Read Online Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt - Free Book Online Page B

removed. Weakened sections had been taken down and the rest simply left standing. Now, the river roared around piles of rubble and concrete slabs. The slabs seemed to be moving, an effect created by the flyer’s lights reflected off the water. The aircraft dropped lower and a last few flakes whirled up.
    They passed over the ruins. On the south side, the river ran through a narrow corridor and emptied into Lake Remorse. The sky was still heavily overcast and the lake remained shrouded until they were out over it.
    Solly directed the AI to turn on the aircraft’s spotlights. It complied, and twin beams swept the darkness, but they could see nothing other than water.
    “It’s almost an inland sea,” said Kim, recalling that at its widest it was more than twenty kilometers across.
    They rode through the night, beneath heavy skies, not saying much. Eventually a coastline appeared onscreen. Forest, mostly. Some hills, some open spaces. And then she saw a few stone walls and broken houses jutting out of the shallows.
    The village had occupied the south shore of the original lake, then also called Severin. But after the dam had been taken down, the lake had expanded, swallowing most of the town.
    Kim looked down at a world covered by snow.
    “I’m surprised no one’s claimed the area,” said Solly. “It wouldn’t take much to rebuild here now.”
    They circled, trying to locate Tripley’s villa. The map placed it atop a low rise just outside the town line, about a hundred meters north of the Scott Randal Stables, which had been a well-known producer of racehorses at the time of the event. They found the stables, now just a few crumbling buildings and a couple of fences. The rest was easy.
    “Problem is,” said Solly, “there’s no open ground here anywhere.”
    “There.” A strip of beach.
    Solly looked at it reluctantly. “It’ll be a long walk,” he said. But it was all they had, and the AI took them down.
    They settled into the snow. Kim pulled her hood up and adjusted the foul-weather mask while Solly changed into boots. The lake surface was rough in the lights, and when she opened the door the wind tried to tear it out of her hand.
    They couldn’t see much of the village, just one or two houses in the water. An old lifeguard tower stood near the tree line. And a white building stenciled SNACK SHED was sinking into the sand. “This is Cabry’s Beach,” said Kim, reading the name off the map.
    Solly climbed down and looked around. The wind blew his hair into his eyes.
    “Didn’t you bring anything to wear on your head?” she asked.
    “No,” he said. “I didn’t know we were going for a walk.”
    “You’ll freeze.” She looked into the backseat. “I’ve got a mountain hat back here somewhere.”
    “It’s okay, Kim. I’ll be fine.”
    She found it and held it out for him. But he looked stubbornly back at her. She shrugged and switched on her wristlamp. “Maybe you should wait here.”
    “Let’s go,” he grumbled, pulling up his jacket collar and stuffing his hands into his pockets.
    She turned up the heat in her jacket, and they started for the trees. Their boots crunched in the snow. The wind blew in steadily off the lake and they walked with their backs to it. Neither tried to talk until they’d made it to the shelter of the forest.
    “You okay?” he asked when they were in the trees. His hair was already covered with blown snow.
    “I’m fine.” It was a deep hood and she felt as if she were looking out of a tunnel.
    He pointed the way and took the lead. Overhead, something shook snow out of the branches.
    Kim looked up, and wondered about the wildlife. “Solly,” she whispered, “are there, do you suppose, any animals here we need to worry about? Cougars, maybe? Or bears?” The terraformers in their wisdom had neglected nothing. Greenway even had mosquitoes.
    “I never thought of it. I don’t know.”
    “Are you by any chance carrying a weapon?”
    “No,” he said. “If