Fiery Peaks

✿ This article was featured in Issue #1 of the Atlantic Bulletin

After three days in Ada, Tzipora set off towards Mt Miya. She made good time, and after three hours had happened upon the shoulders of the bright Volouisnesnkull Glacier. It was about here that she heard a morbid industrial siren, echoing up the valleys from far away.

At first she thought it might have come from Ada, since Boya Chemical had a large plant there, but as she lay out her things for lunch she heard the distinct whine of a turbojet. It grew louder, and deeper, until a National Fire VTOL tanker roared across the sky, swirling powdered snow on nearby peaks as it arced across the glacier. It was close enough to catch the sun ablaze in the reflection of its glass nosecone.

She later learned that lava streams had opened up not far from where she’d hiked, and had been making their way towards a geothermal power plant nestled in the highlands. In the evening, on her way back, she saw a long line of fire supertankers and pumpers spraying water in beautiful arcs, where it caught hisses from bright streams of melted rock. It was a common enough sight in Vekllei — hoses were the only defence you could reasonably make against the the fracturing earth.

Still, it was not often you saw jets flying so low. It was funny to her that even the barren glaciers were tamed in this age.