The Long Sunset

by Jack McDevitt

  Ken grinned. “I can say hello, good-bye, and where’s the washroom?”

  “I’m serious,” said Beth. “That’s the real reason Derek brought him along. Just in case we needed somebody who has serious language skills.” Her eyes locked on him. “How many languages do you speak now? Six?”

  “Probably more like two.”

  “He’s kidding.”

  Ken turned and said something to Arin, who responded with that giant grin.

  “What did you tell him?” asked Beth.

  “That you think he’s pretty good-looking.”

  • • •

  When Derek appeared, carrying his laundry in a basket, he offered to show Hutch how the rollers worked. Arin asked Ken something, probably to explain what he’d said. Ken replied, but judging from Arin’s puzzled expression, he didn’t understand. But he certainly saw the pile of laundry, so he caught Hutch’s eye and pointed at himself. Could he help?

  “No, Arin,” she said. “Thanks. I can manage.”

  Again, Ken tried to translate. Maybe he did. In any case, it must have been obvious she was indicating she could figure it out. And it wasn’t that difficult. The washtub had baskets and liquid soap. Pour it and hot water into one of the basins and wash the clothes. Rinse in the second basin and run them between the rollers to get rid of most of the water. The rollers were equipped with a handle, so they were easy to use. She was surprised that they didn’t function on electricity.

  There was a box of clothespins. When she’d finished, she picked some up, put everything in a basket, and took it all outside, where Derek’s laundry was already hanging from lines strung between two of the trees. She was still working on getting everything up when Beth came out. “Hutch,” she said, “you want to go over to the beach?”

  “Sounds like a good idea, but I’m not sure my bathing suit won’t fall off.”

  “Mine’s a decent fit. They’re elastic. And you can use a cord to fasten them.”

  Hutch knew that, of course. But tying clothes together to keep them from falling off wasn’t appealing. Still, a day at the beach sounded like a good idea.

  Ordinarily, she’d never have allowed herself to be seen in public in that outfit. But after all, there was no public. She doubted she could shock the islanders even if the suit did fall off. It was a crusty brown color, and, had it fit properly, it would have looked perfectly normal on an ocean beach in 1906. She had to tie the shoulder straps together at the back to keep the top from sliding down. And the bottom, which should have stopped at her thighs, hung below her knees.

  Derek had joined Arin and Ken in the living room, where they were pointing at furniture and books and lamps, and exchanging vocabulary. “You guys want to go?” Beth asked. That surprised Hutch, who was planning on a girls’ day out.

  “I’d better stay with this,” said Ken. “Got to learn the language.”

  “I can’t get into the suit,” Derek said. “Wave if you see Wally.”

  Arin said something to them, and repeated it when Ken appeared not to understand. He also pointed toward the door. Or maybe in the direction of the beach. There was another exchange, and then Ken said he was offering a ride.

  Arin brought out a beach umbrella for them. Beth got a blanket and they were ready to go. Ken went along in the car. “We are making some progress,” he told them. “But it will take a while.” He explained that Arin had apologized that the suits weren’t a better fit. “Apparently, they just don’t make anything in your size.”

  As they pulled up at the beach, Arin said something. Hutch thought it was only one word. But Ken caught it. “He wants to know how long you expect to stay.”

  “Two hours?”

  “Okay. I’ll try to figure out when it’s up. We’ll be back for you. Have a good time.”

  • • •

  There appeared to be even more bathers in the area than there’d been the previous day. And of course, Hutch and Beth caught everyone’s attention as soon as they came out of the trees. The islanders didn’t crowd around them as they had before, however. Everything was more surreptitious. They glanced toward them but quickly looked away. Many of them waved and smiled, but they steered curious kids in other directions.

  It was warmer today. They set up the umbrella halfway between the line of trees and the surf, and rolled out the blanket.

  They sat for a few minutes, wishing they had some sunblock. “It might not be a good idea to stay two hours,” Beth said.

