The Forest of Time - Hugo Nominated Novella

by Michael Flynn

  Ochsenfuss smiled. “Kelly would have lost what sanity he had left. If we have not given him the way home, we have at least given him hope. And...” He looked in Schneider’s direction. “While I am a logical man, I, too, have feelings. Your General thought to make me the fool. So, I made a medical decision in my patient’s best interest.”

  Knecht could not help smiling also. “Perhaps I can buy you a drink tomorrow, in the officers’ club. If we are both still in the army by then.” His cigar had gone out. He looked at it. “I wonder what world they are in now.”

  “We will never know,” replied Ochsenfuss. “Even if they try to come back and tell us, this world is a twig in an infinite forest. They will never find us again. It will be bad for you, Rudi, if you cannot bear not knowing.”

  Knecht threw his cigar away. He was a scout. It would be bad for him, not knowing.