A Far Sun: Synopsis/Treatment, part 10

This is the last post, here. It brings us to the end of Act I, and on advice from my chief editorial collaborator (my wife), I will not be continuing to blog this story. But fingers have not been idle, and I am past 45,000 words (149 pages) so the story is anything but dead. The end of this post was on page 39, just to put it into perspective.

Click for part 9

Sometime later we come upon Adam and Jane picking their way through the rubble-strewn interior of what is most obviously the university library. Arrayed around them in semi-ordered rows are stacks, most only halfway filled with moldy, musty books. The roof of the library, about three stories overhead, is mostly intact, but in places there are holes letting in shafts of midday light. The holes have also let in the weather, which has deposited ubiquitous piles of damp, rotting leafy matter in every corner and on top nearly every study carrel and library desk.

Jane comments, "Ugh. It smells like mildew in here."

"It's all these rotting books." He sweeps his hand up, showing her the holes in the roof. "These holes let in the wind and the rain. Enough moisture and you get a gooey, moldy mess." He sniffs, but doesn't like what he smells, either. "I had hoped for better than this."

Click for moreJane asks, "What are we looking for, anyway?" She has walked some meters away to investigate what looks like a thoroughly rusted and demolished computer terminal. "Computer terminal, here." She walks around it. "Used to be, anyway."

"Yeah," he says. "Not very promising, to say the least."

Jane walks on, veering to go around a couple of three meter high book stacks. Adam, meanwhile, is trying to get a look at the contents of the head librarian's desk drawer. It's locked, maybe, but he pulls the drawer front off with a moldy 'snap'. The drawer is empty.

"Uh, Adam," says Jane from just out of sight, "I think you better see this."

As Adam approaches, Jane is standing at the edge of what would best be described as the remains of a campsite. There are old chairs arranged in a rough circle, and books have been piled between the chairs to make apparent seats. In the center of the circle is a large, ash-filled and scorched area. The ashes are most apparent in the center of the circle. Remnants of the things burned suggest it was mostly books they burned. And by 'they' we mean the former owners of the two rotted skeletons we find lying next to each other in front of Adam and Jane.

Jane is first to speak. "These are human skeletons."

Adam gingerly walks around the long-dead pair to view them from the opposite side. "Yeah. See their clothing?" He walks back around to where Jane is crouching, inspecting the remains. "They both had red hair, too."

Jane carefully inspects the closest skeleton. She picks at an ulna bone, then what must be a femur, under it. "This one was female." Since Jane is a trained biologist, this is her area of expertise. Certainly she knows more about anatomy than Adam, the physicist.

He doesn't even ask how she knows. She knows. But he does ask, "Can you tell how long they've been dead?"

"By the look of the clothing--see, it's almost gone--and the state of decomposition--nearly total--I'd say a really long time."

"Would you say it's been three hundred years?"

"Hard to say, but yeah, could be."

Adam steps around the bodies to the fire pit. "What would you say about this?" he says, pointing to the blackened, ash-filled "pit" in the center of the encampment.

"I dunno," she stands. "It doesn't look like it's been sitting there abandoned for three hundred years, does it?"

"No, it doesn't." He points. "See these ashes? If this fire pit was old, these ashes would be all mashed down and compressed. Like these others, here." He points to ashes around the edges. "The rain would have soaked them and all but obliterated things."

"So, you think this place has been visited, recently."

"I do."

Jane walks around the circle in the opposite direction Adam has gone. "Ah, here we are."

"What?"

"Bones. Animal bones."

"So?"

She sounds rather triumphant. "I was looking for evidence this place has been used by humans."

"And?"

"These bones are recent." Jane stoops to point out the small pile of tiny bones. "This was no animal that picked over these remains. These bones are recent, and I would say these animals were cooked, too." She turns over a small skeleton. "They were. See? These leg bones are blackened on the ends. No question about it."

Adam supplies the obvious answer to her unstated question. "There are humans here."

Jane stands, and the air seems charged with discovery. "Seems that way. Is this the answer you were looking for?"

"Not quite," he says, turning away from the campfire, "But it does tell me we're not alone." He glances at Jane, then flips his head in a 'follow me' gesture. "C'mon girl. Let's go find these people."

Jane's face: hopeful and determined, provides all the answer he needs.