SW10: October 2010 #1: The Sunset Door

[Scott Eiler]

The Sunset Door. Commentator: Joyce Darcy for the World Journal
Monthly. (27 Oct)
WORLD JOURNAL MONTHLY
October 27, 2010     See Our Other Issues!
THE SUNSET DOOR
Farewell to Kristi the Animal Woman

At 2 pm one day, the famous pianist and singer Vara Hosea walked into
a Georgetown cafe in the District of Columbia. She was shown to a
private dining room. Two people waited for her there. Vara recognized
the superhuman agent Wyatt Ferguson. He introduced his companion as
Kristi Halsted.

Wyatt said, "Kristi has a problem. She's not from around here. She'd
like to leave, but her home isn't there any more." (See Related Story)

"Hello, Kristi. Joe told me how you come from the end of the world.
I'd think you'd be glad to be away from there."

"I am. But I see this world going right back there. I just can't stay
and watch it any more."

"If you knew what was going to happen, why didn't you tell someone
before now so we could stop it?"

"Wyatt knew. He saw it. He told people. How many of you believed
him?" (See Related Story)

Wyatt joined in. "Besides, Kristi has been keeping people informed. I
just now debriefed her for Joe Corrigan. She joined the militia
movement just to keep track of them. She just couldn't stop them when
they blew up the freighter in Alaska."

"Okay, point taken. But if you don't want to stay here and you can't
go home, what do you want to do?"

"I've got a place she can go to decide. There's a Council of Ordered
Realities, kind of like an interdimensional tourist bureau. I've got
friends there who can take her in." (See Related Story)

"Then why don't you just take her there? Don't you have your dimension-
walking power any more?"

"My power's still there. But the Earths aren't. We're in a different
orbit from all those other Earths, so now I get lost on the way."

"So you want me to help find the way?"

"If you could."

Vara Hosea is most famous for playing piano and singing. But she's
made no secret of her interest in the occult.

"Okay. Do you have anything from that world?"

"I thought you might ask." Wyatt pulled out a snow globe marked
"Warsaw St. Lawrence". Vara put her hands on it.

"... There. Kristi, feel free to walk through that door."

"Huh?"

"I've set it up as a dimensional portal."

Kristi opened the door. A sunset was shining through it. She said,
"Uh, could I just sit and enjoy the view from here for a minute?"

"Of course. I guess you've figured out by now, this is magic. And
magic will work as long as people appreciate beauty."

Wyatt started moving suitcases to the door. Then he put on his own
backpack - a big one.

"Wyatt! You're leaving too?"

"Yeah. Kristi needs me to show her around, and I've got some errands
to run there."

"How will you make it back here? I won't be there to help you find the
way."

"My friends there can probably help. Besides, nothing's ever stood
between me and my world for long. I can understand why Kristi's
leaving. But hey, this is my world."

"I know what you mean, Wyatt. See you soon."

---

Afterword by Wyatt Ferguson.

I left my notes for this story with Joyce Darcy for her to write,
because I may be gone for a while.

The time will come when I run away from this declining world. I've not
only done it before, I've seen myself doing it again. But that time is
not yet. I don't know when I'm coming back, but I do expect to come
back. I run from a lot of things, but I always come back to my world,
and nothing's ever kept me from it when I do.

Hopefully I'll bring some good news with me. If two of us can make it
off our declining Earth, others might too. I'm kind of on mission for
this. Vice-President Corrigan has recruited a bunch of other observers
to take my place.

---

Author's Notes:

As ever, this story is on the Web at http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/sunsetdoor.htm
.  The Web version has links wherever you see "See Related Story"
above, plus some other places in the Wyatt Ferguson department.

This story is technically October 2010 #1. I'm not sure what will
happen in November, but I'm likely to be observing National Novel
Writing Month alongside rec.arts.comics.creative. So it's good that I
get in the habit of regular publishing before that.

Also, it'll be good to get my regular characters out of the way. This
October is good for a poignant vignette which helps do that.