04 April, 2011

[SFAP] Chapter 2:6

 This is the sixth section of the second chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.


The alarms were sounding again. Martin could already feel himself getting heavier.
“And so it begins”
“This” said Martin “Will take some getting used to.”
Martin could see the birds around him almost falling out of the sky, though they had never got used to the old situation with a full gravity confused by the rotational aspect, somehow the one sixth gravity during the expansion had given them the freedom of movement to get used to it. However the twelve or so hours had been too short, now that gravity was slowly coming back they couldn’t adapt back. He’d tried sleeping back in his flat but couldn’t, tried doing exercise but it seemed pointless, tried eating but his stomach couldn’t cope with the lower gravity, so here he was back again staring at the wall.
Now the Habitat was almost it its full final diameter what had been the wall that seemed to touch the opposite plate was now very clearly separate and almost looked ready to be lowered into place like the giant drawbridge he now thought of it as. No that made it sound mundane, this was a continent soon to be moved into position, no other word fit. Soon the wall would be just another bit of ground underneath his feet. Soon it would fill with water and air and drones and him. Only him, a continent to himself while the rest of humanity remained stuck in this city. Not that most minded and he’d heard the other plate to counterbalance this one would soon be opened to the general public, but this would for better or for worse be the ground under his feet.
He tried to ignore his lurching stomach and watch as the plate almost imperceptably lowered into position and took up its place on the horizon. Yet it would never stretch out to infinity. The final giant hoop the completed Habitat would become was only a fraction complete, but that plate made it all the more complete. eventually the horizon would rise up into the sky like a fine ribbon forever climbing into the blackness of the night, but for now there it was being readied for him. Had anyone ever had a continent to themselves before? Not since the moment he first stepped foot on the plate of the Habitat all those years ago, but that was only for a fraction of a moment as those behind him followed. that wasn’t really a continent then anyway, the Habitat had grown so much since that moment all those years ago and now it was his to discover again.

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