Weissenbaum's Eye - Stetten - Chapter 36
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    CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

    Down into the atmosphere the wingscoop plunged. A tiny spot in the Atlantic grew into an array of brown circles, framing their approach. The plantation gave itself to the descending craft, which glided onto the runway, and smoothly came to a stop.
    Sand climbed out through the hatch while Tarni shut the engines down. The previous time he had passed through this place, on his way to Backdoor, there had been barely time to get on board the wingscoop. Now he looked around the pier at the end of the runway. The brilliant air was clear. Over the ocean in all directions stretched huge plastic sheets, holding half a foot of rain water. The fields of the plantation swam thick with wild growth, now brown and dying in the cold.
    Tarni appeared from the hatch carrying two heavy coats with fur lined hoods. Seeing him shiver, she smiled. "Thought you might want this," she said, handing him one of the coats, and putting on the other. She looked around, and asked, "Mara's not here?"
    "It doesn't seem so," Sand replied, his worry evident. They walked across the pier, and Tarni took Sand's hand in hers to warm it in the pocket of her coat. They explored the only structure, a large metal shed where Synapse's wingscoop had been hidden. There was no sign of anyone around.
    "She should have been here by now," said Sand, pulling his hood tight against the wind.
    They climbed back into the wingscoop for warmth, and used the ship's surveillance to scan a hundred miles in all directions. There were no boats approaching.
    "I think I know where she might be," said Sand, rather suddenly. "How much runway do you need for this thing, without a couch?"
    Tarni spoke with easy pride. "I flew a scoop like this when I was seven. I don't need a runway. And I don't need a couch."
    They were both relieved to take off. Sand watched the screen, while Tarni pulled the scoop into a graceful overhead loop, and headed east.
    Soon they passed over the city, and inland where the hills wore their own winter coats, of evergreens and snow. Sand searched the charts in the ship's navigator and touched the screen in the area of Peter's house. An expanded view showed the only road through the hills.
    Tarni reduced their altitude, and the wingscoop flew along the road as a landmark. Then they saw it. Two vehicles were twisted horribly together, a large truck and a car. They landed just beyond it, in the unmarked snow on the deserted pavement.
    The frozen wreck was lightly dusted by a snowfall, and Sand found his mother still behind the wheel, her body stiff with cold and death. He carried her down off the road, to where the hillside gave a view of barren woods all brown and white. Sand dug a grave using a shovel and a pick that Tarni brought him from the wingscoop's crash survival kit. The ground was not yet frozen deep, and covering his mother up with dirt, he built a pile of stones upon the mound.
    Then, returning to the wingscoop, Sand and Tarni took off down the empty road, up over the hills and into space. It would not be until hours later in the ferry, that Sand, waking with Tarni still asleep beside him, would watch the Earth recede, and cry.
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