Con in her seat rubbing her red eyes, trying to pretend she hadn't been crying.
'Are we going?' Con asked.
'Yeah,' answered Rick.
Joe sat in the pilot's seat and started the engines. The seats grabbed their occupants as the plane began to rise in the air. Once they were aloft, Rick explained to Joe how to read the numerals on the countdown clock.
'Thirty-one minutes!' said Joe. 'That's all we got?'
'You have to multiply that by 1.4 to turn it into our time,' said Rick. Joe did the math quickly in his head. 'Oh,
'Eventually, we'll want to go to the southern hemi-sphere, but we can't head that direction now. That would take us toward the impact site. We need to be someplace safe when this thing hits.'
'Could you be a little more specific?' asked Joe.
'We should be on the ground, for starters.'
'I figured that much out,' said Joe sarcastically.
'Head north and inland. When the tsunami comes we'll want to be away from the coast and on high ground,' said Rick.
'Anything else?' asked Joe.
'There'll be an earthquake, so we should stay clear of steep terrain,' said Rick. 'Afterward, the heat and the falling meteors will start forest fires. I guess the ideal place would be upland, away from the forests, but not too close to the mountains. It should be near water, a small river would be best.' Joe activated the holographic map and studied it. 'I wish Sam had shown me how to figure airtimes,' he said. 'Seat-of-the-pants was fine for touring, but now . . .' He stared at the map, trying to remember how long it took them to reach past destinations. He pressed another but-ton, and a map appeared in front of Rick's seat. 'I've indicated a possible landing site,' he told Rick. 'What do you think?' Rick looked at the ethereal miniature landscape that floated before him. A red dot flashed in one of the shal-low valleys between the foothills of the mountain range. A tiny squiggling blue line ran through it.
'Nothing far-ther north?' he asked
'You can look for yourself,' replied Joe. 'That's one place I'm sure we can reach.' Rick chose not to second-guess Joe's judgment. 'How far from the coast do you think it is?' he asked Joe.
'It's hard to say,' Joe replied. 'Seventy-five . . . maybe a hundred miles.'
'I guess there's no way to tell how wooded it is.'
'Not until we get there.'
Rick sighed deeply. It wasn't much information on which to base such an important decision. 'It looks okay. Let's hope it is.'
Joe locked the destination in, and the map disappeared from in front of Rick. There was a slight sense of accel- eration, but the sea below still seemed to slide beneath them at a leisurely pace.
'Is this as fast as it goes?' asked Con.
'I'm afraid so,' replied Joe.
Con had been sitting in withdrawn silence. When she spoke up, Rick guiltily realized he had totally ignored her. 'You all right?' he asked.
'All right?' she said fiercely. 'Why wouldn't I be all right? Daddy's deserted me, the world's about to be smashed, and I'm here like someone's forgotten laun-dry!'
'Con . . .'
'Thanks for asking,' she said caustically, then turned away to stare at the landscape below. Rick looked at the sulking girl next to him. It seemed strange that so shortly ago they had been kissing on the beach, preparing to die in one another's arms. That mo-ment seemed easy and natural. Now, he was at a loss for what to do or say. It was especially hard with Joe close by, witnessing it all. He tentatively reached out to touch Con's hand, but she moved it away.