  They drew more attention when they went into the surf. Hutch thought some of the younger ones were giggling. It was hard to tell. Clamshells were scattered everywhere. Gulls squawked and flapped. There was a wooden stand at the back of the beach where you could get food. The only things lacking were a boardwalk and lifeguards. “Interesting,” said Beth. “I’d never thought of outer space this way. But I guess the universe is filled with ocean beaches.”

  Hutch pulled up her suit, which was slipping a bit, and strode into the waves. Just what she needed.

  • • •

  They were out beyond the surf when Hutch’s attention was caught by a young Dolphin in a bright red bathing suit. It was a female who had apparently wandered away from a group and seemed to be struggling. She was too far out, in water that was dark and choppy. More ominous: No waves were breaking in her immediate vicinity. Hutch took an automatic glance around the beach before recalling there were no lifeguards. And nobody seemed to notice what was happening.

  It was a rip current, sucking her into deeper water. She hesitated briefly, concerned about possibly scaring the child. But worrying about that was silly.

  “You okay?” Beth asked as she changed direction.

  The Dolphin looked as if she was trying to come back toward the beach, which of course was the wrong tactic.

  “Got a problem.” Hutch moved quickly forward and, within a few strokes, felt the rip current take hold of her. But she kept going, calling back to Beth to stay clear.

  The child went underwater. Hutch reached the area moments later and dived. But she couldn’t see her anywhere. She stayed down until she was forced back to the surface. Where’d she go? A couple of the islanders were coming her way to help. She went back down and fought her way through the currents until again she had to surface. When she came up that second time, one of the creatures grabbed her and began pulling her through the water. Away from the place where the child had disappeared. “No!” she screamed at it. “Stop! I’m okay!”

  But it held onto her, dragging her off to one side of the rip current and ultimately out of it. Then, while it held onto her with one hand, it pointed toward the beach. The girl was back on the surface, casually floating in on the crest of a wave.

  “I don’t think she was ever in any danger,” said Beth.

  The islander released her. And bestowed a huge smile on her. Then it turned away. She wasn’t certain whether it was male or female.

  Hutch watched as the kid came out of the surf, laughed, and jogged onto the beach. “I guess,” she said, “there’s a reason they look like dolphins.” She looked past the child, out across the waves. Beautiful place, this beach. She thought again of the lost world adrift in the shadow of the black hole. What would it be like when the thing arrived here? Would the sun be ripped apart while that child watched in horror? Or would there simply be a quiet sunset with the light gone forever?

  23.

  It was a long-ago night when that lonely star

  Drifted across the alien sky

  And brought hope to our desperate hearts.

  We will never forget.

  —Kenneth Squires, Heart of the Milky Way, 2259

  Kwylla came over to help Beth and Hutch prepare dinner that evening. She showed them which types of food should be heated and which were best served cold. She made the local equivalent of a coleslaw salad. Showed them some sliced fish and waited for them to decide whether they wanted it included. And she mixed drinks.

  When it was finished, she helped set
the table. “Some things other than beaches,” Beth said, “will probably be the same everywhere.” Kwylla’s oversized smile left no doubt in Hutch’s mind that she understood.

  They did actually manage a conversation. Beth let everyone know how much she enjoyed the ocean, Hutch was able to express her gratitude to Kwylla for effectively preparing the meal, Ken made it clear that he was interested in learning about the temple, Arin inquired whether his guests also had books, Kwylla wondered whether the food was much different from what humans normally ate, and Derek was able to ask whether there was anything else they needed. And they also learned the name of the world: Volaria. It was possible that the term also applied to the ground. In the same manner as “earth” is both soil and planet.

  By the time they’d finished, darkness had fallen. Arin was first to go outside and scan the sky. He looked back at Derek, who’d followed him. Where is it?

