City Out of Time. William Robison III
you,” he said immediately, “I don’t know what came over me.”
“Shock,” Roger noted. “Classic case.”
They all stood there, silently, as Lanz gathered his wits. It was an awkward silence that seemed to stretch on for minutes. Finally, Lanz took a deep breath and said, “I guess I’ll head back now.”
“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Paul asked.
Lanz opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Through the lingering mist that covered the desert basin far below, he’d just seen a street light blinking red far off in the distance. He looked around to see if anyone else had seen it, but it was clear that none of them had been looking in that direction.
“Is there a town down there?” Lanz pointed into the basin below where he’d seen the light.
The others gave him a strange look and shook their heads.
“Perhaps a road of some sort?” Lanz asked, though he could see that they didn’t understand what he was trying to say, so he added, “I’ll swear I just saw a traffic light down there.”
The Citroen Family, for their part, didn’t immediately dismiss him. They all looked into basin ahead as if they expected to see the exact same thing. Seconds stretched into minutes.
“I don’t see anything, Lanz,” Rita said soothingly.
Lanz pointed in the general direction of where he’d seen the light, but she just shook her head.
“It must have been a reflection or…”
The mist shifted again, just briefly, and Lanz clearly saw a three story building about five miles ahead on the basin floor.
“THERE!” He yelled excitedly. “I saw a building this time!”
This time the members of the Citroen Family shared a look first, before they dutifully looked into the misty basin below. They waited thirty seconds before answering this time.
“There’s nothing down there,” Roger replied emphatically. “We’ve hiked these hills before, Lanz. There’s nothing down there but sagebrush and lizards.”
Lanz knew they were right. He’d been here before as well. There was nothing in that basin – but he’d clearly seen a building.
“You didn’t hit your head… or anything?” Roger asked.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Lanz noted. “I’m going down there.”
He knew that he had to go look. He’d come this far. The coordinates had to mean something. They just had to.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Paul asked.
“I’m going,” Lanz answered.
“Then I’m afraid this is where we part company,” Paul replied. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Thanks,” Lanz noted.
“This is stupid, Paul,” Rita said, “He’s clearly in no condition to…”
“I’m fine, Rita,” Lanz interrupted, “There’s nothing to worry about.”
Stanley and Roger shook their heads, incredulous, but kept their mouths shut. Barbara gave Lanz a supportive squeeze on his arm, but then turned and started walking away. Only Rita was still concerned. Lanz took Rita aside.
“Look, I’m fine,” he said. “I’ve been in much worse places than this and lived to tell the tale. All I’m going to do is hike down that path far enough to figure out what it is that I saw. It was probably just an optical illusion or something. And when I’m done, I’ll hike back to the road and hitch a ride back to town.”
“Not a minute ago, I thought you were dying,” Rita noted. “And now I’m supposed to believe you’re fine? If something were to happen to you…”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” Lanz returned. “I’m going to be just fine. I promise.”
“I still think you should come with us,” Rita said as she put her hand on Lanz’s arm… then seeing what she’d done, she quickly snatched it away.
“I’ll be fine,” Lanz reiterated. “You’ll see.”
Rita couldn’t hide her concern, but she nodded her assent all the same.
Lanz patted her on the shoulder like an older brother might, then waved to the others and said, “Thank you for everything.”
As Rita turned uphill to rejoin her family, Lanz turned eagerly to the edge of the basin and looked for a way down. There appeared to be an animal path about fifty feet below the ridge line. Lanz waved one last time to the Citroen Family, and then he headed left, down the ridge, towards the spot where he hoped the animal path crossed over the ridge.
It didn’t take long to find the trail. It squeezed through a rough patch of rock and brush but then it dropped down about three feet on a steep grade to a tight patch of level ground about two feet wide. It was just enough for Lanz to squeeze on to the pathway. Leaning towards the uphill side, Lanz was able to move down the animal path towards the basin below.
It took him nearly ten minutes to go about five hundred feet, but before he reached the five hundred foot mark, he had dropped far enough to be completely enveloped in the basin valley’s lingering mist. The hot sun flared its light through the top layers of the mist, making visibility pretty tough – which slowed Lanz’s pace even further.
After a half hour, the animal path abruptly ended at the top of a small overhang. Lanz walked to the edge of the overhang and looked down to see a small ledge about ten feet below. He thought he might be able to climb down to the ledge. The path looked like it might continue from the ledge on down below the mist, but he wasn’t entirely sure that once he was down on the ledge that he’d have enough energy to climb back up.
“This is really stupid,” Lanz said to himself.
He looked back towards where he’d left the Citroen family a half hour or so before, but the ridge was completely lost to the fog bank. There was no way to determine how far down the animal path he’d come, but he suspected that getting back up wasn’t going to be nearly as easy.
“If I start back now, I might make it to the main road by two or three in the afternoon,” Lanz calculated. “If I go much later, I won’t make it back until nightfall and then nobody will be on the highway. I’ll freeze tonight waiting for a ride.”
Lanz knew what he had to do. There was really no choice. If he didn’t leave now…
Lanz turned back to the overlook and paused only to take a deep breath before swinging a leg over the side and looking for a foothold. If he didn’t at least climb down to the ledge, he would regret this moment for the rest of his life.
The ledge proved to be difficult to reach and in the end, Lanz simply jumped the final five feet – backwards. He landed awkwardly and his momentum carried him backwards towards the path’s edge. But Lanz let go of his attempt to remain upright and landed hard on his backside, only a foot from the ledge. It hurt, but it kept him from going over the side.
Satisfied that he wasn’t going to plunge to his death, Lanz looked back towards the rock he’d just come down and thought he might see a way to climb back up it – a darker vein just around the edge of the rock that might work as a ladder of sorts.
He stood up, looked down the path that led away from the ledge and realized that he could hike another hour or two and still not get far enough below the mist to see whatever it was he thought he’d seen. No. Nearly falling off the ledge was enough. It was time to admit defeat and head home. He rubbed his bruised tailbone and headed towards the dark rock face.
As Lanz made his way around the edge of the rock he’d just jumped from however, he realized that the dark rock face was not a ladder to climb