The the Collapsing Wave by Doug Johnstone

Author:Doug Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orenda Books
Published: 2024-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

34

LENNOX

The fire had burned down to embers and Vonnie cuddled into Lennox’s shoulder under the blanket they were sharing. The salty smell of her hair from the sea. The presence of a pretty girl next to him on the sofa made this feel like a dream.

Vonnie squeezed his arm and looked at him. Her eyes glimmered in the fading light. He needed something to be sure of in his life, and he wondered if that was her. Two days ago he was locked up with Heather. Now he was free, had been swimming with Sandy, met with Xander and the rest, done all this with Vonnie. He felt connected to her in a way that would’ve seemed impossible a few days ago.

Sandy was through in the kitchen, resting in the sink. Lennox didn’t know Sandy’s age, had no idea how long Enceladons lived for. Given what Sandy had done to Heather’s brain tumour, Enceladons must be able to cure themselves of some diseases. Sandy talked about transformations of energy from one state to another, so they understood death. Some of the captured Enceladons died, almost gave up on living. Being disconnected from their community, from their family, meant they just didn’t want to live.

He felt sick with guilt about Ava and Heather. Ava and Chloe were back in New Broom, but Heather was still free somewhere. Lennox had tried sending messages to her, but she must be too far away. She could be injured and alone out there, and here he was playing happy families with Vonnie.

‘Do you trust Oscar?’ Vonnie’s voice was sleepy.

‘I don’t know. Sandy was willing to connect with him, and they’re a pretty good judge of character.’

Vonnie squeezed his arm again. ‘So you only decided to like me when Sandy decided I was OK?’

Lennox liked the fun in her voice. ‘I never said I liked you.’

‘Hey.’ She punched him in the ribs, and he flinched and laughed. ‘Plenty of guys would be ecstatic to sit in front of a romantic fire with me.’

‘Really?’

She punched him again and he pushed her away, but it was all flirting.

‘Sure. Alone on a remote island, in a cosy, firelit bothy.’

Lennox threw a log on the fire. ‘It feels good.’

‘It does.’ He sat back and she kissed him on the cheek. Blood rushed to his face.

‘This is crazy,’ Vonnie said. ‘I guess you’re used to it, you met Sandy months ago. But this all happened to me in the last few hours. There are creatures up there.’ She threw a thumb towards the window. ‘I might be able to see Enceladus from my telescope. There’s been another world in the solar system full of life all this time. There’s so much to know. How did they evolve? What about their culture, art, politics? And all this insane stuff about telepathy, quantum-wave collapse. Reality is connections, not things.’

‘Did that make sense to you?’

‘I think so. It’s like Buddhism, right? We’re all part of an interconnected system, everything in the universe. They just found a way to manifest that.

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