Sand Glass (15 page)

‘So let me get
this straight,’ Janey said in an “I’m-going-to-make-you-squirm”
kind of way, ‘You have no death, no funerals, no burials, and
people are just left out in the field if they die in a hunt?’

‘Janey, stop
it!’ I saw the annoyance in Andre’s eyes. That was probably
natural. She seemed to have that effect on everyone except me, but
then again I’d had other things on my mind just recently.

‘What happens
if they don’t come back from the hunt?’ I asked.

‘He comes and
carries them home.’ Andre said simply.

‘Who is
he?’

‘The
creator.’

‘Oh.’ I felt
that with Janey still on simmer I better end the conversation
quickly before Andre was put through any more displays of our
ignorance and rudeness.

‘Thank you so
much Andre. I think I understand now. Please thank your father for
allowing us to see the scroll.’

Andre grinned
suddenly. I saw the boy that was still inside the Man. Yet he
glanced at Janey as he rolled the parchment back up and replaced it
in its case. He was certainly too polite to comment or anything she
might say, but personally whatever it was, I would probably agree
with him.

Marcia and I
awoke early and crowded into the back of the Buggy to make coffee
and check our equipment. We had a lot of hanks of fine nylon rope.
We would each carry some of them. We had debated about taking the
Buggy. But since it was our only way of getting home, we decided to
take a stroll and see if the roll hills would consider our
investigation a reasonable one and give up some of their secrets
without too much struggle.

We checked the
ice suits and the masks. We had full bottles of oxygen and the link
to the masks had been checked thoroughly. Marcia was quite calm.
She was always like this when practical tasks had to be done in
order. We would take a line and run it out from the edge of the
boundary, into the strange terrain. When we got the end of the
rope, we would secure it to the next piece and peg it down. Then we
would continue onwards with each piece until we had no more rope.
Marcia had marker beacons that she would plant with my help at the
3000 metre mark.

That was the
point at which the plan went slightly awry. I could then take the
second beacon and walk until I could still see the first beacon.
Then plant that one. After that I was out into the place as far as
I could go until that beacon became only just visible. Then I could
plant a third. After that I hoped that I could continue while still
sighting the third beacon to find the edge of this world.

Marcia knew, as
I did, how variable the visibility could be out there. No one had
ever attempted the thing we were trying to do. We agreed that
Marcia would wait as long as she felt able, leaving plenty of time
to return to Summerland before nightfall. We would decide how to
set the audible signal. It was a last resort if the clouds came in
thick and impenetrable. We also set our tags to proximity warning.
So as long as we were within a hundred metres of each other they
could still flash red every two seconds.

We worked
quickly and efficiently. I was just clipping down the last flap of
my pack when Janey climbed into the front of the cab. She peered at
us in a lost and angry way. That, and a hint of jealously, as much
as she tried to hide it.

‘Is there
anything else you need?’ Janey tone of voice seemed woefully normal
and reasonable. There didn’t seem to be any predicting what that
could turn into, once we were about to go into the boundary land
when first light arrived in the next half hour.

We left the
back of the buggy all kitted up. Heelio and Andre and the
dark-haired Leanna were waiting for us. A little way away we saw in
the misted dew soaked grass, two standing stones that sprouted from
the ground. They appeared very creepy. I greeted Andre in a cheery
fashion. This was no time to get the hebbe-jeebies.

We approached
the stones. Janey had stayed in the cab of the buggy, for which I
was profoundly grateful. This was an occasion where her “science”
really would get in the way. Perhaps the presence of both Andre and
Heelio had held her back. Leanna stood with them. She looked at me
enquiringly.

‘Thank you.’ I
said, my mouth suddenly beginning to dry. Marcia just nodded in
acknowledgement of the respect they were showing us. Marcia and I
took the first rope that she carried and fastened it to the ring on
the spike that we had driven into the ground yesterday. Despite our
pictures of the infraction into sacred space, Heelio was not
bothered by what we did.

We ran the rope
out a little and then clipped our masks in place. The intercom was
working I could hear Marcia breathing rather heavily.

I remember that
Janey was monitoring us from inside the cab of the Buggy. She would
log the elapse time and send a message to us if the signal became
faint.

