Faraway

Tarka:

Rendick stepped out of the DC-3 and looked out over the dusty airport as he stretched his back, spine snapping. Both ears swiveled forward as he made his way down the ramp looking for a gerbil that was to meet him. His tail was a real mess after sitting on it for a few hours and he wanted to get to the camp as soon as possible. He spotted the rodent and made his way there. "Hello. I am Dr. Crim." He watched the gerbil brighten.

Almandy was getting tired holding up the sign with Dr. Crim's name on it and was very happy that he was here. He was not really too imposing of a fox. Average in every way really. "Hello Dr. Rendick Crim. My name is Almandy. I will be your guide while you are here in Egypt. If you would come with me?" Almandy shifted his head to his side and started to walk away from the reception area. Dr. Crim got into step with him. "We will get your baggage at claims?"

Rendick shook his head. "No need to Almandy. This one bag is all that I have with me. They said that all of tools that I need are already here." Rendick wondered again why they had asked for him to come to this forsaken desert. He was a Dr. of Oceanography. Not sand!

Almandy looked over at the Dr. and hummed softly to himself. He didn't look happy at all. He headed for his car and opened the side door for the Dr. "Do have a seat Dr. Crim. I will give the car a crank to start it." He went to the front of the car and took the crank from its holder and locked it down. He turned the crank really fast then locked it up to it's holder again as he ran around the car to the drivers seat and pulled the throttle over.

Rendick sat quietly in his seat as Almandy drove him out to the camp. He would get with Dr. Trit and demand why he had seen it important enough to pull the favors that he did to get him here!

Almandy took the older road to the dig, Dr. Crim was looking less and less happy with each mile and Almandy wanted to get him in the right mood before Ben Trit had to deal with him. 'Look Almandy.', he remembered Trit saying, 'Rendick is going to be really pissed for me bringing him here at all. So try to make him at least a little happy.' 'How sir?' he had said to the Dr. 'I know you will find a way.' The Dr. had said. Well this was his one chance. He came to the crest of the hill over the dig and stopped the car, letting it idle. He glanced over at Crim. He was standing up in his seat, mouth agape.

Rendick looked out over the huge dig, stunned. "How could that thing get here?" He looked left and right, following the lines of the huge ship +with his eyes. -

WalksFar:

Almandy seized the shock in Rendick's eyes and played it for all it was worth. "It's almost a mile long. The rock it's embedded in is late Cretaceous, approximately 70 million years in age."

Rendick Crim sat slowly. Excitement built in him rapidly. "Well?"

"Yes?" Almandy replied, ears alert, eyes wide, playing it up for effect.

As the lights flashed brighter, and the ground began to tremble and crack, the soldiers swarmed around the ship, planting all the explosives they could find. Grenades, satchel charges, rocket-launcher warheads, and the TNT Trit's team hadn't used trying to break open the door. The colonel cackled with glee as he pushed the plunger.

"I don't know why he sent me away," Almandy said to Mrs. Trit as they drove over the rough ground towards the dig site. "He'd always trusted me before... I can only imagine that something in my past worried the colonel. I wasn't always an archaeologist, you know." He chuckled, and cut it short at her sob. "I considered your husband a friend, as well as a colleague. I should have convinced him to leave when the military took over. It was quite obviously far too dangerous and complex for military intelligence to deal with."

"Just stop," she said, wiping her eyes with a lace handkerchief, "I just want to see..."

"Then you're in luck," Almandy said, "We're here, or as close as we can get."

They stepped outside.

"I thought you said it was a dig site?"

"It was," Almandy said, "Right here." He waved a paw at the flat expanse of sand. "And now it's like we were there. The locals reported a large explosion... He sighed. "I can't explain it."

"Are they going to dig?" Mrs. Trit asked, "To recover the -- the bodies?"

Almandy laughed. "I don't think the locals are going to come back here in a million years."

"H-have. . . . What has been discovered about it?"

"We are still excavating. Nothing but what you see so far." He smiled slyly. "There IS an entrance we have discovered . . . sealed, though." He watched Rendick's expression. "It was thought you would want to be in on the attempts to break in."

"Huh? Yes! YES! I have to know more! What else have you found out?" Rendick's ears twitched with excitement. "Artifacts? Any hint of occupants? Skeletons?"

