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.As a matter of fact, in all that time, he had not had a single face-to-face meeting with her and they had talked on the phone only once.And she wasn’t here now either, which was strange, since it was noon and she always ate here with the others.Reynolds had a table to himself in the cafeteria.The food was poor, but it always was, and he was used to that by now.What did bother him, now that he was thinking about it, was Kelly’s absence.Most days he skipped lunch himself.He tried to remember the last time he had come here.It was more than a week ago, he remembered-more than ten days ago.He didn’t like the sound of that answer.Leaning over, he attracted the attention of a girl at an adjoining table.He knew her vaguely.Her father had been an important wheel in NASA when Reynolds was still a star astronaut.He couldn’t remember the man’s name.His daughter had a tiny cute face and a billowing body about two sizes too big for the head.Also, she had a brain that was much too limited for much of anything.She worked in the administrative section, which meant she slept with most of the men on the base at one time or another.‘Have you seen Kelly?’ he asked her.‘Must be in her office.’‘No, I mean when was the last time you saw her here?’‘In here? Oh-’ The girl thought for a moment.‘Doesn’t she eat with the other chiefs?’Kelly never ate with the other chiefs.She always ate in the cafeteria-for morale purposes-and the fact that the girl did not remember having seen her meant that it had been several days at least since Kelly had last put in an appearance.Leaving his lunch where it lay, Reynolds got up, nodded politely at the, girl, who stared at him as if he were a freak; and hurried away.It wasn’t a long walk, but he ran.He had no intention of going to see Kelly, He knew that would prove useless.Instead, he was going to see John Sims.At fifty-two, Sims was the second oldest man in the base.Like Reynolds, he was a former astronaut.In 1987, when Reynolds, then a famous man, was living in Sao Paulo, Sims had commanded the first (and only) truly successful Mars expedition.During those few months, the world had heard his name, but people forgot quickly, and Sims was one of the things they forgot.He had never done more than what he was: expected to do; the threat of death had never come near Sims’s expedition.Reynolds, on the other hand, had failed.On Mars with him, three men had died.Yet it was he-Reynolds, the failure-who had been the hero, not Sims.And maybe I’m a hero again, he thought as he knocked evenly on the door to Sims’s office.Maybe down there the world is once more reading about, me daily.He hadn’t listened to a news broadcast since the night before his first trip to the ship.Had the story been released to the public yet? He couldn’t see any reason why it should be suppressed, but that seldom was important.He would ask Sims.Sims would know.The door opened and Reynolds went inside.Sims was a huge man who wore his black hair in a crewcut.The style had been out of fashion for thirty or forty years; Reynolds doubted there was another crewcut man in the universe.But he could not imagine Sims any other way.‘What’s wrong?’ Sims asked, guessing accurately the first time.He led Reynolds to a chair and sat him down.The office was big but empty.A local phone sat upon the desk along with a couple of daily status reports.Sims was assistant administrative chief, whatever that meant.Reynolds had never understood the functions of the position, if any.But there was one thing that was clear: Sims knew more about the inner workings of the moon base than any other man.And that included the director as well.‘I want to know about Vonda,’ Reynolds said.With Sims, everything stood on a first-name basis.Vonda was Vonda Kelly.The name tasted strangely upon Reynolds’ lips.‘Why isn’t she eating at the cafeteria?’Sims answered unhesitantly.‘Because she’s afraid to leave her desk.’‘It has something to do with the aliens?’‘It does, but I shouldn’t tell you what.She doesn’t want you to know.‘‘Tell me.Please.’ His desperation cleared the smile from Sims’s lips.And he had almost added: for old times’ sake.He was glad he had controlled himself.‘The main reason is the war,’ Sims said.‘If it starts, she wants to know at once.’‘Will it?’Sims shook his head.‘I’m smart but I’m not God.As usual, I imagine everything will work out as long as no one makes a stupid mistake.The worst will be a small local war lasting may a month.But how long can you depend upon politicians to ac intelligently? It goes against the grain with diem.’‘But what about the aliens?’‘Well, as I said, that’s part of it too.’ Sims stuck his pipe in his mouth.Reynolds had never seen it lit, never seen hum smoking it, but the pipe was invariable there between his teeth.‘A group of men are coming here from Washington, arriving tomorrow.They want to talk with your pets.It seems nobody least of all Vonda-is very happy with your progress.’‘I am.’Sims shrugged, as if to say: that is of no significance.‘The aliens will never agree to see them,’ Reynolds said.‘How are they going to stop them? Withdraw the welcome mat: Turn out the lights? That won’t work.’‘But that will ruin everything.All my work up until now.’‘What work?’ Sims got up and walked around his desk until he stood hovering above Reynolds.‘As far as anybody can see, you haven’t accomplished a damn thing since you went up there.People want results, Bradley, not a lot of noise.All you’ve given anyone is the noise.This isn’t a private game of yours.This is one of the most significant events in the history of the human race.If anyone ought to know that, it’s you.Christ.’ And he wandered back to his chair again, jiggling his pipe.‘What is it they want from me?’ Reynolds said.‘Look-I got them what they asked for [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]