Talia had finished her shift at the hospital and she was heading up to the second tier of her city, Auksand, to collect some flower heads that grew on one of the ponds there. Her mother needed more for her medical supplies.

As Talia climbed the stairs from tiers 10 to 8, known to most as the upper housing tiers, she looked across at the other side of Auksand. The city in which she lived was like a hallowed out stalactite, wide at the top where it met the surface, then it became narrower as you descended into the earth. The rock had been carved out to make tiers, individual levels within which normal structures had been built, such as houses and industrial buildings that both you and I would recognise. Each tier had a main purpose, and they were numbered from tier 1 at the surface, right down to lowest level, which was 18 for most cities. More likely than not, the last tier contained the entrance to the mines, which was a way of getting resources for the city and to expand downwards if they ever needed more space.

Talia lived on tier 10, and the hospital where she worked as a healthcare assistant (and soon to be nurse) was on tier 12. Tiers 11 to 13 were the industrial tiers with companies, workshops, schools and the fire station. Tier 14 had the police station and evening activities, such as pubs and clubs. Talia didn’t go to that tier very often but she knew that below it, tiers 15 to 17, were the lower housing tiers and tier 18 was the start of the mines. One of the many other unique things about these cities is the centre. The centre is a huge space running from the surface down to the bottom of the city. It’s an empty space and very, very deep. The tiers are like huge rings that ran around it, and if you were to pull a city from the ground it would look rather like a doughnut. A rather long, cone-shaped doughnut, with people living inside of it. In many ways, these cities are like ant farms.

As Talia walked, she had the partition wall between her and the centre on her left hand side. Made of reinforced glass, the wall is incredibly strong and has yet to be broken by either man or nature. As Talia got onto tier 7, she looked across the barley fields and she could smell the farmers brewing beer. Tiers 4 to 7 were the farming tiers, where they grew all the food that the residents of Auksand would need. On tier 7 they brewed beer and had a few animals, even though the only meat they ate in the cities tended to be that of birds as it would be inhumane to kill any other living creatures.

Talia waved at a few of the farmers as she passed them. The farmers lived on the same tiers that they worked, and they were a friendly bunch who often were enthusiastic in conversation but had little to talk about. Tier 3 was the relaxation and exercise tier. There were a few gyms and yoga studios, and someone who had come from Lila had built a climbing wall there, although Talia herself had never visited it. She much preferred the spas, who did massages. There were restaurants on this tier as well, and Talia loved ‘Courtney’s’ as they did great burritos.

Making it up onto tier 2, Talia found herself on one of the only two tiers that were open to the outside world. The gardens on this tier were in full blossom and the scents of exotic plants, that had been brought to Auksand in days when people travelled outside of the cities, filled the air. Sunlight was being reflected in the water of the ponds and, as Talia began walking to the garden keeper’s office, she passed through the shadow of tier 1. Tier 1 was made of thick metal, and it was slightly offset to all of the other tiers. It was not clear why it’s offset, but the general consensus was that the engineers who designed the city wanted to add some flair. Tier 1 in most cities contains supplies for those entering or leaving, and in Auksand they were mostly medical packs.

Talia reached the garden keeper’s office and she smiled as she greeted him.

“Good evening Talia, which herbal supplies is your mother in need of now?”

“Just some water crowfoot seeds Thomas.”

“Water crowfoot seeds, you know I just went out and gathered some today,” Thomas, the garden keeper said, before he went to fetch some for her. “There you are love,” He said upon his return.

“Thank you so much, and I have to say that the gardens are looking wonderful today.”

“Why, thank you. I tended to them myself this morning.”

“Wonderful,” Talia replied before two policemen walked past her and she glanced over to see a crowd of people standing in one of the gardens. “What’s going on over there?”

“There?” Thomas said before he turned to look. “Oh, there was a great ruckus about ten minutes ago and a loud clattering on tier 1, nearly scared the life out of me.”

“I wonder what it was,” Talia said as intrigue overtook her mind.

“Why don’t you go and have a look and let me know what you find?”

“I will,” Talia replied before she left Thomas and went over to the crowd. Moving her way gently through them, she soon found herself looking upon what the two policemen were untangling from one the hedge. It was a man. He was about her age, 22 or so, and his dark brown, curly hair was tangled with twigs.

“Alright, nothing to see here,” One of the policemen said as they lay the man onto the floor. The crowd began to disperse, but Talia watched on.

“Where did he come from?”

“He probably came up from tier 14,” The policeman replied. It was normal for drunk people to be found in weird spots around the city, but tangled in a hedge was one of the more unusual places.

“I’m not sure that he did. There was this loud noise and a shadow above, before he…” Someone in the crowd began.

“What do you mean, a shadow?” Talia asked, keen to learn more.

“There was a shadow that came right over us, like something falling out of the sky.”

“What? Did he fall out of the sky?” Talia asked as she looked above her.

