In a horizontal forest of lengthening shadows, the towers and rooftops of Salkrikaltor City broke the waves. They were rendered in concrete, in iron, rock and glass, and in sweeps of hardy cold-water coral. Columns spiralled with walkways, linked by spine-thin bridges. Intricate conical spires a hundred feet high, dark square keeps. A mass of contrary styles. The outlines of the skyline were a child’s exuberant sketch of a reef. Organic towers bulged like tubeworm casts. There were analogues of lace corals, high-rise dwellings which branched into scores of thin rooms; squat many-windowed
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