Berlin 2022 had airplanes; they had weapons, tanks, and something Jonas called quadricopters. As far as we could tell, these were armed, lightweight personal aircraft that resembled giant drones. They became commonplace in the two years on war following Chicago's destruction. They were useless without electricity, but Chicago had solved that problem. Day by day more buildings lit up with electricity from Lee's wind turbines.
From what Jonas said, two years into nuclear war, Berlin was even less populated than Chicago. Even with superior weaponry, we stood a shot. Getting to Berlin meant becoming the best-armed city in the Void.
"If we can convince the leftover Germans to help us, instead of blasting us to pieces," Brigg said.
"Can't we radio ahead of time? Like we did for London?" Lee asked.
"They've been trying. Nothing from Berlin. Or Sao Paolo, or Mumbai. Who knows, maybe they don't use radios in 2022. We also don't know the extent of the damage cause by the second phase of the war. From the ash on Jonas's clothes, the city is probably a ruin," Brigg said.
I hadn't known that Moira was trying to talking to Mumbai and Sao Paolo - I hoped she was trying to warn them about Russia. Cold fear kept inching its way along my spine - I hoped New York was as empty as Berlin. I hoped the Russians didn't find any people to kill.
"I guess it didn't occur to me that the last six cities are all from the same time as Berlin. They showed up at the same time, at least," Lee said. "And that's enough to assume. If there is time dilation, there has to be rules. It seems like a year on earth is roughly a month here. When the bomb dropped on Chicago, Mumbai and Sao Paulo were two of the most densely populated cities on Earth. But who knows, now? They could have been evacuated like Chicago was, years before the bomb ever hit. For all we know, those cities are gold mines of technology and resources with almost no extra mouths to feed."
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"And they're too far away. We can't get there. But we can get to Berlin," Brigg said. "The bottom point of their bedrock is almost touching the spire of the Sears Tower. If we can fire a cable from the top of the tower and secure it to the bottom of Berlin, we can send a team up. Climb to the surface and take a plane back down."
Lee snorted. "You've never rock climbed, have you? I used to do it at my gym. My arms were shaking after fifty feet of going on a flat wall - do you have any idea how impossible it would be for us to climb to Berlin? The best climber in the world couldn't do that. It would be like climbing Mount Everest, upside down. And even if we could, we would want to take Jonas, because none of us speak German. And since he just para-glided through a glass window, I doubt he'll be down to undercling all the way back to Berlin."
"Well, great. Why don't we just tie a bunch of balloons to the Sears Tower and float up there like the guy from Up? Because that's where I am with ideas right now," Brigg said.
The idea hit me like a slap. "Oh Jesus. I know how we're going to get up there."
Brigg and Lee began to question me, but the sound of an explosion interrupted us.
Along the far edge of the room was a floor to ceiling window. In it, you could see Moscow-Beijing in the distance.
They'd absorbed New York. The three skylines were pressed in a line, Chinese architecture flowing into Russian and then into the skyline of New York.
Even from London-Chicago, we could see the fires beginning to rage, the bursts of bombs illuminating the gray mist of the void. New York was fighting back.
But how long could they hold?