“Of course he didn’t fall out of the sky,” One of the policemen replied and Talia frowned as she saw something white hanging off the edge of tier 1. It looked like a sail of a ship that she’d seen in paintings and illustrations in books. Could that have fallen out of the sky? And then this man could have fallen further into the hedge? As she wondered this, the policemen were hastily making decisions and one of them picked the man up in a fireman’s lift.

“Where are you taking him?” Someone asked.

“To the hospital to get him checked over,” The policeman replied before he walked off with the man. Talia watched them go before she began making her way back down to her house. When she made it home, she opened the door and took her shoes off.

“Hi mum, dad,” She called into the house as she took her cardigan off, that she used to cover up for work uniform, and hung it onto a coat hook.

“Hi Talia. How was your day?” Nicola, her mother, called from the kitchen.

“It was good and I’ve got the water crowfoot seeds.”

“That’s fantastic. Join me in here, I’m just sorting my medication out for tomorrow,” Nicola said and Talia joined her mother in the kitchen. Nicola was carefully preparing the medicines for her next day’s work as Talia took a seat. “How are the gardens today darling?”

“Beautiful as ever. Thomas does a really good job of keeping them.”

“I do like Thomas. He’s been doing that job for 40 years you know.”

“I am aware.”

“If you’ve been up to the gardens, did you hear all the commotion?” Adrian, Talia’s father, asked as he came into the room.

“I did. Two policemen pulled a man out of a hedge. His skin looked flushed and he was looking worse for wear, with cuts and messy hair. People said that there was this shadow that came over them and there was clattering on tier 1. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that he had fallen out of the sky.”

“Fallen out of the sky?” Nicola said with a laugh. “Oh Talia darling, none falls out of the sky. The poor man probably got drunk and staggered his way up from tier 14 to the gardens. There, I’m ready for tomorrow,” Nicola said as she closed her suitcase with the click of the metal clips. “If he had fallen out of the sky Talia, he would have more serious wounds than just a few cuts.”

“I suppose you’re right, but there was something else,” Talia continued and she gained her parents’ full attention. “There was some white cloth hanging off the edge of tier 1. It looked like a sail of a ship.”

“I can assure you Talia, that however the man got there it was wasn’t by ship,” Adrian said as he sat down.

“What about an airship?”

“An airship?”

“Yes, I’ve read about them and we’ve got a statue of one of tier 13. Aeronauts on the surface use them don’t they?” Talia asked as the thought of having an aeronaut in their city, filled her with excitement.

“We don’t know if they do. In stories, people have referred to the airships used by aeronauts, but we don’t have any evidence that they existed or that they even exist today. The statue is a representation of what they were described to look like in books,” Nicola told her.

“Indeed. I’m not convinced that they exist,” Adrian continued. “How could you possibly fly with a boat styled gondola strapped to an envelope of gas and a rudder to steer the whole darn thing? Besides, it would be utter madness to fly, and it’s incredibly risky.”

“I suppose that it would be. But just imagine if they’re real.”

“We can imagine. But as I said, you would have to be mad to actually try to fly. I don’t understand why anyone would even consider it,” Adrian said and Talia quietened down. He was right of course. To fly would hold an uncountable number of risks, and why would you try something so absurd, that could cause you harm?

After dinner, Talia settled down with her father in the living room and got out a book. She loved reading about fictional lands and extraordinary tales of adventure and excitement, even if nothing exciting ever happened in her own life.

The next day, Talia came down to find a curly-haired man lying on their couch. Nicola was tending to his wounds as he slept and, as Talia approached him more, she recognised him.

“That’s him. That’s the man from the gardens.”

“It is. You’ve always had a good memory for faces Talia.”

“But, what’s he doing here and why are you treating him? What happened at the hospital?”

“Everything went well at the hospital. However, he’s not on the Auksand’s health database. Which could mean that he has come from outside, and therefore he holds a risk of having MA.”

“MA?” Talia asked. It was a well-known disease in cities, that caused the victim to act without caution and caused them to undertake dangerous acts. It was highly infectious, and given the right conditions, it would spread rapidly, endangering the lives of not just the victims, but everyone else around them. Those with chronic health conditions and isolated lives were more vulnerable its effects and the resulting reckless behaviours. It was dangerous and deadly, mostly to those in these vulnerable groups. It is the people in these groups that Auksand has based its whole society round, like an increasing number of cities. If MA was given the chance to spread, it would hit these people the hardest, and so it had to be kept out of the population. Auksand’s society had adapted its rules to achieve this.

“I’m afraid so,” Nicola continued. “Until he wakes up, we can’t be sure and we’ll have to monitor him.”

“You said that his records aren’t on Auksand’s database.”

“That’s right,” Nicola told her. That was weird. It meant that he wasn’t registered as a citizen of Auksand on the city-wide health database. Could he have really fallen out of the sky?

Talia thought about the city’s gates and the surface. The gates of the city were horizontal and they lay in a metal encased shelf between tier 1 and the surface. There was a mechanism on tier 1 to close them, and most cities do when enduring bad weather. Tala wondered what the outside world was like, and how had this man had ended up here.