Gannon Snippets
At The End Of The World – Snippet 21
At The End Of The World - Snippet 21 Both platforms tilted for a moment and then -- the three boys scattering away -- they came down with a crash Chloe and I could hear almost two-hundred-and-fifty yards away. Without the support of the platforms, the weights on the two lengths of anchor-chain plummeted. The chains were yanked down hard, went taut; their other ends were looped and straining around the pier's much-hacked pilings. For a second, the pilings held. But only for a second. Cut almost all the way through, the pilings snapped,...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 20
At The End Of The World - Snippet 20 Steve was the one watching when they came into sight, clearing the headland just west of Busen Point about an hour after dawn. It was precisely when and where the captain told us to expect them, if they came. From about a mile to our southeast, Steve shone the captain's emergency flashlight on a mirror we had taken from Voyager, and which he kept angled away from the harbor. Within one minute, the captain was on the radio with him, getting a report. After hearing it, he told Steve to keep observing and...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 19
At The End Of The World - Snippet 19 Silent Steve and I had hard days of a different kind: hiking with the captain. Although he gets winded sometimes -- more and more, it seems -- he can set a pretty exhausting pace for a while. He led us through two lowland valleys to the hunter's shelters he'd asked about at KEP. Damned if he didn't have more stashes there. Apparently he'd had some war souvenirs that some of the hunters had been so crazy about that they'd traded away some of their own stuff to get them. So in addition to what we expected to...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 18
At The End Of The World - Snippet 18 The captain stood. "That's enough. The only fighting I'll permit is against the Argie thugs. As for how we'll defend ourselves, I'll explain that tomorrow. We're in no rush. They've got a way to go and we are certainly not their first port of call. Now see if your next change of clothes are dry yet and get to your bunks. All of you." I thought that's where the day was going to end, except I hung behind in the radio house to clean up: I had kitchen duty that day. Just as I was finishing, the door opens and...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 17
At The End Of The World - Snippet 17 "I was a damned fool. Two helicopters went down. Everyone survived. Miracle that. Then they had to shelter until the last helo could fly in and recover them." "And what did you do in the meantime?" "Not bloody much. There was nothing for it except to stay on top of that bloody glacier with them. Gave them all my rations, used my camp heater until it ran out. That might have made a difference. Might not have." "And what about the other person -- the one who had been security for the filmmakers?" "Right...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 16
At The End Of The World - Snippet 16 August 14 We had a light day yesterday; we didn't have to do anything other than move more wood to dry out for cooking and washing clothes. We don't have enough soap, but boiling water does a fair (if brutal) job on its own. Problem is, none of us have that many sets of clothes, so we've got to wear each one about four days running -- because in this cold, that's about how long it takes to dry after they get ladled out of the wash pot. So in the course of twelve days, each of us go through the three sets...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 15
At The End Of The World - Snippet 15 At the end of that very long day, we gathered in the radio house while the furnace in the remains of the primary processing plant got hot enough to cook dinner. But we couldn't wait, because we were starving again. So hard-boiled penguin eggs were passed around. Now let me tell you two things about penguin eggs. One is pretty predictable; the other is pretty bizarre. The predictable: they taste pretty much like fish. I mean, they are just this side of awful. But when you're hungry enough -- well, you'll...
At The End Of The World – Snippet 14
At The End Of The World - Snippet 14 "Damn, I wish! Uh... sir. But a neighbor had one, and we used to hunt together sometimes. But that was, uh . . . a while ago." She looked away as she said it, and then quickly up at me. Don't ask me why, but judging from that look, I suspect that as Chloe had come closer to womanhood, her neighbor's choice of prey had probably undergone a dire change. The captain tucked the weapon back under his arm. "I'm glad you're familiar with rifles. You're going to be familiar with this one, too, by the end of the...