Hutch watched as the kid came out of the surf, laughed, and jogged onto the beach. “I guess,” she said, “there’s a reason they look like dolphins.” She looked past the child, out across the waves. Beautiful place, this beach. She thought again of the lost world adrift in the shadow of the black hole. What would it be like when the thing arrived here? Would the sun be ripped apart while that child watched in horror? Or would there simply be a quiet sunset with the light gone forever?

23.

It was a long-ago night when that lonely star

Drifted across the alien sky

And brought hope to our desperate hearts.

We will never forget.

—Kenneth Squires, Heart of the Milky Way, 2259

Kwylla came over to help Beth and Hutch prepare dinner that evening. She showed them which types of food should be heated and which were best served cold. She made the local equivalent of a coleslaw salad. Showed them some sliced fish and waited for them to decide whether they wanted it included. And she mixed drinks.

When it was finished, she helped set the table. “Some things other than beaches,” Beth said, “will probably be the same everywhere.” Kwylla’s oversized smile left no doubt in Hutch’s mind that she understood.

They did actually manage a conversation. Beth let everyone know how much she enjoyed the ocean, Hutch was able to express her gratitude to Kwylla for effectively preparing the meal, Ken made it clear that he was interested in learning about the temple, Arin inquired whether his guests also had books, Kwylla wondered whether the food was much different from what humans normally ate, and Derek was able to ask whether there was anything else they needed. And they also learned the name of the world: Volaria. It was possible that the term also applied to the ground. In the same manner as “earth” is both soil and planet.

By the time they’d finished, darkness had fallen. Arin was first to go outside and scan the sky. He looked back at Derek, who’d followed him. Where is it?

A short time later, maybe a quarter hour, the moving star appeared, and no one seemed as pleased as their host. They watched until it descended below the horizon, and then went inside. Hutch, who was washing dishes while Kwylla dried them, saw him take a notebook from a drawer in one of the side tables. He looked at the clock and apparently recorded the time.

He came back a short while later, wrote in the notebook again. Ken looked at Hutch. “What?”

“He’s recording the passages. I think he needs to do something. He’s like Derek. Just can’t relax.”

•  •  •

Derek and Arin went outside. And Kwylla looked at Ken and asked a question. Ken listened and nodded. “She wants to know whether we’ve been visiting other places, too.” He looked at her and responded.