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By Root 360 0

- the blazing chords of the South, the wayward dissonance of the North, the trumpeted glory of the West. The dark dome vibrated, wavering before his eyes. He knew that startled birds took flight from the reeds, jackals cried in the distance. He could see shadows beside him. He realized that Brown Boy was beside Jade, that a small troop of adapts had formed a semicircle in front of the house.

But this was only a dim halo of awareness at the fringes of sight. With all his being he gazed at the window on to Paradise, heard the music of the spheres.

He slumped forward.

In the morning Brown Boy called to Jade to come with him. She had lain the whole night in vigil beside Kuri's body, crying his name. Brown Boy nuzzled her gently. She looked up at him, questioning, pleading, her eyes reflecting the colour of the lake. She rose and stretched, then paced with drooping tail to the edge of the water. He followed her and like her, scooped a mouthful of pumice pebbles. Following her lead he deposited them on the curled body of the last in the line of his creators. Jade ran back for more pebbles. Brown Boy lifted his head and called. More adapts emerged from the reeds.

Soon Kuri, the last of his kind, lay buried in the very place where his primal ancestors had first lifted their heads from the earth to ask "what?" and "why?".

The adapts spent one more night gazing in wonder at the white blaze of Kuri's window, swaying to the music that stirred their blood. At last Brown Boy looped his tail about Jade's shoulders and drew her away to begin a new life.

The windows of Kuri's house continued to greet each phase of the day but as the newcomer faded the white heart of the East Window became silent until, perhaps, in the years to come the comet should retrace its path, to remind the Earth of the beings that had ruled it for so short a time.

But now the star that had been called Wormwood continued westward across Africa. Its brightness startled flocks of birds into wakefulness, caused great beasts to trumpet and bray, glinted in the eyes of prowling raptors and hopping rodents. It traced a path of wandering silver across the ocean, glinting on metalled dolphins and the gauzy wings of flying-fish.

Somewhere along the coast of Brazil a group of tree-like beings waved their branches in the wind. The branch tips brushed against each other, connections that wound and unwound. As the comet poured its light over them, the light-sensitive tips quested upwards. Others whipped out, clasping their fellows. "What?" they whispered. "Why?"

Table of Contents

THE END OF ALL THINGS

WHEN WE WENT TO SEE THE END OF THE WORLD

THE END OF THE WORLD

THE CLOCKWORK ATOM BOMB

BLOODLETTING

WHEN SYSADMINS RULED THE EARTH

THE RAIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD

THE FLOOD

THE END OF THE WORLD SHOW

FERMI AND FROST

SLEEPOVER

THE LAST SUNSET

MOMENTS OF INERTIA

THE BOOKS

PALLBEARER

AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA

THE MEEK

THE MAN WHO WALKED HOME

A PAIL OF AIR

GUARDIANS OF THE PHOENIX

LIFE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

TERRAFORMING TERRA

WORLD WITHOUT END

THE CHILDREN OF TIME

THE STAR CALLED WORMWOOD