Excerpt: Downward to the Waters

Before beginning the long and difficult climb down, Avery Michaels spent a long moment at the top of the ridge, standing in the bitter cold of the thin air and looking out over the inner ocean. To the sides, the ridge stretched away and curved inward. It was like standing on the rim of a very large and shallow bowl full of water.
Below him around the edge of that water was an appreciable percentage of the human race.