• Complain

Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

Here you can read online Jack McDevitt - SEEKER full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. genre: Science fiction. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

Jack McDevitt SEEKER

SEEKER: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "SEEKER" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Jack McDevitt: author's other books


Who wrote SEEKER? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

SEEKER — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "SEEKER" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Jack McDevitt

SEEKER

For T.E.D. Klein and Terry Carr with my appreciation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Im indebted to Michael Shara of the American Museum of Natural History, to David DeGraff of Alfred University, and to Walter Cuirle, for advice and technical assistance. To Jerry Oltion, for reading and commenting on an early version of the manuscript. To Ginjer Buchanan, for editorial assistance. To Ralph Vicinanza, for his continuing support. And, as always, to my wife and inhouse editor, Maureen McDevitt.

PROLOGUE

We advise that our patrons not attempt the slopes today, other than the Blue Run. A distinct danger from avalanches is still present throughout the skiing area. It would be prudent to remain in the chalet, or perhaps to consider spending the day in town.

1398, RIMWAY CALENDAR

Wescott knew he was dead. There seemed little chance for Margaret, either. Or for his daughter. He had followed the instruction and stayed inside and now he lay beneath tons of ice and rock. He could hear weeping and screams, lost in the dark around him.

He was trembling in the cold, his right arm crushed and pinned beneath a fallen timber. He could no longer feel the pain. Or the arm.

He thought of Delia. Just beginning her life and almost certainly swept away. Tears ran down his cheeks. Shed been so anxious to come.

He closed his eyes and tried to resign himself. Tried to place himself again aboard the Falcon, where he and Margaret had met. Those had been priceless years. Hed known the day would come when he would wish he could go back and do it all again.

The Falcon.

My God. It occurred to him that, if Margaret had not escaped the building, their discovery would die with them. Delia knew about it, but she was too young to understand.

They had told nobody! Except Mattie. Mattie knew.

He tore at the timber, tried to drag himself free. Tried to change his angle and get his feet against it. He had to survive long enough to tell them. Just in case

But Margaret was not dead. Could not be dead.

Please, God.

The cries and screams around him dwindled, became occasional moanings. How long had it been? It seemed like hours since the chalet had crashed down on him. Where were the rescue workers?

He listened to his own labored breathing. The floor had shaken, had stopped, had shaken again. Then, after the shocks, when everybody in the dining room had thought maybe it was over, hed heard the sudden roar. Theyd looked at one another, some people had gotten up to run, others had sat terrified, the lights went out, and the walls had imploded. He was pretty sure the floor had collapsed and that he was trapped in a cellar. But he couldnt be certain. Not that it mattered.

He heard distant sirens. Finally.

He pushed at the timber that held his arm. He didnt feel entirely connected to his body anymore. Hed retreated into his head and looked out, not unlike a spectator hiding in a cave. Beneath him, the ground trembled again.

He wanted to believe Margaret had survived. Bubbly, immortal, farseeing Margaret, who was never, ever, taken by surprise. It didnt seem possible she could be caught in all this, swept aside in that single terrible moment. Shed gone back to their room to get a sweater. Had left just moments before it had all happened. Had gone up the staircase and vanished forever from his life.

And Delia. In the apartment. Eight years old. Sulking because hed refused permission for her to go out on her own, I dont care if theyre saying the Blue Run is safe, well wait until we hear everythings okay. The apartment was on the third floor, toward the front of the building. Maybe it had been spared. He prayed they were both standing out there somewhere now, in the snow, worrying about him.

When theyd issued the warning, theyd said the chalet was safe. Safe and solid. Stay indoors and everything will be okay. Avalanche-free zone.

In the dark, he smiled.

Theyd been sitting in the dining room with their newest acquaintance, Breia Somebody-or-Other, who was from his hometown, when Margaret had gotten up, said something about now dont you two eat all the eggs Ill only be a minute, and walked off. A group of skiers stood near the front doors, ready to go out, angrily complaining about the level of caution at the chalet and how Blue Run was for beginners. Two couples sat amid potted plants enjoying a round of drinks. A heavyset man who looked like a judge was descending the staircase. A young woman in a gray-green jacket had just sat down at the piano and begun to play.