Almandy slipped the vehicle into gear and it accelerated forward again. "We have found some interesting signs of activity outside the entrance to the ship . . . maybe what once had been an encampment. We have teams working on that now." Almandy glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw that Rendick's gaze never left the ship. "About twenty minutes, Doc.

"This is incredible. . . ." Rendick pressed against the glass to catch glimpses of the ship far below between the road cuts and forest that the road wound its way through as the car traced it down the hillsides.

"It was once reckoned that one heluva volcanic explosion took place not too far from the ship. Most of the rock it was buried in was Breccia and basaltic ash and pumice=stone. Perhaps a Nuee-Ardent swallowed it up before the crew could escape. It IS the only guess we have at this time."

"Incredible. . . . Seventy million years old and no rust or tarnish on its surface. . . ." Rendick blinked. Questions crowded his mind like a swarm of agitated ants, none of which could be answered until he had a chance to examine things for himself. ". . . . Unbelievable."

Lillieth:

Rendick pondered over what he had seen as the trees close about the road and blocked his view of the ship. "70 million years... locked in stone... Almandy? Who found the ship? How did they find it?" Almandy smiled and looked over at Dr. Crim, "Well, some ol' prospectors found it. They were looking for gemstones and came across part of the bow. It was exposed by erosion. The contacted the university and here we are..."

Rendick shook his head, still in shack at what he had seen and sat quietly for a while. Before too long the road flattened out and Almandy turned off on a narrow path through the trees. The path was pitted and bumpy and the car bounced along throwing its occupants around a bit. Rendick bumped his head "Ouch... they don't build the roads well out here." Almandy smiled sheepishly "Sorry, Dr. Crim... but this isn't really a road." Almandy gripped the wheel tightly to keep the car under control.

Chit:

After a few minutes of bouncing, and one particularly harrying turn where it looked like they were about to careen off a cliff right into the tents of the dig crew, the ancient car sputtered to a stop in a cloud of dust. Dr Trit ran up to help him out of the car. With his round helmet and dusty brown clothing to protect against the sun, he was a far cry from the fastidious fox Dr. Crim had known at the university, so long ago.

"Ben, is that you?" Dr. Crim asked, "You look..."

"The word is *excited*, enter my friend," he said, grinning. "Come with me to the dig, the others will take your bags."

With Almandy tagging along they rushed through the camp to where the encampment hid the entrance to the ship was being investigated. "It's very odd," Dr. Trit said, "But it doesn't look like this encampment is anywhere *near* as old as the surrounding rock layers."

"Or the ship itself?"

Ben laughed. "Who can say? Well, perhaps we will, once we take a look inside." Crim, for all his curiosity, felt a bit disturbed by the *hungry* look in Dr. Trit's eyes.

"So how did they get there, if they aren't the same age as the rocks?"

"I imagine they dug a hole," Dr. Trit replied, leading him quickly past the excavation towards the entrance itself. "Grave robbers, you know. Although the rock doesn't show signs of a tunnel." He shrugged. "It's a bit of a mystery, to tell the truth. But there are bigger... FISH to catch, eh?"

Rendick gave an obligatory chuckle, most of his attention locked on the ship itself. He wasn't a naval architect, but he'd seen plenty of boats in his line of work, and this was definitely meant for ocean travel. Yet the hull showed no signs of water marks, barnacles, or anything else to show it had ever touched water.

Finally they approached the entranceway, where a team of workmen with cutting torches waited for the signal. "As you can see, everything is ready," Dr. Trit said. "So unless there's something you need to take care of first, shall we begin?"

Tarka:

Dr. Crim looked at the ship closely... there was something that worried him the more that he looked at it. They had been trying to get in for the last three days and hadn't succeeded. First they had tried crowbars and picks... later welders and diamond cutters. Nothing worked. The dynamite did leave some nice scratches, though...

Dr. Trit looked at the drawings. He didn't understand anything about ships. He was very glad that Rendick was here now. "Almandy? You still up?

Almandy looked in from the other room. "Yes, Ben? Is there something that I might do for you?"

Dr. Trit nodded. "Yes. Could you go get Dr. Crim? I think that we should talk."

Dr. Crim walked into the tent of Ben and grinned. "You look like you should get some sleep Ben."

Ben nodded... "Yes yes yes... just had an idea." He pointed to the drawings of the door. "See this flat panel to the right of the door. What do you think that is?"

