Influx

CHAPTER 36 Echo

Jon Grady stared out across the predawn sky, glowing purple at the eastern horizon. The stars and the Milky Way arched overhead.

A thousand feet below he saw the shoreline of Oregon’s Crater Lake curving away, the indigo water still as glass beneath him, reflecting the stars. It was perfect. He drank in the view.

Then he heard a welcome voice.

“There he is.”

Grady turned to see Alexa holding their six-year-old daughter’s hand, both of them bundled in coats against the chill morning air as they floated in equilibrium, their eyes catching the first rays of dawn.

Grady smiled toward them, and he thought about how marvelous the universe was. How fortunate he was to have lived to be here at this moment. There was a unity in it. A perfection that went beyond math and physics. Though fleeting, it also felt somehow enduring.

He extended his hand toward his daughter.

“This way, Varuna.” He looked up. “I want you to see this…”