Rebirth by Philip R Benge

  **********

  The landing party had no further trouble with the natives of Genesis as they travelled through the woodland; it was now only filled with the sounds of nature. There were no signs that a city of unknown antiquity was near, nature had buried everything beneath a covering of leaves and soil, any walls had now returned to the constituents that made them, or were pulled down and covered beneath a wall of green plants. It was not until they were within a mile of the ruined city that the woods gave way to a land where flowers and grass predominated, they saw their first signs that buildings had once stood here. The remains of walls looking out from the mass of vegetation that would all too soon destroy these remnants of the work carried out by the ancients of Genesis. It was then they saw the city as it begin to rise majestically from the behind the trees before them. All around the city, they saw the latest of the many shimmering energy barriers that had kept nature at bay for eons, and kept the landing party from obtaining entry into its hidden depths. As the city`s reserves of power slowly ran down so it brought the force field nearer to the ruined city.