Authors: Dark Planet
Evans
nodded slowly. "I have that kind of authority, ma'am. You can bet on it.
And I can appreciate the deal. Yes, I can shut down the base and finish it for
good and all. It may take a while; there's a lot of stuff to shift, men to get
away, time for the wheels to turn. But I can do it, and I will do it just as
fast as ever it can be done . . . if you'll give me the chance."
"It's true,"
Query confirmed sadly. "He can do it."
"And
more,"
Azul's
voice grew stem, "that you
will go and keep silent. You will tell no one, ever, of what is here, of what
you have seen. No
onel
Ever
!"
"That's
something else again, ma'am." Evans set his jaw. "That's
a
lot more ground than I can cover. It's like this. Nobody is going to
believe us if we try to tell them about you and all this. That is for sure. We
are going to have
a
hard time explaining just how we come to be
alive, never mind anything else. As for not talking, we won't
That's
for me and Christine. And Query can speak for
himself. But I have no way of knowing, nor yet of controlling, the forward
march of science. There was one research team here before the war started.
There might be others. In time there is
a
growing
certainty there will be somebody snooping here just out of curiosity. I can't
stop that
Nobody
can. In fact, if I tried to, that
would turn on the very thing you are hoping to avoid. That's the way it is.
That's the truth, ma'am."
"That's quite
true," Query confirmed, "every word."
Again
there came that interplay of mind on mind, the invisible flashes of opinion and
argument, the rustle of many minds in his, and then
Azul
nodded thoughtfully and smiled at the old man.
"Very well.
We know what you mean by scientific research persons and explorations.
We can deal with those in ways of our own."
"Then you are going to
send us back?"
"It will be done. But know this!"
Azul
grew stem again. "We have the skills and
abilities to employ energy violently, if we wish. We could have destroyed your
settlement at any time. But that is not our way. So, we have your word that
you will withdraw as soon as possible. Or we will, of ourselves, destroy you.
Is that understood?"
"That's straight talk, ma'am, and I
understand it. You
97 needn't worry; I'll have that base whipped
out as fast as ever it can be
donel
"
"You
really do want to go back, don't you?" Query looked at
them,
spoke only to them, knowing sadly what their answer would be. But he had to
try. "Look at you," he said. "You're healthier, fitter,
happier
than you've ever been. It's all peaceful and quiet
here. Beautiful, if you look at it right. And yet you want to go back?"
He
felt
Azul's
hand slip away from his, and then Christine
came up to him, to face him, to reach and touch his arm. "I missed
you," she said, "so very much." The primitive heat from her was
almost tangible. "I wanted you terribly.
If you could
only know how much.
Someone human to talk to, to
touch, to be with.
But you weren't there. We were all alone. There were
some good moments, even some happy ones.
All those glorious
colors.
And the people were kind. When that was all there was, that was
one thing. We had to make the most of it. You know? But now, with the chance to
get back among real people again.
To sunlight.
And noise . . . and everything.
It will be so good, Stephen.
Can't you see that?"
She
drew him despite himself. She was lovely, desirable, almost unbearably so . . .
but it was all of the body, the flesh. Her mind was closed and impenetrable so
far as he was concerned. There was nothing there he could share with. But he
couldn't explain
,
any more than the blind can be
expected to see color harmonies.
And
then Evans growled: "We have a job to do, man. We owe it to these people
to get out as fast as we can. We've promised that, and we're going to do it.
You too.
You're human, Query. You can't change that. You
can't opt out of the race you were born into. You're one of us, on this side.
They're on the other side. Take a look, man!" He gestured up
at
the hanging radiances that glowed in the
tall trees. "That's not for you, for us. We don't belong!"
Query turned to look to
Azul
now, and for a timeless moment all her mind was open to him and his to her.
Must I go?
You are dear to me. I cannot say more. I must
not influence you. In this I must obey the greater decision. And what is that?
So long as your kind are on our world there
can he nothing between us. A barrier has been set.
But
. . . when they go, I must go with them. I have no choice. And it is not
possible for me to return alone.
Then it must be so,
Stephen. You must go!
It
all happened in between one breath and the next, with no room for the futility
of wordy argument.
Inside
him something young and newborn whimpered, and then was silent as he suppressed
it
savagely. That was it, then. He
was ready to go. But then her mind reached for him again, cleanly and strongly,
to clasp him privately, shutting out all the others.
ƒ
cannot
let you go like that, in pain and misunderstanding. Let me try again to
explain how it must be.
Why not? I'll try to
understand.
