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thought Ian Lack-lin started to discover something else, as well. All his
lifehe had been a coward. In fact, at times he felt ratherproud of his
cowardliness and viewed it simply as the proper reaction of any intellectual.
But he saw a deeperfear haunting Joshua. A
fear of death so all-consuming that life in a mausoleum was thought by him to
be preferable. Ian felt that he would never again fear death inquite the same
way, having seen what the extreme couldbring.
Joshua seemed bowed down, as if the weight of ageswas oppressing him. And with
that weight had come theloss of all vitality, all life so that he was nothing
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but a husk, floating through the motions of living.
"I'll be back, Joshua, and we can spend long daystalking, talking of all that
you once saw."
"All that I once saw," Joshua said as if echoing hiswords.
"I've loaded our ship's memory right to capacity withyour records, thank you
for helping me with that. I
knowRichard will be fascinated with your medical data, and Ican't begin to
tell you how your early data library will help my research. Thank you again."
"You're welcome," Joshua replied, his voice barelyaudible. He seemed to be
staring off into the distance, asif looking beyond to something Ian knew he
could notsee.
"I might not be awake when you return, Ian Lacklin.Just our talking for the
last ten days has conjured up somany memories better left undisturbed. And
each mem-ory is a weight, a heavy chain dragging me down into aswirling circle
of despair that I cannot escape. I may notbe awake then when you return, and
if not, come andvisit me in the corridor of sleep and say hello, Ian
Lacklin.Say hello to one who shall
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outlive you into eternity."
CHAPTER 8
Looking at the aft viewscreen, he could still see Joshua's unit, a small
sphere of light suspended in the cross-hairs of the high-magnification
scanner. Ian finally turnedhis gaze away from the screen and looked over to
Richardand smiled.
"Are we going to float out here forever?" Richard askedquietly, while offering
a flask of gin. Ian nodded his ap-proval and the flask floated across to his
outstretched hand. Just as he started to take a pull on the straw, the doorway
slid open and Ellen drifted through the hatchinto the storage compartment that
all knew was lan's se-cret hiding place.
"So much for my sanctum sanctorum," Ian muttered.
Ellen settled down by his side and extended her handto the flask.
"Good gods" Richard gasped "is this a sign that our beloved group psychologist
is cracking up, running amok,and all that?"
"Shut up," she muttered in reply.
"And so touchy! Truly this is too much."
"Look, Croce, I knew Ian was in here trying to decide,and I thought I'd join
him."
"Well, what do you think I should do?" Ian asked.
"I feel the same way you do," Ellen replied. "I'm torn.Our ship's memory banks
are filled to capacity. I've gotenough forms filled out to last me through
half a dozenpublications, and most of all I'm just sick.
Especially afterthat one." She gestured toward the screen.
"But?" Richard interjected sarcastically.
"Yeah, but," Ellen replied. "That's just it, Ian, we'reall being drawn by that
one big but. A bit of mystery hasbeen set, and I'd like to get a look at what
this Dr. FranklinSmith set in motion. I must say that the videos of him
arequite compelling."
Ian smiled weakly at her. They had watched the 1100-year-old tape made by
Joshua's onboard security system. It was badly damaged but computer
enhancement hadrestored many of the details. Smith had been powerful his
charismatic energy rippling across the millennium. Hisebony features had
carried a
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sense of great intellect paired with a ruthless drive for survival. Yes, the
romantic imagefrom the past had held Ian in its sway as well.
"He's long dead," Ian replied. "And if the odds arecorrect, chances are all
his people are dead, as well.
Theirship was an exile unit, and overcrowded far beyond its bearing capacity.
True, he was a charismatic leader, one of the moving forces for the Great
Outward Leap, but for his particular unit the odds were near impossible. I
thinkthis
Alpha Omega
/
is just another unit."
"But curiosity, the bane of any good historian, hauntsyou, doesn't it?" Ellen
asked.
"All right, let's be logical," Ian replied. "First off, ourship's memory is
packed to capacity. We wouldn't storeanother byte of data if we wanted to.
We've been out overfour months, and it will take nearly that long to return."
"If this crate holds up," a voice said over the PA loud-speaker.
"Ahh, yeah, thanks for the encouraging reminder,Stasz." Ian looked up at the
forward viewscreen, which was suddenly filled with the image of their grinning
pilot, who had obviously been indulging with Richard.
"I thought this little room was my private domain!"Ian shouted. "First
Richard, then Ellen, now you listeningin. So where the hell is Shelley?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]