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Back Down Station Save as PDF
Chapters (35)
  1. Contents
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. Copyright

‘We’ve seen a sea monster, but we already have giant squids and whales and we’ve had plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs. The moon’s huge, but it could be bigger, or closer, or both. No stars could mean we’re in a dust cloud or something like that. But I saw the door disappear, right in front of me, just go from a door in a wall to rock face with nothing to show where we’d come through, in less than a minute. I’ve been thinking about that. And other things. A lot.’ He picked up the narrow end of the branch and pulled it around, ready to drag. She had to step back to accommodate his arc.

‘You’re smart, right?’ she said, and he shrugged in response. ‘So where do you think we are?’

‘We’re not on Earth. Or if we are, we’re so far in the past or in the future that we may as well not be. I’d still expect the rules to be the same, though, and I don’t think they are. If we got here by,’ and he shrugged again, ‘a wormhole that just happened to open at the right time, then okay, but we’re obviously not the first to have made the journey. Other people have crossed over at different times and different places, but no one can ever get back. Either we’re dead, and this is the afterlife, or we’re not, and I have no idea. Do you feel dead?’

She checked herself, actually patted herself down and made certain.

‘No.’

‘Then get the other end of this log and help me carry it back. Then when we’ve done that a few more times, we need to search for food.’

Her automatic response was to put her hands behind her back. ‘Fuck off.’

Then he looked at her – actually looked at her, right in the eyes and wouldn’t break off no matter how belligerent her expression grew.

‘There’s no one else to do it,’ he said. ‘No one else is going to bring us anything. This isn’t paradise, where we can just pick fruit off the trees and it’s no effort. We’re going to have to work at this.’

‘Doesn’t mean I have to do it, does it?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘But,’ he added, then stopped.

‘But what?’

‘I’m not going to get shouted at like you did at Mama.’ He started dragging the branch back towards the fire, on his own. ‘I think you’re smart, too. I also think you’re right: we’re no one’s babies and we get to make our own decisions now. That’s something different, at least.’