Faery Lights
Synopsis:
Two men at a lonely outpost on an icy moon of Saturn encounter disaster and then hope in the form of an unexpected guest at Christmas time.
Book Excerpt:
L onely places can make a man pure loco,
if he’s there long enough. That’s how I
knew for sure McDonnell had finally snapped.
He showed up at my bunk at oh-dark-thirty
and tapped me on the head to make his big
announcement. Said he was going out to hang
Christmas lights.
Only he said “faery lights,” ‘cause that’s
what they say over where he’s from in
Scotland. He had a whole mess of them
hung in a big loop over one shoulder, and he
must’ve mistaken disbelief for admiration
when he saw me looking at them.
“I made them meself,” he said, and you’d
have thought he was a pullet who’d just laid a
prize egg by the way he said it. He jingled the
wire for me to see. He’d gotten bulbs from
God knows where and attached them every
half meter or so to a long coil of insulated
wire he’d scrounged up. I gritted my teeth.
“Great, McDonnell,” I said. “I hope you
didn’t rip that wiring or those bulbs out of
something we need. Don’t want to find myself
without oxy in a week ‘cause the warning bulb
is twinkling outside.”
A hurt look came into the hulking man’s
soft brown eyes. “Thought you knew me
better than that, boyo,” he said. “The bulbs
are spares. So is the wiring. We’ve got plenty
and you know it. Besides, it’s just for Christmas
and Hogmanay and then I’ll take it down.”
Suddenly, I tasted something like sour
tequila in my mouth, and I spat it out.
“Christmas is coming? How can you tell? By
all the snow and ice outside? Or was it the
carolers who just came by?”
McDonnell shook his head slowly. “You’re
a good man in most every way, Clay,” he said.
“But you sure can be an arse when it comes to
the holidays.” He turned and trudged to the
door of the bunkroom. “If you need me, I’ll
be outside,” he said as he walked out.
I just stared at his retreating bulk. “Well
have fun, and don’t freeze anything important
off,” I said. With a grunt of annoyance, I turned
over in the bunk and completely failed to go
back to sleep.
Topics/Categories:
Aliens, Christmas, Disaster, Hope, Rescue, Space Outpost
Genre:
Fantasy - Science Fiction, Science Fiction
Type of Work:
Original Published Source:
RayGun Revival
Purchase From:
Original Publish Date:
2006-12-15
Formats:
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