Inside, they tried to be careful. Hutch could imagine future archeologists arriving on the scene with nothing but criticism for Blanchard and those other nitwits who tore everything apart. She wasn’t alone. They were all more careful than they had been in the skyscraper.

They filed into a large room with a long, broken counter lining one wall. And more doors. Considerably smaller than the ones at the front entrance. They were permanently shut too, of course.

Hutch brought out her cutter, looked at Derek for approval, got it, and removed one door from its frame. They aimed their wristlamps into darkness. It was an auditorium of some sort. The floor had lines of chairs, scattered and broken by a partial ceiling collapse.

“Look,” said Hutch. “Up there.” More wreckage was visible at the far end of the auditorium. “It used to be a stage.” It had no screen or display.

Beth started forward but stopped after only a few steps. “Careful. There are holes in the floor.”

They climbed carefully over the rubble and eventually stood in front of what remained of the stage. “It looks as if they did live theater,” said Beth. “I’d love to find a copy of one of their plays. That would be something to take home.”

•  •  •

They came out of the theater, and Ken noticed a building that would have been easy to overlook in that once-exotic place except that a statue occupied the ground off to one side of the front door. The building was only four stories high, a simple rectangular structure, with a few tall windows.

The statue depicted something that was not remotely human other than that it wore clothes. It had long, sharp ears and the eyes of an eagle. The face suggested the presence of fangs, and it wore a hat that might have been out of a Robin Hood illustration, save that there was no feather. Its jacket was unfastened, and it had trousers that would have been perfect for a hunting trip. If it could be compared to anything, it would have been a lizard. Despite all that, the creature projected a sense of dignity and courage.

•  •  •

They took more pictures, and struggled again with the doors. “You want to cut through?” asked Hutch.

Derek looked at the empty windows. There were a few crusted shards of glass caught in the frames. “It’s a church,” he said. Then: “No, let’s not do any breaking and entering here.” He glanced around to see what else might warrant a look. To the north, the taller buildings began to give way to more perfunctory construction. Derek again took the lead and they made for an ordinary-appearing structure about three stories high that rose above surrounding houses. The front doors, if they existed at all, were buried in rubble.

They approached one of the windows and pointed their lamps inside, into a large room filled with chairs.