Death is Forever

flocks of edible birds, no flora rich with berries and seeds.
    Most of all, the Kimberley had no dance of clean, fresh water.
    The longer Erin watched Windsor station unfold beneath the helicopter, the deeper her depression became. She’d been naïve about more than Cole Blackburn.
    “My God,” she said finally. “How does anyone survive down there?”
    “Carefully.”
    She shook her head.
    “It’s not as hopeless as it looks,” Cole said. “There are small seeps for water and big snakes for food.”
    The sound Erin made could hardly have been called a laugh. “When you told me how static the Aborigine culture had been until the white man came, I didn’t believe it. I do now.”
    He gave her a questioning look.
    “When you told me the natives had been walking for forty thousand years over the biggest, purest deposit of iron ore on earth but they hadn’t discovered metalworking, I wondered why. When you told me they had literally walked over huge, pure gold nuggets and never hammered earrings or icons or even bracelets from the gold, I wondered why. I also wondered why they didn’t domesticate any animals, invent weaving or shoes, or have any kind of written language.”
    He waited, watching her intently. There were shadows in her eyes that hadn’t been there before, wariness and weariness combined.
    “Now I don’t wonder why,” she said. “The Aborigines were lucky to survive long enough to bear children who would also be lucky to survive and bear children, who would also be lucky to survive, world without end, amen.”
    “That’s the buildup talking,” he said, looking at her flushed face and sweat-slicked skin. “When it’s this hot and sticky, life doesn’t seem worth the trouble to live. Once it rains you’ll feel different about the Kimberley.”
    She glanced from the ground to the sky. The odd, distinct river of clouds that poured in daily from the distant Indian Ocean had gradually become more than a dark column. It had widened at the edges until it was a hazy lid over the land. Distinct thunderheads billowed in slow motion, lazily eating the hot sky. Searing white on top, slate gray on the bottom, the clouds promised an end to the claustrophobic humidity and heat.
    “I wish the clouds would quit strutting and get down to work,” she said.
    He smiled crookedly. “No, you don’t. Once the wet sets in, we won’t be able to go prospecting. We’ll be grounded.”
    As he spoke, his gray glance went over the gauges. Frowning, he flicked his index finger against the fuel gauge. The needle wavered, rose, then fell steeply, only to rise once more, indicating a nearly full tank.
    “Problems?” she asked.
    “The pilot told me this gauge wasn’t very reliable on the top end. If I hadn’t checked the fuel level manually, we’d be heading back right now.”
    “What about the bottom end?”
    “He didn’t say.” He looked at her. “Don’t worry, honey. The chopper is mechanically sound.”
    “How do you know?” she retorted. “You didn’t have time to go over it the way you did the Rover we rented.”
    “The pilot had just flown in from Dog Three. He topped off the tank because he was expecting to fly us all over the station. I made sure he didn’t have a chance to bugger anything after he found out he was staying behind.”
    Cole’s casual anticipation of sabotage startled Erin. “You really don’t trust anyone, do you?”
    He shot her a sideways glance. “Neither do you. You don’t even trust me.”
    “I trust you to find the diamond mine,” she said evenly.
    “But not to keep my hands off Lai, is that it?”
    “That wouldn’t be very bright of me, would it, considering the touching scene this morning?”
    “Erin, for Christ’s sake—”
    “Forget it,” she interrupted tightly. “All you promised me was your best effort at finding a diamond mine. The rest of it was just proximity and adrenaline. Subject closed.”
    “Shit, lady, you’re really trying to make me lose my temper, aren’t you? If you think—”
    She yanked off her headset, cutting off his words.
    He came within an inch of grabbing the earphones and slamming them down over her stubborn head. The ease that she set fire to his temper amazed him. Even as he told himself to cool off, sweat trickled into his eyes. He wiped his face on his bush shirt and his palms on his shorts. Within moments, his skin was sticky with sweat once more.
    It would get worse before it got better, hours and days and