Delta Rubycon was travelling in the direction of most people's dismay, which was the exact opposite direction of the local traffic flow of the last few vessels departing the now-abandoned Fort Unity's spaceport. Avoiding the outgoing traffic according to the rules of spaceflight safety, our ship was the last one left in the vicinity. The pilots carefully flew through the spaceport entrance, and then, unexpectedly, a heavy door moved into position and separated us from outer space.
Floating still in the middle of the spaceport, we wondered who or what might still be controlling the doors, or even just observing us enter back into the structure.
Then, not much later, the inner door which previously let Tau Rubycon into the habitation area opened up. If we flew through that, we would be high above Unity city – a second time experience for me, but a first for the pilots.
"Do not go through." I told the pilot in command. "Your ship's thrusters are no match for the artificial gravity. If you go through and start spinning together with the cylinder, you will not be able to counter the Coriolis effect."
"There is no atmosphere inside." the copilot said. "As there is no atmosphere that spins together with the cylinder, there is nothing to force us to match the cylinder's rotation. We will not feel any artificial gravity effect."
"Ah… Good observation, and a fair point."
Delta Rubycon slowly pushed itself into the habitation section. We were in the middle of the cylindrical city; we could look up, down, right or left, and we would see the city all around us. Any direction we looked at would, for any practical purposes, be 'downwards'.
"This is slightly disorienting." was the comment from the commander.
"I will forever wonder why I have agreed to this." was the comment from the copilot.
"That's the tower." I said, pointing ahead to one of the partially burned buildings towards the middle of the city, though 'middle' didn't have that much of a meaning when the city was in the shape of a cylinder, except in the axial direction. In the other direction, you could walk forever following the city's circumference and you would just loop around the same city infinite times.
"I can take us closer." said the commander, and gently started moving the ship towards the tower. "I will have to match the city's rotation to come to a stop next to it though, and if what you say is true, this might be a fruitless effort."
"Well, we at least won't plummet down like that ship earlier did." said the copilot, who somehow managed to notice the crash site of Tau Rubycon from some many kilometers away.
"The tower is quite tall and it's tip is closer to the center of the cylinder, experiencing less gravity." I said. "If you keep high enough above the surface at all times, we might just be able to park next to it."
"I will try, I definitely will, just… no promises."
Delta Rubycon slowly descended and tried to match the city's rotation, so that it would come to a stop relative to the tower's tip. It worked with little effort, since the flight computer of the ship was good at these sorts of things.
"Now, we will probably need some space suits, because the city's atmosphere has not been restored, of course."
"About that…"
Tachibana, who had been sitting silently in the cockpit for a long while, under the supervision of guards, spoke for the first time.
"We will not be needing space suits. The atmosphere will be restored shortly – but do not be alarmed. It will be at a slow pace so as to not interfere with the flight dynamics of your vehicle. You already matched rotation, you will simply have to keep this position. Should be an easy task, even for an unsupervised flight computer."
And indeed, just as he said, the air processing and circulation system of the Unity city engaged, and the city started outgassing from various locations. The only exception was the region of the city that was just patched up by robots; around that region, the structure was repaired, but that was it. The buildings, the wildlife or any of the utilities that used to be there no longer really existed, it was just a large straight plain made of a metal floor. Perhaps a 'metal desert' would explain it better.
"Everything will be the same as before eventually." said Tachibana, apparently noticing my interest in the region. "The air is a nice, nearly ideal gas that will fill up the entire volume nearly uniformly, so it doesn't matter that much where the city releases air and where it doesn't."
"I know that much." I said. "Do you know how many people were standing over there in that region of the city when the ground turned into a giant hole to outer space?"
"You didn't have enough of that torment?" Tachibana asked. "Probably a hundred or two, if that was a genuine question that you wanted an answer for."
In a while, the city's atmosphere was dense enough to transmit sound across large distances. But, from a city that used to be full of activity, there was nothing to be heard anymore. No more working vehicles, no more industry, no more animals in the forests, and no more people on the streets. It was just the ominous ambience from the air processing and circulation systems, which were easily being overwhelmed by the ambience of Delta Rubycon's life support.
"Pressure is rising." said the copilot. "We are stable in position. Occasional strong airflow may rock us back and forth a bit until the atmospheric restoration is complete."
"I will keep that in mind." the commander said.
Delta Rubycon slowly drifted with the airflow until it gently bumped to the side of the tower, which would smash a few windows if there were any left on the building at all.
"That might leave a mark." the copilot said. "Let's hope the boss won't be there when we return."
"The atmospheric restoration is nearly complete." said Tachibana. "Commander, if you can bring the airlock to the top floor, we will be able to transfer to the building."
The commander looked at me, awaiting confirmation. I nodded, and he grabbed the flight controls.
"I really hope we all know what we are doing here. The ship is in position, and you may transfer to the tower when you wish."
"And, just this once, I will resist the urge to leave you troublesome people here and go back to my usual job of transporting less excited passengers." said the copilot.