Two leagues along the upkeep girder, the black star-iron walkway came to an abrupt, terrifying end.
Lin Tao halted three paces from the cut edge of the beam.
Before them, the black metal pipe rim had been snapped off by some ancient load-bearing collapse during the First Age. That left a jagged, twisted stump of star-iron that jutted out into the empty gray void. Beyond that broken stump, there appeared to be nothing whatsoever. Only forty paces of empty, unrendered space separating them from the next section of narrow high walkway.
Tie Shan stopped beside him, his massive hand right away dropping to the star-iron pry-bar at his shoulder.
“The bridge is broken,” Tie Shan said, staring at the empty gap.
“The iron bridge is broken,” Lin Tao agreed. He knelt at the edge of the cut girder. “The visible beam ends here. But look at the air, Tie Shan.”
Lin Tao pointed his land-mapper metal pen out into the empty space.
To Tie Shan’s naked eyes, there was nothing ahead except the infinite, matte gray deep pit. But through Lin Tao’s augmented left eye, the sight HUD was painting a dense, green wireframe mesh across the void.
