"I can't," she said without looking at him. "I thought I could. But I haven't anything left.
"I'm sorry, Bonnar. I would if I could. I don't want anybody to suffer. Can you understand? I haven't anything left.
"Go back to Shalom yourself. That's what you want to do."
Again he felt the stab at his heart. Was it true? Did he want to leave her? "Do you want me to go?" he asked at last. "I'll go if you really want me to."
"What? Oh ... Yes."
He started toward the 'copter then. He turned when he had nearly reached it. "Good-bye, Leaf," he said. He felt something painful and sore in his throat. "Leaf, good-bye."
She did not answer. The halo around her had died away completely. He could not see her face. But he had the impression that she was as pale as death.
Epilogue in Shalom
"SO I came back to the city," Bonnar finished. His talking seemed to have done him good; he was definitely calmer than he had been when he began, and for the last half-hour or so he had drunk no more eth. "I tried to get back in quietly, but people were already nervous. They stopped me at the Dome and asked me a lot of questions.
"All I could think of to say was that the queen was still beside the tree, waiting for her consort. It wasn't good enough. When the news leaked out—that was late last night—the street fighting began. It's been going on all day.
"I wish I could contact Tinsley. He was one of the queen's most enthusiastic supporters, and together we might be able to work out something. Another queen, for example. But I can't locate any of her old people, and as I said before I simply can't tell which way the cat is going to jump. So I went back to my old office. That's how you happened to find me in."
"Um. Is it really so important to you, Bonnar, knowing which way the cat is going to jump?"
"She said it was," Bonnar replied defensively.
"I know. But is it true?"
There was a very slight pause. Then Bonnar answered, "No. No, of course it's not. I don't give a damn about what happens in Shalom. All I can think about is her.
"By the way, I've been wondering. Were you the friend that helped Horvendile dig up the ship and get readings of radioactivity in the open with 'uncalibrated' instruments? It sounds like the sort of thing a Foundation man would do."
"Eh?" Jeff answered. He sounded abstracted. "No, it wasn't I. It might have been Clovis, from Rockefeller. He's interested in Viridian archaeology."
"You said something about discoveries you'd made," Bonnar persisted. "Something you thought should be publicized. What was that?"
"What you already know—that radioactivity, except in a few bad areas, isn't a serious danger on Viridis ... Look here, Bonnar. You keep bringing up these extraneous things. Why? You're not really interested. But you try to present yourself to me as a man who cares only for his immediate selfish interests. Is it true?"
"I—always thought of myself that way," said Bonnar. He got up and began to walk restlessly up and down the room.
"Yes,"
"I suppose I do it," said Bonnar, turning toward Jeffery suddenly, "so I won't realize how badly I've behaved."
"A lot of people on Viridis have behaved badly," Jeffery commented. He went behind the bar, hunted around until he found a bottle of soda, and opened it. He poured into his and Bonnar's glass.
"Have some," he said. "You sound dry. Viridis has always been a cruel planet. I expect Queen Merakis' beacon has had a lot to do with it."
Bonnar picked up his glass and put it down again. "I needn't have behaved as badly as I did," he said. "You see, Jeffery, talking to you has made me realize that I—I failed her. Three times."
"Go on."
"She was in love with me, and I knew it. At first, I mean. But I broke off with the affair. I sent her away."
"Considerable pressure was being used on you."
Bonnar gave a short laugh. "A man oughtn't to yield to pressure where his girl is concerned."
"You're perfectly right. But sometimes men do."
Bonnar sighed. "It's not only Leaf." He rubbed his hands over his face. "There's that Lower I told you about. How I treated him. It makes me hate myself."
"If the scene in his—what d'ye call it—habit, was as you've described it," Jeffery said dryly, "you have the right to appropriate a considerable portion of self-hate. But beating your own breast won't do him any good."
"I know. But mainly, it's Leaf. I thought about her all night. I couldn't sleep. I thought of her sitting there all alone under the glow of the sky. I went away and left her. Alone. Exhausted. With a dead man."
"She told you to go."
"Did I have to obey her?" Bonnar asked fiercely. "It was the final betrayal. I've always had too much respect for authority."
"Yes. I think you have."
"Is that why—But she said I was the one that loved power."
"There's always a certain amount of self-deception involved in telepathy," Jeff said judicially. "She may not have been able to see very deeply into your mind."
There was a silence. The noise from the streets outside had deepened in pitch. Then Bonnar said, "I'm going to her. She shan't send me away again.
"She'll think I've come back because I hope to profit from her. But I'll make her see what's true, that I've come back because I love her. I've always loved her. That's not going to stop.
"She used to be the Green Queen. Somebody important. I've been weak. I failed her. All right. But to me she'll always be Queen Leaf. Leaf, the green life of the world."
He looked at Jeffery for a moment, smiling. His eyes had begun to glow. Then he hurried out.
The End
* * * * * *
Book information
HIS ATOMIC PUPPET WAS OUT
OF CONTROL!
Bonnar had created the Green Queen thoughtlessly—all part of a day's work. But when his brain-child became a full-grown Frankenstein, a monster embodied in the girl he loved, Bonnar was terrified. For now she threatened to shatter the whole carefully balanced social structure of Viridis—as well to undermine that radioactive world's atomic shield!
Only Bonnar could end the holocaust and turn the all-too-grim reality back to the illusion he had originally intended. But to do that he had to destroy the girl he loved—or be destroyed by her.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
BONNAR
He was a mask-maker fooled by his own mask.
LEAF AMADEUS
Was she a queen or a fraud, a savior—or a destroyer?
CAROLINE AUGLINGER
She was a seamstress who embroidered her own shroud.
HORVENDILE
He was the man behind the throne of a dangerous queen.
MERAKIS
Who was this monarch whose power could rule a planet eons after her death?
CANDIA
She had to be a mother—even if it meant giving up her children.
The Green Queen
MARGARET ST. CLAIR
ACE BOOKS
A Division of A. A. Wyn, Inc.
23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N. Y.
THE GREEN QUEEN
Copyright ©, 1956, by Margaret St. Clair
Magazine version, entitled "Mistress of Viridis", copyright,
1955, by Palmer Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
The Green Queen Page 11
