Landfall: Tales From the Flood/Ark Universe by Stephen Baxter Page B
Authors: Stephen Baxter
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will never be lost. Now do you see why it’s so urgent we do this?’
‘But it’s such an immense project, Proctor. We are a society that must work hard merely to stay alive – you can see that all around you today – we don’t have the spare resources for grandiose monuments.’ Xaia, Xaia – if only she was here! She was not wonderfully wise, and nor was Thom, but together, they seemed to make the right judgements … ‘Proctor, are you sure this axial excursion is going to happen? And that the effects will be as dire as you say?’
‘Oh, yes. We can prove it. It’s happened before. Not once but many times. You can see it in the rocks. Your wife told us she was making for a formation called the Reef, didn’t she? According to the Founders’ own records the Reef is the remains of a city, a Dead city, buried in the rock. You could see where the city had been – a thousand years of history, of building - and then the marks of the inundation - and then nothing , Speaker, nothing but layer upon layer of rock and the remains of burrowing purple things. That city never recovered. Even the people who built it have vanished, Speaker. Maybe they could not recover their culture, as all the metals and fuels were gone. Maybe another tilt wiped them out altogether. Or maybe they simply left this world for a better one, as the Founders left Earth.
‘We owe it to our descendants that cities like Orklund do not suffer the same fate.’ He grabbed Thom’s arm. ‘There’s still time to start, even this year. I know you fear for your wife. But she’s not coming home this year, if she ever comes home at all. Make your decision, Speaker. Let me build my Library. Let me save civilisation.’
VII
His name, he said, was Eykyn. Some kind of grease covered his face, to keep out the wind, and his hair was a nest of ropy lanks. Bundled up in what looked like layers of rabbit fur, it was impossible to tell how old he was.
Eykyn’s home was a mound, already covered thick with snow. The entrance was a dark hole without even a proper door, just a plug of wood and grass that could be forced in, a bung to keep out the cold. It was clear that the main part of the dwelling was deep underground, deep enough that the frost could not reach.
Xaia, Teif, Manda and Chan faced Eykyn, cold to the bones, wary, exhausted. The ground was already frozen, encased under layers of snow. They couldn’t survive out here. But that door was like a mouth, Xaia thought uneasily, a mouth in the earth that would swallow them all up. She felt deeply reluctant to enter.
Eykyn smiled, showing blackened, gappy teeth. ‘You are welcome,’ he said, gesturing. His accent was something like that of Ararat, much thicker, distorted. ‘People are scattered pretty thin up here, and hunker down in the coldfall. We have food.’
Teif, his cloak pulled around him, scowled. ‘What kind of food?’
‘Rabbit. Other stuff. You’ll see.’
‘And you’ll share it with us, will you?’ Manda said. ‘A bunch of people who just walked up out of nowhere.’
‘People are scattered thin,’ he said again. ‘Have to help each other. Otherwise none survive.’
‘I don’t like this,’ Manda said. Lacking Teif’s mass, the cold had got to her more and she was shivering. ‘Living like animals in the hole in the ground. What kind of people are they?’
‘Living people,’ Chan said, his own teeth chattering. ‘Surviving. It’s a rational strategy. Even given the depths of coldwinter, the season is so brief that the frost can’t penetrate too deeply into the ground.’
‘I say we leave this ball of grease to his pit,’ Manda said. ‘I don’t like the look of him.’
‘I don’t like the look of you ,’ Teif said. ‘I don’t see what choice we have.’
‘We build our own shelter. Blocks of snow. We don’t need him.’
‘The sun’s nearly gone,’ Chan said. ‘We left it too late.’
Xaia looked up at a lid of cloud. A flurry of snow came in
‘But it’s such an immense project, Proctor. We are a society that must work hard merely to stay alive – you can see that all around you today – we don’t have the spare resources for grandiose monuments.’ Xaia, Xaia – if only she was here! She was not wonderfully wise, and nor was Thom, but together, they seemed to make the right judgements … ‘Proctor, are you sure this axial excursion is going to happen? And that the effects will be as dire as you say?’
‘Oh, yes. We can prove it. It’s happened before. Not once but many times. You can see it in the rocks. Your wife told us she was making for a formation called the Reef, didn’t she? According to the Founders’ own records the Reef is the remains of a city, a Dead city, buried in the rock. You could see where the city had been – a thousand years of history, of building - and then the marks of the inundation - and then nothing , Speaker, nothing but layer upon layer of rock and the remains of burrowing purple things. That city never recovered. Even the people who built it have vanished, Speaker. Maybe they could not recover their culture, as all the metals and fuels were gone. Maybe another tilt wiped them out altogether. Or maybe they simply left this world for a better one, as the Founders left Earth.
‘We owe it to our descendants that cities like Orklund do not suffer the same fate.’ He grabbed Thom’s arm. ‘There’s still time to start, even this year. I know you fear for your wife. But she’s not coming home this year, if she ever comes home at all. Make your decision, Speaker. Let me build my Library. Let me save civilisation.’
VII
His name, he said, was Eykyn. Some kind of grease covered his face, to keep out the wind, and his hair was a nest of ropy lanks. Bundled up in what looked like layers of rabbit fur, it was impossible to tell how old he was.
Eykyn’s home was a mound, already covered thick with snow. The entrance was a dark hole without even a proper door, just a plug of wood and grass that could be forced in, a bung to keep out the cold. It was clear that the main part of the dwelling was deep underground, deep enough that the frost could not reach.
Xaia, Teif, Manda and Chan faced Eykyn, cold to the bones, wary, exhausted. The ground was already frozen, encased under layers of snow. They couldn’t survive out here. But that door was like a mouth, Xaia thought uneasily, a mouth in the earth that would swallow them all up. She felt deeply reluctant to enter.
Eykyn smiled, showing blackened, gappy teeth. ‘You are welcome,’ he said, gesturing. His accent was something like that of Ararat, much thicker, distorted. ‘People are scattered pretty thin up here, and hunker down in the coldfall. We have food.’
Teif, his cloak pulled around him, scowled. ‘What kind of food?’
‘Rabbit. Other stuff. You’ll see.’
‘And you’ll share it with us, will you?’ Manda said. ‘A bunch of people who just walked up out of nowhere.’
‘People are scattered thin,’ he said again. ‘Have to help each other. Otherwise none survive.’
‘I don’t like this,’ Manda said. Lacking Teif’s mass, the cold had got to her more and she was shivering. ‘Living like animals in the hole in the ground. What kind of people are they?’
‘Living people,’ Chan said, his own teeth chattering. ‘Surviving. It’s a rational strategy. Even given the depths of coldwinter, the season is so brief that the frost can’t penetrate too deeply into the ground.’
‘I say we leave this ball of grease to his pit,’ Manda said. ‘I don’t like the look of him.’
‘I don’t like the look of you ,’ Teif said. ‘I don’t see what choice we have.’
‘We build our own shelter. Blocks of snow. We don’t need him.’
‘The sun’s nearly gone,’ Chan said. ‘We left it too late.’
Xaia looked up at a lid of cloud. A flurry of snow came in
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