Margaret would just have had time to reach their room before the first shock came.

The diners had looked around at each other, their eyes wide with surprise. Then the second jolt, and the fear in the room became palpable. Thered been no screams, as best he could remember, but people were throwing back their chairs and starting for the exits.

Breia, middle-aged, dark-haired, a teacher on vacation, had looked out the window, trying to see what was happening. His angle was bad so he couldnt see much, but his hair stood straight up when she gasped and whispered Run in a terrified voice.

Without another sound she threw back her chair and fled.

Outside, a wall of snow appeared and bore down on them. It had been smooth, rhythmic, almost choreographed, a crystal tide flowing down the side of the mountain, engulfing trees and boulders and, finally, the heavy stone wall that marked the perimeter of the chalets grounds. As he watched, it swept over someone. Man or woman, it happened too quick to be sure. Somebody trying to run.

Wescott had sat quietly, knowing there was no place to hide. He took a sip of his coffee. It was as if time had stopped. The desk clerk, a simulation, blinked off. So did the host and one of the doormen. The skiers near the front door scattered.

Wescott held his breath. The rear and sidewalls blew into the dining room and there was a sharp pain and the sensation of falling.

Somewhere, doors slammed.

Something wet was running down his ribs. Tickling him, but he couldnt reach it.

Breia hadnt gotten out of the dining room. She was probably within a few meters. It was hard to speak. He didnt seem to have much air in his lungs. But he whispered her name.

He heard a voice, far away. Over here. But it was a male voice.

And then there were boots chunking through snow.

See if you can get him out, Harry.

Somebody was digging.

Hurry.

No answer though from Breia.

He tried to cry out, let them know where he was, but he was too weak. No need anyhow. Margaret knew he was in trouble, and she was surely out there somewhere, with the rescue workers, trying to find him.

But a deeper darkness was coming. The rubble on which he lay was fading, and he stopped caring about the secret that he and Margaret shared, stopped caring about the timber that pinned him down. Margaret was okay. Had to be.

And he slid away from his prison.

ONE

But what provided the truest sense of the antiquity of (the Egyptian tomb) was to see graffiti scrawled on its walls by Athenian visitors, circa 200 C.E. And to know the place was as old for them, as their markings are for me.

- Wolfgang Corbin,

The Vandal and the Slavegirl, 6612 C.E.

1429, THIRTY-ONE YEARS LATER

The station was exactly where Alex said it would be, on the thirteenth moon of Gideon V, a gas giant with no special characteristics to recommend it other than that it circled a dead star rather than a sun. It was in a deteriorating orbit, and, in another hundred thousand years, according to the experts, it would slip into the clouds and vanish. In the meantime it was ours.

The station consisted of a cluster of four domes and an array of radio telescopes and sensors. Nothing fancy. Everything, the domes and the electronic gear and the surrounding rock, was a dark, patchy orange, illuminated only by the mud brown gas giant and its equally mud brown ring system. It was easy enough to see why nobody had noticed the station during several routine Survey visits. Gideon V had just become only the third known outstation left by the Celians.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «SEEKER»

Look at similar books to SEEKER. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Jack McDevitt - The Moonfall
The Moonfall
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - Cauldron
Cauldron
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - Infinity Beach
Infinity Beach
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - Ancient Shores
Ancient Shores
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - A Talent for War
A Talent for War
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - The Devil's Eye
The Devil's Eye
Jack McDevitt
Cody P. McDevitt - Banished from Johnstown
Banished from Johnstown
Cody P. McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - Firebird
Firebird
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt - Polaris
Polaris
Jack McDevitt
Reviews about «SEEKER»

Discussion, reviews of the book SEEKER and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.