User:DoctorWho42/Lost Ground

"Lost Ground" is a short story by Scottish author David I. Masson. It was first published in the December 1966 issue of New Worlds.

Plot
Miriel tells her daughter May to finish eating. Her son Philip finishes his food. Their father Roydon listens to Scotland's mood-weather forecast. He tells Miriel to give May a pep pill as it will be gloomy. Roydon drops May off at school. He goes to work at the news. At night, he watches an interview on micro-sentiments. Mood changes often on cliffs. Sentiments stabilise in marshes. Roydon turns off the television and falls asleep in Miriel's arms. Three years later, Roydon receives a call at work. Phil had an accident with a car. After the funeral, Miriel refuses medication. Miriel and Roydon go to church. It proves uninspiring. Roydon regrets it. Miriel notices a gravestone. The name resembles Roydon's. He shrugs it off. At a bar, Roydon overhears patrons talking about disappearances. Miriel and Roydon investigate. He tells her to wait. When Roydon returns, Miriel is gone. Roydon runs around shouting her name. He swallows a pill but it doesn't help. World-Day interviews him. The CID cordon off the area. Soldiers maintain a watch. Roydon's parents adopt May. Six months later, Roydon reports different time domains opened up. Some date back seconds while others centuries. Roydon goes to where Miriel disappeared. He runs into an old man. They barely understand each other. Roydon finds opaque green glass buildings. The sky is full of aircraft. A helicopter addresses him. Roydon climbs up a rope ladder. He meets a team of scientists led by Paul Sattern. Sattern explains how things got worse. Fenn Vaughan studies mood-weather. The helicopter touches down on the Chronismatic Centre. Reporters interview Roydon. A girl with red hair and green eyes gives him a meal and a sleeping potion. He wakes up on a couch. He learns her name is Sal. Roydon receives May's call. She complains how he never returned. Sal takes care of Roydon. Her team wants to join him. Sal and Roydon go down to where Miriel vanished. Roydon rushes and Sal disappears. A tribe strikes Roydon. Sattern and Vaughan rush the tribe. They scatter. The three climb up the ladder. The helicopter drops off Roydon. Roydon finds an old man kneeling. The old man tells him this is where Miriel was buried. He laments how loved she was. Roydon tells him she was his wife. This confuses the old man. Roydon picks up her wedding ring and puts it on his finger.

Reception
In 1969, Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact's P. Schuyler Miller appraised it as "another English story of scrambled time, but unlike Aldiss' it makes sense of its confusion." In 1970, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction's Joanna Russ critiqued "Lost Ground" "presents two fascinating ideas but fails to connect them fictionally."