Garth had learned early on that Pendorians thought of North and South in terms of their sun because on a ringworld, especially one so electromagnetically maintained as Pendor was, such "magnetic" terms were pointless.Garth had learned early on that Pendorians thought of North and South in terms of their sun because on a ringworld, especially one so electromagnetically maintained as Pendor was, such "magnetic" terms were pointless. Garth had been shocked to learn that Pendor was not "geologically stable." But his reading on the spaceflight had said as much; while Pendor did not possess "lava" in its understructure, the ferrofluidic (it really used suspended neodymuim crystals, but the "iron" technical term for a magnetically susceptible fluid stuck, much like the phrase "surgical steel" is used for substances which are these days primarily ceramic) 'base' of Pendor, which among other things provided large-scale climate control, also provided a constant, geological 'ebb and flow' to the surface of Pendor, in some places causes land masses to shift as much as a centimeter a year! The book he had been reading explained that the measure was necessary to prevent Pendor from becoming "a flat land of eroded sand" during it's many millions of years of evolutionary control. But as he looked out over the beautiful, mist-shrouded valley, even as the mist broke up under the hammer of summer sunlight overhead, he appreciated this massive construction effort for what it was... an effort to keep mountains young and beautiful. Old mountains had their place in a world, but once he knew what they were, they even looked worn and old. Spectacular constructions like the American Rockies, which were relatively young, held his attention. A birdcry made him jerk his head around, and he saw what was either an eagle or a falcon carrying some small rodent in its beak. |