The Stars Blue Yonder Read Online Free

no one but me. The whole place was falling apart. Then someone told me to use an ouroboros to escape and find you.”
    â€œYou can call one? Control it?”
    â€œNo.” More strength in his voice now, and grimness too. “I have no control. I don’t know how it brought me forty years forward in time, and I don’t know how to get back. All I know is I’m supposed to find some place or some thing called Kultana. Ever hear of it?”
    â€œNo,” she said, but she was barely listening to him now. The prospect of escape had her in its grip. Not so much for her—where would she go?—but for the younger generations, for her children and grandchildren. With a token ring from the Wondjina Transportation System they could return to civilization. They could enjoy plenty of food, plenty of electricity, plenty of opportunities. No more scrabbling for survival.
    But he said he couldn’t control it. Maybe that was true, and maybe it wasn’t.
    â€œYou said someone told you to use it. Who?”
    â€œI don’t know. I remember a voice, but not the details. I wasn’t in the best shape at the time.”
    â€œAnd now?” she asked. “If you can’t control the ring, does that mean you’re stuck here?”
    Myell rubbed his eyes. “Would that make you happy?”
    With more bitterness than she meant to reveal, she said, “It would have made me happy forty years ago.”
    â€œTell me how I died on Earth. On Burringurrah.”
    She made a dismissive gesture. Those were old, bad memories, not easily resurrected even if she wanted to dig them up. “It doesn’t matter.”
    â€œIt matters to me,” he said.
    Jodenny turned back to the window. “Do you remember Leorah Farber? You met her on Fortune. She worked for Anna Gayle. Or Teddy Toledo? Her partner? They’re gone now. Mark Sweeney too. Hullabaloo, Louise—they’re all dead now.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œWe were sent here, stranded here, and they lived the rest of their lives waiting for rescue that never came. But here you are. Forty years late.”
    He stood up and came within touching distance of her, but didn’t reach out. “It hasn’t been forty years for me.”
    She kept her gaze on the garden. “Your daughter’s here. Your grandchildren. Trying to keep food on the table, keep the power going, keep the sewage from backing up every other day. They fight about who’s in charge, about religion, about alcohol. Half of them don’t know what it’s like to live in civilization and they’re never going to find out, because no one knows we’re out here.”
    Myell was silent.
    â€œYou’re their only chance,” she said, and her gaze settled on him with a heavy weight. “Do you understand? You have to save them.”
    â€œSave them but not you?” Myell asked.
    Jodenny snorted. “Save me for what?”
    Three knocks sounded against the door, which creaked open under Lisa’s hand. Her face was tight, but also hopeful. “Are you two okay in here?”
    â€œFine,” Jodenny snapped.
    Myell asked, “Is that dinner I smell?”
    â€œYes,” Lisa said. “I could use some help in the kitchen.”
    Jodenny gave her a glare, but Myell said, “You bet,” and moved past Lisa down the hall.
    â€œI said you shouldn’t interrupt,” Jodenny said.
    â€œIt’s just food,” Lisa said, all innocence. “A good hot meal never hurt anyone.”
    â€œWe were busy talking.”
    â€œYou were busy haranguing, I bet.”
    Lisa followed Myell. Jodenny stayed at the window, suddenly tired beyond measure. By the time she joined them in the kitchen Myell was sitting on a stool and shucking small, narrow ears of corn. Lisa was chopping up tomatoes for a salad. The season’s crops had come through at last, though they’d lost a lot to