Read Online The Black Seas of Infinity by Dan Henk - Free Book Online

light so I could see the individual pine
trees. I concentrated, and my vision magnified. I could see the
patterns in the bark as it flowed up the trunk. The small branches
barely wrestling out of the oppressive layers of outer skin. A
rough jolt reminded me I needed to pay more attention to the road
ahead. I was lost in a daze and veering off the trail. Not that it
was very discernible as a road. More like a rustic stretch of
gutted yellow dirt crevices, raised patches of weeds and
underbrush, and the occasional jagged rock. Flipping the Jeep was a
real possibility. These things weren’t known for their stability,
especially the old CJs, and with a lift it was even more dicey. The
terrain angled downward, and I lightly tapped the brakes as it
skidded down a small hill, the narrow tunnel created by the
sheltering trees opening up abruptly into a manmade swath of
asphalt. It was a small two-lane road, and I bounded over it
quickly, not even pausing to check for traffic. That was probably a
bad move. A crash up with a local would drastically slow things
down, not to mention draw the attention of the authorities. Tearing
back into the trail, I slowed down as the Jeep started to jerk and
sway precariously. I resumed much slower progress, reasoning that
if this were rough going for me, it would be hell on someone in
pursuit. A little ways down the path I heard the soft ripple of
flowing water. A dark stream overlapped the road ahead, its tiny
waves surging in wavering rows beneath the onslaught of my off-
road lights. I let my foot off the gas as I approached what must
have been a small creek. I could hear the soft, hollow sound of
gently moving liquid. Slowing down to ten miles an hour, I splashed
into it, water shooting up the sidewalls of the Jeep and pelting me
through the open doorways. I glanced upstream and could see the
current trickling from around a raised bluff, the liquid so thin in
the starlight rocks could be seen just below the surface. No sounds
of pursuit yet. I kept going.
    The trail through the woods started to seem
interminable—endless rows of trees breaking into small open
expanses of forest floor littered with pine needles. The stars
infused the needles with a pale blue glow, blotting them together
into clumps of decaying foliage. The trunks would occasionally thin
out and make way for a small meadow, the dusty yellow savannas
glittering in a thousand small blades before the all-consuming
forest swept back in. I wondered how far I’d made it into the
woods. I’d lost all sense of time and distance. I could probably
change that, if I knew how, but I’d need more time to explore that
ability. Instinctively I seemed to know I was headed in the right
direction, just as I knew it was still quite a distance to the
Mustang. Always impatient—that was one character trait that didn’t
seem to change. I’d notice bundles of trees or outcroppings of rock
that looked familiar even though I knew they weren’t, and it would
seem like I was traveling in circles. It didn’t help that the
surroundings all looked so similar in the dark.
    I had no idea what hour it was or even how
long I had been in the woods. When would the pursuit begin? A
thought flashed through my mind. What if they already found the
Mustang and are waiting for me? No, that was impossible! I hadn’t
made a mistake. They would have had to track me for months. And
besides, how would they know? There was no way they could have
planned for this. If they had even an inkling of what was in store,
they would have tightened security. And the hangar was a cakewalk.
Unless of course they were watching me, even if they didn’t quite
grasp what I was doing. There was nothing unusual about building up
old cars, although driving one down to southern Virginia and
hitching a ride back might raise some eyebrows. No, I was being
paranoid. If they were on to me, I would have to deal with it when
I reached the Mustang. Maybe I just needed to be more cautious in
my