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Back The Long Sunset Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Prologue
  5. 1.
  6. 2.
  7. 3.
  8. 4.
  9. 5.
  10. 6.
  11. 7.
  12. 8.
  13. 9.
  14. 10.
  15. 11.
  16. 12.
  17. 13.
  18. 14.
  19. 15.
  20. 16.
  21. 17.
  22. 18.
  23. 19.
  24. 20.
  25. 21.
  26. 22.
  27. 23.
  28. 24.
  29. 25.
  30. 26.
  31. 27.
  32. 28.
  33. 29.
  34. 30.
  35. 31.
  36. 32.
  37. 33.
  38. 34.
  39. 35.
  40. 36.
  41. 37.
  42. 38.
  43. 39.
  44. 40.
  45. 41.
  46. 42.
  47. 43.
  48. 44.
  49. Epilogue
  50. About the Author
  51. Copyright

This has been one of the most exciting days in my life. It feels like something they’ll make into a movie one day. They’ve already done that with one of Hutch’s missions. Lyra Calkins played her. Wally thinks Hutch looks better and should have played herself. I asked whether she’d been given that option and she said no. She told me that one of the script writers said they’d considered it, but that the feeling was she was a bit too stiff. If this one gets made into a movie, I can’t help wondering who they’d get to play me. Maybe Cora Baxter?

—Thursday, March 20, 2256

12.

Naught treads so silent as the foot of time.

—Edward Young, “Love of Fame, V,” 1728

Derek was on the bridge. “Another three days,” he said. “We need a better drive unit.” He was grinning. Of everyone on board, no one was so overwhelmed by the velocity they had with the Locarno. Hutch understood that she’d never grasped the reality of the distances involved in interstellar travel. The destination might have been light-years away, but when you traveled using a hyperdrive, it always played out in terms of days or weeks. But Derek was different. He seemed to have a grasp of the vast distances involved. And the time. No one was more aware than he that, if they could view the Earth up close as it was at that moment, the occupants were maybe getting started on their first pyramids.

“I wonder,” he said, “if the Monument Makers ever got out this far?”

“I don’t know.”

“What have we got now? Seventeen of them?”

“You sound annoyed.” Eighteen was correct. One more, a golden wing, had been discovered six months earlier. Fourteen were in orbit, and four were on the ground.

“Priscilla, I’ve never been a fan of them.”

“The Monument Makers? I don’t think I understand, Derek. What do you have against them?”

“What did they ever do? They had all that technology and all we’ve seen from them are these pedestals and whatnot they left around. Why didn’t they do something constructive?”

“For example?”

“Maybe find a way to keep their descendants safe. They allowed their own world to go to hell.”

“I think you’re being a little hard on them. Time takes everything down.”

“All right. They could have said hello.”

“They did.”