Synopsis
Without the sea, life is insupportable. We become nothing more than the ghosts of memories, blind and homeless, flitting through the dry chambers of a gutted skull. Holliday wants to stay behind on Earth after everyone else has left for other worlds. The Earth has been stripped of it's resources, especially water, to terrraform the other planets.
History
First publication: New Worlds #106, May 1961
Review
As usual, Ballard has a powerful image, in addition to the Ballardian desert world littered witht he ruins of civilization. Great and powerful imagery in this short story about the stupidity and inevitability of new generations wanting to destroy the past.
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
Chronopolis and Other Stories, hardcover, G. Putnam’s Sons, 1971-09-00
The Complete Short Stories, hardcover, Flamingo, 2001-11-00
The Terminal Beach, paperback, Carroll & Graf, 1987-11-00