Rendick looked. "Art? I don't really know what it is. There are not any handles on the door...."

Ben nodded, seeing that Rendick was thinking the same thing he was. "That that is the handle! Yes!"

Rendick yawns. "Lets get to it in the morning then? Shell we?"

Ben nodded and headed to bed.

The next morning they were eating together in the mess hall. They were excited again about trying to open the door when Almandy came into the room with a worried expression. "Sirs... there are some cars coming this way. Military."

WalksFar:

"DAMMIT!" Ben stormed out of the tent into the night. Two official cars and a truck of troops arrived. The soldiers jumped down and ran toward the ship, weapons in hand at the ready. Their commander barked orders after them and trotted into the darkness.

"You are Dr. Trit?" A tall Doberman in a smart green uniform with a full bird Colonel's wings on his lapels and hat approached. "I am Colonel Kratzmic. Glad to meet you doctor. This is a most impressive find, if not the most incredible thing to hit this world this century. You and I must talk. I want to know what you found so far."

Dr. Trit puffed up and stood his ground. "This is a scientific dig, colonel. What're the soldiers for? We have no need of them!"

Colonel Kratzmic grinned. "not anymore, Doctor. This whole project is now classified by orders of the central government. Whatever you've discovered is top secret and doesn't leave this camp. All incoming and outgoing personnel and equipment, messages, whatever, has to have my say-so or it doesn't happen! If you don't like that, i have the authority to have you arrested and thrown into a cell so deep and dark, no one will ever see you again. Got THAT?"

Dr. Trit grumbled. "You DO have some writ of authority, i suppose. . . ."

"Doctor, it's from the highest level. That's why this dig is off limits to everyone from now on. I will clear your personnel one by one, and those I deem a risk are . . . pfft! Gone!"

Dr. Trit wavered. "I figured you people would show up sooner or later." Rendick emerged from the tent and smiled. "Actually, Ben, they MAY be able to help us with that little problem we've been having."

Dr. Trit whirled on him. "What?"

"Come on, Ben. We're the brains that can unravel this mystery. You and i both know 'Military intelligence is an oxymoron. They won't figure out what we need to know to get inside, but they MAY have the means to get us into the ship. Agreed?"

Dr. Trit nodded. He turned to Colonel Kratzmic. "Colonel, you may be just what we need here, and you may have the equipment needed."

"I am glad you choose to cooperate with us." He shot a glance at Rendick. "Military intelligence is an oxymoron? I'll have you know I graduated at the head of my class at West Point!"

Rendick nodded and winked at Dr. Trit. "This may be just what we need."

Chit:

The Colonel's first priority was security, and for three days all work was stopped while each of Dr. Trit's hired hands was interviewed at length. The professors themselves weren't asked anything until day two, and then it was only a few questions to verify what the military had dug up on them before coming to take over. For the rest, it was a more intensive procedure... or at least a lengthier one. A jackal from the dig team would walk into the Colonel's tent under heavy guard, and not emerge for hours... or sometimes, not at all.

Throughout the process Trit's mood grew darker. When they were fairly certain no one was listening, he would rant about the idiocy of the military in general and of the colonel in particular, while Almandy and Rendick listened uncomfortably. Their attempts to reassure him were ineffectual, largely because they didn't entirely disagree.

Finally, in the middle of the fourth day, the Colonel called Drs. Crim and Trit to his tent. "I apologize for the delay," he snapped, seeming a bit annoyed himself, "But with so many people working on this project is was inevitable that some would be plants."

"Plants?" Rendick asked, incredulously. "Be serious, Colonel..."

"I am MOST serious, gentlemen," Kratzmic growled, slapping a picture onto the folding table he was using as a desk.

Dr Trit looked at the picture and for several seconds was unable to talk, opening and closing his mouth silently. Finally, he managed to croak, "Almandy?"

Tarka:

Colonel Kratzmic nodded. "Yes Almandy is a plant. We looked over his background very well. Do you remember how you met him?"

Dr. Trit nodded. "I had just started on the dig here and was looking for people to help out. Almandy was one of the workers that applied for the job. He has been of great help all this time! You can't make me think that he is some kind of plant." Trit hit the top of the table where the picture was. "You are an idiot Colonel."

