Five hours later, the questing Goliath detected the echo at extreme range; even allowing for the distance, it seemed disappointingly small. However, as it grew clearer and stronger, it began to give the signature of a metallic object, perhaps a couple of metres long. It was travelling on an orbit heading out of the Solar System, so was almost certainly, Chandler decided, one of the myriad pieces of space-junk that Mankind had tossed towards the stars during the last millennium and which might one day provide the only evidence that the human race had ever existed.
Then it came close enough for visual inspection, and Captain Chandler realized, with awed astonishment, that some patient historian was still checking the earliest records of the Space Age. What a pity that the computers had given him the answer, just a few years too late for the Mifiermium celebrations!
‘Goliath here,’ Chandler radioed Earthwards, his voice tinged with pride as well as solemnity. ‘We’re bringing aboard a thousand-year-old astronaut. And I can guess who it is.’
2
Awakening
Frank Poole awoke, but he did not remember. He was not even sure of his name.
Obviously, he was in a hospital room: even though his eyes were still closed, the most primitive, and evocative, of his senses told him that. Each breath brought the faint and not unpleasant tang of antiseptics in the air, and it triggered a memory of the time when – of course! – as a reckless teenager he had broken a rib in the Arizona Hang-gliding Championship.
Now it was all beginning to come back. I’m Deputy Commander Frank Poole, Executive Officer, USSS Discovery, on a Top Secret mission to Jupiter – It seemed as if an icy hand had gripped his heart. He remembered, in slow-motion playback, that runaway space-pod jetting towards him, metal claws outstretched. Then the silent impact – and the not-so-silent hiss of air rushing out of his suit. After that – one last memory, of spinning helplessly in space, trying in vain to reconnect his broken air-hose.
Well, whatever mysterious accident had happened to the space-pod controls, he was safe now. Presumably Dave had made a quick EVA and rescued him before lack of oxygen could do permanent brain damage.
Good old Dave! He told himself. I must thank – just a moment! – I’m obviously not aboard Discovery now – surely I haven’t been unconscious long enough to be taken back to Earth!
His confused train of thought was abruptly broken by the arrival of a Matron and two nurses, wearing the immemorial uniform of their profession. They seemed a little surprised: Poole wondered if he had awakened ahead of schedule, and the idea gave him a childish feeling of satisfaction.
‘Hello!’ he said, after several attempts; his vocal cords appeared to be very rusty. ‘How am I doing?’
Matron smiled back at him and gave an obvious ‘Don’t try to talk’ command by putting a finger to her lips. Then the two nurses fussed swiftly over him with practised skill, checking pulse, temperature, reflexes. When one of them lifted his right arm and let it drop again, Poole noticed something peculiar It fell slowly, and did not seem to weigh as much as normal. Nor, for that matter, did his body, when he attempted to move.
So I must be on a planet, he thought. Or a space-station with artificial gravity. Certainly not Earth – I don’t weigh enough.
He was about to ask the obvious question when Matron pressed something against the side of his neck; he felt a slight tingling sensation, and sank back into a dreamless sleep. Just before he became unconscious, he had time for one more puzzled thought.
How odd – they never spoke a single word – all the time they were with me.
3
Rehabilitation
When he woke again, and found Matron and nurses standing round his bed, Poole felt strong enough to assert himself.
‘Where am I? Surely you can tell me that!’ The three women exchanged glances, obviously uncertain what to do next. Then Matron answered, enunciating her words very slowly and carefully: ‘Everything is fine, Mr Poole. Professor Anderson will be here in a minute He will explain.’
Explain what? thought Poole with some exasperation. But at least she speaks English, even though I can’t place her accent.
Anderson must have been already on his way, for the door opened moments later – to give Poole a brief glimpse of a small crowd of inquisitive onlookers peering in at him. He began to feel like a new exhibit at a zoo.
Professor Anderson was a small, dapper man whose features seemed to have combined key aspects of several races – Chinese, Polynesian, Nordic – in a thoroughly confusing fashion. He greeted Poole by holding up his right palm, then did an obvious double-take and shook hands, with such a curious hesitation that he might have been rehearsing some quite unfamiliar gesture.
‘Glad to see you’re looking so well, Mr Poole… We’ll have you up in no time.’
Again that odd accent and slow delivery – but the confident bedside manner was that of all doctors, in all places and all ages.
‘I’m glad to hear it. Now perhaps you can answer a few questions…’
‘Of course, of course. But just a minute.’
Anderson spoke so rapidly and quietly to the Matron that Poole could catch only a few words, several of which were wholly unfamiliar to him. Then the Matron nodded at one of the nurses, who opened a wall-cupboard and produced a slim metal band, which she proceeded to wrap around Poole’s head.
‘What’s that for?’ he asked – being one of those difficult patients, so annoying to doctors, who always want to know just what’s happening to them. ‘EEC readout?’
Professor, Matron and nurses looked equally baffled. Then a slow smile spread across Anderson’s face.
‘Oh – electro… enceph .. alo… gram,’ he said slowly, as if dredging the word up from the depth of memory, ‘You’re quite right. We just want to monitor your brain functions.’
My brain would function perfectly well if you’d let me use it, Poole grumbled silently. But at least we seem to be getting somewhere – finally.
‘Mr Poole,’ said Anderson, still speaking in that curious stilted voice, as if venturing in a foreign language, ‘you know, of course, that you were – disabled – in a serious accident, while you were working outside Discovery.’
Poole nodded agreement.
‘I’m beginning to suspect,’ he said dryly, ‘that “disabled” is a slight understatement.’
Anderson relaxed visibly, and a slow smile spread across his face.
‘You’re quite correct. Tell me what you think happened.’
‘Well, the best case scenario is that, after I became unconscious, Dave Bowman rescued me and brought me back to the ship. How is Dave? No one will tell me anything!’
‘All in due course… and the worst case?’
It seemed to Frank Poole that a chill wind was blowing gently on the back of his neck. The suspicion that had been slowly forming in his mind began to solidify.
‘That I died, but was brought back here – wherever “here” is – and you’ve been able to revive me. Thank you…’
‘Quite correct. And you’re back on Earth. Well, very near it.’
What did he mean by ‘very near it’? There was certainly a gravity field here – so he was probably inside the slowly turning wheel of an orbiting space-station. No matter: there was something much more important to think about.
Poole did some quick mental calculations. If Dave had put him in the hibernaculum, revived the rest of the crew, and completed the mission to Jupiter – why, he could have been ‘dead’ for as much as five years!
‘Just what date is it?’ he asked, as calmly as possible.
Professor and Matron exchanged glances. Again Poole felt that cold wind on his neck.
‘I must tell you, Mr Poole, that Bowman did not rescue you. He believed – and we cannot blame him – that you were irrevocably dead. Also, he was facing a desperately serious crisis that threatened his own survival…’
‘So you drifted on into space, passed through the Jupiter system, and headed out towards the stars. Fortunately, you were so far below freezing point that there was no metabolism – but it’s a near-miracle that you were ever found at all. You are one of the luckiest men alive. No – ever to have lived!’
Am I? Poole asked himself bleakly. Five years, indeed! It could be a century – or even more.
‘Let me have it,’ he demanded.
Professor and Matron seemed to be consulting an invisible monitor: when they looked at each other and nodded agreement, Poole guessed that they were all plugged into the hospital information circuit, linked to the headband he was wearing.
‘Frank,’ said Professor Anderson, making a smooth switch to the role of long-time family physician, ‘this will be a great shock to you, but you’re capable of accepting it – and the sooner you know, the better.’