Glass and Gardens by Wendy Nikel

Author:Wendy Nikel [Ulibarri, Sarena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: solarpunk, climate change, optimistic science fiction, utopia, future, renewable energies, winter stories, Christmas science fiction
Publisher: World Weaver Press
Published: 2020-01-07T07:00:00+00:00

Orchidaceae

Thomas Badlan

Joênia moved sluggishly through the snow drifts and felt the warmth leech out of her. The cold suit was too bulky a thing to move gracefully in, but it would protect her for a few hours out in the tundra. She followed the red blinking waymark lights and squinted through her frosted visor. Ahead loomed the vague shadow of the Amazonia dome. Most thought her mad for making this journey on foot, but she went at least once a week. Joênia felt it worth the effort, not only to escape the hermetically sealed environments of Svalbard, but also to remember what they were fighting against. The blizzard howled around her, a thing of fury, but she kept moving one foot at a time.

Inside, Joênia stripped off the cold suit as the access chamber acclimatised her to the dome’s temperature while simultaneously removing any foreign particulates that had followed her inside. As the door hissed open, she stepped into another world. Sticky heat washed over her, skin prickling. She stood on a metal platform overlooking a dense canopy of recovered, mist-drenched Amazon Rainforest. There were over a hundred immense kapok trees, stretching up above the smaller cashapona, barrigona, and pallas with their vivid green fronds. Beneath her, the forest floor was a dense, shadowed brush of epiphytes, bromeliads and rubber trees, eleven square miles of dense recreation of a world much diminished. A thin drizzle of artificial rain was falling, water tracing myriad paths along wide waxy leaves and snaking vines.

This was her real home, not the bland, comfortable pods, promenades, and common rooms of the Svalbard worker’s quarters. Those cramped spaces and subterranean tunnels always made Joênia feel like a rat in a cage. Amazonia was filled with a chorus of bird song and the whoops of squirrel monkeys running from branch to branch. Somewhere within was the low roar of the New Iguazu falls, while the pungent aroma of damp and decay and sweat mingled with tropical heat. It was a real place, not a capsule to keep them at ease, but a world in microcosm.

As Joênia dropped her cold suit into the supply locker, the rest of the day shift arrived. They were chatting amiably, excited about the day’s work. An international team from across the world’s communities. They had made her feel welcome and involved since her arrival in Svalbard two years ago, but on this day, with her report buried and warnings ignored, she wished only for solitude. Most were botanists, with a few engineers, geneticists, and climatologists, ferociously ignoring whatever remained of the concept of nationality. A dozen languages were spoken between them, though most spoke a sort of English-Patwa.

As the day shift disrobed, one woman noticed Joênia and wandered over.

“New-day, na,” she called.

She was strikingly beautiful, long-haired with dark slim eyes and freckled cheeks. She leaned on the railing and stared with Joênia across the bright vista. Her name was Jade, one of the Europeans.

“New-day,” Joênia said back without turning.

“Fine walk, this new-day?” Jade asked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.