The Martian Way and other Stories Part 15

"Of necessity. The infant had pa.s.sed the first part of its existence inside its mother. Physically inside. The creature's eggs remain within the body. They are inseminated within the body. They grow within the body and emerge alive."

"Great caverns," Gan said weakly. Distaste was strong within him. "Each creature would know the ident.i.ty of its own child. Each child would have a particular father--"

"And he would be known, too. My host was being taken five thousand miles, as nearly as I could judge the distance, to be seen by its father."

"Unbelievable!"

"Do you need more to see that there can never be any meeting of minds? The difference is so fundamental, so innate."

The yellowness of regret tinged and roughened Gan's thought train. He said, "It would be too bad. I had thought-"

"What, sir?"

"I had thought that for the first time there would be two intelligences helping one another. I had thought that together we might progress more quickly than either could alone. Even if they were primitive technologically, as they are, technology isn't everything. I had thought we might still be able to learn of them."

"Learn what?" asked Roi brutally. "To know our parents and make friends of our children?"

Gan said, "No. No, you're quite right The barrier between us must remain forever complete. They will have the surface and we the Deep, and so it will be."

Outside the laboratories Roi met Wenda.

Her thoughts were concentrated pleasure. "I'm glad you're back."

Roi's thoughts were pleasurable too. It was very restful to make clean mental contact with a friend.

Sucker Bait

ONE.

The s.h.i.+p Triple G. flashed silently out of the nothingness of hypers.p.a.ce and into the allness of s.p.a.ce-time. It emerged into the glitter of the great star cl.u.s.ter of Hercules.

It poised gingerly in s.p.a.ce, surrounded by suns and suns and suns, each centering a gravitational field that wrenched at the little bubble of metal. But the s.h.i.+p's computers had done well and it had pin-p.r.i.c.ked squarely into position. It was within a day's journey-ordinary s.p.a.ce-drive journey-of the Lagrange System.

This fact had varying significance, to the different men aboard s.h.i.+p. To the crew, it was another day's work and another day's flight pay and then sh.o.r.e rest. The planet for which they were aiming was uninhabited, but sh.o.r.e rest could be a pleasant interlude even on an asteroid. They did not trouble themselves concerning a possible difference of opinion among the pa.s.sengers.

The crew, in fact, were rather contemptuous of the pa.s.sengers, and avoided them.

Eggheads!

And so they were, every one of them but one. Scientists, in politer terms-and a heterogeneous lot. Their nearest approach to a common emotion at that moment was a final anxiety for their instruments, a vague desire for a last check.

And perhaps just a small increase of tension and anxiety. It was an uninhabited planet. Each had expressed himself as firmly of that belief a number of times. Still, each man's thoughts are his own.

As for the one unusual man on board s.h.i.+p-not a crewman and not really a scientist-his strongest feeling was one of bone-weariness. He stirred to his feet weakly and fought off the last dregs of s.p.a.ce-sickness. He was Mark Annuncio, and he had been in bed now for four days, feeding on almost nothing, while the s.h.i.+p wove in and out of the Universe, jumping its light-years of s.p.a.ce.

But now he felt less certain of imminent death and he had to answer the summons of the Captain. In his inarticulate way, Mark resented that summons. He was used to having his own way, seeing what he felt like seeing. Who was the Captain to- The impulse kept returning to tell Dr. Sheffield about this and let it rest there.

But Mark was curious, so he knew he would have to go.

It was his one great vice. Curiosity!

It also happened to be his profession and his mission in life.

TWO.

Captain Follenbee of the Triple G. was a hardheaded man. It was how he habitually thought of himself. He had made government-sponsored runs before. For one thing, they were profitable. The Confederacy didn't haggle. It meant a complete overhaul of his s.h.i.+p each time, replacement of defective parts, liberal terms for the crew. It was good business. d.a.m.ned good business.

This run, of course, was a little different It wasn't so much the particular gang of pa.s.sengers he had taken aboard. (He had expected temperament, tantrums, and unbearable foolishness but it turned out that eggheads were much like normal people.) It wasn't that half his s.h.i.+p had been torn down and rebuilt into what the contract called a "universal central-access laboratory."

