Rebirth
Page 48
**********
On Persephone, Paul Divine had decided to tell Alice of his thoughts and his decision to leave Persephone.
"Alice I will be leaving Persephone as soon as the Orion Defender returns. Unfortunately these few days here on Persephone have brought all my earlier worries home to me, although it is peaceful and oh so beautiful I cannot take all of the religion that fills everyone`s lives here. They are good people I know that, but their thoughts are not my thoughts. Eventually I would explode and be forced to leave in disgrace. If I leave now it will be easier on us both, before our feelings for one another grow." Paul Divine said, looking into her eyes and instantly regretting his words.
"Paul, are you saying that you have strong feelings for me already?" Alice asked a little confused by what Paul Divine had said.
Paul looked down at the beautiful woman before him and realised for the first time that he was indeed falling in love with her, and should he be forced to leave her he would feel extremely bad for some time to come. "I guess I am Alice." Paul confessed.
"Paul, what are you saying, what is it that you want me to do?" Alice Tarraway asked him.
"I don`t know Alice, all I do know is that I will miss you a lot. Look, couldn`t you take a sabbatical or something, come away me so that we can get to know each other a little better?" Paul said.
"Paul, I just wish that there were some way in which we could stay together for a little longer, but you are asking a great deal of me. Surely there is no great rush, let me think about it before I finally give you my answer." Alice asked.
"The only way for us that I can see, would be for you to leave Persephone and come away with me, to the Martian colony where religion is not nearly as strong as here on Persephone, or to Orion. There you could take up your scientific work again maybe with Brian Goddard, I could work as one of Tyler Burrows` space men, and he needs more men so as to allow the local men to stay at home on their farms."
"Tyler is too bright a star to follow Paul, sooner or later he will turn into a super nova and anyone around him will burn up too." Alice said.
"Alice you are wrong, the fates, or as you would say God, still has much more in store for Tyler, he is truly indestructible." Paul Divine said.
"Let me think about it Paul, and in the mean time we can get to know more about each other, to talk and to learn what life might be like if we became a couple."