have aloft. In effect, they were aging hardly at all away fromgravity--the farther away, the less aging.
"We got some fairly accurate figures on the time-distance ratios.Briefly, assuming you held to your course until you were recalled, youcan figure that an average of ten years has elapsed on the earth'ssurface for every hour you were in space."
Ken muttered, "We were actually out of atmosphere about twenty-fourhours. That would make it the year--"
"About 2200," finished Carol breathlessly.
"... how or why, but that Time was evidently a variable. The realm ofphysics was a madhouse--discreetly so, lest our enemies profit by ourknowledge. There is no visual or other subjective means to sense thedeceiving change in time-rate, or its illogical effects; we knew, forinstance, that you would not see the moon as a solid ring girding agyroscopic earth, as might seemingly be expected.
"Your message of recall was a record, slowed down to be within anintelligible range of fast chatter or slow drawl when you received it.We could have told you to open the envelope at a certain time ordistance, but even minutes and miles were critical and"--the picturedfeatures smiled paternally--"we knew your interest in each other mightcause a delay, while"--the expression changed to serious sympathy--"wedidn't know just when Space-Fear would strike."
Carol blushed and laid her cheek against Ken's chest. "They kneweverything that would happen, didn't they? They--they _planned_everything!"
He crushed her to him. "Lucky they did, honey. Seems like they've putall their hopes in us."
"... imminent war, and what radiation would do to surface life. We couldnot go with you, nor was there time to build underground installationsfor surviving more than half a century and emerging to a temporarilyunproductive soil. We selected you to inherit the world, and you havehad the hopes and prayers of your nation and your people."
They sat on a low chest and listened to the psychologist's voice fornearly an hour more. He finished on a message of hope. "You have seenthe results of war. With the knowledge and material at hand, and theatmosphere craft waiting at the sealed exit, you can contact whatsurvivors' descendants you may find in hidden corners of the world andlead them to the peaceful glory of Earth's future.
"Obviously, life will not visit back and forth between the stars, oreven the planets. The laws of Space and Time confine man to oneworld--but it _can_ be made the best of all possible worlds, free of warwithin, and free of conquest from without, since the reasons which keepman from visiting other spheres will keep other life from visiting him."
The screen faded and was silent, followed by a clear, trilling whistlewhich swelled in a paean of lilting sound. While Ken squeezed Carol'shand in mounting amazement, the piping strain formed clearly intowords--
_With understanding of universal laws, life may do as it wills, go whereit wills ... we have come to your planet to help you ... may we?_
The psychologists had not foreseen quite everything....
Fly By Night Page 4
