The geotects of Imperial Tectonics, in their Classical and Gothic temples 
high atop New Chusan, made various efforts to build a temporary bridge between 
their island and Pudong. It was simple enough to throw a truss or floating 
bridge across the gap, but the Celestials now had the technology to blow such 
things up faster than they could be constructed. On the second day of the 
siege, they caused the island to reach toward Pudong with a narrow pseudopod of 
smart coral, rooted on the ocean floor. But there were very simple and clear 
limits to how fast such things could be grown, and as the
refugees continued to throng the narrow defiles of downtown Pudong, bearing 
increasingly dire reports of the Celestials' advance, it became evident to 
everyone that the land bridge would not be completed in time.