  A short time later, maybe a quarter hour, the moving star appeared, and no one seemed as pleased as their host. They watched until it descended below the horizon, and then went inside. Hutch, who was washing dishes while Kwylla dried them, saw him take a notebook from a drawer in one of the side tables. He looked at the clock and apparently recorded the time.

  He came back a short while later, wrote in the notebook again. Ken looked at Hutch. “What?”

  “He’s recording the passages. I think he needs to do something. He’s like Derek. Just can’t relax.”

  • • •

  Derek and Arin went outside. And Kwylla looked at Ken and asked a question. Ken listened and nodded. “She wants to know whether we’ve been visiting other places, too.” He looked at her and responded.

  Her eyes gleamed. And she asked something else.

  “She wants to know what it was like.”

  “Tell her about the dinosaur,” said Beth.

  Ken laughed. “Why don’t you tell her?”

  Beth took the challenge. She pointed at Arin’s notebook. Could she use it?

  Kwylla signaled sure.

  She turned a page and tried to draw a picture of the brontosaurus. But Beth, despite an early ambition to draw comic strips, had no artistic skills. In the end, Kwylla made it clear she had no idea what the thing was. Beth tried growling, but of course that didn’t work.

  Eventually, Arin came back in, glanced at the clock, and wrote in his notebook again.

  “I guess it’s back,” said Beth.

  • • •

  Hutch hated going to bed without anything to read. She turned out the bedside lamp, sank back into the pillow, and stared at the ceiling. She wondered if she would ever get to finish Pagden’s book, or any of the others she was partway through. It was possible she’d have to learn to read the local language to ever start another book again. That was severely depressing.

  She didn’t even know what sort of books occupied the shelf downstairs. She’d opened a couple and eliminated the possibility they were collections of plays. Beyond that, though, they could be anything. History, novels, philosophy. Considering the cottage was on the same property as the temple, there were probably some religious texts. Whatever they were, she’d have enjoyed being able to look through one. To read it. Books were one more thing she’d assumed would always be there.

  After a while, she got up, went to the window, and looked out at the night sky.

  • • •

  Derek stayed on the porch again until the stars faded in the early light of dawn. He was asleep in the chair when Hutch found him. She tried to go back inside without waking him, but she heard her name whispered softly. “He’s still coming through,” he said. “God knows what he must be thinking.”

  “You ought to go to get some sleep.”

  “I’m all right. Anybody else up?”

  “Not that I know of.” She sat down with him. “How long do you think he’ll stay? Wally?”

  “I don’t know. He has to be thinking we’re dead.”

  They sat for a while, continuing their one-note conversation. Then Derek just closed his eyes. “I wish,” he said, “we could get a decent breakfast. I’d love some pancakes. Or maybe some bacon and eggs. These guys have gone far out of their way for us, but the food just doesn’t work.”

  “At least we’ve got some.”

  “Sometimes I’m sorry we didn’t go down with the lander.”

  “Come on, Derek. You don’t mean that. You’re the senior guy here. You’re not allowed to give up.”

  “I’m not giving up, Priscilla, damn it. I—”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hell, I don’t know. I just feel so helpless.”

  A car came out of the trees in the north, the direction of the harbor. It swung into the parking lot. Three of the islanders got out, walked to the front of the temple, and went inside. Moments later, two more cars came in from the opposite direction. It gradually became a stream, vehicles arriving from both sides. And a few pedestrians emerged out of the forest. The islanders seemed a bit better dressed than they’d been in the past. The drab, wrinkled clothing was gone, replaced by pressed shirts and trousers. Some wore cloth caps with brims.

  A few noticed the two strangers on the front deck of the cottage. But unlike the response of the previous day, Derek and Hutch didn’t draw much attention. The visitors lifted their hands in a friendly gesture, and then turned and proceeded toward the front entrance of the temple, where they climbed the stone steps and went inside.

  “Religious service, I guess,” said Derek.

  “Incredible,” said Hutch.

  “How do you mean?”

