The Long Sunset (The Academy) by Jack McDevitt

Author:Jack McDevitt [McDevitt, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Saga Press
Published: 2018-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

22.

Language—human language—after all, is but little better than the croak and cackle of fowls, and other utterances of brute nature—sometimes not so adequate.

—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebooks, July 14, 1850

They all came outside to watch, and they stood shaking hands and raising fists as Wally slowly crossed the sky. Arin seized Derek, pointed at the ship and then at his visitors. The question he was asking was clear: Is that how you arrived? He looked stunned.

Derek nodded. “Yes.”

Arin followed with another question. Again, obvious: Will they come down for you?

Derek closed his eyes. “No.”

Hutch could see that Arin understood. Derek had been anxious to let the ship know they had survived. But if it could not land, it was of little value. She wondered whether Arin had a flashlight. She tried to ask, but couldn’t make the meaning clear. Finally, she went inside and picked up one of the lamps. The cord wasn’t long enough to allow her to take it out the door. She unplugged it, carried it outside, and raised it as if to signal the ship, but Arin didn’t seem to get the message.

They watched as that single dull star moved westward. Arin took Derek’s arm and led him off the porch. He held up a hand, asking Derek to wait. Then he went inside and came out seconds later with something that looked like a blade. He led Derek to his car while everybody else watched, wondering what was going on. He got in, started the engine, and pulled slowly away. Then he put his right hand in the air and turned it downward, mimicking a crash. To make sure his point was understood, he did something in the car and the engine coughed, sputtered, and died. He climbed out, lifted the hood, tinkered with the engine, got back in and restarted it. He left it running and looked at Derek.

“What’s he doing?” asked Beth, who was leaning over Hutch’s shoulder.

“I think he wants to know whether we can repair the lander.”

“Can we?”

“If we can get it out of the ocean.”

Derek came back toward the cottage, signaling for Arin to follow. They went inside. Hutch joined them. Derek took the glass he’d been using, finished the drink, and picked up a bowl that had been on the counter beside the sink. He put the glass in it and filled the bowl with water, submerging it. Then he turned to face Arin and shook his head. “No, Arin,” he said. “We cannot fix it.”

Arin surprised Hutch again: “Okay.” He’d picked up some English.

Derek nodded, lifted the glass from the bowl, poured the water into the sink, held the glass horizontally over the counter and pretended it was taking off. “Now we can do it.”

Arin got the message: remove it from the sea, and it can be repaired. He pointed at himself and showed Derek his hands, fingers spread. Then he closed them, opened them again but only showed him eight. Eighteen?

“I think,” Derek said, “that he’s trying to tell us they’ll have the lander out of the water in eighteen days.

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