moan. ââ¦didnât know we were watching all the damned Latimersâ¦â
âNow, another few steps, and you can go to bed.â
The staggering, stumbling went off down the hall to Rashelâs room.
When they were silent behind the closed door, Dismé sneaked back to her room without making a whisper of sound. She had thought Rashel couldnât be hurt by anything, but Rashel had been hurt and her mother either couldnât or didnât protect her. Who did it? Who or what was it that Rashel feared? For the moment it was enough to know that Rashel feared something. From its lair, Roarer also rejoiced, putting out a fiery tongue to lick her heart.
Each night she peeked into the hidden cubby before she slept, to see that the book of Nell Latimer was there, where it belonged, where it was soon joined by one of the old dictionaries from Fatherâs office, a book so fragile that one had to hold oneâs breath while turning the pages. When both Rashel and Cora were away, she took the book out of hiding and read it, making a list of words to look up in the old dictionary, slowly, carefully, writing each definition down, sometimes only after looking up a dozen other words. The words werenât that different, but the spelling was. Sometimes she had to guess. What was an observatory? What was 6:30 p.m. What was conscientious? Eventually she figured out conscientious was the same as Regimic, and observatory was some kind of place to look at the stars, and 6:30 p.m. was a way to say day-endish.
The first page took her forever to read. The second one came more quickly. Then she had read five, ten, and finally, all, still without knowing whether the story they told was true.
6
nell latimerâs book
I sent Neils a message about Selmaâs discovery, which he didnât acknowledge, and since he was due back in two or three days and I had time, I logged some eyetime to verify what Selma had shown me, mentioning it in passing to a few close associates.
No one has been able to see anything yet. The thing is a dark body in dark space, visible only as a shadow. Neils returned eventually, I dumped the whole thing in his lap, and he in turn involved some colleagues around the world, and I heard nothing more until this morning when he told us the thing is not huge and far away but smaller and inside the orbit of Uranus. It is now reflecting a little light; it will indeed cross earthâs orbit; and it may do so at an inopportune time, i.e. when that point is occupied by the human race.
However, said Neils, over our incipient panic, since the thing will be influenced by the gravitational pull of Saturn, which it will almost certainly encounter closely, or by Jupiter, which is even more likely, itâs difficult to say just where itâs going to end up. He hemmed and hawed and we pressed the matter until he confessed that if it hit us, even glancingly, its apparent size indicated the damage would beâ¦ahâ¦possibly terminal. Of life, that is. He would only say apparent size, because no one knows how big the thing actually is.
We were all sworn to secrecy. Not enough was known to get the citizenry into an uproar. We all agreed to this, even those of us with families. Most people face their own deaths as inevitable. I understand that even the death of loved ones can be grieved through. But everybody? The whole human race, every thought, every passion, every achievement wiped away? Gone? That thought creates a deep shuddery feeling, like swallowing an earthquake.
Â
These notes are turning out to be more about me than about Selma, even though Iâm only writing in it when thereâs something astronomical to report. Itâs been several months since the entry above, after which I argued with myself for almost a week before deciding that if the situation is utterly terminal, nothing I do will make any difference. If we get hit not quite that hard, however, I may be able to save
âNow, another few steps, and you can go to bed.â
The staggering, stumbling went off down the hall to Rashelâs room.
When they were silent behind the closed door, Dismé sneaked back to her room without making a whisper of sound. She had thought Rashel couldnât be hurt by anything, but Rashel had been hurt and her mother either couldnât or didnât protect her. Who did it? Who or what was it that Rashel feared? For the moment it was enough to know that Rashel feared something. From its lair, Roarer also rejoiced, putting out a fiery tongue to lick her heart.
Each night she peeked into the hidden cubby before she slept, to see that the book of Nell Latimer was there, where it belonged, where it was soon joined by one of the old dictionaries from Fatherâs office, a book so fragile that one had to hold oneâs breath while turning the pages. When both Rashel and Cora were away, she took the book out of hiding and read it, making a list of words to look up in the old dictionary, slowly, carefully, writing each definition down, sometimes only after looking up a dozen other words. The words werenât that different, but the spelling was. Sometimes she had to guess. What was an observatory? What was 6:30 p.m. What was conscientious? Eventually she figured out conscientious was the same as Regimic, and observatory was some kind of place to look at the stars, and 6:30 p.m. was a way to say day-endish.
The first page took her forever to read. The second one came more quickly. Then she had read five, ten, and finally, all, still without knowing whether the story they told was true.
6
nell latimerâs book
I sent Neils a message about Selmaâs discovery, which he didnât acknowledge, and since he was due back in two or three days and I had time, I logged some eyetime to verify what Selma had shown me, mentioning it in passing to a few close associates.
No one has been able to see anything yet. The thing is a dark body in dark space, visible only as a shadow. Neils returned eventually, I dumped the whole thing in his lap, and he in turn involved some colleagues around the world, and I heard nothing more until this morning when he told us the thing is not huge and far away but smaller and inside the orbit of Uranus. It is now reflecting a little light; it will indeed cross earthâs orbit; and it may do so at an inopportune time, i.e. when that point is occupied by the human race.
However, said Neils, over our incipient panic, since the thing will be influenced by the gravitational pull of Saturn, which it will almost certainly encounter closely, or by Jupiter, which is even more likely, itâs difficult to say just where itâs going to end up. He hemmed and hawed and we pressed the matter until he confessed that if it hit us, even glancingly, its apparent size indicated the damage would beâ¦ahâ¦possibly terminal. Of life, that is. He would only say apparent size, because no one knows how big the thing actually is.
We were all sworn to secrecy. Not enough was known to get the citizenry into an uproar. We all agreed to this, even those of us with families. Most people face their own deaths as inevitable. I understand that even the death of loved ones can be grieved through. But everybody? The whole human race, every thought, every passion, every achievement wiped away? Gone? That thought creates a deep shuddery feeling, like swallowing an earthquake.
Â
These notes are turning out to be more about me than about Selma, even though Iâm only writing in it when thereâs something astronomical to report. Itâs been several months since the entry above, after which I argued with myself for almost a week before deciding that if the situation is utterly terminal, nothing I do will make any difference. If we get hit not quite that hard, however, I may be able to save
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