...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 6-2: The Shell

Sedna had that dreamy look when she said, "There are a lot of interesting places you can go with a drone. I'm sure that's part of the attraction."

"Although there are a lot of interesting places to go with a dome, too," Bear added.

"With all the comforts of home. I've seen promotions for traveling domes."

"Yeah, along the lines of cruise ships."

"That reminds me, what have we heard from Rosita and Ryan?" Dema asked.

"You mean about the Sea Dome project?" Bear replied. "They say it's very impressive. The backers aren't messing around. They knew that the standard Farm is pretty much an optimum size, so they decided to go with it, and a standard apartment Can too. So the innovation is mainly a pressure shell in place of the balloon. That can be a lot smaller, of course, just big enough to enclose the can."

"So instead of a six hundred meter Sun Dome balloon it's got a hundred meter Sea Shell?"

"Something like that. More like a hundred fifty meter sphere to enclose the hundred meter cylinder. But still a lot smaller than the Dome balloon."

"Is it a hard shell? I mean, is it made to withstand water pressure with normal air pressure inside? "

"Actually, I don't know the answer to that."

Sedna spoke up. "Bear and I will find out. We're going to fly our drones there."

"Xayna too. She's going to join us."

Ryan and Rosita were on top of the Shell when the three of them arrived. They both had lenses on so the visitors appeared as their normal selves rather than drones. The deck they stood on as they waved the three flyers in was circular, with a railing around the outer edge and an open hatch in the middle. The idea of exchanging hugs with disguised drones was not very inviting, so instead they exchanged somewhat awkward head bobs in greeting.

"Welcome," said Ryan. "How was your flight?"

"Short but thrilling, as usual," offered Bear.

"We barely had time to chat on the way," added Sedna.

"Or do much sight-seeing," said Xayna, looking around.

"Not much to see from here I'm afraid," said Rosita. "You can just about make out the mountains in the Baja mainland to the west."

"What led you to settle here in the Wagner Basin?" asked Sedna.

Rosita smiled. "Seals and dolphins. We have lots of friends here."

Bear walked over and leaned on the railing. Ryan remarked to himself at how natural he made the motion appear. He was sure the drone would not complain if it was left standing upright for hours.

The gentle waves lapping at the edge of the shell were about fifty meters away, Bear judged, and they were standing at least twenty meters above that level. The surface of the shell had a roughened texture that looked like it would offer decent footing, but near the water it sloped off quickly so it would not have been easy walking there. There was a small dock tucked up against the east side of the deck that looked like it could be deployed if a boat arrived. He looked out over the water. There were no boats in sight. No seals either.

Xayna and Sedna had joined him for a brief look, but quickly turned back to their hosts. Bear turned with them and said, "You've left the hatch open. Does that mean the Shell isn't pressurized?"

"That's right, though it can be. The Can is sealed against the water pressure, the Shell is open to the sea unless we close all the portals."

Rosita led the way down the hatch. This turned out to be a wide spiraling staircase leading to another deck above the top of the Can. Here they found the entrance to the usual central elevator shaft that would take them down through all the levels of the Farm and its surrounding apartments.

This deck was ringed not by another railing but by the transparent walls of an open dome that curved up and inward almost to the staircase they had descended, following the shape of the outer Shell just a few meters away from it. The space was softly illuminated from below, so that the water lapping at the bottom of the dome, much more gently than the sea outside, glowed against it.

"The tide this far up the Gulf must be pretty extreme," Bear remarked.

"As much as ten meters at times. Right now it's about as high as it will get today," was Ryan's reply.

"We could take the elevator all the way down," he went on, "But Rosita and I want to give you a proper tour. You know what the Farm looks like. The new feature is the outer wall of the Can. I presume your drone legs can handle stairs?"

"These drones are almost as automatic as self-driving cars," Sedna told him. "I expect we can keep up."

Ryan led them to another sealed doorway near the dome wall. It took them down to the balcony deck outside the top apartment ring. The outer pressure wall was transparent, just like the dome above. It was like being in an aquarium.

The lighting seemed to come from the space between the decks. Except for lights on in a few of the apartments they passed, the balcony was dark. Xayna noticed occasional little rooms with sealed doors next to the outer wall and asked about them. Rosita explained that they were air locks, places where the water could be let in and then opened to the outside. She said there was at least one on every level.

On the upper levels the fish they saw were sleek and fast, often swimming in schools. As they neared the bottom they began to see a more spectacular variety, the reef dwellers and bottom feeders, as well as tube-like invertebrates and plant-like algae growths these fish would feed on and hide among.

Bright yellows, iridescent blues, striking reds and blacks. Striped, spotted, flashes of silver, color-changing camouflage. Rockfish, zebrafish, whatever they might be called, it seemed like every imaginable variety was represented abundantly, too many for any attempt to catalog them all. Sedna certainly didn't want to try. She wanted to get in among them, experience them, record them, capture their essence for the World Dream.

Looking across the narrow expanse of sand that filled the bottom end of the Shell, and the colonies of growing things that had made their homes in it, Sedna could see the first ring of portals to the open sea, apparently spaced about sixty degrees apart around this level. Higher up, where the Shell was closer to twenty meters away from the balcony wall, she could now make out another ring of larger portals that she had failed to notice when they were at that level. These too were open, with bigger fish swimming in and out through them.

And a seal! She pointed it out to Xayna, who exclaimed about it just as excitedly. Presently that one was joined by another, and soon there were more. Rosita named all of them as if they were her special pets.

"Will we be able to swim with them?" Sedna asked.

"Of course! But first there are some people here we'd like you to meet."

Sedna was a bit chagrined at her own display of childish excitement. But this was her Aunt Rosita, who she knew would expect nothing less of her. She took one more look at the fish, then followed the others inside.