Actually, and he hated the thought, it was "Junior" -the planet that lay ahead of them.

The crew didn't know, of course, but he, himself, hard head and all, was beginning to find the matter unpleasant.

But only beginning- At the moment, he told himself, it was this Mark Annuncio, if that was the name, who was annoying him. He slapped the back of one hand against the palm of the other and thought angrily about it. His large, round face was ruddy with annoyance.

Insolence!

A boy of not more than twenty, with no position that he knew of among the pa.s.sengers, to make a request like that.

What was behind it? That at least ought to be straightened out.

In his present mood, he would like to straighten it out by means of a jacket collar twisted in a fist and a rattle of teeth, but better not-better not-- After all, this was a curious kind of flight for the Confederacy of Worlds to sponsor, and a twenty-year-old, overcurious rubberneck might be an integral part of the strangeness. What was he on board for? There was this Dr. Sheffield, for instance, who seemed to have no job but to play nursemaid for the boy. Now why was that? Who was this Annuncio?

He had been s.p.a.ce-sick for the entire trip, or was that just a device to keep to his cabin- There was a light buzzing as the door signal sounded.

It would be the boy.

Easy now, thought the Captain. Easy now.

THREE.

Mark Annuncio entered the Captain's cabin and licked his lips in a futile attempt to get rid of the bitter taste in his mouth. He felt lightheaded and heavyhearted.

At the moment, he would have given up his Service status to be back on Earth.

He thought wishfully of his own familiar quarters; small but private; alone with his own kind. It was just a bed, desk, chair, and closet, but he had all of Central Library on free call. Here there was nothing. He had thought there would be a lot to learn on board s.h.i.+p. He had never been on board s.h.i.+p before. But he hadn't expected days and days of s.p.a.ce-sickness.

He was so homesick he could cry, and he hated himself because he knew that his eyes were red and moist and that the Captain would see it. He hated himself because he wasn't large and wide; because he looked like a mouse.

In a word, that was it. He had mouse-brown hair with nothing but silken straightness to it; a narrow, receding chin, a small mouth, and a pointed nose. A! he needed were five or six delicate vibrissae on each side of the nose to make the illusion complete. And he was below average in height.

And then he saw the star field in the Captain's observation port and the breath went out of him.

Stars!

Stars as he had never seen them.

Mark had never left the planet Earth before. (Dr. Sheffield told him that was why he was s.p.a.ce-sick. Mark didn't believe him. He had read in fifty different books that s.p.a.ce-sickness was psychogenic. Even Dr. Sheffield tried to fool him sometimes.).

He had never left Earth before, and he was used to Earth's sky. He was accustomed to viewing two thousand stars spread over half a celestial sphere, with only ten of the first magnitude.

But here they crowded madly. There were ten times the number in Earth's sky in that small square alone. And bright!

He fixed the star pattern greedily in his mind. It overwhelmed him. He knew the figures on the Hercules duster, of course. It contained between one million and ten million stars (no exact census had been taken as yet), but figures are one thing and stars are another.

He wanted to count them. It was a sudden overwhelming desire. He was curious about the number. He wondered if they al had names; if there were astronomic data on all of them. Let's see...

He counted them in groups of hundreds. Two-three-he might have used the mental pattern alone, but he liked to watch the actual physical objects when they were so startlingly beautiful-six-seven- The Captain's hearty voice splattered over him and brought him back to s.h.i.+p's interior.

"Mr Annuncio. Glad to meet you."

Mark looked up, startled, resentful. Why was his count being interrupted?

He said irritably, "The stars!" and pointed.

The Captain turned to stare. "What about them? What's wrong?"

Mark looked at the Captain's wide back and his overdeveloped posterior. He looked at the gray stubble that covered the Captain's head, at the two large hands with thick fingers that clasped one another in the small of the Captain's back and flapped rhythmically against the s.h.i.+ny plastex of his jacket.

