Read Online Homeward Bound by Harry Turtledove - Free Book Online Page B

He found out her first name was Melanie, right out of
Gone with the Wind.
She disconnected him from the monitors. He looked at his hands. His nails seemed no longer than they had when he went under. He felt his chin. His face was still smooth. “This beats the heck out of Rip van Winkle,” he said.
    “I thought so, too.” There was a familiar voice. “Then I found out what I’d have for company.”
    “Well, well. Look what the cat drug in.” Johnson yawned again. Talking still took an effort. Getting his mind to work straight took a bigger one.
    “I was thinking the same thing about you,” Mickey Flynn replied with dignity. “I have better reason, too, I daresay.”
    “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Johnson said. Another yawn came out. He wondered if he would ever feel awake again. He looked around. The chamber where they’d revived him wasn’t big enough to swing the cat he and Flynn had been talking about. “Where the devil are we, anyway?”
    “The middle of nowhere,” Flynn replied. “And I mean that more literally than anyone has in all the history of humanity. We’re more than five light-years from the Sun, and we’re more than five light-years from Tau Ceti, too.”
    Even in Johnson’s decrepit state, that sent awe prickling through him. But then he asked, “Why wake me up for this? I don’t know anything about flying the
Admiral Peary
out here. I’m the in-system pilot.”
    “Two reasons,” Flynn said. “One is, I wanted to see if you were still alive. Present results appear ambiguous.”
    “And the horse you rode in on,” Johnson said sweetly. The fog was beginning to lift—a little.
    “Thank you so much,” the other pilot replied. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I wanted to see if you were alive. If by some mischance you weren’t, that would make
me
in-system pilot and change the revival schedule. So I needed to know. You went into cold sleep earlier than I did. The techniques have been improved since.”
    “That’s ’cause you’re the teacher’s pet,” Johnson said. “Healey couldn’t wait to put me on ice, the son of a bitch.” He didn’t much care what he said. That was probably an effect of coming out from under the drugs, too.
    “I could call that a slander on the whole of the Hibernian race,” Flynn said. “On the other hand, seeing that it’s Healey, I could just nod my head wisely and say, ‘You’re right.’ All things considered, I have to go with the second approach. However Irish the man may be, a son of a bitch he is, and that without a doubt.”
    Back on the
Lewis and Clark,
he never would have admitted such a thing. Of course, back on the
Lewis and Clark
he had to deal with Lieutenant General Healey. Now he must have been sure the bad-tempered officer was as far behind them as the rest of the Solar System. More than five light-years . . .
    “You said there was more than one reason to wake me up now,” Johnson observed. He remembered. He was proud of himself for remembering. That said something about how fuzzy his wits had been before.
    Mickey Flynn nodded. “That’s true. I did.”
    “What’s the other one?” Johnson asked.
    “In my ignorance, I thought you might be interested in seeing what the sky looks like out here as we turn the ship,” Flynn said. “No matter how good we get at flying between the stars, this isn’t something a whole lot of people will ever get to do.”
    “I should say not!” Johnson exclaimed, eagerness blazing through him no matter how weak and woozy he felt. “Most of the passengers will stay frozen from start to finish.” He turned to Dr. Blanchard. “Can I go up?”
    “I don’t know,” she answered. “Can you?”
    “We’ll find out.” He tried to lever himself off the table where he lay, only to discover he was strapped on. Melanie Blanchard made no move to set him free.
It’s a test,
he realized.
If I can’t undo the straps, I don’t deserve to do anything else.
His fingers were