Kratzmic put on a hard hard face. He would have to be careful... they needed the Drs to get the work done. "He is a risk! Nothing bad will happen to him. He is just being sent home." He thought fast and had an idea. "We can start with the dig again now... to try and get into the ship?"

Dr. Trit was still mad even as he and Rendick sat by the door, looking at the panel inset to the right side. They had started to clean it and had found that there were small color changes to it. "What do you think that we should try first?"

Dr Crim looked at the panel. Well... maybe if he made a color key and held it up next to it?

As Crim and Trit were talking with each other Private Blowfintch wandered over to the door and looked at the panel... he was not a very smart solder, or for that matter anything else. He thought that the colors were kind of neat looking though. So he started to push at them.

*clung bung tung*

Everyone within earshot turned to look at the door as it opened. From within there was a bright light.

WalksFar:

"Private, explain how you did that." Rendick approached slowly, watching the private as he put his hand to the panel and touched the colors in sequence. The door noiselessly slid closed.

Dr. Trit put his fingers to the colors and pushed the sequence. The door slid open revealing the bright interior again. "Rendick, did you get that?"

"It's in memory." Rendick put his hand on the soldier's shoulder. "Good work, soldier. I think you're just who we need when we explore inside. Get your stuff."

Private Blowfinch picked up his weapon eagerly and reported back to them, all smiles and quivering ears. Sensory hairs trembled on either side of his short yellow Marmot muzzle. "What do I do?"

"Your job, Private is to guard us when we enter." Dr. Trit gestured to the open door, "After you."

"Yessir . . ." Private Blowfinch brought his weapon to the ready position and slowly advanced through the open hatchway.

Dr. Trit and Rendick followed Private Blowfinch inside, taking note of the corridor layout. Rendick touched another panel near the door and it slid closed behind them.

"Wha . . ? The door!" Dr. Trit's eyes went wide.

Rendick waved him on. Dr. Trit advanced on him sharply. "You DO know how to get out again, right?

"Yes, it's the same coding sequence!" Rendick looked to Private Blowfinch who watched them warily. "Go ahead, Private. Lead the way. We're right behind you!"

Private Blowfish nodded and advanced cautiously down the circular corridor.

"All right, let's go," said Rendick.

"Wait! Something's not right!" Dr. Trit stood his ground.

"Fer . . . Ben, did you want that pompous ass of a Colonel taking credit for what you and I may find in here?" Rendick asked seriously.

"No, but everyone saw us come in. They'll give Kratzmic the sequence!" protested Dr. Trit. "This is asinine!"

"They can't," Rendick said. "Who's gonna give it to them?"

"There's . . . Of course Anderson . . ." Dr. Trit glanced down the corridor behind him. His eyes widened. "We're all inside! He can't get in unless we let him!"

Rendick smiled. "Exactly! Let's explore!"

Chit:

With Private Blowfinch in the lead they walked down the featureless twisting metal-walled corridors, all as shiny and corrosion free as the hull had been. They were very conscious of the loud clanking noises their hard-soled boots made with every step, since there was no other sound. The light was bright as Egyptian midday light, but seemed to have no obvious source. Each junction had strange markings in slightly discolored metal patches.

But other than that -- nothing.

"I get the feeling that we're missing something," Rendick said, after they completed yet another loop. The map he was keeping looked like a ball of yarn a cat had played with, with the passages sloping gently up and down to cross each other and splitting and rejoining wildly, but there were a few avenues that hadn't been explored, and none looked promising. "This thing was a mile long from the outside... where's the rest?"

"Where's the bathroom?" Blowfinch mumbled under his breath.

"Exactly!" Rendick snapped, "Where are the rooms? Where's the bridge? The hold? Cabins? Recreational chambers? ANYTHING?"

Dr. Trit was silent, looking thoughtfully at his own notes. He'd been keeping track of the colored patterns at each intersection, looking for some sort of pattern. But as far as he could tell the only pattern was purely geometrical, a grid, which told them... nothing. And pushing at them like the panel near the door had had no effect.

"Maybe there's another door," Rendick said, "One we haven't found. Perhaps on top of the thing? This one would have been below the waterline. Maybe this is a sewer or a bilge."

"It's awful tidy for a sewer," Trit said, "And well lit."

Dr. Crim turned and slashed at the wall, wincing as his claws his the metal... then stopped to look at it thoughtfully.

