by Dark Planet
"Come on," he mumbled, and slurped ahead through the mud onto the crusty part, and up to the Dome wall to lean on the switch.
"That was quite a trick!" Evans growled, following. "But hey! We can't just barge in like this. We're all stark!"
"That'll be all right." Query watched the door cycle open. "There'll be protective suits inside. There's always a few. There, look!" He pointed as they tramped inside and the door started closing again. It was like a scene from a forgotten world to see and feel those crackly suits. "Not yet," he cautioned. "Wait for the ultraviolet. Lord knows what we've got on our skins. Give it thirty seconds, that's the routine drill."
He felt ugly and tired as he struggled into a suit and fastened it up, watching the others. They left their helmets back and clear. He leaned on the switch of the inner door, watched it start to spin, and felt doom closing in on him. Back to the world of people, of fools, of dirt and noise and stupidity. Better far that he had died. The long forgotten smells came in, smells of people and plastic and oil. But silence where there should have been a busy clamor. There was no one about in the first space nor in the assembly space. But now he could hear distant voices, and he had a sense of urgency.
"Come on!" he ordered, and they ran after him as he made for the sounds. They seemed to emanate from the workshop dome, and he headed for that, noting as he ran how bare and deserted everything seemed to be. And so was the big dome when they reached it. Almost all the heavy machinery had gone, leaving only the scarred bases they had stood on. There were two men by the far air lock, that one which led to the external access tube. And it was open, so there was a ship out there. Two men. Ser-
100geant Keast, instantly to be known by his grating rocks voice.And Commander Eldredge with him. And two more men sweating and wrestling a heavy and awkward crate into die air lock. And Keast helping them along with his caustic comments. Then Eldredge turned his head to see the newcomers and stared.
"C'monl C'mon!"Keast grated. "Move itl We haven't got all day!"
"What the bloody hell are you three doing here?" Eldredge shouted. "You should have been clear half an hour ago . . . who the hell are you, anyway? And what the blazes are you doing in those . . . ?"
"Eldredge!" Evans roared. "Use your eyes, man! Don't you know who I am? Eh?"
The commander gaped, his jaw dropping visibly. "Good God!" he said, in a strangled voice. "It can't be! Admiral Evans? Is it? Sir?"
"Who else, damnit? And this is my daughter, Lieutenant Evans, and Sergeant Query. All right now?"
"But . . . but . . ." Eldredge struggled against it. "But you're dead! You've been dead more than eight months! Don't you remember .. . ?"
"Blast your eyes, do I look dead? Do these two look dead?"
Eldredge subsided into speechless gobble and Keast came in shakily. "We got the dope from Michaels, sir. Power repairman. Poor b . . . begging your pardon, sir. Power repairman Michaels, sir, he booby-trapped your drive heaters. He wrote it all out in a note, and then ... he cut his throat, sir. That was . . . eight months .. . !"
"Well get a grip on yourselves, the pair of you. We are not dead, get that. The ship blew up all right, but we were able to eject, to come down safe and sound. And it has taken us this long to get back here. We have had a rough time, but we are not dead. We're alive. Get it!"
"You mean," Eldredge put a shaking hand to his head, "that you have been out there all that time? Out there in that hell mist?"
"We lost everything, sir." Query came in quickly, trying to be diplomatic and distractive. "Everything. We haven't a stitch of clothing between us. That's why we
101 had to put these suits on. That's the first thing we need. Clothing. And foodl"
"Oh my God!"Eldredge seemed to snatch at something that galvanized him. "We haven't time for any of that now!" He leaned into the tube and bawled. "Rush it along you men, no time to hang about!" Coming back out again he said, "You'd better get along the tube, sir, right away. There's an 'U Class monitor out there, waiting to lift off."
"Lift off?" Evans roared. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't want to be lifted off, damnitl"
"We have no choice, sir." Eldredge retorted. Queiy heard him, and from the stripped down appearance of the workshop dome he had a pretty good idea of what was coming next. "No choice. You see, sir, we are closing down this base. Step Two, sir. Closing down. The demolition charges are all set to blow in . . ." he shot a cuff and glanced at his watch and grew urgent, "... in ten minutes, sir!"
"Demolition? Who gave those orders, damnit? Why?"
"But ... of course, you wouldn't know, sir. It's all over. The war. The Settlers' Uprising. All over. Honorable peace. About two months ago, nearly. We've been clearing out here for more than three weeks!"
It was Queiy's turn to stare, to catch Christine's eye in wonder.
"Isn't that wonderful news!" she cried and grabbed his arm. "You'll be out of the Service . . . and so will I. Oh, Stephen .. . we . .."
"Nol" He pulled away from her urgently. "No! It's all over. It's all done, the way they wanted it. It's done! I'm freel" He looked at her urgently, saw her bewilderment and understood it, knew that she could never feel the way he felt. "It's no good, Christine. You would never understand. I can't go back with you. I can't, not now. I'm free, don't you understand? All the humans will be gone, and I have no duty, not even to the Service. I'm free. Goodbye. Don't wait for me. I won't be coming, ever!"
And he turned away and ran, heavily in the crackly suit, back to the air lock and inside, dragging the thing off as he waited for the door to cycle shut and the outer door to open. The steamy heat swelled in to envelop him, and he ran out into it, into the mud and gloom, slopping and
102 stumbling until he knew he was well clear. The minutes were ticking away. He stood in mud up to his waist, alone in the blue green dark, and spread his arms, seeing her in his mind.
"Azul!" he cried out. "Azul! I can't go away and leave you! I need you! Azul! Help me!"
He felt horribly and temfyingly alone. He wanted desperately to be able to fly to her, to soar like a bird, as she did. But he felt hot and heavy and afraid. "Azul!" he cried again. "Azul! Help me!" But there was no help. He wanted her, right down into every fiber of his being and with all his mind. And suddenly he felt calm. "Azul!" he said, quite softly now. "I can. I know I can. If you want me to!"
And it came, that warmth, that different fire, like a siren song in his mind. The mud yielded. He felt light as air. He rose, unsteadily and heart-in-mouth anxiously, but he rose just the same. And then more surely, up and through the trees and away, cleaving the mist Back there, down and below, came a sudden yellow flare and a shake of noise that climbed up and away in another direction, toward a different world. Then briefly after, a vast red ring of flame and another shaking of the air, which was the last of the marks of men. But he felt far away from that already, and speeding along a mental thread that drew him, certain and sure, to a special tree. And a branch to land on, and a flower curtain.
And there she stood, radiantly rosy, her eyes shining like golden stars, her arms outstretched to welcome him, to hold him tight.
It is done, Azull
Not done, Stephen. Only begun. My love! Was I right to come back, Azul?
Need you ask that? You know all of me now. Rather is it for me to ask, am I worthy, that you should give up a whole world for me?
You are all the world I want or will ever need, Azul. Just you. All of you.
And you are all the world to me, Stephen. I am content!
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