Forever Free

Bill and Sara did half the holes one day, and Marygay and I did the other half the next. When we came in from work, late afternoon, the house smelled wonderful. Sara was roasting a chicken over the fire, and had made hot mulled cider with sweet wine.

She wasn’t in the kitchen. Marygay and I poured cups and went into the living room.

Our children were sitting silently with a Man. I recognized him by his bulk and the scar. “Afternoon, Sheriff.”

Without preamble: “The Whole Tree said no.”

I sat down heavily, sloshing some cider. Marygay sat on the couch armrest. “Just that?” she said. “Only `no’ and nothing more?”

My spinning mind came up with “Quoth the Raven, `Nevermore.’ ”

“There are details.” He pulled out a four- or five-page document, folded over, and set it on the coffee table. “Basically, they thank you for your work, and have paid each of the one hundred fifty volunteers one one-hundred-fiftieth of what the ship is worth.”

“In Earth credits, no doubt,” I said.

“Yes…but also a trip to Earth, to spend it. It is a large fortune, and could make life easier and more interesting for all of you.”

“Let all one hundred fifty of us aboard?”

“No.” The sheriff smiled. “You might go someplace other than Earth.”

“How many, and which of us?”

“Seventeen; you choose. They’ll be in suspended animation during the flight, as a security precaution.”

“While Man does the flying and life support. How many of you?”

“I wasn’t told. How many would it take?”

“Maybe twenty, if ten were farmers.” We hadn’t actually thought in terms of minimums. “Are any of you farmers?,

“I don’t know of any. We learn very fast, though.”

“I suppose you do.” Not the response a farmer would give.

“Have you offered the sheriff some cider?” Marygay said.

“I can’t stay,” he said. “I just wanted you two to hear before the general broadcast.”

“That was kind,” I said. “Thank you.”

He stood up and began putting on layers of clothes. “Well, you have a special interest in it.” He shook his head. “I was surprised. I thought the project was all gain and no real loss, which of course was the consensus here.” He gestured at the table. “This was not just our Whole Tree’s decision, though. It’s very curious.”

I ushered him out, as far as the waist-deep channel cut through the snow to the driveway. The sun was getting low and the air sucked my body heat away. Two breaths and my moustache froze into bristles.

Only two years till spring. Real years.

Marygay was almost done reading it when I came back inside. She was on the verge of tears. “What does it say?” Without taking her eyes from the last sheet, she handed me the first three. “The Taurans. It’s the god-damn Taurans.”

The first couple of pages were the expected economic argument, which, with scrupulous fairness, they admitted was not reason enough by itself to deny us the time shuttle.

But their group mind hooked up with the Tauran group mind, and the Taurans said absolutely no. It was too dangerous–not to us, but to them.

And they couldn’t explain why.

“They used to say, `There are things man was not meant to know.’ ” I looked at the kids. “That was when `man’ meant us.”

“That’s what this adds up to,” Marygay said. “Nothing like an actual explanation.” She felt along the bottom of the last sheet. “There’s some Tauran here.” They did official documents in a Braille-like language. “Can you read it?”

“Just simple things,” Sara said. She ran a finger along the lines. “No. I’ll take it to the library after school, and scan it.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’m sure it’ll clear everything up.”

“Oh, Dad. Sometimes they’re not strange at all.” She got up. “Check the chicken. It should be almost done.” It was a good dinner. She had roasted potatoes and carrots in the coals, wrapped in foil with garlic butter and herbs.

The kids were animated all through dinner. Marygay and I were not good company. After dinner we watched a couple of hours of cube, an ice-skating show that made me reheat the cider.

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