We approached
the gap between the two stones playing out the rope as we did so.
We passed through them. It all seemed rather silly then as the sun
began to slide across the landscape. A few yards away and in no
real bother yet.

We walked about
twenty more steps over the first curved hill.

‘You getting
this Davey?’ Marcia’s voice came through clearly.

‘Yes. A
temperature drop of ten degrees, reading just above freezing.’

‘Yes I
concur.’

We carried on.
The reading dropped by another ten by the time we had got to the
end of the first rope. We stopped to join the next one and peg it
down firmly. The morning light slanted across the landscape of
black earth and hard frosty patches. We made sure we had secured it
well and carried on.

The temperature
didn’t descend any more.

‘What are we
really doing here?’ asked Marcia as we put in the next spike.

‘Saving the
world!’ I said in a jokey tone, conscious of the fact that Janey
was probably listening in on everything that was said.

‘Mmm….’ She
started as if sucking on chocolate. I could see Marcia’s eyes
smiling through the eyepiece. ‘You realise that if we succeed that
neither of us will ever get any recognition?’

‘Yeah, sure! Do
we ever? I mean at least people do enjoy your cooking.’

‘I do get the
occasional compliment, it’s true.’

We continued
with some daft banter for a few minutes. Superficial as it seemed
we were both concentrating hard. It didn’t seem much longer before
we reached the last end of rope. We secured it and got out the
small mini-dome from Marcia’s pack. We climbed in after tethering
that to the rope and spike as well. We had some hot drink from the
flasks, glad of the break, and the chance to speak not through the
intercom. But we kept it live throughout. Marcia checked the
time.

‘Nine thirty in
the morning already.’

‘Two and a half
hours that took us to set.’ I was a little nervous how time was
being eaten up so swiftly.

‘It’s quicker
to go back.’ Marcia remarked, ‘After all we’ll not be taking them
up now we’ve done this.’

‘Did Heelio
agree?’

‘He said that
it would make no difference.’

‘I wonder what
he meant by that?’

Marcia
shrugged. ‘We’re just visiting remember. Let’s keep to the matter
in hand, and save the speculation for when we’re safely back at
home getting totalled on cheap plonk.’

‘Sounds good. I
hold you to that.’

‘You betcha!
Time to go investigate Milnes. But remember you’re standing the
first round for all the guys!’

‘Alright. Now
give me a hand with this mask. The catch keeps slipping.’

Marcia got me
into the mask properly. I fastened the pack on my back again. We
both climbed out of the little dome. Marcia would watch until I set
the next beacon and then she would send a radio signal back to
Janey. That hopefully would be acknowledged and would give us an
idea on what time it was back there. We had no way of knowing how
the time distortion could stretch in this place. No one had ever
done this. We were truly pioneers. As I set out in the mild
sunlight I felt rather positive and adventurous. I kept my eye on
the view of Marcia and the beacon in the little camera image
projected inside my mask. That way I didn’t have to keep turning
around. I did though every so often. After about fifty minutes I
could still see the beacon but the spike was not visible. I set the
new spike as Marcia had shown me.

As well as that
I used my knife to mark an arrow in the ground that pointed back
towards the spike. Just doing that made me feel better. No sooner
had I done it than the thought occurred that I could do this again
if I needed to. So I carried on, stepping carefully, and breathing
evenly and keeping a fair pace out into the wilderness. At last an
hour was up and although I could still see the little light I
thought that it was best to set the next one now.

This was it.
The first step into an unknown land that didn’t have any reference
to guide me except the undulating rolls that just went on and on. I
decided to go as far as I had from the second spike, so that this
third one was the same size in the viewer and then make my mark in
the ground.

I stepped
forward. I kept watch on the image as it receded into the
background. I realised that the sun was almost behind me, and
seemed quite low in the sky. It wasn’t yet obscuring my rear view
towards the last spike, but it would soon do so, if I didn’t stop
shortly.

Just as the sun
began to blind me from behind I marked the ground with a clear
arrow pointing back the way I had come. I decided that to stop
would not be good as the temperature was falling. Suddenly out of
nowhere flakes of snow began to fall. Without any warning the
sunlight vanished and the visibility reduced right down. The
general daylight level was dropping too. How much this was down to
the weather conditions I didn’t know. But clearly I would need to
take shelter very soon.