Mark thought, What does he care about the stars? Does he care about their size and brightness and spectral Cla.s.ses?

His lower lip trembled. The Captain was just one of the non-compos. Everyone on s.h.i.+p was a noncompos. That's what they called them back in the Service. Noncompos. All of them. Couldn't cube fifteen without a computer.

Mark felt very lonely.

He let it go (no use trying to explain) and said, "The stars get so thick here. Like pea soup."

"All appearance, Mr. Annuncio." (The Captain p.r.o.nounced the c in Mark's name like an s rather than a ch and the sound grated on Mark's ear.) "Average distance between stars in the thickest duster is over a light-year. Plenty of room, eh? Looks thick, though. Grant you that. If the lights were out, they'd s.h.i.+ne like a trillion Chisholm paints in an oscillating force field."

But he didn't offer to put the lights out and Mark wasn't going to ask him to.

The Captain said "Sit down, Mr. Annuncio. No use standing, eh? You smoke? Mind if I do? Sorry you couldn't be here this morning. Had an excellent view of Lagrange I and II at six s.p.a.ce-hours. Red and green. Like traffic lights, eh? Missed you all trip. s.p.a.ce legs need strengthening, eh?"

He barked out his "eh's" in a high-pitched voice that Mark found devilishly irritating.

Mark said in a low voice, "I'm all right now." The Captain seemed to find that unsatisfactory. He puffed at his cigar and stared down at Mark with eyebrows hunched down over his eyes. He said slowly, "Glad to see you now, anyway. Get acquainted a little. Shake hands. The Triple G.'s been on a good many government-chartered cruises. No trouble. Never had trouble. Wouldn't want trouble. You understand."

Mark didn't. He was tired of trying to. His eyes drifted back hungrily to the stars. The pattern had changed a little.

The Captain caught his eyes for a moment. He was frowning and his shoulders seemed to tremble at the edge of a shrug. He walked to the control panel, and like a gigantic eyelid, metal slithered across the studded observation port.

Mark jumped up in a fury, shrieking, "What's the idea? I'm counting them, you fool."

"Counting-" The Captain flushed, but maintained a quality of politeness in his voice. He said, "Sorry! Little matter of business we must discuss."

He stressed the word "business" lightly.

Mark knew what he meant. "There's nothing to discuss. I want to see the s.h.i.+p's log. I called you hours ago to tell you that. You're delaying me."

The Captain said, "Suppose you tell me why you want to see it, eh? Never been asked before. Where's your authority?" Mark felt astonished. "I can look at anything I want to. I'm in Mnemonic Service."

The Captain puffed strongly at Ms cigar. (It was a special grade manufactured for use in s.p.a.ce and on enclosed s.p.a.ce objects. It had an oxidant included so that atmospheric oxygen was not consumed.) He said cautiously, "That so? Never heard of it. What is it?" Mark said indignantly, "It's the Mnemonic Service, that's all!. It's my job to look at anything I want to and to ask anything I want to. And I've got a right to do it."

"Can't look at the log if I don't want you to."

"You've got no say in it, you-you nomcompos."

The Captain's coolness evaporated. He threw his cigar down violently and stamped at it, then picked it up and poked it carefully into the ash vent.

"What the Galactic drift is this?" he demanded. "Who are you, anyway? Security agent? What's up? Let's have it straight. Right now."

"I've told you all I have to."

"Nothing to hide," said the Captain, "but I've got rights."

"Nothing to hide?" squeaked Mark. "Then why is this s.h.i.+p called the Triple G?"

"That's its name."

"Go on. No such s.h.i.+p with an Earth registry. I knew that before I got on. I've been waiting to ask you."

The Captain blinked. He said, "Official name is George G-Grundy. Triple G. is what everyone calls it."

Mark laughed. "All right, then. And after I see the logbook, I want to talk to the crew. I have the right. You ask Dr. Sheffield."

"The crew, too, eh?" The Captain seethed. "Let's talk to Dr. Sheffield, and then let's keep you in quarters till we land. Sprout!"

He s.n.a.t.c.hed at the intercom box.