“You’ve got me,” Andrew said. “For Uncle Sam, starting well before the War, I’ve been in all sorts of interesting places. Rome, saw Pompeii and Herculaneum and how they were buried by a volcano. Saw a bit of the Gobi desert. Briefly stationed on the west coast of the Persian Gulf, next to some of the most desolate scenery you can imagine, a place the natives call ‘The Empty Quarter’, had a rail tour of India complete with seeing the Himalayas at a distance. Those are huge mountains. But I’ve never seen anything or heard of anything like this.”
“Call it a hidden volcano,” Cornelius suggested, “one that erupts burning-hot sand, and then disappears so you can’t find it again. Or simply say it’s a mystery. No explanation for disaster! Now that’s a fine subheading on your next edition of your newspaper.”
“Yes,” Charles said, “those are great ideas. And I bury the no explanation bit a few lines in so the editor doesn’t see it right off.”
“And while we’ve been jabbering,” Cornelius said, “we’ve come around so we’re headed near-on due south, that star is still at our nine-o’clock, so it’s got to be some sort of plane or balloon or something. And if you notice we’re going down, it’s that we’re approaching the Sky Harbor.”
Winston Cooper climbed down the ladder, then dropped to the gravel by the tracks. The second half of the trip, backing all the way, had been way slower than the first. In his head, he’d already composed his report as Associate Sheriff. There were dead people, they didn’t look to have died naturally, but that was why they had a town coroner, even if he had lots of other business.
He realized he should’ve expected: Waiting for them were the mayor, the publisher of the city’s newspaper, several women he didn’t know, a fellow in three-piece suit with gold chain pocket watch, and his grandfather. Gramps was in full Sheriff’s dress complete with vest, large bright-polished gold badge, a six-gun belted on each side of his waist, and two deputies flanking him. The deputies were carrying Browning Automatic Rifles, which they hardly ever broke out of the arms locker.
