Chapter 13

Merciful Heavens ... it's another dastardly chapter 13.

You remember last time: Connie and Junior managed to meander to Johnson's Ranch in Big Bend ... the immovable disk ... the burnt out caverns and the C-130 hulk disappearing slowly into the shifting sands of time ... and the signs...

There were WARNING US GOVERNMENT PROPERTY KEEP OUT signs all over the place.

Remember that?

Remember what she said?

"Well, that's one sign we needn't bother with."

Any reader who has dedicated himself to reading the Watch series has certainly noticed that there's an awful lot of "Hey, Ya'll ... watch this." Of course, it's more in the line of, "What could it hurt?"

And it does every time ... hurt ... every time.

Those signs were placed strategically around the rusting barbed wire fence surrounding the immovable disk ... which ... over the years had become more immovable than before. Big Bend doesn't get earthquakes ... that's a lot like saying California has never had a trembler very often.

Wind etches the sand and ground out from under an object lying on the ground.

With each passing dust storm and each rare quake ... the immovable disk had settled ... it might not be pickupable but that doesn't mean it won't sink ... it was doing that ... slower than continental drift ... but sinking ... when Connie said...

"Well, that's one sign we needn't bother with."

And Junior slapped the disk.

Right on the spots.

That opened the hatch.

And made Connie squeak.

"Gottcha," said the disk.

The vacuum dragged them both in.