north of the halfway point between the pole and the equator. Genea, the continent on
whose eastern shore the city stood, sprawled diagonally across the present night side of
the planet and southward into the day and the southern hemisphere. Its ragged coastline
counterpointed that of the other major continent, Sauna, a couple of thousand kilometers
west: the two looked as though they had been pulled apart and displaced, one northward,
the other south. Much of the southern and western part of Sauria was wrapped out of
sight around the other side of the planet, at this moment; in the visible part, even at this
distance, the rectangular regularity of some of its green patches distinguished
manufacturing plant from jungle and plain.
“Do any humans live in Sauria?” Volkov asked.
Esias shrugged. “A few thousand, maybe, at any one time. Short-term contract
employees, traders, people involved in travel infrastructure and big-game hunting.
Likewise with saurs in Genea—lots of individuals, no real communities, except around
the hospitals and health services.”
Hospitals and health services, yes, Volkov thought, that could be a problem.
“What about the other hominidae?”
“Ah, that’s a more usual distribution, except that they have entire cities of their own.”
Esias pointed; it wasn’t much help. “Gigants here, pithkies there. Forests and mines, even
some farming. More of a surprise than the cities, that; it’s only developed in the last few
centuries. They’ve always been herding, of course.”
As the ship’s approach zoomed the view, the city and its surroundings expanded and
sharpened. The immediate vicinity and hinterland of the city was a long, triangular
promontory, about a thousand kilometers from northwest to southeast and five hundred
across at its widest extent. It looked like a smaller and narrower India: an island that had
rammed the continent at an angle. Very likely it was—the ice of a spectacular and recent
mountain range glittered white across the join. The west coast of this mini subcontinent
was separated from the mainland of Genea by a semicircular sea, three hundred
kilometers across at its widest, its shore curving to almost meet the end of the promontory
just south of the metropolis. From the mountains sprang a dozen or so rivers whose
confluence channeled about halfway down to one major river, which flowed into the sea
near the tapered tip. The central, and oldest, part of Nova Babylonia was on an island
about ten kilometers long that looked wedged in that river’s mouth.
The city drifted off center in the view, then swung out of sight entirely as the ship leveled
up for its run into the atmosphere. Why the great starships approached on what resembled
a long, shallow glide path was unknown, and certainly unnecessary, but it was what they
always did. The air reddened around the ship’s field and, following another unnecessary
and invariable habit, its human passengers returned to their seats.
Volkov leaned on the rail of the open sea-level deck of the star-ship and gasped morning-
cool fresh air. The starship had, to the best of his knowledge, no air-recycling or air-
circulating mechanisms whatsoever, and after a couple of hours even its vast volume of
air grew slightly but noticeably stale. Around him, unregarded, the ship’s unlading went