Flight of Exiles e-2 Read online

  He grappled his arms around Dan’s torso, trying to hold on and prevent Dan from slamming him. But Dan just rode up and down on top of him, adding his own body’s mass to the process of bludgeoning Larry to death.

  Larry’s hands grasped frantically and closed on a slim piece of tubing. Airline! His first instinct was to rip it loose, but instead Larry simply squeezed on it, grabbed it hard and hung on.

  In a few moments Dan stopped the pounding. He tried to reach Larry’s arm, but Larry was wrapped too closely to him for that. Dan rolled over onto his back, but Larry hung on. Squeezing, squeezing the airline, keeping fresh oxygen from Dan’s lungs, letting him suffocate on his own carbon dioxide.

  Dan went limp.

  Larry hung on for a few seconds longer, then let go. He himself sagged, barely conscious, on top of Dan’s inert form. No. Can’t…pass out. He’ll be coming around… as soon as fresh air… gets into his suit.

  Dazed, bloody, Larry got to his knees. He knew he couldn’t stand up. He flicked on the helmet lamp and turned to look for the lasers. Dan’s legs started to move feebly. Larry crawled on all fours, found one of the little pistols on the floor, and took it in his hands. He flopped into a sitting position, leaning his back against the generator, and pointed the pistol at Dan. With his free hand he worked the suit’s radio switch.

  “I’ve got him,” he said weakly. “Reactor area.”

  17

  The Council members all looked happy enough, but Larry felt nothing but numbness inside himself.

  Even Valery looked pleased. She had just shown all her data tapes about the Epsilon Indi planet. It looked as much like Earth, from this distance, as Earth itself did.

  “I would like to suggest,” Dr. Polanyi said, beaming across the table at her, “that Miss Loring be accepted as a member of the Council pro tem—for as long as her father is unable to attend our meetings.”

  There was a general nodding of heads and approving murmurs.

  “Any dissenting voices?” Larry asked.

  None.

  “Then it’s done.”

  There was only one empty seat at the table: Dan’s. Larry glanced at it, his mouth tightening with bitterness.

  Adrienne Kaufman cleared her throat. “What about the data we’ve just seen? Should we consider heading for this new planet? If not, we have a huge task of genetic work ahead of us.”

  Larry glanced around the table. None of the Council members seemed willing to speak before he did.

  “Actually,” he smiled at last, “I don’t see any reason to rush into such a decision. We’re going to be here in orbit for many months, refurbishing the ship. Let’s spend that time gathering more data about this new planet.”

  Valery said, “If we could build a bigger telescope, or improve the sensitivity of the instruments we have…”

  “That could be done,” Polanyi said quickly.

  “Epsilon Indi is about the same distance from us as Alpha Centauri is from Earth,” Larry said. “If we decide to go there, it will take another half-century.”

  “None of us will be awake for much of that trip,” Polanyi said.

  “If we decide to go,” Adrienne Kaufman put in.

  “Oh, I think we will,” said the old engineer. “It looks too good to ignore.”

  The meeting broke up shortly after that. Valery got up from her chair and went toward Larry.

  “They’re putting Dan into cryosleep today. Dr. Tomaso says he can work on Dan’s neural patterns much more easily when the nerve impulses are slowed down by the low temperature.”

  “I know,” Larry said.

  “He might be under cryosleep for years and years,” she said.

  He thought he knew what was bothering him, but he was afraid to mention it. Afraid she might tell him that his fears were correct.

  She looked at him curiously. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes.” Valery almost smiled. “You’re wondering if I want to go into cryosleep too, and be awakened when Dan’s cured.”

  He reached out and took her hand. “Do you?”

  “No,” she said. “Silly. When are you going to believe that you’re the one I want?”

  He grinned foolishly. “Any day now.”

  They walked together out of the conference room and down a long, curving corridor. They stopped at a viewport and stared silently at the golden planet outside.

  “It would’ve been a lovely world—” Larry muttered. “So close… so close…”

  “There’s a better one waiting for us,” Val said.

  “But if we don’t go into cryosleep,” Larry realized, “we’ll probably never see that new world.”

  She smiled up at him. “I know. But someone’s got to keep the ship going, and raise a new generation of children who will see the new world. See it and live on it.”

  “Our children,” he said.

  “Human children,” Val added. “Beautiful strong human men and worn for the new world.”

  “For the new world,” he echoed.

  They smiled together and walked off down the corridor, arm in arm.

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