"What is it," Dr. Trit asked, "Have you found something?"

"No," Rendick Crim said, rubbing his paw, "I was just wishing for some of that military hardware I locked outside."

"I have a gun," Private Blowfinch offered, "And two grenades, and a satchel charge. Standard issue."

Dr. Trit took Rendick's map and looked at it for a bit, then handed it back. "Let's map the last few corridors, then look for a place to try blasting."

Dr. Trit paused. "If nothing else, this place seems to still be operational. we might get something's attention."

Tarka:

Blowfinch grinned happily as he set the charge down one wall.... this was his favorite part. Blowing things up! He looked on the side of the wall and saw another panel of colors... he considered playing with them for a moment but thought better of it... he wanted to hear a boom! He ran back to where the Professors were waiting. "All set!"

Dr Crim put his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes tight. "How big is the explosion Private?

By Nimble

Blowfinch put his own fingers in his ears... "Oh... big...."

Dr Crim sighed... why did it always have to be big....

*Blam!*

Dr. Trit went down the hall like a flash after the explosion... shouting behind him... "Come along you two!" They didn't hear though. How could anyone when your ears were ringing like bells?

Blowfinch ran down the hall after Trit. He looked into the hall he set the charge. There were now two small rooms to one side and a larger one to the other. They had opened the ship!

Ted blinked the dust out of his eyes and climbed up from his under his seat again. "Dame it all. What the hell was that." He looked at the hole and saw two of the natives come running up. "Ah shit."

WalksFar:

Ted scrambled hurriedly into the corridor, hefted his weapon and fired. Private Blowfinch disappeared in a flash of amber light.

Dr. Trit stopped cold. The weapon aimed directly at him, leveled at his nose.

"You killed him. . . ." Rendick's voice wavered and he stared with eyes reduced to colorless globes at the imposing figure that towered seven feet above them. It bounced lightly on digitigrade sharp clawed, scaled feet, while its tail lashed back and forth at their head level, agitated. Bright yellow eyes glared down at them from a golden head with neon blue and red markings along the underside of the jaws and cheeks and down the neck.

"How the hell did you get in here?"

Dr. Trit edged backwards slowly, keeping his eyes upon the horrible sharp toothed visage that stood before them.

"And, NO, I didn't kill whoever that was. He had weapons!" Ted lowered his head so he could look his visitors over.

"You . . . you speak our language?"

"Nooo . . . you just imagine it! What the hell do you think you're hearing? Is anyone home inside your skulls? What are you anyway?" Ted advanced with big strides. He sniffed. "Mammals? Advanced mammals? That can't be! They were hardly big enough to eat last time I looked outside. Explain yourselves! Where're you from?"

Dr. Trit rose courageously. "I'll not answer one damned question until I know what happened to private Blowfinch!"

Ted turned his gaze and weapon on Rendick. "Are you as uncooperative as him? He flicked the weapon toward Dr. Trit and a flash of yellow enveloped Trit and he was gone.

"MURDERER!" cried Rendick as he collapsed to the ground.

"WHAT? Murderer? Me? Get serious, little fellow." Ted slapped the weapon with a blue scaled four fingered hand with long sharp claws. "This isn't what you think it is. They aren't dead, just out of the way. I teleported them out of the ship."

Rendick blinked. "You . . . what? You what?"

Ted lifted his head and his body pivoted upright. He jerked a clawed thumb over his shoulder. "they're outside the ship. Did you think I would hurt 'em?" He shook his head and his mouth dropped partly agape into a bright toothy grin. "I don't kill unless I have to. No goofy lil mammals are worth killing. Where'd you come from, anyway?"

"Where did YOU come from?", Rendick retorted.

"Me? Commander Tedron Archix at your service, mammal. How'd you get on board? I had the entrances set on lock."

"Military intelligence," replied Rendick in a mutter.

Ted nodded and ducked back through the gaping hole in the bridge. When he returned he found Rendick on his feet again. "That's taken care of. No more accidental entrances." Ted hefted his portable teleporter securely.

"Seemed a simple code to me," Rendick said. "One, two, three, four . . ." He winced and muttered something about an idiot's luggage lock code. "I will try to answer whatever questions I can, provided you answer mine. Where are you from?"

"Precisely my question." Ted nodded. "This is my world. Where are you from?"

