BooksBarbecue
Back Stringers Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. FRONT COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  63. CHAPTER SIXTY
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Further down the panel, beyond a great jumble of math, were a pair of large, translucent films. One looked like an archaic x-ray image of a human head, showing the skull and neck. Passing through it were lines in a gradient that resembled the force lines of a magnetic field. The other picture was a rudimentary negative, shown in black on white, of a random starfield with the same lines flowing through it as the first image.

A laughably simple diagram was scribbled on the last panel. A lone stick figure with a helmet and tiny goggles drawn on. Above it was scratched a letter: E. An arrow was drawn from the E. character to a box labeled Capacitor, with another arrow leading from the box to a sketch of the craft Naecia had seen in the prior reflection. This was labeled Electra 10.

The pair spoke quietly, closely, none of it audible. They went back over the notations and diagrams together before the new woman took up a felted block and used it to quickly rub away everything that had been written. They left the room together, shutting the door behind them. On the door was a name. Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin.

The scene ended. Naecia’s mind was frazzled by this point. Time had a way of slowing while down in the dredge as information uptake skyrocketed. She pulled up another sliver of the past; the final cross-section of the circular shape. Her throat burned as stomach acid burbled upward. If she surfaced now, she knew she wouldn’t have the strength to go back.

E. piloted the Electra 10 through the dead of night. There was a new person with her, a young man. A flexible grid of gold wire covered the contours of the cabin. The man considered a paper navigational chart. He tapped at a clock in the instrument panel and folded away the chart. They spoke to each other.

Naecia could hear her own breathing, somewhere distant. The walls of self were wearing thin. She couldn’t stay down much longer.

E. nodded and then gave an instruction to her navigator, after which he took the yoke. E. leaned back and shut her eyes.

And that was it. The scene ended.