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effervescence. These bolides rose hundreds, even thousands of miles, then
fell, scattering broad trajectories of smaller debris. At the limb, the
increased altitude of these molten projectiles was apparent. Energy rapidly
built sufficient to toss them into orbit, and even to blow them free from the
bulk of the globe.
_Home._ Arthur connected suddenly with all that he saw; the abstraction took
on solidity and meaning. The stars behind the glowing, swelling Earth suddenly
filled with menace; he imagined them as the glints of wolves eyes in an
infinite night-bound forest. He paraphrased what Harry had said on his tape:
_There once was an infant lost in the woods, crying its heart out, wondering
why no one answered, drawing down the wolves..._
He was past tears now, past anything but a deep blunt suffocating pain. _Home.
Home._
Marty faced the panel with eyes wide and mouth open; almost the same
expression Arthur had seen when his son watched Saturday morning cartoons on
television, only slightly different: tighter, with a hint of puzzlement, eyes
searching.
The Earth bloated horribly. Beneath the swelling crust and mantle, the spirals
and fractures of white and green light widened into vast canals and highways
running crazy random courses through a uniform dull red landscape. Huge
bolides exited in long graceful curves, arcing thousands of miles entire Earth
radii out in space, and not falling back to the surface, but tracing glowing
orbits around the stricken planet.
Twenty-five minutes had passed. Arthur's legs ached and he had drenched his
clothes in sweat. The room filled with an awful animal stench, fear and grief
and silent agony.
Virtually everyone he had ever known was dead, their bodies lost in the
general apocalypse; every place he had ever been, all of his records and the
records of his family, all the children Marty had grown up with. Everyone on
the ark was cut adrift in nothingness. He could distinctly feel the
separation, the sudden loss, as if he had always known the presence of
humanity around him, a _psychic_ connection that was no more.
The brilliant highways and canals of the revealed plasma energy sphere now
stretched thousands of miles, vaulting the molten, vaporized material of the
Earth outward in a rough ovoid, the long axis at right angles to the axis of
rotation. The tips of the ovoid spun away huge globules of silica and nickel
and iron.
Against the dominant light of the plasma, the twisted remains of mantle and
compressed streamers of the core cast long shadows into near-Earth space
through the expanding dusty cloud of vapor and smaller debris. The planet
resembled a lantern in fog, almost unbearably bright. Inexorably, the ovoid of
plasma pushed everything outward, attenuating, blasting, diminishing all that
was left, scattering it before an irresistible wind of elementary particles
and light.
Two hours. He glanced at his watch. The moon shined through the vapor haze, a
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quarter of a million miles distant and seemingly aloof. But tidal bulges would
relax, and even though the moon s shape had been frozen by ages of cooling,
Arthur thought the relaxation would at the very least trigger violent
moonquakes.
He turned his attention again to the dead Earth. The plasma glow had dimmed
slightly. Distinct ethereal pinks and oranges and grayish blues gave it a
pearly appearance, like a child s plastic ball illuminated from within. The
diameter of the plasma ovoid and the haze of debris had expanded to well over
thirty thousand miles by now. The ovoid continued to lengthen, spreading the
new belt of asteroids into the stubby beginnings of an arc.
The transparent panel became mercifully opaque.
As if released from puppet strings, fully half of the witnesses collapsed on
the floor. Arthur hugged Francine and gripped Marty s shoulder, unable to
speak, then walked among his fellows, seeing what could be done to help them.
The copper-colored robot appeared at the end of the cabin and floated forward.
Behind it came dozens more survivors, bearing trays and bowls of water, food,
and medicines.
_It is the Law._
The words echoed again and again through Arthur s thoughts as he helped revive
those who had fallen.
_It is the Law._
Marty stayed by his side, kneeling with him as he elevated a young woman s
head and held a metal cup of water to her lips.
"Father," the boy said, "where are we going now?"
AGNUS DEI
_The child, ravaged by wolves, falls quiet in the forest, and the long
darkness is filled with an undisturbed silence._
PERSPECTIVE
_New Mars Gazette, December 21, 2397; editorial by Francine Gordon_:
The screen for today s edition is filled with news from the Central Ark. Four
hundred more of us, most from the Eurasian arks, have been revived from deep
sleep, and prepared for their arrival on New Mars by the Moms. (Does anybody
remember who first called the robots Moms? It was Reuben Hordes, then
nineteen, revived eight years ago and now on the New Venus Reconnaissance
Mission.) Our population today hit the mark of 12,250; the Moms say we are
doing well, and I believe them.
New Mars today celebrates its first year of autonomy. The Moms no longer
exercise what my husband has called zookeeper s authority. Already we begin to
factionalize and squabble; but these are the signs of a reborn planetism
coming once again to maturity. Does that bring us much cheer? Not the
politicians, bracing for the arrival of more Marxists.
But what we really celebrate, of course, is the four hundredth anniversary of
the Ice Strike that began New Mars. This world has already become home to most
of the human race. I feel a stronger connection to New Mars now than to Earth, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]