she could rely on Pan-dit. She knew she would have to. His formerly amusing and pathetic adoration was now her greatest and, perhaps her only, security. She would do-her utmost to ensure he never lost it.
PANDIT WAS NOT a practicing Hindu, much less a devout one. Still, he understood the capriciousness of the gods. They had destroyed the world and got him the woman he adored. He received their largess with gratitude but war-iness. He knew the appropriate response was to savor the moment. It came naturally to him, for his genius as a chef lay in his sensualism. He appreciated Sara's beauty in the same way he did the taste of a rich and exquisite sauce. He saw her perfection as something good in itself. She reminded him of the goddesses carved on the temples, holy in her carnality. The fiery sky had extinguished. In its place were thick black clouds that glowed dimly in a dark shade of sullen red. Lightning and the burning forests on the mainland provided the brightest light. Although it was just past noon, the world was wrapped in dusk. When the glow left the clouds, it would be night. In the still, heavy heat, Sara and Pandit were drawn to the coolness of the sea. The water was so calm that the violence it had wreaked earlier seemed almost impossi-ble. Sara shed her tattered dress and waded out into the sea. There, she splashed water on her hot skin. Pandit watched her, knowing that she was doing this, in part, for his benefit. Her gesture filled him with joy and desire and gratitude. He pushed aside all the concerns that weighed upon him and lived only in the present.
Pandit first noticed the wave as a darker line on the dark Montana Sea. It puzzled him, for it seemed some-how distorted. He was about to warn Sara when he saw it was pointless. It was the tsunami's gigantic scale that made it look wrong. As it rolled toward them, Pandit could see fires miles inland wink out. Sara was, as yet, unaware of their approaching destruction, her eyes were solely on him.
'You are so beautiful, Sara,' said Pandit. 'I told Rick you were a goddess. Now I know it is true.' Sara smiled at his words.
'I need to hold you, Sara.'
Sara emerged from the sea and walked toward him with a conscious sultriness. As she left the water, it began to flow away rapidly, first exposing the beach and, then, a vast expanse of seabed. Sara turned and saw the tsunami. It was the size of a dark mountain. She ran into Pandit's open arms and he embraced her. 'I cannot save you this time,' he said softly. 'But I will be with you until the end.' Sara pressed her perfect body against Pandit's chubby one as he took one last glimpse at the oncoming wave. It blotted out much of the sky. It was black, except for its very top, where foam cascaded down in waterfalls. The foam's whiteness reminded Pandit of the mourning clothes at a Hindu funeral. Pandit turned his mind from the advancing destroyer and concentrated his entire being on Sara—her smooth softness . .. her smell... her warm vitality. He caressed her back, wishing to still her trembling. She stopped shaking. The calmness of surrender came over them both. Sara gazed into Pandit's eyes with a look he recognized as the gods' parting gift.
21
THE INTERIOR OF THE PLANE SLOWLY GREW HOTTER AND
hotter, yet no one suggested turning the environmental con-trols back on. None dared to say their comfort was worth any of the precious store of energy. They removed as much clothing as modesty allowed, then suffered without com-plaining. Joe and Rick stripped to their shorts. Con briefly thought of removing her shirt also, but did not. That she would even consider it depressed -her, and she resolved to resist the erosion of civilization. They arranged the pile of clothes and supplies in the rear of the plane to make it as comfortable as possible, then lay upon it. The space was cramped, but the inclined floor permitted them to lie nowhere else. Lying there, sweating and torpid, each felt the heat ra-diating from the others' bodies. In those conditions, it was impossible to truly rest. All the while, it grew darker outside. Only talk kept their minds from dwelling on their discomfort.
'Rick,' said Joe, 'you seemed to know what was going to happen, I mean the earthquake and all. How come?'
'Paleontologists have been studying the K-T event for al-most a century.'
'Why do you keep calling it that?' asked Con.
'K-T is an old geological name for the stratum that divides the Mesozoic Era from our own. The 'K'
stands for '
'How enlightening,' said Joe dryly.
'Even before Luis Alvarez proposed that the K-T bound-ary was evidence of a meteor impact, scientists knew it marked the end of an era,' said Rick.
'So that meteor is what killed off the dinosaurs?' asked Con.
'Paleontologists have been debating that ever since Al-varez,' said Rick. 'Probably that observatory was built to finally settle the question.'
'Then the people who built it must come back!' said Con with excitement.
'They won't,' said Joe. 'Sam wiped it out in the future.'
'How can that be?' asked Con. 'It still exists. We were there. And who's Sam?'
'Sam was the guy Green stole the time machine from,' said Joe. 'He's the one who changed history to eliminate the
