And now the signals were indicating that the One’s time of ascendance was at hand.

Now.

Slootjes was rattling on… “I had to call the Munich Lodge to check on Rudolph Drexler’s involvement with Princip, and they confirmed it. Charles Atkinson could have learned of it only from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”

Ernst felt his stomach coiling into a knot. “So…the memoir is accurate.”

“Everything I checked has been verified.”

“Which means I have to accept his description of my grandfather’s horrible death as accurate?”

“I’m afraid so. And not only that: When Atkinson says he and your grandfather witnessed horrors beyond the Veil, and that your grandfather concluded that the Order had been duped, I see no choice but to assume he’s telling the truth.”

“He could have misinterpreted whatever he really said.”

Slootjes nodded slowly. “Possible, possible.” He looked up at Ernst with a tortured expression. “But if Rudolph Drexler was right, then my whole life has been a lie.” He looked away. “I have some deep thinking to do.”

“About what?”

“About my responsibilities as loremaster and what my next step should be.”

“Meaning?”

“I need time to think. Alone. Please be so kind as to shut the door on your way out.”

With nothing more to say, Ernst left the loremaster to himself.

HARI

Donny returned from the base of the mountain wall shaking his head.

“Not a sign of an opening, or that there’d ever been an opening. We are so fucked!”

“Be calm,” Hari said.

Donny threw his arms up. “How can I be calm when we’re trapped on another fucking planet?”

That had been Hari’s first thought too, but then she realized…

“Temporarily, yes, but we know that gateway is going to open again.”

“Do we?”

Hari struggled for patience and to keep her voice level. She was upset too, but somebody had to set the tone, and it looked like the job had fallen to her.

“Yes, Donny, we do. The truckers seem to be making daily trips, which tells me the gateway opens and closes on a schedule and someone out there knows it.”

“But we don’t.”

“We’re two smart people. We should be able to figure the interval—I’m betting it’s got something to do with the signal that’s right outside the gateway—and even if we don’t figure it out, all we have to do is wait.”

“And keep from freezing to death.” He rubbed his arms. “Did it just get colder?”

“Feels that way. Darker too.”

She turned to face the enormous red sun and saw its lower quarter had dipped below the horizon.

“Damn, that thing moves fast.”

“How long are the nights here?” Donny said. “We have no idea. At least we have the Tahoe’s heater to keep us warm.”

“But do we have enough gas? We started out with a full tank but do we have enough left to last the night?”

Donny stepped toward the rear of the Tahoe. “I’m going to check for an emergency kit. They might have flares.”