Caveman pointed. "I think we're here."
A building resembling an old-fashioned railroad depot stood alongside the track, a crowd of people gathering on the wooden platform. Unlike the preserved examples Olivia had seen during her occasional tours with her model-railroad hobbyist father, this depot looked brand new.
The train clanked to a stop with a weary but satisfied sigh. "Penumbra City!" came the unnecessary cry throughout the carriages.
Olivia followed the others as they threaded along the carriage and out onto the platform. Hernando had taken the time to cover himself up well with clothing and apply a special kind of sun block to areas of skin left exposed.
She eyed him. "It's warm here. You're going to boil in your get-up. You sure you don't want to peel off a few layers?"
He shrugged, a movement made comical by the heavy, brown leather duster he wore. "Better than frying in the sun."
"You're not the only one who thinks so around here, Hernando." Caveman nodded toward a sedate figure wearing a burqa and others wearing burnous. "Although those look lighter and more comfortable than your gear."
"You're right. I'll see if I can get one for myself."
A small reception committee had gathered to welcome the strangers to the city, and a much larger crowd pressed behind them. Olivia thought it all looked good-natured and organized. After a couple of mercifully short speeches from dignitaries, they were led to where honest-to-goodness trams awaited to take them into the city proper.
As they clanked along a set of rails set into the surface of a wide boulevard, Olivia gazed out at the passing scene, taking in what she could of Penumbra City.
Most of the city's windows faced the eternal sun as it hung like a great mandarin orange low on the horizon. Wooden doors covered in intricate and marvelous designs gave access to the buildings. Wrought ironwork and painted window boxes were everywhere. In fact, greenery flourished, on rooftops and in window boxes, in plazas and courtyards, the citizens utilizing all available space to grow fruit and vegetables. A multitude of public fountains shot upward, water droplets catching the sunlight to fill the air with rainbows.
A hint as to the source of the water lay to the east, where a broad avenue opened up to show a distant view of a mighty cascade tumbling from the mountain heights to feed a huge lake nestling in a high valley. Shaded alleyways opened between the buildings on either side. Unlike those Olivia had encountered on Earth, these alleys looked clean and quiet, places for people to live and work rather than to fear or avoid.
She'd been told an official ten-hour clock existed, but with the sun fixed permanently in the heavens, time in the city appeared to be a matter of personal choice and arrangement. Bright awnings and shutters provided the means of blocking out the light when it came time to sleep. Most of the citizens held the sun in warm regard, for it gave them life, light and, in the past, safety from predatory Pure Bloods.
The streets, arcades, souks, and bazaars thronged with people going about their business and pleasures. The party from the dark side drew curious stares but no overt hostility that Olivia could see. A few vehicles traveled the thoroughfares, some appearing to be steam-powered, although most were carts, wagons, and even caravans drawn by an ox-like species with russet hides and bad-tempered expressions.
Caveman came back to where Olivia and Hernando sat. He stood with his hands on the seat backs to either side of the aisle and smiled at them. "We'll have the equivalent of a day before heading off to see what those cave-dwellers are up to. Until then we can enjoy the city's hospitality."
"Oh, goody." Olivia clapped her hands and glanced at Annara. "We can go shopping."
Annara nodded. "Yes, we could. I need a new quiver and arrows and I thought I saw a sign for a fletcher's workshop."
"Shopping," Hernando murmured. He rubbed his temples and groaned.
*****
"Is that thing for real?"
Olivia grinned from ear to ear, enjoying the stunned look on Annara's face. "Oh, yeah. It's for real, all right."
Their guides had moored their airships to posts at the edge of the mesa. The Sandhill Docks were comprised of a small forest of mooring towers and a row of huge hangars spread across the open flatland to the south of the city. A massive airship floated in the blue sky like a barracuda grazing at a coral reef, the shoal of smaller craft around it resembling remora fish. The air resonated with the low pulse of engines and the stutter of propellers as airships maneuvered, docked or departed. It reminded Olivia of a busy airport, but with a lot more class.
She whistled as she glanced over the side of the mesa. One false step and a person would plunge at least thirty stories before splattering into a million pieces on the rocks in the ravine below.
"So, Olivia, you say you've always wanted to ride in one of these blimps on Earth? Over a football stadium?"
Annara slouched with her hand on her hip, doing her best to affect her tough fighter image, but Olivia saw through it. Her friend was terrified of the idea of climbing into the glass-enclosed gondola dangling underneath the gargantuan-sized hot air balloon. She needed to convince Annara their air journey was an adventure and not a suicide mission.
"Yes, I have a friend who has a cousin who had a neighbor who rode in the Goodyear blimp, and he said it was the most awesome trip ever. He took zillions of photos from a couple thousand feet up—he even snapped a picture of his own house from above."
"Earthers do have some strange ideas of what goes for entertainment, but still..." Annara frowned and pointed at the massive dirigible. "How are overgrown children's balloons going to