The
mind flow from her was instant and so overwhelmingly large that it humbled him
as he tried to grasp the concepts.
All life is one, Stephen. This whole planet is one living thing. From
the tiniest airborne microbe to the wriggling worm in the mud, through each
root, seed, plant, bush and tree and in everything that runs and fights and
eats is one common thread. We are all one, made of many parts.
Ripples on the vast sea of being.
I know that thought. I've
had it myself.
So
...
of all that life only a small part can
attain consciousness, can become aware of itself, can understand and enjoy the
knowledge of existence. I am one such part. In that much I am not free. I am a
custodian of life. I owe it to all the rest to be to the utmost and share that
being with all other life. Like an ambassador.
A privilege
that I share.
Your -kind has somehow lost that sharing thought. You
ravage, burn, despoil and destroy . . . your own kind. When I say we cannot
have your kind here, Stephen, it is not my voice but the voice of all.
The whole planet.
But,
Azul
,
you know that I'm not that kind!
I
know, Stephen, but I am only a part.
A branch that must
wither so that the rest of the tree may live.
You understand . . . P
"All
right," he said aloud, "I'm
ready."
"You
will hold hands," she said, "as before." And once again she came
to stand in front of him, to gaze deeply
99
into his eyes, to lay her hands on his
shoulders, and grip . . . and the image of her lovely face faded and grew dim,
was gone . . . there was a moment of bright radiance . . . then darkness and
steam heat and mud. He stood in mud up to his knees.
Christine
on one side of him, old Evans on the other.
Hot mud.
Ropy creepers, massive blue black tree boles . . . and there, just barely
visible, the steel gray, sloping wall of the Dome. And the air lock that he
knew so well.
"Come
on," he mumbled, and slurped ahead through the mud onto the crusty part,
and up to the Dome wall to lean on the switch.
"That
was quite a trick!" Evans growled, following. "But hey! We can't just
barge in like this. We're all stark!"
"That'll
be all right." Query watched the door cycle open. "There'll be
protective suits inside. There's always a few. There, look!" He pointed as
they tramped inside and the door started closing again. It was like a scene
from a forgotten world to see and feel those crackly suits. "Not
yet," he cautioned. "Wait for the ultraviolet. Lord knows what we've
got on our skins. Give it thirty seconds, that's the routine drill."
He
felt ugly and tired as he struggled into a suit and fastened it up, watching
the others. They left their helmets back and clear. He leaned on the switch of
the inner door, watched it start to spin, and felt doom closing in on him.
Back to the world of people, of fools, of dirt and noise and
stupidity.
Better far that he had died. The long forgotten smells came in,
smells of people and plastic and oil. But silence where there should have been
a busy clamor. There was no one about in the first space
nor
in the assembly space. But now he could hear distant voices, and he had a sense
of urgency.
"Come
on!" he ordered, and they ran after him as he made for the sounds. They
seemed to emanate from the workshop dome, and he headed for that, noting as he
ran how bare and deserted everything seemed to be. And so was the big dome when
they reached it. Almost all the heavy machinery had gone, leaving only the
scarred bases they had stood on. There were two men by the far air lock, that
one which led to the external access tube. And it was open, so there was a ship
out there.
Two men.
Ser-
100
geant
Keast
, instantly to be known by his grating rocks voice.
And Commander
Eldredge
with him.
And two more men sweating and
wrestling a heavy and awkward crate into die air lock.
And
Keast
helping them along with his caustic comments.
Then
Eldredge
turned his head to see the newcomers and
stared.
"
C'monl
C'mon!"
Keast
grated.
"Move
itl
We
haven't
got all day!"
"What
the bloody hell are you three doing here?"
Eldredge
shouted. "You should have been clear half an hour ago . . . who the hell
are you, anyway? And what the blazes are you doing in those . . . ?"
"
Eldredge
!"
Evans roared. "Use your eyes, man!
Don't you know who I am? Eh?"
The
commander gaped, his jaw dropping visibly. "Good God!" he said, in a
strangled voice. "It can't be! Admiral Evans? Is it?
Sir?"
"Who else,
damnit
?
And this is my daughter, Lieutenant Evans,
and Sergeant Query. All right now?"
"But
. . . but . . ."
Eldredge
struggled against it.
"But you're dead! You've been dead more than eight months! Don't you
remember
..
.
?"
"Blast
your eyes, do I look dead? Do these two look dead?"
Eldredge
subsided into speechless gobble and
Keast
came in shakily. "We got the dope from Michaels,
sir.
Power repairman.
Poor b . . .
begging your pardon, sir.
