended elemental physical principles such as the center of mass."