Bridger: a Dystopian Serial

The city of Eskalon

"What is this?" Leander asked.

Taig turned from a window. "This is Habbas. We have yet one more jump to make."

"What am I seeing?" Char leaned back to peer from the porthole behind her head. They were passing close to a strand. Char thought she saw shapes like trees.

"This is called a..." Taig faltered, waiting for her translator to catch up.

"Frame world," Venn said from the opposite corner.

"Yes," Taig said. "We've had a trade arrangement here for a long time. The inhabitants here fly between the strands of the frame."

"Weird," Leander said.

The craft picked up speed. The strands flew by in long purple and blue ribbons. Ten minutes later the craft slowed. Char caught sight of a structure on one of the strands. It spiraled up like an antelope horn.

She poked Leander. "Is that a building?"

The sucking sensation interrupted her. Char felt her body stretch out longer and longer. Her thoughts felt further and further apart.

The aircraft snapped back together.

Char's stomach leapt toward her throat, and she heaved her breakfast onto the metal floor of the ship.

"Woah," Leander said.

Char straightened, wiping her mouth. She turned to look through the porthole and saw a distant, peach-coloured sky. Another aircraft zipped past the window; beyond that, the horizon curled up into the fog.

"A ring world," Char breathed.

They flew for another fifteen minutes and began to descend gently. Char spotted a sprawling compound shaped like an eight-pointed star made of black metal. The ground in every direction had a golden-yellow cast.

The aircraft landed in a cloud of canary dust. The ramp lowered with a gentle hiss and warm air pooled in.

"Come now." Leader Taig beckoned them from the top of the ramp. The other Na'odani, including Venn and Jezeen, flanked the Americans and walked them off the aircraft.

"You didn't say it was warm," Leander muttered as their feet hit the dusty ground. She craned her neck toward the sky.

Char followed her gaze. Above them, the world crossed over them in a narrow strip. The wind blew in their faces, kicking up yellow dust that stuck in Char's mouth. It tasted metallic and salty.

She was instantly baking in her thermals. The air was hot and oppressive, thick with dust.

Seth began to cough behind her.

Leader Taig turned to face them. "Welcome to Eskalon."

By the time they entered the wide doors of the compound, Char's face was coated in dust. She touched the tip of her tongue to her lip and tasted salt.

Two tall, slim Na'o in white robes walked toward them and bowed from the waist.

"These men will take you to your rooms," Taig said. "I'll have cooler garments brought to you."

"It's a desert," Seth murmured to her as they followed the Na'odani. "I didn't see any green from the plane."

"Their plants might not be green," Char said. She pulled her damp collar away from her neck and felt the fine dust filter down into her bra.

"I didn't see water, either."

The two Na'odani led the group into a triangular, black-walled room. One side of the room was made up of little cubicles, stacked on top of each other like crates. Char realized they were beds. Little closets like the one in her room on Kaa, the one that had the shower, were tucked into the narrow point of the room.