The Long Sunset

by Jack McDevitt

  “It’s a beautiful world,” said Beth. “Do we know for certain that it’s going to get wrecked? The way that other place was?”

  “We haven’t really checked the numbers,” said Derek. “All Barry told us was that the black hole is headed this way.”

  Hutch turned the question over to the AI.

  “I regret being the source of bad news,” he said, “but there is no way this system can escape what happened to the ice world. I don’t have enough information at the moment on the trajectory of the local sun to provide details, but I am aware of the general direction of its movement. It will be at least pulled apart.”

  Derek sighed and shook his head. “I don’t believe this,” he said.

  • • •

  Hutch took them into orbit and they quickly found two more cities. A number of the islands had towns. There were also fleets of boats, some with sails, others powered with engines. And occasional ships, like the freighter. The skies were empty of aircraft, though, except for a dirigible. “Well, one good thing,” said Derek. “I don’t think we have to worry about these guys chasing us back home.”

  “I guess not,” said Hutch. “They’re trapped here.”

  Probably because of the towns and ships, she had almost expected the inhabitants to resemble humans. But they didn’t. They had the basic parts, arms, legs, and a head, but the similarity stopped there. Their skin was gray, with no fur or hair visible anywhere. They had enormous, sharp noses and huge mouths lined with teeth. Their eyes were large and placed well back on the sides of the head. She saw no sign of ears.

  “They look like dolphins,” said Ken.

  They did. There was even something on their back, pushing up under their shirts. A fin, maybe?

  “Barry,” said Derek, “when will the hole get here?”

  “It will arrive in the immediate area in about ninety years. But the effects will begin to be felt long before then. A fair estimate, if you are asking how long the current conditions of this world will endure, would be about sixty years.”

  Derek sat back and stared at the overhead. “They aren’t going to be able to do much to help themselves. In fact, they probably won’t even know they have a problem until it appears in their skies.” Eventually, he looked in her direction. “What do you think we should do, Priscilla?”

  “You mean whether we should warn them about what’s coming?” He nodded. “I can’t see anything to be gained by it. That assumes we could find a way to explain it at all.”

  “I know.” He took a deep breath. “This is turning into a nightmare.”

  “Let’s just go find the people from the ice world,” said Beth.

  “I guess that would be the prudent course. For now, Priscilla, let’s do a flyover. Take a look. I’d like to get a sense of how they live. Maybe get some pictures of them.”

  Hutch wanted to lighten the mood. “Why don’t we sit down with a couple of them, take them some pizza?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I must have misunderstood you somewhere, Derek. I was under the impression you thought that sitting with aliens to see what they have to say about the universe was something you always wanted to do.”

  “There’s some truth to that.”

  “We’ll probably never have a better chance.”

  “What I’ve always wanted to do was sit with somebody from a million-year-old civilization and exchange ideas.”

  “Oh.”

  “These guys do not qualify. Did you see the smoke coming out of the chimneys down there?”

  “I saw it, yes.”

  “They’re wood burners. But I would like to get some closeups of them. See what they’re like. So, how about we get in the lander and go down and find out?”

  “Derek, let’s get serious for a moment. We’re supposed to stay far enough away so they can’t see us.”

  “What harm can we do?”

  “Letting them see us might have a long-range effect. And not a good one.”

  “Priscilla, they don’t have a long-range future.” He was beginning to sound exasperated. “Look, we’ll be out of here by the end of the day. Tomorrow they’ll be in their boats talking about us, and by Friday something else will have come up and they’ll have forgotten all about us.” He got out of his chair and started for the passenger cabin. “Just relax,” he said. “We won’t change anything.”

  • • •

  “Okay, guys,” Derek said, “we’re going to take the lander down and look around a bit. Who wants to come?”

  Everybody. They all went to the launch bay. Hutch opened the door of the lander. “We should leave someone on board.”

  Derek looked around for a volunteer. “Who wants to stay with the ship?”

  Ken shook his head. “How would I get it home if something happened to you guys?”

  “Just tell Barry to take you back,” said Hutch.

  “He’d do that anyway, wouldn’t he? If something happens?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I think I’ll go with the shuttle.”

  “It’s a lander,” said Wally.

  “Whatever.”

  Derek looked around. Nobody was volunteering to stay. “Wally, I guess you’re our guy.”

  • • •

  Sunlight filled a sky that had become cloudless. Hutch pulled the brim of her Hawks baseball cap lower and took them toward one of the islands. “Don’t get too close,” Derek said.

  She activated the telescope. Ken was first to comment on the presence of a volcano. It was on the south side of a massive island. “There’s a city,” he added. “I guess it’s inactive.”

  “Must be,” said Derek.

  The city consisted of a vast array of dwellings and a few larger buildings, including two that looked like factories. And a couple of wind farms.

  They had cars. Hutch watched them moving slowly through the city. Others passed along country roads. “They probably don’t have either coal or oil,” said Ken. “If you have to get everything from the ocean, you have a serious problem.”

  “But a lot of the oil,” said Wally, “comes out of oceans.”

