I'm just glad the two of you came,
or it would have been much harder.' And at that moment they had in
fact heard a rumble, and felt the disbelieving earth tremble at the
nuclear concussion. But the lights stayed on, and the caskets of life
still waited.
'Well,' said Krause grimly. 'Shall we get on with it?'
And the young lovers were put into suspension, with precision and good
hope.
William had woken the prescribed ten-thousand years later, intact,
roughly one year from the present. He had lain very still for a time,
not understanding, not remembering where he was. But as the truth
slowly returned to him he felt no weight of sorrow or loss, but an
unexpected joy at just being alive. And he thought of Kathy, so close
beside him. He had saved her! She was ALIVE, and they would start
again. He forced himself to remain in the soft warmth of the casket a
while longer, as Krause had instructed him. Then he turned the inner
handle, broke the seal, and emerged into the brave new world.
But even prepared against every contingency things can go wrong, and the
Devil fingers of Chaos reach into the strongest fortress. And nothing
made by man can endure unchanging the ravages of Time.
Something had gone wrong with Kathy's support apparatus. What it was
hardly matters, and no one ever learned.
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