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out of their bulky pressure-suits. The hutch was crowded, but the girl and one of the men squatted on the floor and the other man perched on the plot tank s edge. My name-- I didn t know whether to say is or was so I slurred it, easily, Tom Van Home. I ve been here about four or five months, I m not sure which. One of the young men--he was staring at me openly, he could not take his eyes off me, in fact--replied, We belong to the Human Research Foundation. Expedition to evaluate some of the worlds out past the Edge for colonization. We--we--saw the other half of your ship. There was a worn-- I stopped him. I know. My wife. They stared at the port, the deckplate, the bulkhead. We talked for some time, and I could see they were interested in my theories of near-instantaneous mutation. It was their field, and soon the girl said, Page 86 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Mr. Van Home, you have stumbled on something terribly vital to us all. You must come back with us and help us to get to the heart of--of--your, uh, your change. She blushed, and it reminded me a little of my wife. Then the other two started in. They used me as a buffer, asking questions and answering them, and making me warmer and warmer to the prospect of returning. I was caught up in a maelstrom of enthusiasm. A feeling of belonging stole over me, and I forgot. I forgot how the ship had gone out like a match; I forgot how she had stood there frozen in the companionway, blue and strange; I forgot all the years I had spent burning in space; I forgot the months here; and most of all I forgot the change. They pleaded with me, and said we should go right now. I hesitated for an instant, not even knowing why, but unconsciously crying to myself not to listen. Then I relented, and got into my air-suit. When I pulled the heated cowl up about my sac, they all stared for a long moment, until the girl nudged one of the fellows, and the other broke into a nervous titter. They jollied me, telling me how important my discovery would be to mankind. I listened; I was wanted. It was good, so good, after what seemed an eternity on Hell. We left my hutch, and started across the short space between their ship and my life cubicle. I was pleased and surprised to see how shining their ship was; they were proud of it, they took good care of it. They were the new breed--the high-strung, intelligent scientists with the youthful ideas and the glory in them. They weren t tired old folks like me. The ship was lighted by automatic floods that had come out on the hull, and the vessel shone in the night of Hell like a great glowing torch. It would be good to go to space once more. We came up to the ship, and one of the men depressed a stud that started a humming inside the ship. A landing ramp slid down from far above as the outer lock opened, and I knew this was a more recent model than my ship had been. But then, that didn t disturb me; I had been a poor space bum before I met her. She had been all the drive I d ever needed. I took a step forward, up the ramp, and two things happened, almost simultaneously: I caught a glimpse of myself in the glowing shell of the ship. It was not a pretty picture. My ghoul s mouth, drawn down and to the side like a knife wound. My eye, a mere slit of brightness, the sac so hideous and vein- streaked. I stopped on the ramp, with them directly behind me. And the second thing happened. I heard her. Somewhere...far off...in a bright amber cavern hung down with scintillant stalactites...swathed in a shimmering aura of goodness and cleanliness and hope...younger than the next instant...radiantly beautiful and calling to me...calling with a voice of music that was the sound of suns flaring and stars twinkling and earth moving and grass growing and small things being happy...it was she! I listened there for a moment that spanned forever. My head tilted to the side, I listened, and I knew what she said was truth, so simple and so pure and so real, that I turned and edged past them on the ramp, and returned to Hell again. Her voice stopped in the moment of my touching ground. They stared at me, and for a short time they said nothing. Then one of the men--the short, blond fellow with alert blue eyes and hardly any neck--said, What s the matter? I m not going, I said. The girl ran down the ramp to me. But why? She almost sounded tearful. I couldn t tell her, of course. But she was so small, so sweet, and she reminded me of my wife, when I had first met her, so I answered, I ve been here too long; I m not very nice to look at-- Page 87 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Oh-- and she tried to stop me, but it was a sob, so it did not interfere. --and you may not understand this but I--I ve been well, content here. It s a hard world, and it s dark, but she s up there-- I looked toward the black sky of Hell, --and I wouldn t want to go away and leave her alone. Can you understand that? They nodded slowly, and one of the men said, But this is more than just you, Van Horne. This is a discovery that means a great deal to everyone on Earth. It s getting worse and worse there every year. With the new antiaging drugs people just aren t dying, and they ve still got the Catho-Presbyte Lobby to keep any really effective birth control laws from being enacted. The crowding is terrible; that s one of the chief reasons we re out here, to see how Man can adapt to these worlds. Your discovery can aid us tremendously. And you said the Fluhs were gone, the other man said. Without them, you ll die. I smiled at them; she had said something, something important about the Flubs. I can still do some good, I replied quickly. Send me a few young people. Let them come here, and we ll study together. I can show them what I ve found, and they can experiment here. Laboratory conditions could never match what I ve found on Hell. That seemed to do it. They looked at me sadly, and the girl agreed...the other two matched her agreement in a moment. And, and--I couldn t leave her here alone, I said again. Goodbye, Tom Van Home, she said, and she pressed my hand between her mittened ones. It was a kiss on the cheek, but her helmet prevented it physically, so she clasped my hand. Then they started up the ramp. What will you do for air, with the Fluhs gone? one of the men asked, stopping halfway up. I ll be all right, I promise you. I ll be here when you return. They looked at me with doubt, but I smiled, and patted my sac, and they looked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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