  “Which can only happen if you know it’s there in the first place. I wouldn’t think collectors and wind generators would be enough to provide an adequate supply of electricity for a city, but maybe they’ve figured out an alternative method.”

  “Maybe nuclear?” said Wally.

  • • •

  They continued across the ocean. Most of the larger islands seemed to be inhabited, sometimes with towns and small cities, often by only a few cottages. They were approaching one that had a large beach. The beach was crowded. But they were still too far out to get a good look at the sunbathers, even with the telescope.

  Hutch was about to pull away when Derek told her to keep going. “Let’s see if we can get a decent look at these guys.”

  “Okay.” She took the vehicle down just over the ocean, where it would be less likely to attract attention.

  A town lay immediately behind the beach. And to the north she saw something that looked like a tower, and, a couple of kilometers beyond that, a port facility. A freighter was just leaving the harbor.

  The tower rose well above the trees. It was plain enough, no sculptures or anything except for a blue globe at the top of the spire. It manifested the aura of a place of worship. And there was a parking lot, occupied by several cars.

  The town was small, consisting mostly of cabins and cottages. There were two moderately sized buildings, probably a school and a city hall. She could also make out moving cars. “But where do they come from?” asked Derek. “There’s obviously no manufacturing plant for them here anywhere.”

  “Imports,” said Ken. “They must be pretty well organized to be able to manage the economy. Most of these islands wouldn’t support a population large enough to manufacture several major products. So, they have to bring everything in. Probably each island specializes in something. This place might do TV sets and cranberry sau
ce.”

  “Focus on the beach,” said Derek. “Let’s try to get a look at them.”

  There were probably a thousand or more of the creatures on the sand and in the ocean. They were wearing short pants or maybe bathing suits, and many were sitting under umbrellas. For a wild moment it reminded Hutch of the Jersey Shore.

  “Seen enough?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Go.”

  She began to climb. And almost immediately heard something crackle and felt a simultaneous loss of power. And lift. She didn’t have much altitude and suddenly it was almost gone.

  “Uh-oh,” she said.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Derek.

  “Not sure.”

  “It’s the AG generator,” said Tasha. “I cannot be certain what’s happening. Power going down.”

  “Can you make a correction?”

  “One of the couplings has failed. Right wing. And no, I can’t compensate for it. It has to be replaced.” The lander had three couplings, one in the undercarriage, and one in each wing. “We have spares on board.”

  Hutch took a deep breath. More maintenance issues. She wondered if the Union teams had gotten any of their work done.

  “Head for the island,” said Derek. Right. They couldn’t afford to go down in the ocean. “Wally, you following this?”

  “He’s not in range,” said Tasha.

  “Get us to the island,” said Derek.

  “We’re too low.” Barely skimming the waves. There was an outside chance she could make it, but she’d almost certainly either crash in the surf or on the sand. If she got lucky and made it past them, she’d come down on the town.

  “They’ve seen us,” said Beth. They were crowding into the water to get a better look.

  Derek threw up his hands in frustration. “Don’t go down in the ocean, Priscilla.”

  “For God’s sake, Hutch,” Ken said, “look out.”

  She wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do. But she was not going to take out the sunbathers. “Tasha, is the air breathable?”

  “Fortunately, yes, I believe so.”

  Ken began shouting at the creatures. “Get out of the way! What are they doing? Just standing there. Move, you idiots.”

  Actually, they’d begun moving, giving her space. But it wasn’t happening quickly enough.

  Beth was pointing directly ahead. “There are little ones. Children.”

  “Tasha,” Hutch said, “release your hold on the AG. We’re going to have to ditch in the water.”

  “You sure?”

  “Do it, Tasha.”

  “You can’t do that, Priscilla,” said Derek. “If we lose the lander, we’ll never get out of here.”

  “If we don’t, we’ll kill them.” She turned away from the island.

  “You’re too far out,” said Derek. The beach suddenly looked far away. He started to reach for the controls but she pushed him away.

  “Can’t help it.”

  It didn’t matter. Another of the couplings let go and they went into near free fall, splashed into the ocean, submerged briefly, bobbed back up, and began to sink. “Nice work, Priscilla,” he growled. “I think you managed to miss everybody. But you’ve probably killed us.”

  Hutch ignored him. “Sorry about that, guys. Everybody out.” They were about three hundred meters offshore.

  “By the way,” said Derek, “I’m not the world’s best swimmer.” He climbed out of his seat and opened the inner airlock hatch.

  “It’s all right, Derek,” said Ken. “I’ve got you. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  “So much,” Beth said, “for keeping the aliens from finding out we’ve come.” She picked up a container of fresh water as Derek pushed into the airlock. Hutch got up and hurried back to the storage cabinet. The couplings were in a plastic bag. She grabbed them and followed the others to the airlock. Derek opened the outer hatch and climbed out onto the wing. Water began spilling in.

  They piled out with him. Derek’s face was drained as he slipped into the sea. Ken went in behind him, and Beth moved to help where she could. Hutch was still on the wing when another wave lifted the lander and dropped it again. She held on and realized her baseball cap was just going to get in the way. She tossed it inside and closed the outer hatch to keep any more water from getting in. They would probably have no further use for the vehicle, but there was no point letting the ocean into it.

