Summertide by Charles Sheffield

Author:Charles Sheffield [Sheffield, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf_space
ISBN: 9780345369376
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1990-06-24T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Summertide minus ten

…the orange glow on the horizon was continuous, the burning ground reflecting from high dust clouds. As they watched, a new burst of crimson arose, no more than a kilometer from where they stood. It developed smoky tendrils and grew taller. Soon it stretched from earth to sky. As the lava bubbled to the summit of the crater he turned to Amy.

In spite of his warning she still stood outside the car. When the flash of the explosion was replaced by a glow of red-hot lava she clapped her hands, entranced by the colors and the shapes. Shock waves of sound rolled and echoed from the hills behind. The stream of fire crested the cone and began to roll toward them, as easy-flowing and fast as running water. Where it touched the cooler earth, white flux sputtered and sparked.

Max stared at her face. He saw no fear, only the rapt entrancement of a child at a birthday party.

That was what it was. She saw it all as a fireworks display. Caution had to come from him. He leaned forward from the car seat to pluck at her sleeve.

“Get in.” He was forced to shout to be heard. “We have to start back for the Stalk. You know it’s a five-hour journey.”

She glared at him and pulled away. He knew the pout very well. “Not now, Max.” He read the words from her lips, but he could not hear her. “I want to wait until the lava reaches the water.”

“No!” He was yelling. “Absolutely not. I’ll take no more risks! It’s boiling hot out there, and it’s getting nearly as bad in the car.”

She was walking away, not listening to him. He felt tight-chested and overheated despite the air curtain that held a sheath of cooler air at the open hatch. It was mostly in his mind, he knew that — the fiery furnace of his own worries that consumed him. And yet the outside heat was real enough. He stumbled out of the car and followed her across the steaming surface.

“Stop pestering me. I’ll come in a minute.” Amy had turned around to look at the whole infernal scene. There was — thank God! — no sign yet of another eruption, but one could happen at any second.

“Max, you have to relax.” She came close, shouting right into his ear. “Learn to have fun. All the time we’ve been here, you’ve sat like a lump of Sling underside. Let yourself go — get into the swing of things.”

He took her hand and began to pull her toward the car. After a moment of resistance she allowed herself to be steered along. With her eyes still on the volcano’s bright fury, she did not look where they were going.

And then, when they were no more than a few meters from the car, she broke loose and ran laughing across the flat, steaming surface of heat-baked rock. She was ten paces ahead of him before he could start after her.

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