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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

Hutch was getting to her feet with a helping hand from Derek. Her shin still hurt. “You sure you’re okay?” he said.

“I’m fine.”

Derek stayed with her until she’d gotten down off the doors.

“You should get back to the lander,” Beth said.

“Sounds like a good idea. I feel as if I weigh a ton.” Beth accompanied her. A few minutes later, Derek and Ken followed.

•  •  •

When they were all back inside the lander, they began debating whether they should attempt to go down the staircase. “I’d be interested in seeing what’s at the bottom,” said Derek.

Beth was rubbing a salve on Hutch’s leg. “You’ll be fine,” she said. “It’s just a bruise.” Then she turned to Derek. “I don’t see any point in going down there. I’m not sure what you hope to gain. And it’ll be dangerous. This place has been in the ice for a long time, maybe thousands of years. We don’t know how much support that stairway has. If it gives out, it will be bye-bye, baby.”

“More to the point,” said Wally, “it seems like a pretty routine office building. What can you find that might matter?”

“Maybe a picture that has survived. I’d like at least to find out what they looked like.”

“Why don’t we just do it?” said Ken. “Archeology’s never completely safe. If we don’t go down to look, we’ll always wonder what we missed.”

“You’ve got a better option,” said Beth.

Ken grinned at her. His wife always had a better idea. “What?” he asked.

“The problem is the ice. Everything’s buried in ice. Which is frozen water, right?”

Derek and Ken both looked puzzled.

“There should be a place here somewhere that was at one time fairly dry. Maybe a desert. Chances are pretty good if we look around a bit more, we could find something that’s not completely frozen and buried.”

•  •  •

Hutch thought about what it had been like for the occupants. Some had watched their sun being torn apart as the lights went out. For others, it might have been that the sun had merely set and never rose again.

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Beth Squires’s Notes

Thank God Hutch did not go into that pit. If that had happened I’d never have had a moment of peace again. Ever.

—Saturday, April 5, 2256

16.

Time shall every grief remove,

With life, with memory, and with love.

—Thomas Gray, Epitaph for Mrs. Jane Clarke, 1758

They found what Wally laughingly called the city in the desert at around noon the following day. There was no way to know what the ground had been like in that world’s happier years. But the city had obviously been part of those better times. And that was what mattered.