  Beth looked toward her. “You got them? The couplings?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. You need a hand?”

  “I’m fine. Long as there aren’t any gators out here.”

  The lander slipped below the surface and she was afloat, riding the waves toward shore, trying to keep the bag out of the water. It was supposed to be waterproof, so the contents should be secure as long as she kept it closed. But she was taking no chances.

  • • •

  It was a long swim. Ken stayed with Derek, but they seemed to be managing okay. She was impressed that the boss didn’t lose his cool. The waves kept breaking over his head in a recurring rhythm. He was choking and coughing up water, but he stayed calm.

  As they got closer to the beach, the islanders backed away and gave them plenty of space. Hutch got the impression they wanted to help but were reluctant to get close to their visitors. In any case, they gave no indication of resentment or violent intent. Those large eyes grew wider as the humans got closer, and their faces revealed a substantial level of shock. Odd how alien features could be interpreted for emotions in much the same way as humans. Hutch had noticed that before and was beginning to suspect it would be a universal quality. You were probably always going to be able to read humor or rage or whatever in nonverbals, no matter where the subject was from.

  A few of them were accompanied by creatures that closely resembled dogs.

  Unsure what to expect from the islanders, the team tried to stay together as they got closer to land. Eventually, Hutch was able to touch bottom and begin walking. As they came out of the water, she got her first good look at the islanders. They were roughly the same size as humans, with satiny flesh that ranged in colors from pale to light blue. Most of them wore shorts, all of similar designs. Some were large and bulky, presumably males, and others were generally trim and often accompanied by children. No obvious sexual organs were visible. Hutch recalled having read that female dolphins had nipples, but that they were hidden beneath a fold of skin. If that was true of these creatures, they were well concealed. There were a few who could have belonged to either gender, although she had no doubt they could distinguish the differences. Eyebrows were replaced by distinctive ridges. Their arms seemed shorter than she’d have expected. Their hands had five digits, including thumbs; their feet lacked toes, instead ending in flaps. And they all had a narrow ridge down the center of their backs. A fin, possibly, in an earlier era?

  Their mouths were huge. When they opened them, they looked almost large enough to swallow her.

  Several carried towels. They appeared worried, even fearful. Most of the children were being taken back toward the trees. She heard Ken’s voice: “Everybody okay?”

  Beth nodded and Hutch raised her left hand. Derek said something she couldn’t make out over the roar of the surf. But he looked good.

  They moved within a few steps of the beach. “All right,” Hutch said, “let’s hold it here.” Waves were still coming in behind them, swirling past their legs. She raised her left hand again in what she hoped was a universal indication of amicability. “Hello,” she said, raising her voice and summoning her best smile. “It’s good to meet you guys.” The closer ones reacted by backing away. Some were pointing at her, looking dismayed, whispering to each other.

  “Let me try,” said Derek. He strode past her.

  One of the islanders raised a hand and made a noise that sounded like a creaking floorboard. Then it came forward, the hand now held out in what appeared to be a friendly gesture.

  Derek hel
d his hand out in the same manner, and they touched fingertips, each watching the other carefully. “We hope we haven’t caused a problem.”

  The islander clasped Derek’s hand and replied with an extended creak. Some of the other islanders inhaled. Another universal? “I think,” said Beth, “we’re okay.”

  • • •

  They sat down on the beach. Fortunately, it wasn’t as hot as it had appeared from inside the lander. “What do we do now?” asked Beth.

  Derek was concentrating on smiling at the locals. “We don’t have many options. When the ship gets back, we call Wally and let him know what happened. He’s going to have to go back home and ask for help. Get them to send somebody after us.”

  “So, we’re talking two months,” said Ken.

  “Assuming they come at all.”

  “Oh,” said Derek, “I don’t think we need to worry about that. They’re not going to leave us out here to die.”

  Beth looked up at the sun. “It might be a good idea to make for the woods.”

  They got to their feet and started across the beach. The sunbathers backed off, giving them plenty of room. Hutch could hear a couple of cars pulling in somewhere, but she didn’t see them. While they walked, she was thinking about Wally. The Eiferman needed approximately an hour and twenty minutes to orbit the planet. So it would be a good idea to check the time so she’d know when he was overhead again. She dug out her commlink. Her clothes were drenched, of course. Which probably meant—

  She held her breath as she stopped and opened it. It did not show a time. She tried to activate it, but it did not respond.

  She followed everyone into the woods, where they were sitting down and talking about how good it was to be out of the sun. “Anybody know what time it is?” she asked.

  Derek understood immediately what she meant. He fumbled through his pockets and came up with the commlink. He held it out in front of him in the sunlight, glared at it, and pressed his finger against it several times, but got nothing. He shouted at it in a hopeless rage. “Damn,” he said. “I don’t believe this.” He looked around. Beth and Ken tried theirs with the same result.

  “So how do we contact Wally?” Ken demanded.

  Derek closed his eyes.