Beyond the Endless Sky

Chapter 25

Clarissa found herself staring at the void for the first time in her life.

Beyond the endless sky, turned blue by the light of the sun, the true colour of the universe asserted itself in its patient, awe-inspiring grandeur. Black sky stretched out over her sight, an emptiness that felt as if it was trying to press itself against the glass of her helmet and snatch the air inside. Clarissa wanted to scream; a panicky, primal fear was clawing away at the back of her thoughts, and she was having trouble holding it in.

To keep it at bay, she focused on the sky below her. They had travelled so far that on her left she could see the sky curve. Idlewind was a speck so small she could blot it out with her finger, and despite the white and grey clouds she could see more. There was a ball of broken white mist she suspected was the Ruins. The distant island that looked like a fish opening its mouth to bite something was Olencia, not even as long as her finger.

She couldn't see The Core, where they had come from, but she suspected she could if the weather was favourable.

The sight helped calm her. To the point where when the captain took his compass in his hand again, and extended it all the way to his left, and then switched hands and did the same thing in his right, Clarissa was actually curious.

The captain gestured, then stood up, approached Clarissa, and pulled something on the top of her helmet. Something slid over her helmet, and instantly everything was darker. The captain then slowly set his helmet against hers. "I need to turn the ship. When I do, best to look out the starboard side and watch the sky. Looking at the sun with just that glass as a filter is hard on the eyes."

"Okay," Clarissa said. So she turned to her left, and the captain pulled on the controls. Slowly, gently, the lifeboat turned. The sky turned, drifting from behind the captain, and in a minute settling so far to her left some of it was hidden behind the walls of the box. She could see another aurora flicker somewhere in the distance, a blue shimmer of light that vanished nearly as quickly as it appeared. She settled into looking for the sight again, and tried to let the minutes pass without thinking about them.

Eventually, she felt a gentle knock against her helmet, and turned to see the captain pointing to her right. She shuffled in her seat, hauled the suit around and turned to free what the captain was gesturing to.

She could see a small speck in the distance, little more than a blot. But something about it made her lean forward and squint, wishing she could use the spyglass in the toolkit still belted to her leg. At first glance she thought what she saw was an island, stripped bare the way the rocks in the ruins were. But there was something built on it, tucked away in the shadow it made. A metal tower, at least as tall as the island itself, jutted from it towards the sky below them.

Clarissa gaped. "Is that?" She asked, and she looked to the captain for an answer. Despite not being able to hear her, he nodded.

And Clarissa turned to look back at the Shield.

As they drew closer over the minutes, Clarissa could see that much of the tower was moving. Entire square segments, complete with tiny windows along the outside, spun in lazy circles around the tower. There were several arms that extended from the tower, and each of those had several square blocks spinning around them. Each second Clarissa studied the station they were approaching seemed to unlock some new, complicated facet. The lights along the outsides were windows, the station was quite a bit bigger than any ship she had ever seen, perhaps even larger than Whiskeyjack's Roost. The entire station was sleek steel and brilliant artificial light.

To Clarissa, it was both beautiful and terrifying.

It took another half an hour to draw close to the station. By the time they approached, their lifeboat was dwarfed by even the tiny end of the tower that jutted out from the rock. Clarissa could see an open entranceway, so massive it might have been able to take the entirety of the Ravens' Child inside, left open like the waiting jaws of a massive creature.