FM Busby All These Earth

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anything. I mentioned how we had to finagle to get me into space training at
all? That was because I didn't have the usual bribe money. "Jay knew of an
earlier bribery scandal, but the situation was long since corrected. Harwood
Pearsall said as much for his own timeline.
"Well, on ours," said Jay, "it got worse, instead. Do you have the All
Peoples' Benefits Party here? Everyone but the newstoadies calls it the Santa
Claus Party, or Bread "n' Circuses." The Party existed in both worlds; Jay was
merely expanding its role.
Woody laughed, then sobered. "Those cretins? But if they ever got on top I
agree, they'd be no joke. And in your world, I gather, they did?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, the one thing they do well is hang onto power. Their
majority's usually slim but they always get it." He shrugged. "The corruption
and abuse kept getting worse. I thought space would be a way out but even on
the base, in training, there were pressures. So when the Courier program
began, with all its possibilities, I entered it."
"No reluctance no misgivings?"
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"Well my parents and sisters were gone to Second Chance. I'd been close to
you and Aunt Glenna, and to the Frantiszeks until training took all my time,
or most of it. When you know space is going to be your life, anyway& "He
grinned. "And then I met Raelle, and she was going out so I had to."The grin
stopped; he remembered Raelle's call.
Woody nodded. "Not much to anchor you, then, and good reasons for leaving.
And you're from spacing stock, at that Cimber's parents, you'll recall,
survived the first Tau Ceti expedition."
"I know.Before Skip Drive crowding light and paying for it, returning decades
out of their own time."He shook his head. "In a way, that makes Drift
dislocation look like moving across the street, doesn't it?"
Pearsall chuckled, and left to check the kitchen again. Returning, he said,
"You've got good perspective, Jay. I " The front door opened.
"Hello! I'm not late, am I?" Glenna came in, kissed her husband and patted
Jay's shoulder. She sat and accepted a drink. "I think I'm getting it right,"
she said. "The play, I mean. The trouble was, you see " And she began to
describe the evolution of a dramatic production and her concurrent education
as a novice director.
Jay was soon lost in unfamiliar terminology and, glad to be out of the
limelight, relaxed gratefully. Woody, judging by his comments, followed his
wife's story well enough.
Then, soon, came dinner. After the first few bites Jay said, "Call yourself a
plain cook if you like. Uncle Woody but next time I won't believe you." He
knew the meat was almost certainly culture-grown, but in flavor it equalled
what he'd tasted from the herds on Harper's Touchdown. He said so.
Woody Pearsall smiled. "Well, thank you. I did learn a few tricks aboardHawk
Flight our chief cook could make you smack your lips over broiled plastic."
Jay affected surprise. "On a ship that size, you had to put up with Couriers'
rations?"
Glenna laughed. "It never fails spacemen swapping whoppers. Oh, go ahead I
enjoy it."
After a time, though, the talk became more general. Occasionally Jay noticed
Woody's gaze intent on him, but the searching questions he dreaded did not
come. And when the evening ended, he returned to quarters in a pleasant mood.
That feeling lasted until he checked the phone. He found no messages.
Next day, leaving a recording in case Raelle should call, he went to a
vacation resort that catered largely to space personnel. There he swam, hiked,
sunned himself, gambled sparingly, drank to the brink of excess but no
further, and sampled some approved hallucinogens his own Earth had not
developed. After three days he could no longer convince himself that he was
having a good time, so he checked out and returned to the port.
Still, Raelle had not called. For an uncomfortable part of that night, Jay
did not sleep.
When she did call, he was out. Returning from breakfast he viewed the
recording. Raelle smiled as she said, "Sorry I missed you, Jay, but I'll be
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back this evening rather late, I expect."For a moment, laughing, she looked
aside to someone outside his view, then back to him. "Jay I'm so happy it's
every bit as wonderful as I'd dared to hope. And tonight you'll meet someone a
Courier, like us, who's leaving tomorrow." She paused, then said, "We'll see
you tonight."
The screen darkened; after a time Jay looked away from it. Within him,
thought battled feeling.Who , that Raelle had been with was still with would
he meet tonight? She'd never told him who or what she sought. A lost love, a
recapturing of the past?
But she'd said she was happy,and that the person was leaving. A brief fling,
a completion of some sort? Or would Raelle depart with the other?
He shook his head one thing at a time. There was no proof that she had
betrayed their vows. If she had, and still wanted to return to him what would
he do?
The answer hit like a hammer of coursehe'd take her back. The hurt to him and
to their closeness it could be bad, perhaps permanent. Even his mother's
strict brand of Monogamism, though, allowed the right to forgive&
But what if she chose to leave him, to go with the unknown other?
Suddenly he could not face a day of loneliness but who did he know?
He thought, then turned to the phone and punched code for the admiral's
office. As he had hoped, Saela Blumquist answered.
"Headquarters, Admiral Forgues oh, hello, Jay. Well! I've thought of you
lately did your problem work out?" Her off-track gaze narrowed to a squint.
"From your looks, I guess it hasn't."
"No. Saela, I'd like to see you again. Could we meet for lunch? Where we had
drinks the other evening?"
"Let me check." She looked down; he could see the movement of her upper arm
and judged she was turning pages of an engagement pad. "Yes," she said.
"Sure and I'll tell my relief that it may be a long lunch." She set the time;
he nodded. "Then I'll be there, Jay." She smiled and cut the circuit.
What good it might do, he didn't know but he had to talk with her. His
motives? He shook his head if Raelle left him, certainly Saela Blumquist could
never fill her place; her attitudes and his could never match. But still his
instinct drew him to her.
Finally he shrugged Saela had warmth and compassion, and she already knew his
problem. Comfort and understanding, he decided, were all he sought and he
would make sure to invite nothing more.
Jay arrived early; when Saela joined him he had obtained a table. She hung
her light wrap over an empty chair and sat. She wore a blue-green dress, cut [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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