"The tower's getting its feet wet now."
"How deep? How bad is it?"
"It's deep enough. You simply don't have time for this."
"We're out over the plain," said Hutch, "and we don't see any water yet."
"Take my word for it."
"We're going to look, Marcel. We'll let you know."
Kellie went private. "We're not over the plain, Hutch," she said. They were in fact passing over forest and ridges.
"We're only a couple of minutes away." Hutch went back to Marcel. "If it looks at all possible, we're going to try it."
"I wish you wouldn't."
"I wish we didn't have to. Now tell me about the water: What are we going to see? Waves? A gradual rise? What?"
"There's a wave on its way. Actually, a series of waves, running close together."
"How far are they? From the tower? How high?"
"High enough to submerge the capacitors. They're at ground level, right?"
"Yes. On a table."
"They're probably already in the water."
"Any chance we can beat the waves? Any chance at all?"
"You've got about fifteen minutes."
They were ten minutes away. Give or take. "Okay, Marcel. All or nothing."
"Speaking of which: You're off course. Come twelve points to port."
Hutch moved the yoke to the left, and watched the guidance indicators. "Okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said despondently. "Looks fine."
Kellie listened to the steady roar of the jets and watched snow-covered ridges sweep past.
"We did a minimum charge," Hutch told her. "That means there's a possibility we may have to install the new capacitors before we can get off the ground. That could get interesting. You might take a look in back. Make sure we have everything close to hand in case we have to do the connections."
"We going to do this in the backseat?"
"If things get tight, yes. We won't take time to remove the onboard capacitors. Just pull the connectors. We'll load the new ones in back as best we can, tie them in, and get the hell away. So we'll need electrical cable and wrenches ready to go."
Kellie went back and began laying everything out.
The lander passed over the last line of hills and came out over the plain. They picked up the snow cover and the ground became ethereal, a spectral countryside of glistening trees and silver-etched shadows. Then the tones changed, and they were over water.
It looked shallow. Shin-high, knee-high. They could still see ground shrubbery. Kellie reported everything ready in the backseat.
Hutch watched the time and looked for the tower. "Can't be far now." And to Marceclass="underline" "What happens if they get wet? The capacitors?"
"They aren't designed to be waterproof, Hutch. If they get wet, they will have to be dried out. Maybe they'd still be usable. I really can't say for certain, and we can't find the information in the database. But it's a circumstance we should have tried harder to avoid."
Hutch understood what he was saying. They should have walked faster. She cut fuel and dropped close to the ground. The lander slowed. "Kellie, keep an eye open."
Trees and hills were creating wakes. A few animals fled before the current, and a pack of the wolflike creatures they'd seen early in their trek were moving southwest toward higher country, only their heads visible above water. They weren't going to make it.
"Hutch." Marcel again. "You're coming up on the tower. Three points to port, directly ahead, about two thousand meters."
She killed the jets. The lander coasted through the silver light. "It might be shallow enough that we can still do this," said Kellie.
"I see it." Hutch bent over the controls. "I'm going to try to set down with as little help from the spike as we can manage. We want to save enough to get us out of here."
She had no choice, however, but to use the system to stay aloft. power levels were therefore falling. The reactor automatically shut down while they were in flight, so available power consisted of what-ever had been stored in batteries or capacitors. And to save time they'd stored an absolute minimum.
Marcel's voice: "You've got about six minutes before the ocean gets there."
"How big's the first wave?"
"It's spreading out. Diminishing. But at the moment it's maybe ten meters." Almost as high as the tower.
"There's our baby." Kellie pointed. There was no sign of the chasm.
The tower rose out of the floodwaters, bleak and cold and desolate, but still standing. It seemed to Hutch almost biblical, last trace of a vanished civilization, a final defiant rocky digit raised against the unforgiving skies.
"Going down." She lowered the treads.
"We might be okay," said Kellie.
The lander's lights reflected off running water. Hutch went to reverse thrust, brought the vehicle almost to a standstill, and lowered it gently toward the ground.
To the north, she could make out a moving gray wall. "Here comes the wave," she said, activating her e-suit.
Hutch pushed the yoke forward and felt a mild jar as they touched down. Kellie opened the airlock and splashed out into the surge.
The current tried to drag her off her feet.
Hutch started out behind her, but she stopped in the airlock and watched the mountainous wave bearing down on them. Abruptly, to Kellie's dismay, she called her back. "Forget it," Hutch said. "There isn't time."
Marcel broke in. "Let it pass," he said. "Then try it."
"No!" Kellie fought to stay on her feet. The current was moving north in the direction of the oncoming wave.
Hutch sounded cold and calm in her receiver: "It won't do any good if we lose the lander."
"We won't be able to find them afterward," Kellie said. "Dead now or dead later: What's the difference?" She was only steps away from the entrance, and she kept going.
"Won't improve things if we can't find you either," Hutch said.
The wave was enormous, rising high and rising higher. A huge crest folded over and crashed down. Kellie stumbled into the tower. The capacitors lay on the worktable where they'd left them, covered by the tarp.
The water swirled around her ankles. The roar of the onrushing sea was deafening.
"Come on!" Hutch let her hear a cold flat tone. "Kellie, I have to pull out."
She actually touched one of the capacitors through the cloth. She couldn't leave without them. Couldn't possibly leave without them. Just pick the thing up and hustle back with it. But she needed Hutch. Couldn't get both of them alone.
"… get the lander clear."
Kellie and the wave. It had a nice ring.
"God."
She couldn't hope to carry it, though. Not in time-
She broke away finally and stumbled back through the muck. It was hard going, and she fell at the entrance, rolled, and came up running. Hutch stood in Tess's hatch looking back past her shoulder. Looking up. Kellie splashed across the few meters as Hutch ducked inside. She heard the engines turn over, felt the shadow of the wave. The lander began to lift. The hatch was still open, but she had to jump for the ladder. She caught the bottom rung, hung on, dangled while Tess went up, watched the wall of water engulf the tower. It crashed over it. Submerged it. They were rising too slowly and then the vertically positioned jets cut in and they soared. She clung desperately, suddenly as heavy as a load of iron. She screamed, and the wave thundered beneath her.
The jets died, and Hutch let the lander sink a few meters. Kellie scrambled for a better grip, dragged herself up a couple more rungs, and got a foot on the ladder.
The tower was gone. She could smell seawater.
She fell in through the hatch and looked for something to throw at Hutchins, seated at the controls, not even looking back.
"You were going to leave me," she said. "You were actually going to leave me down there."