Power repairman Michaels,
sir, he booby-trapped your drive heaters.
He wrote it all out in a note,
and then
...
he cut his throat, sir.
That was . . . eight
months
..
. !"
"Well
get a grip on yourselves, the pair of you. We are not dead, get that. The ship
blew up all right, but we were able to eject, to come down safe and sound. And
it has taken us this long to get back here. We have had a rough time, but we
are not dead. We're alive. Get it!"
"You mean,"
Eldredge
put a shaking hand to his head, "that you have been out there all that
time?
Out there in that hell mist?"
"We lost everything, sir." Query
came in quickly, trying to be diplomatic and distractive.
"Everything.
We haven't a stitch of clothing between us. That's why we
101
had to put these suits on. That's the first
thing we need.
Clothing.
And
foodl
"
"Oh my God!"
Eldredge
seemed to snatch at something that
galvanized him. "We haven't time for any of that now!" He leaned into
the tube and bawled. "Rush it along you men, no time to hang about!"
Coming back out again he said, "You'd better get along the tube, sir,
right away. There's an
'U
Class monitor out there, waiting to lift
off."
"Lift
off?" Evans roared. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't
want to be lifted off,
damnitl
"
"We
have no choice, sir."
Eldredge
retorted.
Queiy
heard him, and from the stripped down appearance of
the workshop dome he had a pretty good idea of what was coming next. "No
choice. You see, sir, we are closing down this base. Step Two, sir.
Closing down.
The demolition charges are all set to blow in
. . ." he shot a cuff and glanced at his watch and grew urgent,
"...
in ten minutes, sir!"
"Demolition?
Who gave those orders,
damnit
?
Why?"
"But
...
of course, you wouldn't know,
sir. It's all over.
The war.
The
Settlers' Uprising.
All over.
Honorable peace.
About two months ago,
nearly.
We've been clearing out here for more than three weeks!"
It was
Queiy's
turn
to stare, to catch Christine's eye in wonder.
"Isn't that wonderful news!" she
cried and grabbed his arm. "You'll be out of the Service . . . and so will
I. Oh, Stephen
..
.
we .
.."
"
Nol
" He pulled away from her urgently. "No! It's
all over. It's all done, the way they wanted it. It's done! I'm
freel
" He looked at her urgently, saw her bewilderment
and understood it, knew that she could never feel the way he felt. "It's
no good, Christine. You would never understand. I can't go back with you. I
can't, not now. I'm free, don't you understand? All the humans will be gone,
and I have no duty, not even to the Service. I'm free. Goodbye. Don't wait for
me. I won't be coming, ever!"
And
he turned away and ran, heavily in the crackly suit, back to the air lock and
inside, dragging the thing off as he waited for the door to cycle shut and the
outer door to open. The steamy heat swelled in to envelop him, and he ran out
into it, into the mud and gloom, slopping and
102
stumbling until he knew he was well clear.
The minutes were ticking away. He stood in mud up to his waist, alone in the
blue green dark, and spread his arms, seeing her in his mind.
"
Azul
!" he cried out.
"
Azul
!
I can't go away and leave you! I need you!
Azul
! Help me!"
He
felt horribly and
temfyingly
alone. He wanted desperately
to be able to fly to her, to soar like a bird, as she did. But he felt hot and
heavy and afraid. "
Azul
!" he cried again.
"
Azul
!
Help me!" But
there was no help. He wanted her, right down into every fiber of his being and
with
all his
mind. And suddenly he felt calm. "
Azul
!" he said, quite softly now. "I can.
I
know
I
can.
If you want me
to!"
And
it came, that warmth, that different fire, like a siren song
in
his mind. The mud yielded. He felt
light as air. He rose, unsteadily and heart-in-mouth anxiously, but he rose
just the same. And then more surely, up and through the trees and away,
cleaving the mist Back there, down and below, came a sudden yellow flare and a
shake of noise that climbed up and away in another direction, toward a
different world. Then briefly after, a vast red ring of flame and another
shaking of the air, which was the last of the marks of men. But he felt far
away from that already, and speeding along a mental thread that drew him, certain
and sure, to a special tree.
And a branch to land on, and a
flower curtain.
And there she stood, radiantly
rosy,
her eyes shining like golden stars, her arms
outstretched to welcome him, to hold him tight.
It is done,
Azull
Not done, Stephen.
Only
begun.
My
love! Was I right to come back,
Azul
?
Need you ask that? You know all of me now.
Rather is it for me to ask, am I
worthy, that
you
should give
up
a
whole world for me?