Xiantha (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 3)

Chapter 14

LEDIN CRICKED HIS neck as far back as it would go, and still couldn’t grasp the absolute enormity of the Xianthes. It was as if some giant hand had piled mountain upon mountain upon mountain upon mountain, the resultant structure rising majestically up through the atmosphere of Xiantha. Although his eyes could only follow the soaring rock as far up as the heavy cloud base, he had heard that it went right through the troposphere into the stratosphere, and that the top part of it was actually in outer space. He tried to see past the first clouds, straining his eyes to penetrate them and follow the rock as it continued upwards, but it was impossible.

Then he looked off to his right, and saw that there was another similar formation in the distance, just visible across a strangely dimpled valley.

“They are even more impressive than I had imagined!” he said.

Cimma nodded. “They are thought to be the result of a collision with another planetary body, or a major asteroid, many thousands of years ago.”

“What, it just tore through part of Xiantha?”

“Exactly.” She pointed to the valley beneath them. “If you look closely you can see that this valley was gouged out by something spherical. Of course, there are years and years of sediment on top of it now, but the shape is still clear.”

Ledin looked. And now that he looked, he was able to see that the impressive valley was indeed rounded in a circular shape. “This is where the planet hit Xiantha?”

“It tore through the rock, and the edges were extruded, curling upwards and outwards, driven by trillions of millions of tons of thrust to pile up at the edges of the valley. The force was such that the rock in the middle of the impact was vapourized altogether, and it was only that at the very edge of impact which survived, although molten and twisted. It cooled rapidly as it rose upwards, and formed the two Xianthes.”

“Impressive!” Ledin found it hard to look at anything except the towering wall of rock, now that they were only a few metres from the base. He shivered. “Is it safe?”

“Nobody knows. But they have been here for a very long time, so I guess they aren’t likely to fall down now. What do you think?”

“I have never seen anything like it. So a lot of people visit?”

Cimma nodded again. “Oh yes. The entrance is just over there.” She indicated a small cabin at the base of the Xianthe, where a portly ticket collector could be made out. “That is why visitors come here in their thousands. The rock is very highly magnetized and you can now travel right around this Xianthe in a cage.”

“Up through the troposphere?”

“Through the troposphere and the stratosphere. It takes you right over the top, practically in outer space, and back around past the lightning zone on the other side. The cages have a stabilizing function so that you are not actually upside down for that part of the journey.” The Sellite woman smiled, remembering a previous trip. “On the way up you get to see the blue rays, the sprites and the elves – the most incredible auroras that you will ever see. And on the way down you tremble in the most powerful electric storm which you could ever imagine too.”

Ledin felt a shiver run right down his spine. “And they might have taken Grace up there?”

Six and Diva, who had galloped off on their canths to find out whether Atheron and Xenon had been seen in the area, came back to a halt in front of them, throwing up a small cloud of surface dust.

Six waved his arms. “The sled is over there!” he shouted. “Behind the first flank of the Xianthe. They have taken a cage up. We are too late!”