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equation in his mind -- one life or twenty-eight? -- but said nothing. She
solved the problem for them by quietly closing her air valve when they stopped
to rest.
'Day Thirty-eight. Just Koriel and me now -- like the old days. The trooper
suddenly doubled up, vomiting violently inside his helmet. We stood and
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watched while he died, and could do nothing. Some hours later, one of the
girls collapsed and said she couldn't go on. The other insisted on staying
with her until we sent help from Gorda. Couldn't really argue -- they were
sisters. That was some time ago. We've stopped for a breather; I am getting
near my limit. Koriel is pacing up and down impatiently and wants to get
moving. That man has the strength of twelve [?lions?].
'Later. Stopped at last for a couple of hours sleep. I'm sure Koriel is a
robot -- just keeps going and going. Human tank. Sun very low in sky. Must
make Gorda before Lunar night sets in.
'Day Thirty-nine. Woke up freezing cold. Had to turn suit heating up to
maximum -- still doesn't feel right. Think it's developing a fault. Koriel
says I worry too much. Time to be on the move again. Feel stiff all over.
Seriously wondering if I'll make it. Haven't said so.
'Later. The march has been a nightmare. Kept falling down. Koriel insisted
that the only chance we had was to climb up out of the valley we were in and
try a shortcut over a high ridge. I made it about halfway up the cleft leading
toward the ridge. Every step up the cleft I could see Minerva sitting right
over the middle of the ridge, gashes of orange and red all over it, like a
(macabre?) face, taunting. Then I collapsed. When I came to, Koriel had
dragged me inside a pilot digging of some sort. Maybe someone wag going to put
an outpost of Gorda here. That was a while ago now. Koriel has gone on and
says help will be back before I know it. Getting colder all the time. Feet
numb and hands stiff. Frost starting to form in helmet -- difficult to see.
'Thinking about all the people strung out back there with night coming down,
all like me, wondering if they'll be picked up. if we can hold out we'll be
all right. Koriel will make it. If it were a thousand miles to Gorda, Koriel
would make it.
'Thinking about what has happened on Minerva and wondering if, after all this,
our children will live on a sunnier world -- and if they do, if they will ever
know what we did.
'Thinking about things I've never really thought about before. There should be
better ways for people to spend their lives than in factories, mines, and army
camps. Can't think what, though -- that's all we've ever known. But if there
is warmth and color and light somewhere in this Universe, then maybe something
worthwhile will come out of what we've been through.
'Too much thinking for one day. Must sleep for a while now.'
Hunt found he had read right through to the end, absorbed in the pathos of
those final days. His voice had fallen to a sober pitch. A long silence
ensued.
"Well, that's it," he concluded, a little more briskly. "Did you notice that
bit right at the end? In the last few lines he was talking about seeing the
surface of Minerva again. Now, they might have used telescopes earlier on, but
in the situation he was in there, they'd hardly be lugging half an observatory
along with them, would they?"
Maddson's assistant looked thoughtful. "How about that periscope video gadget
that was in the helmet?" he suggested. "Maybe there's something wrong in the
translation. Couldn't he be talking about seeing a transmission through that?"
Hunt shook his head. "Can't see it. I've heard of people watching TV in all
sorts of funny places, but never halfway up a bloody mountain. And another
thing: He described it as sitting up above the ridge. That implies it's really
out there. If it were a view on video, he'd never have worded it that way.
Right, Don?"
Maddson nodded wearily. "Guess so," he said. "So, where do we go from here?"
Hunt looked from Maddson to the assistant and back again. He leaned his elbows
on the edge of the table and rubbed his face and eyeballs with his fingers.
Then he sighed and sat back.
"What do we know for sure?" he asked at last. "We know that those
Lunarian spaceships got to our Moon in under two days. We know that they could
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accurately aim a weapon, sited on our Moon, at a Minervan target. We also know
that the round trip for electromagnetic waves was much shorter than it could
possibly have been if we've been talking about the right place. Finally, we
can't prove but we think that Charlie could stand on our Moon and see quite
clearly the surface features of Minerva. Well, what does that add up to?"
"There's only one place in the Universe that fits all those numbers,"
Maddson said numbly.
"Exactly -- and we're standing on it! Maybe there was a planet called
Minerva outside Mars, and maybe it had a civilization on it. Maybe the
Ganymeans took a few animals there and maybe they didn't. But it doesn't
really matter any more, does it? Because the only planet Charlie's ship could
possibly have taken off from, and the only planet they could have aimed that
Annihilator at, and the only planet he could have seen in detail from
Luna...is this one!
"They were from Earth all along!
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