Directly below us, there were clusters of something which I guessed must be the old wood housing. They looked like little boxes from our vantage point and their roofs were a patchwork of different colours.
The scene didn't change much as we descended but the lumpy clusters of houses became more defined, their colours revealing themselves as everything from burnt red, to dark brown, to steely grey.
It wasn't a lot to look at and yet I was pretty certain that it was the most beautiful sight that I’d ever seen.
The ride down took about half an hour, during which time the details on the ground became clearer and all the more alluring.
Everything seemed so alien compared to the city.
Harbour City towered above us, dominating the view to the north. The sheer scope of the place I’d spent my entire life in was beyond comprehension. It blocked out the sun and overshadowed the landscape for miles around. The Wall itself was a smooth, sand coloured mass that stretched on endlessly, without interruption, reaching up so high that it was hard to make out the top.
The tips of the skyscrapers glinted and sparkled in the midday sun high above us, sending rainbows of light dancing out across the bright, blue sky. I tried to imagine what it must be like to live in an apartment with a real window and a view over The Wall with the sun shining in every day.
Sighing, I turned my attention back to the valley filled with structures from the old world. I felt slightly dizzy and I was pretty sure skipping breakfast had been a bad shout.
The cable car finally slowed and started to turn into a big, barren area of land that had been cleared for the landing zone. The door slid open and we all stumbled out, a little lost for words. Artie gathered us together and handed out GPS devices but it was hard to keep my attention fixed on him for long. The open sky spread out above us as far as I could see. We never really got to look at it in the city with so many buildings blocking the view and I kept glancing up as if it might disappear.
"Each of these is preprogrammed with your individual search zone highlighted. Follow the directions on screen to get to your zone then search that area thoroughly. We need soil samples from six locations within your area and swabs taken inside and outside of the houses. You're encouraged to explore and report anything that strikes you as out of place or strange.
Take a pack with your test equipment and we'll meet back here in two hours. Read through your instruction booklet. The pack also contains your radio so you can check in with us at any time. Make sure to check back if you encounter any trouble. Have fun, but remember that this is important work." Artie smiled at the collected group. "Any questions?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Great. Striving forward together," he said in dismissal.
“For the good of the population," everyone chanted back with extra enthusiasm.
I thumbed through the instructions quickly. There was a lot about protocol and what to do in case of an emergency. As far as I could gather, the message was to radio back if anything went wrong. Then there was a lengthy reminder about the risks of contamination and our duty to the safety of the population. Blah blah blah. I shut the booklet and Taylor collected our pack while I studied our route on the GPS.
“Seeing as you're so insanely strong and manly now, I'll let you carry that." I grinned at him and started heading south, trusting Taylor's long legs to help him catch up.
Within moments he fell into pace next to me just as we crested a hill and my mouth fell open.
The stark landscape suddenly gave way to a valley filled with the strange box-shaped buildings. They were all about three or four times as tall as me but no more than that.
“Is this where they lived?" Taylor asked.
"I guess so. How many people do you reckon each of them housed? They look big enough for fifteen," I said, studying the small buildings.
"Or more - maybe even twenty? Are they like little apartment blocks? How are they split? I only see one door," Taylor said.
"The GPS says we have another mile to walk before we reach our search area," I said, glancing at it.
"Okay. Let's get going then." Taylor grabbed my hand and led me down into the valley, nearly at a run. I laughed as a rush of adrenaline flooded my veins and hurried to catch up with his longer stride.
We didn't keep up the pace for long. There was too much to look at. The buildings continued in rows on either side of us, clearly built around the roads we were walking down.
It felt weird to walk on broken concrete instead of smooth glass and I kept stumbling on the rough terrain.
The structures were all different shapes and sizes and stood alone with big patches of empty, dust-filled space surrounding them. It was beautiful and strange and so open, I couldn't think of a place more different from the city I'd grown up in and just looking at it awakened an ache in me. Like I was seeing something I’d been missing even though I’d never known it before.
It was impossible to imagine the way people must have lived before. With the sky open above their heads and clean, fresh air flowing unfiltered around them. There were no rules about where you could go or when. They didn't have to worry about walking for twenty minutes just to find out a building had reached its capacity and you couldn't go in.
They didn't have to get permission to buy food for guests or to spend the night at a friend's house. They probably didn't have to be poked and prodded by doctors every month or injected with contraceptives even though you were adamant you didn't need them. I doubted they even had to get permission to have babies.
There was a plastic sign in front of one house that read 'for sale'. I frowned as I looked at it.
"What's for sale?" I asked.