"Oh great, now I need to go," he said.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
"I'll make it, don't worry," he said, raising his hands placatingly.
A deep vibration started to radiate through The Wall as the vacuum seals around the outer door were released.
Thunk, the door shifted like a plug being pulled from a sink. The thick steel split in the middle and opened smoothly to reveal the cable car landing point beyond. A whoosh of pressure pulled at me as a balance was created between the outer atmosphere and the air within the room.
I could feel my pulse throbbing in my wrist.
"Please make your way onto the cable car and brace yourselves for motion," the frazzled woman called as she ushered us through.
Taylor and I were nearest to the door and as we walked out onto the platform, I could hardly breathe. We were in a tunnel built of some kind of semi-transparent perspex. Above my head was the mechanism for the cable cars and I could see the wire moving along steadily.
At either end of the tunnel were open doo
rways, long plastic tassels blocked the view outside but as I watched the entrance to our left, the cable car pushed its way through them. As it got closer, dark grey smoke was blasted over and around it from vents that lined the tunnel wall, momentarily concealing it in a cloud.
The smoke disappeared and the cable car pulled slowly level with us on the platform. Droplets of water ran down its surface and the door slid quietly open. I stepped inside.
It was a large, glass sphere with a sliver handrail running all the way around the edge. There was nothing else to prove that there was a barrier between us and the outside world so the view was completely uninterrupted. Everyone piled in behind me as it glided along the platform and then we were moving through the tassels at the tunnel's exit.
I walked straight to the far end and gazed out, straining my eyes to take everything in. I reached out and placed my hand on the glass in front of me as if I could push my way through.
Beyond The Wall was a wasteland. A scorched desert of grey-brown dust extending endlessly to the north, west and south. The Wardens went out to burn anything that grew there and sew salt in the soil to keep it clear. To the east of The Wall was the ocean stretching away beyond the horizon, providing all the water the city could ever need and more.
I had never had a clear view of the sea before.
It was just so big. I couldn't comprehend it. My eyes darted back and forth as I watched the tips of the cresting waves moving in a constant dance. The city was perched high above the shore on a row of cliffs and I couldn't see the point at which water met land.
I turned back towards the west and the endless waste. For a second, I thought I saw a glimpse of green but when I looked again there was just more brown dust. My imagination was playing tricks on me.
The ground loomed ever closer, it was pockmarked with the odd interruption of rocks or other immovable pieces of the terrain that didn't hold any life. It was impossible to make out anything with any clarity but I wanted to see it all. I shuffled my feet and flexed my fingers, anxious to get moving.
Directly below us, there were clusters of something which I guessed must be the housing. They looked like little boxes from our vantage point and their roofs were a patchwork of different colours.
The scene didn't change much as we descended but the lumpy clusters of housing became more defined, their colours revealing themselves as everything from burnt red, to dark brown, to steely grey.
It wasn't a lot to look at, and yet, it was the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen.
Chapter Three
The ride down took about half an hour, during which time the details on the ground became clearer and all the more alluring.
Everything seemed so alien compared to the city.
Harbour towered above us, dominating the view to the north. The sheer scope of the city was beyond comprehension, it blocked out the sun and overshadowed the landscape for miles around. The Wall itself was a smooth, sand-coloured mass that stretched, without interruption, so high it was hard to make out the top.
The tops of the skyscrapers glinted and sparkled in the midday sun high above us, sending rainbows of light dancing out across the bright, blue sky. I tried to imagine what it must be like to live in an apartment with a real window and a view over The Wall with the sun shining in every day.
Sighing, I turned my attention back to the valley filled with structures from the old world. I felt slightly dizzy.
The cable car finally slowed and started to turn into a big, barren area. The door slid open and we all stumbled out, a little lost for words. Artie gathered us together and handed out GPS devices. The open sky spread out above us as far as I could see. We never really got to look at it in the city with so many buildings blocking the view and I kept glancing up as if it might disappear.
"Each of these is preprogrammed with your individual search zone highlighted. Follow the directions on screen to get to your zone then search that area thoroughly. We need soil samples from six locations within your area and swabs taken inside and outside of the houses. You're encouraged to explore and report anything that strikes you as out of place or strange.
Take a pack with your test equipment and we'll meet back here in two hours. Read through your instruction booklet. The pack also contains your radio so you can check in with us at any time. Make sure to check back if you encounter any trouble. Have fun, but remember that this is important work." Artie smiled at the collected group. "Any questions?"