(from page 8)

Second Tuesday in September, an hour after sunrise, I crested a rise in the Duley Lake road, into view of the moldering, depression-era schoolhouse. Recently up to its ankles in water, Duley Lake school stood dry, though still surrounded by receding waters in the shadow of a rack of Titan ribs.

GAEA rose from a half-buried hand a mile away, directly across the lake... five gleaming monolithic domes like windowed pearls, massive central dome capped by a diamond. Topping the towers that define the four corners of GAEA, rotor blades carved the fresh breeze, a beguiling, friendly beckon in their motion.