Rumors

"Those things happened?"

"Sometimes. The European exploration of the Arctic has a long and grim history, if you care to hear it."

"That's why you're here, isn't it?" you say. "To find out if the rumors are true."

"My family no longer cares about the rumors. We just want to know the truth."

"But what is it you care about?"

Claudia doesn't answer. And after a moment, the fax beeps.

"It's a page of Perdita's diary," she says excitedly. As the fax scrolls out of the machine, she reads it out loud.

"'Friday, January 31, 1834. Every day, I believe, the human heart receives a portion of Hope from some eternal well. I shame to think now of days gone by when I frittered away my portion, hoping on foolish things for weeks on end.

"'Now each of us wakes with only a flicker of Hope left, and wonders if it will be enough to see us to another day.

"'It was foolish of us to hope that by moving camp we could leave Death behind. Now we move again, without Henty Yates, Sarah Byers, and my mother, the bravest people I have ever known.

"'The deaths of Henty and Sarah have quite unnerved the sailors, my father says. But I know without words it is really what happened to the Four Without Graves that haunts his thoughts every day we remain in this place.'"

Beep. The fax ends.

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.