presently to crash. “… yes, the North Star Society says we were betrayed. In the Federated Nations they bleated about ‘peace’ and brought every pressure to bear on us they could; but no more than a token on our enemies. The intellectuals, the news media, the politicians squealed about nuclear weapons let loose on Earth if the fighting got ‘serious’—as if it wasn’t! The bankers, thechurch bosses, the corporation executives, they had their hidden agendas. Believe you me, they did. And so we withheld our full strength. We pretended we were not in a war at all. And brave Americans, brave Australians, died for lack of our aid. Do you want them to have died for nothing?”
“NO!”
the audience shouted.
“It’s no wonder his government is discouraging that club of his,” Mokoena muttered. “This is explosive stuff.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Ruszek answered. “They’re not stirring up any mobs.” His mustache bent upward with his sneer. “The mobs are at home, wrapped up in their virtual-reality shows. Maybe that’s why he signed on with us—frustration. He can’t do any harm where we’re bound.”
Mokoena shook her head. “I don’t think he is an evil man. I think he’s terribly embittered and—Yes, let’s see if we can help him heal.”
“Let him do his job and I’ll be satisfied. Not that he’ll have much to do, while Yu is in charge.”
“A mere backup. It must be a hard knowledge.”
Brent continued. His tone grew shrill when he denounced the conspirators and called for a rebirth of Western will. Toward the end, though, he quieted again; and tears were on his cheeks as he finished:
“… I leave the work in your hands. I must go, with my comrades, across the galaxy, to meet the nearest of the great star-faring civilizations. You, your children, your children’s children, they must found our own, and take possession of the stars for humankind. What we in our ship will find, nobody knows. But we, too, will carry destiny with us, human destiny. And when we return, when we bring back what we have won, to join with what you and your blood have built, humankind will go onward to possess the universe!”
The audience cheered, a sound nearly lost in the hollowness around them. Mokoena told the set to turn off. For a minute she and Ruszek sat silent.
“Do you know,” he said, “I think he really believes this.”
“Destiny? Yes, I daresay he does. And you don’t?”
“No. I believe in—slogging, is that your word? Sloggingahead, the best way we can; and if we fail, then we fail. Bad luck, nothing else.”
“I feel there must be some purpose to existence. But the purpose can’t be that we take over everything at the expense of … everybody else.”
“Words, just words. I tell you, don’t worry about Al Brent. I’ve known men with wilder notions who operated perfectly well. Captain Nansen wouldn’t have accepted him—no matter how scarce qualified volunteers have been—if he was any kind of danger.”
She eased. “You two should be shrewd judges.” Slyly: “And I confessed he’s attractive.”
“That is something our crew members will decide about each other,” he answered.
She smiled. “We could begin now.”
The evening and the next few days passed very pleasantly.
7.
Seen from afar, against blackness cloven by the Milky Way and crowded with stars, Earth a blue spark lost in the glare of the dwindling sun, spaceship
Envoy
was jewelwork, exquisite in her simplicity. Two four-spoked wheels spun with glittering speed, an axle motionless between them. From the after hub projected a lacy cylinder, the plasma drive accelerator. From the forward hub reached, far and far, thin and bright as a laser ray, a lance, the wave-guide mast for the shielding force field. Both were now inactive. The ship had reached the desired velocity and was outbound on a cometary orbit. There was no immediate radiation hazard.
Hurtling closer, Jean Kilbirnie saw the true
“NO!”
the audience shouted.
“It’s no wonder his government is discouraging that club of his,” Mokoena muttered. “This is explosive stuff.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Ruszek answered. “They’re not stirring up any mobs.” His mustache bent upward with his sneer. “The mobs are at home, wrapped up in their virtual-reality shows. Maybe that’s why he signed on with us—frustration. He can’t do any harm where we’re bound.”
Mokoena shook her head. “I don’t think he is an evil man. I think he’s terribly embittered and—Yes, let’s see if we can help him heal.”
“Let him do his job and I’ll be satisfied. Not that he’ll have much to do, while Yu is in charge.”
“A mere backup. It must be a hard knowledge.”
Brent continued. His tone grew shrill when he denounced the conspirators and called for a rebirth of Western will. Toward the end, though, he quieted again; and tears were on his cheeks as he finished:
“… I leave the work in your hands. I must go, with my comrades, across the galaxy, to meet the nearest of the great star-faring civilizations. You, your children, your children’s children, they must found our own, and take possession of the stars for humankind. What we in our ship will find, nobody knows. But we, too, will carry destiny with us, human destiny. And when we return, when we bring back what we have won, to join with what you and your blood have built, humankind will go onward to possess the universe!”
The audience cheered, a sound nearly lost in the hollowness around them. Mokoena told the set to turn off. For a minute she and Ruszek sat silent.
“Do you know,” he said, “I think he really believes this.”
“Destiny? Yes, I daresay he does. And you don’t?”
“No. I believe in—slogging, is that your word? Sloggingahead, the best way we can; and if we fail, then we fail. Bad luck, nothing else.”
“I feel there must be some purpose to existence. But the purpose can’t be that we take over everything at the expense of … everybody else.”
“Words, just words. I tell you, don’t worry about Al Brent. I’ve known men with wilder notions who operated perfectly well. Captain Nansen wouldn’t have accepted him—no matter how scarce qualified volunteers have been—if he was any kind of danger.”
She eased. “You two should be shrewd judges.” Slyly: “And I confessed he’s attractive.”
“That is something our crew members will decide about each other,” he answered.
She smiled. “We could begin now.”
The evening and the next few days passed very pleasantly.
7.
Seen from afar, against blackness cloven by the Milky Way and crowded with stars, Earth a blue spark lost in the glare of the dwindling sun, spaceship
Envoy
was jewelwork, exquisite in her simplicity. Two four-spoked wheels spun with glittering speed, an axle motionless between them. From the after hub projected a lacy cylinder, the plasma drive accelerator. From the forward hub reached, far and far, thin and bright as a laser ray, a lance, the wave-guide mast for the shielding force field. Both were now inactive. The ship had reached the desired velocity and was outbound on a cometary orbit. There was no immediate radiation hazard.
Hurtling closer, Jean Kilbirnie saw the true
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