Sappho Chapter 9
Chapter 9 Later that day, as promised, the Valiant took us in one of the their shuttles several thousand kilometers inward to the South American space needle, the incredible achievement of two centuries before. Needle was an apt description, a silver tube extending downwards to disappear in the vastness of the continent very far below. The concept of a space elevator had been known for well over a thousand years - and the proof was just a few kilometers away, a narrow structure...