Sand Red

45

I didn't bed down that night, and walked on, skirting the raider camp for safety. The world was cold and bright and I drank in the night sky with a fresh vigour, knowing I would never see this galaxy again. If there was one thing I would miss about Earth, this was it.

The night was slow in ending, as time is when you are by yourself. It reminded me of my years of travelling with my mother. She was the quietest person I had ever known, rarely smiling, soft spoken, so when she did speak, people really listened. A journey with her was one of comfortable companionship. You were by yourself for most of the day, thinking and imagining whatever a child does. I concentrated on the memory of her face, reinforcing the lines in my mind. You often start to forget what they looked like when people die.

At dawn I bedded down in a depression so I could not easily be seen. Travelling alone is about as dangerous as it sounds. You can't stay awake forever.

In the late morning I had reached the mass of Old World ruin. I sat down and took a ration, trying to decide how to approach these people. My stomach rebelled against my enforced fast as the water settled in my stomach, threatening to launch it out. I swallowed it down, closing my eyes till the rebellion passed.

I approached the camp, hollering, waving my grey shirt in the air (it had once been white) in the symbol of peace. A troop marched towards me as I neared, and we met a little ways off their hypothetical perimeter.

'What do you want?' the obvious leader of the trio questioned, pointing a gun at my abdomen.

'I bear a message,' I said, thinking I sounded quite formal. 'There is a ship large enough to hold every person in the Circle. A spaceship.' I paused to gauge their reactions. The burly brown man at the head didn't seem too encouraged, but then again, the gun had not moved. I gave them directions to Lars' township. 'I would not risk my life to trick you,' I added. 'You can make it there, every last one of your children can make it to Cerulone.'

Two of them glanced at each other. 'We have received a messenger,' one of them said. 'From Arkell a day's walk off. Said a Chinese man told a night guard something like that.'

'Aye, that was me.'

'Are you lying?' the burly man asked.

'I would not walk fifty kilometers for a practical joke.'

'How can we know you're not lying?'

'Go and check. It's not too far from you. Also,' I said, hoping I was not pushing it. 'A car would help me.'

'Four and a half hundred kilometers. A waste of fuel.' he said, unconvinced. The gun rose.

An idea struck me, as they do when there is danger to your person. 'You're a big camp. Do you have internet access?'

None answered.

'Well anyway, you can find the place with the Satellite N16 at 7.03 pm. It's real. A big dome in a depression, the ship's in there.'

They spoke among themselves lowly. Then: 'Are you from Jordan's camp?'

'Why?' I asked, on my guard at once.

'The gun is pointed at you.'

'Aye, then. But why?'

'Heard they moved so quick they left food behind.'

'They went to the ship.'

'It has to be real!' a youth broke out excitedly. 'They forgot cartons of meat!'

'I have to go now,' I said. My job was done. I turned to walk away, aware of the danger I was in.

'Won't you take that car?' the burly man called.

I turned on my heels. He showed his teeth to me in what I thought was a smile and I grinned back. 'Aye.'