The shadow of the Grand Nomad had already covered the city. From high up, Oliver saw the lights of traffic and skyscrapers blossom under the mountain's eclipse.
Katt joined him at the window. "It's ridiculous staying all the way down there. This time of year, they're only getting 4-5 hours of daylight. If I was gonna get some real estate, I'd go up there-", pointing to an outcropping, straight across their view.
"So why don't they?"
"They think the Nomad's sacred. I mean, you ever want to find Earth, just look where he's looking; Sol's our north star. Something about our rotation keeps it fixed in his gaze.
"That's why the pilgrims down there came here. The first colonists - not those guys, the ones that made the first 50 mil LY trip - they came to this planet when they saw this face looking back at them; vanity of the species. This planet's a rogue, so there's no lifeforms anyway, but they were hoping there would be."
"Did there used to be?"
"No one found anything, besides the old man," and Katt pointed at the Nomad. "It was the second colonists who went really crazy about it."
Katt flipped on the cabin lights as they entered the shadow. "The second colonists left Earth just as the Pangeac Merge happened. World going crazy behind them, the face of the Nomad in front of them - they thought he saw it happening. They think he's alive, seeing things on the cosmic timeframe. 2 billion years to us could be 2 hours to him. Which would suck; we're lucky to live to 200. Thank God..."
"Yes" Oliver took a final glance at the summit of the Nomad. "Yes, indeed..."
inspired by Discover Magazine article, "When Continents Collide"
No comments:
Post a Comment