Night Ghosts and Lightng by Robyn Tallis

Author:Robyn Tallis
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780804102025
Publisher: Ivy Books
Published: 1988-11-01T01:03:30+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Blackout

Next morning, the sun shone down out of a sky that looked like it had been scrubbed clean overnight. The twin moons were riding low in the west, a pair of pale disks out over the Kartai Sea. Clea Tourni stepped away from her bedroom window and began to dress. The clothes she'd worn during the storm last night lay in a heap near the foot of her bed, little drifts of silanna dust collected in their folds.

She slipped on a pair of clean shoes and headed for the breakfast table. The family of new settlers they'd taken in sometime after midnight had disappeared again; only stacks of cushions and folded blankets in the main living-space remained to show where they had slept. When she reached the dining nook, she was glad to find her father still there, pouring himself a glass of fruit juice.

"What a night," she said, sliding into a chair. "Where is everybody?"

"Things got pretty exciting for a while there," agreed Dr. Tourni. He filled a second glass with juice and handed it to her. "And as for your question: have you looked at the light yet?"

Clea drank her fruit juice at a gulp and held out her glass. "More, please? Thanks; 1 still feel dried out from all that wind.... it's brighter outside than usual, if that's what you mean."

Dr. Tourni chuckled. "It's brighter than usual, all right. That's because it's later than usual."

Ciea set the second glass of fruit juice down so hard it sloshed. "Oh, no! I'm going to miss school! Dad, why didn't you wake me up? I'm going to get jugged again, I know I am...."

"Calm down, Clea," said her father, mopping up the spilled juice with a napkin. "No classes today. Central Planning's cut power to nonessentials, and when the school went off-line it took your terminal's alarm clock with it."

Clea relaxed a little and reached for the toast. "Nobody tried to wake me up?"

"Honey," said her father, "you slept right through seven people eating breakfast in relays, so I figured you could use the rest."

"Guess you were right," she said with a grin. "It must have been almost dawn before everything got sorted out over in new housing." She paused, remembering the devastation. "What was new housing, that is."

"You did well, Clea," said Dr. Tourni. "All the colony's young people did. I'm proud of you."

Clea felt herself blushing. "Thanks," she mumbled around a bite of toast. "So what's going on if there's no school?"

"Well," said her father, "most of the kids are out working at the Power Dome."

"I think I'll head over in that direction, then." Clea took another slice of toast. "After breakfast."

When she went outside, the sun overhead shone hot and blue, and everywhere colors appeared achingly vivid in the aftermath of the storm. Evidence of last night's disaster lay all about. White sand had piled up in little drifts along the sides of all the buildings—the same sand Clea had watched forming into silanna shells only two days ago.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.