The air filled with silence, like a kettle of quiet boiling over. Finally Burke said, “That’s a long time ago.”
I nodded. No point commenting on such an inane understatement.
“I wish I could check Wikipedia,” Warren said. “I think there were still Neanderthals around then.”
“Maybe we should ask the ship,” Jim diCamillo said, trying to joke. “It probably met some.”
“It probably kidnapped them,” Julia said “They’re probably buried in a hold somewhere.”
“The Perdenneh really built to last,” Warren said, ignoring the others. “Nothing humans have ever built lasted nearly that long.”
“There are stone tools and stuff that are older,” Donny started to protest.
“Nothing with moving parts,” countered Warren. “No machines. No buildings. Not the pyramids or the ziggurats. Certainly nothing as c
