Faller by Will McIntosh

Author:Will McIntosh [Mcintosh, Will]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780765383556
Amazon: 0765383551
Barnesnoble: 0765383551
Goodreads: 28220764
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2016-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

28

THE DAYLIGHT had just begun to fade when Emily and Susanna came into Snakebite’s shop, one of them carrying a three-legged chair, the other the fourth leg. While one consulted with Snakebite, the other set the broken leg on a table, then turned to Faller. “It’s me. Storm.”

Even after she said her name it took Faller a moment to understand. She and Emily (or was it Susanna?) were wearing identical paisley-patterned housedresses. Clearly she’d bonded with her sisters. Faller couldn’t suppress a twinge of jealousy.

“I can take care of this right now, if you want to wait,” Snakebite said to the other sister, glancing at Faller and Storm as he spoke.

“Can we step into the kitchen?” Faller gestured toward the door at the back of the store. He followed Storm through.

Hands on the Formica counter, Storm examined a display of blue and red floral-patterned plates hung on the wall. “I want to thank you for bringing me here. I still resent the way you did it, but I can see now that you saved my life.” When Faller didn’t reply Storm looked at him, and he nodded, not sure what she wanted him to say. “I stayed up half the night talking with Emily and Susanna. I explained where I came from, and they believed me and didn’t pull any of that ‘bad feelings’ crap. I feel at home with them, at peace in a way I never felt on my own world.”

It took Faller a moment to realize what she was saying. “You want to stay?”

“Yes.”

“But we can’t. I have to keep going.” He pressed his hand over the pocket that held the map.

Storm nodded. “I know you do.”

“But I thought—” Faller stammered. He’d thought they were destined to be together, that they were soul mates. Those words would sound foolish if he said them aloud. “Don’t you want to know what’s down there? Don’t you feel like…” He searched for words. “Like there’s a big piece of you that’s missing, that slides just out of your grasp every time you reach for it?” He pulled the paratrooper out of his pocket, then the map, the photo, and slapped them all down on the kitchen table. “The answers are down. Before Day One I did everything I could to point myself in that direction. And then I added a picture of you. Could the message be any clearer? We’re supposed to go down there. Together.”

Storm went to the window, leaned against the frame. “Or you’re supposed to go down there with Emily. Or Susanna.”

“It’s you in the photo. I know it’s you.”

Storm closed her eyes. “All I had in my pocket on Day One was a loaded gun. No maps. No parachutes.”

No picture of Faller. She left that unsaid.

“Then forget the things in my pocket. The answers are still down. You feel it, don’t you?”

“Oh, I feel it.”

“Don’t you want to know what it is?”

“No,” Storm finally said.

“How can you not—”

Storm raised her voice, spoke over him. “Because it’s something horrible.

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