  “They have temples, cars, houses, ships, parking lots. If the vehicles looked a little better and these guys didn’t look like dolphins, I’d think we were back in the twentieth century.”

  Derek shrugged. “How else could their development happen, Priscilla? I’d be willing to bet that every technological culture we find is going to look like this in its early stages. You need all this stuff.”

  The door behind them opened and Ken looked out.

  “What?” said Derek.

  “I was thinking I’d like to go over to the temple and watch.”

  “That’s probably not a good idea. We’ve no way of knowing what it might lead to.”

  “Oh no, I’m not dumb enough to try it. But I’d love to see what goes on.” He stayed and watched until the cars stopped coming and the last of the islanders had gone inside. A few minutes later, music began. It was string instruments and they were joined quickly by a chorus. It wasn’t like listening to the Washington Symphony, but they were good, the music flowed, and most remarkable of all, the harmony was there. Or maybe it wasn’t so remarkable. Maybe there wasn’t more than one way to build an ear.

  Derek excused himself and went inside. The temple music changed tone, the singing faded, and Hutch assumed a ceremony had started. Another car arrived and three more islanders got out and hurried inside. Shortly after that, the building went silent, except for an occasional voice. Then, after a while, the choral group was back.

  “We haven’t found much yet in the way of civilizations,” Ken said. “But so far, every one of them had religion.”

  “Hard to see how a culture can develop without it,” said Hutch. “An intelligent species will be driven to explain how they came into existence. How the sun sinks in the west and shows up again in the east every morning.”

  “Maybe,” said Ken, “there really is a divine presence.”

  “You know,” said Hutch, “we need a way to let Wally know we’re still alive. Something better than waving at him.”

  “That brings us back to the flashlight,” said Ken.

  Beth joined them, with a plate full of buns that were as close to cinnamon as she could manage. They were just finishing when Arin arrived. He appeared to be in a happy mood. “Hello,” he said in English before sitting down with them. He picked up one of the buns, tasted it, and broke into that gigantic smile.

  “I think he likes it,” Hutch said. Beth po
ured a glass of water for him. Ken tried to explain that they were hoping to locate a flashlight. Arin got up, went over to one of the lamps, said something, and turned it on. Then he lifted the lamp from the table and pointed it at the wall. “Kaka,” he said.

  Great. This time he got the message.

  “Excellent,” said Ken. He looked around the table. “I think he means they have one.” He spoke again to Arin with both words and gestures.

  “Who’s he talking about?” Hutch said.

  Arin responded and Ken’s brow wrinkled.

  “What did he say?” asked Beth.

  “He says we don’t need it.”

  “Maybe you need to talk to him some more.”

  Ken tried again. Arin held up a hand, suggesting patience. Then he said something.

  They all waited for the translation.

  “I’m not sure I’m getting this right,” said Ken. “I think he’s saying he has a surprise for us.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” said Hutch.

  But when Ken tried to elicit an explanation, Arin only got frustrated. He pointed at his mouth and shook his head. Wish we had a language. He got up, went inside, and came back with the notebook. He opened it to a blank page, produced a pen, and handed both to Ken. Then he pointed at the ceiling and pressed a finger on the pad. Write something.

  Write what?

  The finger that was pointing at the ceiling moved as if following something.

  The Eiferman.

  Arin spoke quietly. “Tola hycut.”

  “It means ‘hello,’ ” Ken said.

  “Okay.” Beth looked at her husband as if she was surprised that he wasn’t following. “He wants you to say hello to Wally.”

  “And how,” Ken said, “do I do that?”

  “Tola hycut.” Arin took the notebook and gestured as if to throw it toward the ceiling. Then he gave it back, pointed at the pen, and at the blank page.

  “Maybe they do have radio,” said Beth.

  Hutch wasn’t buying it. “If they do, we would have heard something coming in.”

  “I don’t know,” said Ken. He uncapped the pen and stared at the notebook.