Even Lurch felt speechless after the really near, near miss. One minute they’d felt the heat from the meteorite, and by the next there was a big hole just shy of the outer saucer rim of Shan’s broken ship. If Time aimed it, it did a good job. Dead center of an intersection. Three crumbling buildings on three corners of it and Shan’s ship embedded in the fourth. The heat from the crater was a welcome change from the dank chill. But, as it had before, it did not emanate as much heat as it should have so soon after making landfall. At the crater’s heart, something black and ragged in shape, sent a thread of steam straight up. Not even a tiny flicker from a random wind. The air appeared as dead as the landscape. At least there wasn’t another her in the crater. Shan held a hand out, testing the heat. “I believe it is safe to descend.” They scrambled down, side by side. When Ashe slipped, Shan steadied her, then kept a light clasp on her elbow until they reached the bottom. She took comfort in the touch, felt warmth flow from that spot to the rest of her.
