Edward stood in the parking lot of the Little America Restaurant and Motel, motor home idling nearby, and scanned the smoky northern horizon. The fire had been burning for five days now and was completely out of control. The orange and brown cloud stretched to the limits of east and west, turning the sun an apocalyptic flame red. Tendrils of gray smoke had passed over the highway and motel, dropping ghostly flakes of fine white ash. From what he had heard on the radio, there was no way he could go any farther north; two hundred thousand acres of Montana were ablaze, and yesterday the flames had stretched hungrily into Canada.

Seated at the RV's dining table, he charted a southwesterly route on an auto club map with a yellow marker, then climbed into the driver's seat and strapped himself in.

The cold northern air was delicious, even thickened by the smell of burning timber. He had never known air so invigorating.

Edward pulled out of the parking lot and headed west.

He hoped Yosemite would still be there when he arrived.

PERSPECTIVE

Sky and Telescope On-line,

February 4, 1997:

Today, Venus is at superior conjunction, behind the sun and out of sight. Today is also the projected date of the impact of a huge chunk of ice, allegedly from Europa. What this will do to Venus is a fascinating question. The impact will cause enormous seismic disruption, perhaps even deep-mantle cracking and a rearrangement of the planet's internal structure. Venus has virtually no water; with the trillions of tons of water provided by the ice ball, and the renewed geologic activity, the planet could, in a few tens of thousands of years, become a garden of Eden . . .

Chapter 51

51

February 19

"About a third of the kids have been taken out of school," Francine said, putting the phone down. She had just phoned to tell the attendance office that Marty would be vacationing with them. Arthur carried a box of camping gear and—for no particular reason—the Astroscan through the living room to the station wagon in the garage.

"Not surprising," he said.

"Jim and Hilary called to say Gauge is doing fine."

"Why can't we take Gauge with us?" Marty called from the garage.

"We talked about that last night," Arthur said.

"He could sit on my lap," Marty offered, squatting beside the station wagon and sorting toys.

"Not for long," Arthur predicted. "He's got kids to play with, good people to look after him."

"Yeah. But I don't have him"

There was nothing Arthur could say to that.

"I called the auto club," Francine said, "and asked what traffic was like between here and Seattle, and down the coast. They say it's really light. That's surprising. You'd think everybody would be off playing hooky, off to Disneyland or the parks."