A Visitor to the Future - 56 - The Earth Reclamation Project

About two hours later the drone-craft began to slow as we approached our destination. Sarkona and I stepped up to the front window to see the eastern coast of North America come into view. Using a map, I could see that we were within fifty kilometres of Portland, in what would be the former state of Maine.

At this distance, the trees were mostly tall pines and firs, with about one-third as many being deciduous trees of one kind of another. We followed the coastline to the north, eventually coming to what seemed to be a clearing, punctuated by a mass of machinery and two sets of landing pads on which a tall rocket waited. The site was surrounded by tall, spire-like towers which were adorned with instruments, aerials, and cameras - the purposes of which I could not fathom. At the eastern side of the site, close to the water, was a large rectangular concrete structure about two hundred metres on each side appeared to be in the process of being taken apart. The building looked very functional - definitely something that pre-dated the Consortium. At the western side of the site was something which I'd not yet seen in my time in the Consortium - an actual road, made of tarmac or something close to it. Drawing closer, I could see people and machinery moving around the site - though the machinery was nothing like what I'd seen in my own time. Large six-legged walkers moved around with large mounted cranes, scoops, and waste containers, and hundreds of drones buzzed around the site, lifting large pieces of concrete and rock in the direction of the tall rocket.

We set down in a small clearing, away from the landing pads and the bulk of the work being done. As the door of our craft opened, there were two humanoid figures awaiting us - but they definitely weren't human. Bulky metallic frames packed with synthetic muscle fibres and conventional hydraulics towered over us at eight feet tall, three camera lenses set into their foreheads in a triangular shape to serve as eyes. They did not seem to acknowledge us at all, simply standing there. The dark grey metal frames that made up the bulk of their bodies were painted both green and brown in places, and a scuffed emblem of a green earth could be seen on their chestpieces. There was so much to take in that I almost missed the fact that they had four arms each.

"Super!" said Sarkona, "These are our Proxies. It's standard practice to assign them to people on sites like these. I've never seen one up-close before." Sarkona began to step forward and inspect the bulky legs of the giants in front of us.

"Hello," I said to the Proxies.

"Oh, they're not CIs," Sarkona said, "Just machinery. They're effectively construction and demolition tools - agents of the Consortium that will protect you on site and do whatever you tell them to. There are also some no gravity sports that use them!"

"So not alive then?" I asked.

"Not alive," replied Sarkona, "Come on, I think I see the construction habitat."

I followed Sarkona along the hard, barren ground - our Proxies fell into step behind us. They even sounded strong as they moved, servos and hydraulics whirring as they made their way forward. But their footfalls were actually very light, having wide, splayed feet with toes that pointed in all directions, which served to distribute their weight around the ground below them.

The construction habitat was a modular building that sat on raised pillars over the ground below. I could see a small patch of grass that was safely tucked away from the demolition work below. You could tell the construction habitat was occupied, because nine Proxies stood shoulder-to-shoulder in formation next to it, waiting for their charges to come out again. As we approached an area within a few metres of the habitat, our Proxies veered off to the left to join the group.

There was an airlock inside the building, but we didn't have to wait for decontamination - apparently this site was not handling hazardous materials, which was reassuring. The door opened to reveal a corridor. We could hear chatter from one of the rooms, and Sarkona poked their head inside, speaking in Human to the occupants. I was surprised that I could pick up one or two words. There were the sounds of laughter from inside, and Sarkona emerged with a grin.

"They're laughing because they say this isn't the first time Malcolm has gotten wrapped up in his work and forgotten about visitors. Apparently we'll find him near the main building. Off we go!"

Our Proxies began shadowing us again just as quickly as they'd left. We walked forward about fifty metres, but after Sarkona led us around a third pile of rubble and two stationary walkers, they instead asked their Proxy to lead the way straight to Malcolm. We progressed much faster after that, walking past drones that appeared to be both digging large holes and filling other ones in. We made our way past the perimeter wall of the large building into the space within - the large rectangular walls on all sides of us effectively framing the sky above us, the interior of the building seeming to have been removed already - the rest held up by supports at all angles. We looked down and could see a series of ramps that led deep into what appeared to be a basement of some kind. There we could see the shape of two Proxies and two people inspecting the ground area around them.


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