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Stella NovaDreamSpace TwoSunrise, Sunset - PreviewBy Jacqui Smith and Maree Sole |
The setting Sun gleamed orange through a gap in the clouds. As Rachel climbed over the last ridge before the hill-top, she could see that the standing stones were not as deserted as she had hoped they would be. Three people stood silhouetted against the glowing clouds. They moved in and out among the stones, touching them, seeming to be examining them. As Rachel drew closer she could overhear snippets of conversation.
"...this is certainly the place..."
"When did this..."
"...at dawn..."
"...time-slip..."
"I wish they wouldn't..."
"Hush," said one, a woman dressed in a mauve track-suit, with knee-high purple boots. "Someone's coming."
Rachel sighed. She had wanted to be here alone. And now she was going to have to explain to a bunch of tourists all about the standing stones. That way she might be able to get rid of them before it got dark. She climbed up to the stones, and confronted the three. Now she could see them all clearly. The man appeared normal enough, in a grey wind-breaker, and matching slacks. But the other woman looked like something out of a medieval woodcut, in flowing brown, or perhaps amber, robes. Rachel began to wonder if these really were tourists. How anyone could possibly have climbed these hills in that costume she couldn't imagine.
Suddenly she felt something crawling up the nape of her neck. She shook her head and the feeling went away.
"You must be Rachel," said the man. "May I introduce myself. I am Argon, and these are my colleagues, Amethyst, and Amber."
Far out, Rachel thought, even their names are cool. She decided that they might just be her kind of folks after all.