I got to the
dip of one of the rolls and found the gap was wider here. I took
the precaution of marking an arrow pointing back up the curve of
the roll side I stood on before I lowered myself carefully down
into the gap.

It was only
about five feet down. But by now a blizzard had stirred up it anger
against this land, and I was grateful to find that the gap under
cut this space into the next hill. There was quite a sizable earthy
cave. A few pancake sized flakes dropped down from above, but
mostly the howling wind blew them across the top of this crack in
the land.

I checked the
time. I sat down suddenly feeling weak. It couldn’t be! It wasn’t
possible…. I hadn’t walked for that long surely. Maybe an hour and
a quarter at the most, then I set the second spike, then another
hour and a bit; I set the third. I had walked for another hour and
twenty minutes. Certainly no more than Five hours in total since
leaving Marcia at her mini-dome.

I shut my eyes,
while my heart hammered its tune. The latest it could possibly be
was half past three in the early afternoon. That was allowing for
the maximum time including setting the spikes….which only took ten
minutes at the outside. I was quicker than that. Yet there it was
clear as anything: ten pm. The darkness was really darkness. It was
night already. Thought of Alex then, gave myself a massive mental
slap, and went into practical mode. I measured the space. The micro
dome would just fit. I put it up from the inside. I worked quickly
with the panic fuelling my movement. I tried to focus, and found
myself talking out the instructions under my breath; remembering
the sequence of tasks to complete my shelter effectively.

When another
ten minutes had passed I was able to remove my mask and breathe in
the still but chilly air. I set the small heater to raise the
temperature just a little so I could unzip the top of my outer ice
suit. I had a warm drink and ate an energy bar.

There was a
reason time had passed so quickly. I did a quick sum in my head.
twelve hours appeared to be roughly equal to five that I
experienced. So that would mean that in another two hours it would
be effectively round about three in the morning. And another three
hours after that it would be ten in the morning again. That was
always assuming that the time shift was uniform throughout these
lands. It could be cumulative. I reason that the best option was to
assume that time was actually moving slightly faster than that, and
wait about another three hours to see if the storm had died down
and/or morning had arrived.( It would be seven am or later by
then.) I relaxed a little at that point. After all, it was part of
the science that was quite fascinating. I faced it soberly, while
still admitting that I would prefer to judge such things from the
comfort of a warm lecture theatre.

I made myself
rest for two hours thirty minutes, setting the bleeper to wake me
should I actually nod off.

I opened my
eyes. For a moment I didn’t remember. Then I sat up. A thin streak
of sunlight glowed through the wall of the shelter. I wasted no
time. Ten minutes later I was climbing out of the gap onto a plain
wiped clean of any reference points. The sun shone in a clear, pale
sky. And next to my gap entrance to the cave, no mark could be
found. Fortunately, because of the position of the underground cave
out of which I had just emerged, I knew which way I was facing. The
curve of the hills didn’t seem as severe. It wasn’t until I had
walked for half an hour that I realised that these hills were quite
different to the ones I had been walking on what I took to be last
night.

The land curved
gently undulating. And from a distance I could see an object. It
was squarish, blocky and dark coloured, with a capping of ice. As I
neared this thing it was larger than it had first appeared. It was
a wooden hut, with a door and shuttered windows and a roof pitched
at an angle; unmistakably an Artificial something on the landscape!
My joy at this discovery was short lived however, as from some
corner of memory rose the pictures from Adam’s sketchbook. I
wondered what to do. I walked all the way round it. I found a door
which had a heavy wooden latch, but it wasn’t locked. I could gain
entrance. I decided to investigate the nearby gap between the
curves of the land. They were barely a foot deep and only a few
inches wide. I looked at my watch. The sun was already dipping into
the western sky. The temperature was a slightly less unpleasant
minus two. But as I saw boiling swirls of cloudlike masses
approaching from the eastern side of the sky, I reasoned that I
would not be in very good shape if I was caught out in the storm.
There was nothing for it, I had to risk the hut. I hoped that the
occupants were not going to object. I guessed that the need for
shelter was an overriding principal that would overcome anyone’s
social scruples in a tight spot; and anyway, I really needed to
rest.