Free StarHawk by Mack Maloney

avoided.
    In fact, no one had set foot on the lunar satellite in more than three thousand years.
    The hyper-shuttle spiraled down through Earth’s atmosphere now, heading toward an enormous city on the northeastern edge of the western continent.
    A layer of perfectly shaped clouds seemed to be hovering above the center of this metropolis. On closer inspection, however, Hunter realized these really weren’t clouds at all.
    They were floating cities.
    “That’s where the Specials live,” Erx explained, sensing Hunter’s curiosity. “The Emperor and his immediate family live on that one right there—the one that’s so big, it’s hard to miss…”
    The largest of the floating cities was about twenty miles below them. It looked like a huge castle in the sky. It had multiple spires, many glowing in very odd iridescent colors. Long, sloping passageways crisscrossed these spires like spiderwork. The airborne city was at least ten square miles in size. Other cities floating close to it were almost as large.
    Because the floating cities were so big, and because they were more than a mile above Earth’s surface, condensation tended to gather underneath them, forming… clouds . This created the illusion that the cities were floating on the cumulus.
    Beneath the floating palaces was Big Bright City. It went on forever. Tens of millions of structures, from superskyscrapers to shacks, hovering roadways, air-car tubes, water canals, flags, banners, arenas, thousands of monuments to the Emperor, enormous, skyward-pointing power grids—and lights. Lights everywhere! Burning brightly, day and night. All colors, all shades, all tones. Everything bathed in a muted neon glow to ensure than no one ever went to sleep. The city was so large, it took up nearly one tenth of the entire upper western continent.
    On its very eastern edge, right before its last triad met the sea, was Effkay-Jack. It was a sprawling spaceport facility, boasting hundreds of launch and receiving stations, huge housing units for the Empire’s largest starships, its own weather control, and its own separate army. It was the largest spaceport in the Galaxy. On any given day more than fifty million people would pass through its portals.
    The hyper-shuttle swooped down into one of them now and finally halted. Once the tiny vessel was recognized as the property of one of the most famous starship commanders in the Galaxy, it was surrounded by a small army of ground support personnel. One of them opened the main hatch, and Erx scrambled out; Berx followed close behind.
    Now it was Hunter’s turn.
    Yet he hesitated. This could be a special moment, he thought. It would be wise to remember it.
    Finally he touched his boot heel to Earth. A jolt of electricity ran right through his body.
    “What do you know about that?” he murmured.
    I’ve been here before…

PART TWO

    The Earth Race

10

    When night fell, Big Bright City got even brighter.
    Lights that had been blazing all day had their luminescence turned up a few more notches once the sun had finally set. The streets, the buildings, the airwalks were all absolutely clean and sparkling, thanks to a huge army of robots. Because every exposed piece of ground reflected the cool, green hue of terranium, the overall effect was that of a gleaming, emerald city.
    Only the Very Fortunates lived in this magnificent place. More than two billion in all, and every last one of them had a reason for being here. They were either somehow related to the Specials—and there were several million of them alone—or worked for someone who was. But in a place where the ground that the Emperor’s cloud city passed over was considered sacred—the “Holy Shadow,” it was called—even the hired help had to be at least a Fortunate. No one below that class even dared step within the city’s gates.
    Unless you were in the high military, that is. Then you were treated almost like royalty, just a step down from the Specials themselves.