"This? My pipe." Ed grinned, sucking at the pipe. "Haven't you ever seen a pipe?"
"No."
"This is a good pipe. I got this when I first went out to Proxima. That was a long time ago, Pete. It was twenty-five years ago. I was just nineteen, then. Only about twice as old as you."
He put his tobacco away and leaned back, his heavy face serious, preoccupied.
"Just nineteen. I went out there as a plumber. Repair and sales, when I could make a sale. Terran Plumbing. One of those big ads you used to see. Unlimited opportunities. Virgin lands. Make a million. Gold in the streets." Ed laughed.
"How did you make out?"
"Not bad. Not bad at all. I own my own line, now, you know. I service the whole Proxima system. We do repairing, maintenance, building, construction. I've got six hundred people working for me. It took a long time. It didn't come easy."
"No."
"Hungry?"
Peter turned. "What?"
"Are you hungry?" Ed pulled a brown paper parcel from his coat and unwrapped it. "I still have a couple of sandwiches from the trip. When I come in from Prox I bring some food along with me. I don't like to buy in the diner. They skin you." He held out the parcel. "Want one?"
"No thank you."
Ed took a sandwich and began to eat. He ate nervously, glancing at his son. Peter sat silently, a short distance off, staring ahead without expression. His smooth handsome face was blank.
"Everything all right?" Ed said.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No."
"You don't want to catch cold."
A squirrel crossed in front of them, hurrying toward the sycamore tree. Ed threw it a piece of his sandwich. The squirrel ran off a way, then came back slowly. It scolded at them, standing up on its hind feet, its great gray tail flowing out behind it.
Ed laughed. "Look at him. Ever see a squirrel before?"
"I don't think so."
"It's good to come back to Terra once in a while. See some of the old things. They're going, though."
"Going?"
"Away. Destroyed. Terra is always changing." Ed waved around at the hillside. "This will be gone, some day. They'll cut down the trees. Then they'll level it. Some day they'll carve the whole range up and carry it off. Use it for fill, some place along the coast."
"That's beyond our scope," Peter said.
"What?"
"I don't receive that type of material. I think Doctor Bish told you. I'm working with bio-chemistry."
"I know," Ed murmured. "Say, how the hell did you ever get mixed up with that stuff? Bio-chemistry?"
"The tests showed that my abilities lie along those lines."
"You enjoy what you're doing?"
"What a strange thing to ask. Of course I enjoy what I'm doing. It's the work I'm fitted for."
"It seems funny as hell to me, starting a nine-year-old kid off on something like that."
"Why?"
"My God, Pete. When I was nine I was bumming around town. In school sometimes, outside mostly, wandering here and there. Playing. Reading. Sneaking into the rocket launching yards all the time." He considered. "Doing all sorts of things. When I was sixteen I hopped over to Mars. I stayed there a while. Worked as a hasher. I went on to Ganymede. Ganymede was all sewed up tight. Nothing doing there. From Ganymede I went out to Prox. Got a work-away all the way out. Big freighter."
"You stayed at Proxima?"
"I sure did. I found what I wanted. Nice place, out there. Now we're starting on to Sirius, you know." Ed's chest swelled. "I've got an outlet in the Sirius system. Little retail and service place."
"Sirius is 8.8 light years from Sol."
"It's a long way. Seven weeks from here. Rough grind. Meteor swarms. Keeps things hot all the way out."
"I can imagine."
"You know what I thought I might do?" Ed turned toward his son, his face alive with hope and enthusiasm. "I've been thinking it over. I thought maybe I'd go out there. To Sirius. It's a fine little place we have. I drew up the plans myself. Special design to fit with the characteristics of the system."
Peter nodded.
"Pete --"
"Yes?"
"Do you think maybe you'd be interested? Like to hop out to Sirius and take a look? It's a good place. Four clean planets. Never touched. Lots of room. Miles and miles of room. Cliffs and mountains. Oceans. Nobody around. Just a few colonists, families, some construction. Wide, level plains."
"How do you mean, interested?"
"In going all the way out." Ed's face was pale. His mouth twitched nervously. "I thought maybe you'd like to come along and see how things are. It's a lot like Prox was, twenty-five years ago. It's good and clean out there. No cities."
Peter smiled.
Peter smiled.
"No reason." Peter stood up abruptly. "If we have to walk back to the Station we'd better start. Don't you think? It's getting late."
"Sure." Ed struggled to his feet. "Sure, but --"
"When are you going to be back in the Sol system again?"
"Back?" Ed followed after his son. Peter climbed up the hill toward the road. "Slow down, will you?"
Peter slowed down. Ed caught up with him.
"I don't know when I'll be back. I don't come here very often. No ties. Not since Jan and I separated. As a matter of fact I came here this time to --"
"This way." Peter started down the road.
Ed hurried along beside him, fastening his tie and putting his coat on, gasping for breath. "Peter, what do you say? You want to hop out to Sirius with me? Take a look? It's a nice place out there. We could work together. The two of us. If you want."
"But I already have my work."
"That stuff? That damn chemistry stuff?"
Peter smiled again.
Ed scowled, his face dark red. "Why are you smiling?" he demanded. His son did not answer. "What's the matter? What's so damn funny?"
"Nothing," Peter said. "Don't become excited. We have a long walk down." He increased his pace slightly, his supple body swinging in long, even strides. "It's getting late. We have to hurry."
Doctor Bish examined his wristwatch, pushing back his pinstriped coat sleeve. "I'm glad you're back."
"He sent the surface car away," Peter murmured. "We had to walk down the hill on foot."
It was dark outside. The Station lights were coming on automatically, along the rows of buildings and laboratories.
Doctor Bish rose from his desk. "Sign this, Peter. Bottom of this form."
Peter signed. "What is it?"
"Certifies you saw him in accord with the provisions of the law. We didn't try to obstruct you in any way."
Peter handed the paper back. Bish filed it away with the others. Peter moved toward the door of the doctor's office. "I'll go. Down to the cafeteria for dinner."
"You haven't eaten?"
"No."
Doctor Bish folded his arms, studying the boy. "Well?" he said. "What do you think of him? This is the first time you've seen your father. It must have been strange for you. You've been around us so much, in all your training and work."
"It was -- unusual."
"Did you gain any impressions? Was there anything you particularly noticed?"
"He was very emotional. There was a distinct bias through everything he said and did. A distortion present, virtually uniform."
"Anything else?"
Peter hesitated, lingering at the door. He broke into a smile. "One other thing."
"What was it?"
"I noticed --" Peter laughed. "I noticed a distinct odor about him. A constant pungent smell, all the time I was with him."
"I'm afraid that's true of all of them," Doctor Bish said. "Certain skin glands. Waste products thrown off from the blood. You'll get used to it, after you've been around them more."