Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

Jorn straightened slowly and looked at Jurg. He stilJ disliked the man as

much as ever, but he could hardly deny that in that burst of candor he

found more to admire than he had ever seen in Jurg before. But what more

could be tell him?

“I don’t know how I got it,” Jorn said at last. “They take you through a

whole day of tests, and a lot of them are rough. After I passed them-and I

don’t know how I managed that because most of the time I didn’t know what

they were testing me for-they told me what it was all about, and asked me

whether or not I wanted to go along. I decided that I did, but maybe I was

out of my head to do any such thing.”

“Do you think I could passF’ Jurg said in a low voice, looking down at his

sandals.

“I don’t know what to think. I don’t know how I passed-so how could I know

about you? But, Jurg, it is space research. Is that what you want?”

“I want a job,” Jurg said. “You haven’t told me much and I suppose you

can’t. So all I can think is that if you could get it, maybe I could too.

Then I suppose I’ll make up my own mind whether it’s suicide or not. And

whether or not I want to commit suicide that badly, in that particular way.

Is that how it goes?”

“Yes,” Jorn said, closing his valise and shutting the snaps. “That’s pretty

much how it goes.~

“All right, then I’ll take a stab at it,” Jurg said, standing up. “And if

I get it, Birn… Um.”

“Um? What’s the matter?”

“Another question. Can I take Koth?”

“Sure you can. You’ll have to leave her behind for part of it, but you’ll

get her back at the end.”