said animals hadn’t necessarily survived to feature in the modern world: mastodons and mammoths, deer and bison. In most of these Earths the epochal collision of the Americas, North and South, must have taken place, for they saw immigrants from the south, such as giant sloths and armadillos the size of small cars.
But, apart from the very occasional pinprick of a campfire, or the even rarer lights of a small township, there was no sign of mankind.
Joshua remarked, ‘Nobody at home. And yet you still meet people, especially back on the Datum, who will tell you we conquered the Long Earth.’
Rod shrugged. ‘So what? Why do you need to conquer, or not conquer, anything? Why not just accept things the way they are ? Because even if they do change, you can always just step away . . .’
And Joshua saw that that really was how Rod thought about the world, or worlds: as a kind of endless now , an endless here , a place where location and time didn’t matter – and endlessly generous, a place you didn’t need to work at, didn’t need to build on, or fix. A place of endless escape. Joshua felt a sudden, intense jumble ofemotions. Born in the Long Earth, Rod was of a generation that was forever divided from Joshua’s by the great chasm of Step Day, and never could their world views be reconciled.
He couldn’t help it. He reached over and grabbed Rod’s shoulder, squeezing it hard. But Rod failed to respond.
It was a relief for both of them, Joshua suspected, when noon arrived and the plane banked over an uninhabited footprint of the Madisonian lakes, precisely three thousand steps West of the Datum. A single thread of smoke rose up from a campfire by the shore.
And as the plane began its final approach, a woman by the fire got to her feet and waved.
7
R OD EXCHANGED VERY few words with Sally Linsay. Joshua suspected he had always felt uncomfortable with the tension between his mother and Sally – even though, Joshua supposed, Sally’s transient lifestyle was a lot more like Rod’s own choice than Helen’s sedentary midwifery. Rod said goodbye politely enough, and exchanged a handshake with his father.
Then Sally and Joshua stood side by side as they watched the plane climb into the sky, before it flew stepwise and out of existence. Joshua tried to close the lid on his latest cargo of regret, a feeling of another opportunity missed, somehow.
Sally let Joshua gulp down a lunch of roast rabbit leg and a cup of cold coffee, while she pulled her pack on her back and kicked out her fire.
‘No time to lose, eh, Sally? You haven’t changed.’
‘You betcha I haven’t changed. Why would I need to? Anyway you’ve been sitting on your fat ass in that plane all night, you need the exercise. Happy birthday, by the way.’
‘Thanks.’
Sally, fifty-five years old now, only looked even tougher than she had when she was younger, Joshua thought. As if she’d weathered down to some hardened nub. She said now, ‘Listen up. You want to get to the Low Earths by the evening, right? Three thousand worlds in six hours or so. We’ll need to keep up the pace, a step every few seconds. We’ll take regular breaks, we can do it.’ Sheeyed him. ‘Always assuming you don’t want to cheat and take a short cut.’
‘You mean, through a soft place? Not unless we have to.’
‘This is your birthday treat. Why the hell would you have to do anything?’
‘I have an appointment. I’m meeting Nelson Azikiwe for the last leg.’
‘That bore.’
‘Everybody’s a bore to you, Sally. Even me, probably.’
‘ Especially you, Valienté. Don’t flatter yourself.’ She inspected him more closely, acutely. ‘Are you OK? Seriously.’
‘I’ve been having my headaches. That’s why I cut short my last sabbatical.’
‘Ah. The Silence headaches. Your legendary sensitivity to disturbances far out in the Long Earth—’
‘It’s no joke, Sally. Lobsang always said you were jealous of me for that.’
‘Huh. That master
But, apart from the very occasional pinprick of a campfire, or the even rarer lights of a small township, there was no sign of mankind.
Joshua remarked, ‘Nobody at home. And yet you still meet people, especially back on the Datum, who will tell you we conquered the Long Earth.’
Rod shrugged. ‘So what? Why do you need to conquer, or not conquer, anything? Why not just accept things the way they are ? Because even if they do change, you can always just step away . . .’
And Joshua saw that that really was how Rod thought about the world, or worlds: as a kind of endless now , an endless here , a place where location and time didn’t matter – and endlessly generous, a place you didn’t need to work at, didn’t need to build on, or fix. A place of endless escape. Joshua felt a sudden, intense jumble ofemotions. Born in the Long Earth, Rod was of a generation that was forever divided from Joshua’s by the great chasm of Step Day, and never could their world views be reconciled.
He couldn’t help it. He reached over and grabbed Rod’s shoulder, squeezing it hard. But Rod failed to respond.
It was a relief for both of them, Joshua suspected, when noon arrived and the plane banked over an uninhabited footprint of the Madisonian lakes, precisely three thousand steps West of the Datum. A single thread of smoke rose up from a campfire by the shore.
And as the plane began its final approach, a woman by the fire got to her feet and waved.
7
R OD EXCHANGED VERY few words with Sally Linsay. Joshua suspected he had always felt uncomfortable with the tension between his mother and Sally – even though, Joshua supposed, Sally’s transient lifestyle was a lot more like Rod’s own choice than Helen’s sedentary midwifery. Rod said goodbye politely enough, and exchanged a handshake with his father.
Then Sally and Joshua stood side by side as they watched the plane climb into the sky, before it flew stepwise and out of existence. Joshua tried to close the lid on his latest cargo of regret, a feeling of another opportunity missed, somehow.
Sally let Joshua gulp down a lunch of roast rabbit leg and a cup of cold coffee, while she pulled her pack on her back and kicked out her fire.
‘No time to lose, eh, Sally? You haven’t changed.’
‘You betcha I haven’t changed. Why would I need to? Anyway you’ve been sitting on your fat ass in that plane all night, you need the exercise. Happy birthday, by the way.’
‘Thanks.’
Sally, fifty-five years old now, only looked even tougher than she had when she was younger, Joshua thought. As if she’d weathered down to some hardened nub. She said now, ‘Listen up. You want to get to the Low Earths by the evening, right? Three thousand worlds in six hours or so. We’ll need to keep up the pace, a step every few seconds. We’ll take regular breaks, we can do it.’ Sheeyed him. ‘Always assuming you don’t want to cheat and take a short cut.’
‘You mean, through a soft place? Not unless we have to.’
‘This is your birthday treat. Why the hell would you have to do anything?’
‘I have an appointment. I’m meeting Nelson Azikiwe for the last leg.’
‘That bore.’
‘Everybody’s a bore to you, Sally. Even me, probably.’
‘ Especially you, Valienté. Don’t flatter yourself.’ She inspected him more closely, acutely. ‘Are you OK? Seriously.’
‘I’ve been having my headaches. That’s why I cut short my last sabbatical.’
‘Ah. The Silence headaches. Your legendary sensitivity to disturbances far out in the Long Earth—’
‘It’s no joke, Sally. Lobsang always said you were jealous of me for that.’
‘Huh. That master
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