Read Online The Devil's Mirror by Ray Russell - Free Book Online Page B

“How can it be an accident?” You were thinking it, but you were afraid to say it because you couldn’t believe it, you couldn’t believe anyone could be low enough to pull a dirty stunt like the one they pulled on us, anyone, least of all your glorious People’s Republic...
    ‘You are not rational...’
    ‘ People’s ! That’s a laugh! It’s just a government, baby, just a government that’s no different from any that ever was or ever will be. Ask that serf grand pappy of yours about governments. Ask anybody of my colour. Ask the red Indians about the treaties they signed with governments. Ask... hell, ask yourself. Ask yourself what you meant when you said it couldn’t be an accident.’
    ‘But this... what you are suggesting... is... monstrous.’
    ‘Monstrous? Hell, no, Vanya, don’t be square, it’s just politics, expediency, a little game they play, a game with you and me as chesspieces.’
    ‘ Why? ’
    ‘Aw, come on, baby, you’re not that dumb. They want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to make a big show of cooperation, but that’s all it is, a show. Two or three cats at the very highest level, they put their heads together and they say “Look, pal, you know and I know that all this lovey-dovey crap is for the birds. There’s got to be a winner and a loser, that’s what makes the world go round, that’s what keeps us in our jobs... so let’s fix it so there will be a winner and a loser, but let’s not tell anybody, least of all the chesspieces, let it be just our little secret...’
    I’m getting to him, I can tell. He hates to admit it crossed his mind, hates to think both our governments deliberately double-crossed us and are in cahoots to play off one man against the ether, astronaut against cosmonaut, survival of the fittest, may the best man win.
    ‘If this is true...’ he starts to say.
    I needle him: ‘You know it’s true!’
    ‘If this is true... then no useful purpose will be served by both of us dying. But we must not part as enemies. We must not fight each other. We must not—if what you say is true—give them that satisfaction. We must draw lots. That is rational, that is socialist realism...’
    ‘Yeah, sure, 01 Yankee know-how or French logique or British bulldog spirit or you name it. Knock all that crap out of your head, Vanya—you’re only half right. Why should even one of us live? If you really want to show them something, why don’t we both elect to die, right here, together?’
    I got him now. He’s hooked. He digs. ‘You are saying we allow neither side to triumph. Only humanity to triumph. Together we radio back to Earth our decision to face death together here, in brotherhood to each other...’
    ‘That’s it...’
    ‘A brotherhood transcending political ambitions... a loyalty to something higher than governments...’
    ‘Now you’re talking...’
    ‘I do not know, Johngenry, I do not know... it is not an easy thing...’
    ‘Hell, I know that! You think I want to die? But we’ve got to! We can’t let them get away with this! We’ve got to show them!’ I put my gloved hands on his shoulders. ‘Vanya... I saw your face... just after we landed... I know you felt the same way I did... like you’d been washed clean, made over again, forgiven... isn’t that right? Isn’t it?’
    ‘Yes... yes...’
    ‘Look at it, Vanya, look at it all . Above us, all around us, the stars, the planets, all of it bigger than anything we could ever dream... call it infinity, eternity, call it God... look at it, buddy...’
    He does. He turns around and looks up, and out, and beyond, and when his back is turned I twist that little valve on his helmet and all the air rushes out into the vacuum and he explodes silently inside his suit and he falls, kind of slow and easy like a big feather, to the crunchy soil of the Moon. It’s all over before you can say Tovarish Kapitan Ivan Genrikhovich Yashvili.
    And now here I am, easing this crate down to Mother