Cury, from wanting to fight Kosgro, became his most eager aid. I could guess that the ranger was determined to be in the ship when it finally lifted.
In the meantime, I saw very little of my late companion. He worked hard, and when he returned to the barracks, it was mainly to eat and sleep. But the climax of both of our problems came on the same day.
Matild, Weygil’s wife, took me aside in midmoming and spoke her mind bluntly. I was a matter of discord. There had been a fight between two of the unattached men, neither of whom I favored. In fact, I had been most careful, once I knew the situation, not to favor any one of them, staying among the women all that I could. But the mere fact that I had made no selection was becoming a source of trouble. Since it was necessary for the good of the whole colony, this must not occur. I must choose at once.
That she spoke good sense, and that it was best for the group, I could not deny. Yet that I would be forced to do this – my inner rebellion was such that I went out of the barracks and into the silent city. Where I went did not matter. I wandered up one street and down the next. There were five unattached men, and to none of them was I in any way drawn. I did not feel part of the colony. I did not want to mingle my future with theirs.
I paused in the garden of the house that had been Commandant Piscov’s in the old days. The untended growth was a tangle that had long ago broken out of the formal beds in which it had been planted. The weaker things had been smothered out of existence, but the ranker and hardier ones flourished. They had fought for life, and in them I read a lesson. It was fair and peaceful. I only wished I could stay there, forgetting all outside the half-open gate.
A metallic clicking aroused me. Startled, I thought that perhaps one of my persistent suitors had trailed me. But it was Jorth who stood there.
He wore a uniform from the warehouse stock. His space boots with their magnetic plates had caused the clicking. But his tunic was unsealed, and his hands were red from much scrubbing to remove the last traces of the work he had been doing.
“I saw you come here – on the ship’s visa-plate,” he said, almost as if he were accusing me. “She’s ready to lift.”
“They’ll be excited.”
“They don’t know. They think I still have a day – two days-”
“Why?”
He did not answer. Instead, he walked to me. His freshly scrubbed hands fell on my shoulders in a grip tight enough to be painful, yet one I welcomed gladly. And he drew me up, close to him. Then he looked into my eyes squarely, and I knew there was no more need for words between us – this was what I had been seeking and needed.
“You’ll come.” That was not a question, but I answered as if it was.
“Yes!” And then I added, “When?”
“Now. I have supplies on board. Cury helped.”
“He thinks to go.”
Kosgro shook his head. “I made no promise. There is only one I would take from here. I’ll carry their message. That I would have done in any case. And, Kilda, I do not know what waits out there. If we rise into complete chaos such as Weygil thinks exists – then it may be far worse than anything you can imagine.”
“After the gray world, nothing can be worse.”
“We can’t take the children.”
“No. But they have chosen their own way. Oomark is happy here. And I think Bartare will be. She has lost that dread companion who urged her to other ways.”
“But you have found one – though perhaps not a dread one. And I shall urge you – ”
I laid my fingers on his lips. “You urge me to nothing! I, too, have chosen. Where you go, there will I be also, even unto the end of all stars!”
So it was we slipped through the dead city to the ship. And Jorth brought me into the only home he would ever own, which was to be mine thereafter. Gladly did I exchange the safety of Dylan for whatever might await the two of us beyond.
End