Джек Макдевитт - Cryptic - The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt

I settled in at the bar and commenced drinking Scotch. I stayed with it until the bartender suggested I’d had enough, which usually wouldn’t have taken long because I don’t have much capacity for alcohol. But that night my mind stayed clear. Not my motor coordination, though. I paid up, eased off the stool, and negotiated my way back onto the street.

I turned right and moved methodically toward the police station, putting one foot in front of the other. When I got close, I added a little panache to my stagger, tried a couple of practice giggles to warm up, and lurched in through the front door.

A man with two stripes came out of a back room.

“Good evening, Officer,” I said, with exaggerated formality and the widest grin I could manage, which was then pretty wide. “Can you give me directions to Atlantic City?”

The corporal shook his head sadly. “Do you have some identification, sir?”

“Yes I do,” I said. “But I don’t see why my name is any business of yours. I’m in a hurry.”

He sighed. “Where are you from?”

“Two weeks from Sunday,” I said. “I’m a time traveller.”

Sunday, November 27. Late evening.

Sgt. Lake was surprised and, I thought, disappointed to learn that I had been in jail on the night of the fire. She said that she understood why I had been reluctant to say anything, but admonished me on the virtues of being honest with law enforcement authorities.

I called Helen, looking forward to an evening of celebration. But I only got her recording machine. “Call me when you get in,” I told it.

The call never came. Just before midnight, when I’d given up and was getting ready to go to bed, I noticed a white envelope on the kitchen table.

My name was printed on it in neat, spare characters.

Dear Dave (it read),

Shel is back! My Shel. The real one. He wants to take me off somewhere, and I don’t know where, but I can’t resist. Maybe we will live near the Parthenon, or maybe Paris during the 1920’s. I don’t know. But I do know you will be happy for me.

I will never forget you, Dave.

Love,

Helen

P.S. We left something for you. In the wardrobe.

I read it several times, and finally crumpled it.

They’d left the Hermes . They had positioned it carefully under the light, to achieve maximum effect. Not that it needed it.

I stood a long time admiring the piece. It was Michelangelo at his most brilliant. But it wasn’t Helen.

I went downstairs and wandered through the house. It was empty, full of echoes and the sound of the wind. More desolate now than it had been when it was the only thing in the universe.

I remembered how Helen had sounded when she thought she was sending me back to sleep with another woman. And I wondered why I was so ready to give up.

I did some quick research, went back to the wardrobe, scarcely noticing the statue, and put on turn-of-the-century evening clothes.

Next stop: the Court Theater in Sloane Square, London, to watch the opening performance of Man and Superman .

You’re damned right, Shelborne.

Time travellers never die.

“The Far Shore”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1982, Originally published in Asimov’s Jun 1982

“These Foolish Things Remind Me of You,” by Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey, & Harry Link. Copyright 1935 by Boosey & Co., Ltd., London, England. Copyright renewed. Publication rights for U.S., Canada, and Newfoundland controlled by Bourne Co. Used by permission.

“Black To Move”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1982, Originally published in Asimov’s Sep 1982

“Cryptic”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1983, Originally published in Asimov’s Apr 1983

“Melville on Iapetus”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1983, Originally published in Asimov’s Nov 1983

“Promises To Keep”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1984, Originally published in Asimov’s Dec 1984

“To Hell With the Stars”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1987, Originally published in Asimov’s Dec 1987

“Dutchman”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1987, Originally published in Asimov’s Feb 1987

“In the Tower”— Copyright © Terry Carr, Originally published in Universe 17 1987

“The Fort Moxie Branch”— Copyright © Jack McDevitt, 1988, Originally published in Full Spectrum 1988

“Last Contact”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1988, Originally published in Asimov’s Jun 1988

“Sunrise”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1988, Originally published in Asimov’s Mar 1988

“Time’s Arrow”— Copyright © Critical Mass , 1989, Originally published in Critical Mass Autumn, 1989

“Whistle”— Copyright © Jack McDevitt, 1989, Originally published in Full Spectrum II 1989

“Gus”— Copyright © Jack McDevitt, 1991, Originally published in Sacred Visions 1991

“Tyger”— Copyright © Davis Publications, 1991, Originally published in Asimov’s May 1991

“The Tomb”— Copyright © Abbenford Associates, 1991, Originally published in What Might Have Been III 1991

“Auld Lang Boom ”— Copyright © Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1992, Originally published in Asimov’s Oct 1992

“Cruising Through Deuteronomy”— Copyright © Mercury Press, 1995, Originally published in F&SF Jun 1995

“Ellie”— Copyright © Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1995, Originally published in Asimov’s May 1995

“Deus Tex”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 1996, Originally published in Realms of Fantasy Feb 1996

“Time Travellers Never Die”— Copyright © Dell Magazines, 1996, Originally published in Asimov’s Apr 1996

“Never Despair”— Copyright © Dell Magazines, 1997, Originally published in Asimov’s Apr 1997

“Report from the Rear”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 1998, Originally published in Aboriginal Spring 1988

“Dead in the Water”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 1999, Originally published in Not of Woman Born 1999

“Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City”— Copyright © LRC Pubs, 2001, Originally published in Artemis Magazine Summer 2001

“Act of God”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 2004, Originally published in Microcosms 2004

“The Mission”— Copyright © F. Brett Cox and Andy Duncan, 2004, Originally published in Crossroads 2004

“Windows”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 2004, Originally published in Adventures in Sol System 2004

“Henry James, This One’s for You”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 2005, Originally published in Subterranean Spring 2005

“Lighthouse” (w/Mike Shara)— Copyright © Dell Magazines, 2005, Originally published in Analog Apr 2006

“Ignition”— Copyright © WSFA Press, 2005, originally published in Future Washington , 2005.

“The Candidate”— Copyright © Nature Publishing Grp, 2006, Originally published in Nature Mar 2006

“Cool Neighbor” (w/Mike Shara)— Copyright © Dell Magazines, 2006, Originally published in Analog Mar 2007

“Kaminsky at War”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 2006, Originally published in Forbidden Planets 2006

“Tweak”— Copyright © Cryptic, Inc., 2007, Originally published in Baen’s Universe Oct 2007

“Fifth Day”— Copyright © Dell Magazines, 2007, Originally published in Asimov’s Apr-May 2007