"Your world?" Rendick blinked taken aback. "This is OUR world!"

Ted blinked and his eyes narrowed. "One of us lies!"

Rendick thought fast. There was a lot that didn't make sense. "Look, before we end up more at odds than we are and you do something i might regret, let me ask you what you were doing here?"

"My mission was simple. Pick up my people and get them off world before the asteroid struck. The whole ship is a cryogenic storage unit. I have 22 thousand on board waiting for safe delivery." Ted gestured toward the back of the ship. "I was to be the last ship away. At the moment, I am waiting for the rest of my crew to return with the last evacuees."

Rendick nodded. It began to make sense.

"As soon as they get back we are on our way outa here. Ted leveled the teleporter at Rendick. "At that time, out ya go!"

Chit:

Rendick looked at Ted, thoughtfully. "How many more evacuees did -- do you have to pick up?" he asked.

"Not many," Ted said, looking really impatient, "There was some commotion and some got lost in the crowd. We thought it might be the meteor, but apparently it was a mammal attack", Ted snarled. "But don't worry, we'll get everyone off."

"So you're risking 22 thousand lives with this delay, to save... a dozen? wouldn't it be better if you left now?"

Ted laughed, a disturbing noise. "And take you with me, little mammal? Ha! We don't desert our own. You can get a *really good* view of the meteor from outside." He lashed his tail angrily. "Besides, the ship has defenses in case it gets caught in a meteor strike. I don't suppose you'd know what a stasis field was?" Rendick looked clueless. "If the meteor hits, we'll survive until someone can come back to pick us up."

"Shouldn't you be in the control room, watching for the meteor? That was what you were doing, right?"

"No, it's automatic -- WHERE ARE THEY? I've said enough. GET OUT."

Rendick found himself outside the ship, and immediately fell five feet to the sand below, twisting his ankle.

The colonel and Dr. Trit were there. "So he kicked you out too," Ben said, "Did you find out any more?"

"What would a *meteor* be like, if it hit the earth?" Dr Crim asked his colleague.

"I'm not sure..." Dr. Trit said, "Let me check my --"

"Well," the Colonel said, "I may just be a mere mortal next to you two, but I'd imagine it'd be something like a big boom."

"Do you think you could make one, Colonel?" Rendick said, "I don't think Ted is going to wait much longer before he does something. He think it's 7 million years ago, and that he's about to carry his cargo of giant demon lizards to some other planet. What do you think he'll do when he finds out the truth?"

"Are you saying you want me to BLOW THIS SHIP UP? Imagine the military secrets we could learn from it... imagine the COURT MARTIAL when I get back and have to tell my superior that --"

"That you saved the planet from a scourge of giant lizards who see mammals as food?"

The conversation was cut short by a loud noise from the ship, not too far away. All along its length, sections of metal were lighting up in strange swirling patterns, throbbing in time to a loud background hum.

The colonel cursed and yelled into his radio, and like a swarm of angry bees his soldiers boiled out of their tents and took up positions around the ship.

"Don't fire!" Rendick said, "We need one *big* explosion, as big as you can manage!"

As the lights flashed brighter, and the ground began to tremble and crack, the soldiers swarmed around the ship, planting all the explosives they could find. Grenades, satchel charges, rocket-launcher warheads, and the TNT Trit's team hadn't used while trying to break open the door.

The colonel cackled with glee as he pushed the plunger.

--

"I don't know why he sent me away," Almandy said to Mrs. Trit as they drove over the rough ground towards the dig site. "He'd always trusted me before... I can only imagine that something in my past worried the colonel. I wasn't always an archaeologist, you know." He chuckled, and cut it short at her sob, "I considered your husband a friend, as well as a colleague. I should have convinced him to leave when the military took over. It was quite obviously far too dangerous and complex for military intelligence to deal with."

"Just stop," she said, wiping her eyes with a lace handkerchief, "I just want to see..."

"Then you're in luck," Almandy said, "We're here, or as close as we can get."

They stepped outside.

"I thought you said it was a dig site?"

"It was," Almandy said, "Right here." He waved a paw at the flat expanse of sand. "And now it's like we were there. The locals reported a large explosion... He sighed. "I can't explain it."

"Are they going to dig?" Mrs. Trit asked, "To recover the -- the bodies?"

Almandy laughed. "I don't think the locals are going to come back here in a million years.