Epilogue

Robin waited for a very long time. In fact, for over five months, never a day passed without him making the trip to the telescope. Just in case. But she never came back.

Perhaps it was for the best. If, as she'd said, she was from the future, then living through her time again might have proven very difficult. But Robin missed her so much.

He became very close to Dr Cooper and Vijay Degun and it was good to have friends who understood what he was going through now that Lawrence was gone too. It had been a terrible time for them all.

Robin read the official account in the paper some time later. Poison gas, they said, from under the ground. Couldn't have been anticipated. Nobody's fault. He was surprised to see how many of those who'd had the worst scares were the first to deny anything out of the ordinary. Probably just their way of dealing with it.

Robin didn't stay long in Crook Marsham, however. He moved to York and then to London. Occasionally, he got a postcard from Jill Mason. She seemed never to settle down. Always at some political flashpoint or another.

Vijay and Dr Cooper he saw more frequently now they were back in Cambridge. They had all put the village behind them. Too many memories. Far too many...

The tracking station was closed down almost at once, dark noises being made about risking government property and lives (in that order) in such an unstable geological area.

The great telescope dish stood through another three winters until it was dismantled. Eventually, even the concrete shell of the station buildings, stained and broken by the elements, disappeared.

---

And there was only the rain.
And the moor.
Always, the moor.

THE END

<< Previous

Index

Next>>