48 Decision Captain Bey had graver problems on his mind and was very glad to delegate this task. In any event, no emissary could have been more appropriate than Loren Lorenson. He had never met the Leonidas elders before and dreaded the encounter. Though Mirissa had offered to accompany him, he preferred to go alone. The Lassans revered their old folk and did everything possible for their comfort and happiness. Lal and Nikri Leonidas lived in one of the small, self-contained retirement colonies along the south coast of the island. They had a six-room chalet with every conceivable labour-saving device, including the only general-purpose house robot that Loren had ever seen on South Island. By Earth chronology, he would have judged them to be in their late sixties. After the initial subdued greetings, they sat on the porch, looking out to sea while the robot fussed around bearing drinks and plates of assorted fruit. Loren forced himself to eat a few morsels, then gathered his courage and tackled the hardest task of his life. ‘Kumar -‘ The name stuck in his throat, and he had to begin again. ‘Kumar is still on the ship. I owe my life to him; he risked his to save mine. You can understand how I feel about this – I would do anything Once more he had to fight for control. Then, trying to be as brisk and scientific as he could – like Surgeon-Commander Newton during her briefing – he made yet another start. ‘His body is almost undamaged, because decompression was slow and freezing took place immediately. But, of course, he is clinically dead – just as I was myself a few weeks ago … ‘However, the two cases are very different. My – body – was recovered before there was time for brain damage, so revival was a fairly straightforward process. ‘It was hours before they recovered Kumar. Physically, his brain is undamaged – but there is no trace of any activity. ‘Even so, revival may be possible with extremely advanced technology. According to our records – which cover the entire history of Earth’s medical science – it has been done before in similar cases, with a success rate of sixty per cent. ‘And that places us in a dilemma, which Captain Bey has asked me to explain to you frankly. We do not have the skills or the equipment to carry out such an operation. But we may – in three hundred years’ time … ‘There are a dozen brain experts among the hundreds of medical specialists sleeping aboard the ship. There are technicians who can assemble and operate every conceivable type of surgical and life-support gear. All that Earth ever possessed will be ours again – soon after we reach Sagan 2 …’ He paused to let the implications sink in. The robot took this inopportune moment to offer its services; he waved it away. ‘We would be willing – no, glad, for it is the very least we can do – to take Kumar with us. Though we cannot guarantee it, one day he may live again. We would like you to think it over; there is plenty of time before you have to make the decision.’ The old couple looked at each other for a long, silent moment while Loren stared out to sea. How quiet and peaceful it was! He would be glad to spend his own declining years here, visited from time to time by children and grandchildren … Like so much of Tarna, it might almost be Earth. Perhaps through deliberate planning, there was no Lassan vegetation anywhere in sight; all the trees were hauntingly familiar. Yet something essential was lacking; he realized that it had been puzzling him for a long time – indeed, ever since he had landed on this planet. And suddenly, as if this moment of grief had triggered the memory, he knew what he had missed. There were no sea gulls wheeling in the sky, filling the air with the saddest and most evocative of all the sounds of Earth. Lal Leonidas and his wife had still not exchanged a word, yet somehow Loren knew that they had made their decision. ‘We appreciate your offer, Commander Lorenson; please express our thanks to Captain Bey. ‘But we do not need any time to consider it. Whatever happens, Kumar will be lost to us forever. ‘Even if you succeed – and as you say, there is no guarantee -he will awaken in a strange world, knowing that he will never see his home again and that all those he loved are centuries dead. It does not bear thinking of. You mean well, but that would be no kindness to him. ‘We know what he would have wished and what must be done. Give him back to us. We will return him to the sea he loved.’ There was nothing more to be said. Loren felt both an overwhelming sadness and a vast relief. He had done his duty. It was the decision he had expected.
49 Fire on the Reef Now the little kayak would never be completed; but it would make its first and its last voyage. Until sunset, it had lain at the water’s edge, lapped by the gentle waves of the tideless sea. Loren was moved, but not surprised, to see how many had come to pay their last eespects. All Tarna was here, but many had also come from all over South Island – and even from North. Though some, perhaps, had been drawn by morbid curiosity – for the whole world had been shocked by the uniquely spectacular accident – Loren had never seen such a genuine outpouring of grief. He had not realized that the Lassans were capable of such deep emotion, and in his mind he savoured once again a phrase that Mirissa had found, searching the Archives for consolation: ‘Little friend of all the world’. Its origin was lost, and no one could guess what long-dead scholar, in what century, had saved it for the ages to come. Once he had embraced them both with wordless sympathy, he had left Mirissa and Brant with the Leonidas family, gathered with numerous relatives from both islands. He did not want to meet any strangers, for he knew what many of them must be thinking. ‘He saved you – but you could not save him.’ That was a burden he would carry for the rest of his life. He bit his lip to check the tears that were not appropriate for a senior officer of the greatest starship ever built and felt one of the mind’s defence mechanisms come to his rescue. At moments of deep grief, sometimes the only way to prevent loss of control is to evoke some wholly incongruous – even comic – image from the depths of memory. Yes – the universe had a strange sense of humour. Loren was almost forced to suppress a smile; how Kumar would have enjoyed the final joke it had played on him! ‘Don’t be surprised,’ Commander Newton had warned as she opened the door of the ship’s morgue and a gust of icy, formalin-tainted air rolled out to meet them. ‘It happens more often than you think. Sometimes it’s a final spasm – almost like an unconscious attempt to defy death. This time, it was probably caused by the loss of external pressure and the subsequent freezing.’ Had it not been for the crystals of ice defining the muscles of the splendid young body, Loren might have thought that Kumar was not merely sleeping but lost in blissful dreams. For in death, the Little Lion was even more male than he had been in life. And now the sun had vanished behind the low hills to the west, and a cool evening breeze was rising from the sea. With scarcely a ripple, the kayak slipped into the water, drawn by Brant and three other of Kumar’s closest friends. For the last time Loren glimpsed the calm and peaceful face of the boy to whom he owed his life. There had been little weeping until now, but as the four swimmers pushed the boat slowly out from the shore, a great wail of lamentation rose from the assembled crowd. Now Loren could no longer contain his tears and did not care who saw them. Moving strongly and steadily under the powerful drive of its four escorts, the little kayak headed out to the reef. The quick Thalassan night was already descending as the craft passed between the two flashing beacons that marked the channel to the open sea. It vanished beyond them and for a moment was hidden by the white line of breakers foaming lazily against the outer reef. The lamentation ceased; everyone was waiting. Then there was a sudden flare of light against the darkling sky, and a pillar of fire rose out of the sea. It burned cleanly and fiercely, with scarcely any smoke; how long it lasted, Loren never knew, for time had ceased on Tarna. Then, abruptly, the flames collapsed; the crown of fire shrank back into the sea. All was darkness; but for a moment only. As fire and water met, a fountain of sparks erupted into the sky. Most of the embers fell back upon the sea, but others continued to soar upward until they were lost from view. And so, for the second time, Kumar Leonidas ascended to the stars.