How many thousands of times he had taken that apparently solid, yet almost weightless sphere in his hands, shaken it gently, and thus activated the five second loo pI Through the subtle magic of organized gas molecules, each releasing its programmed quantum of light, Calindy’s face would appear out of the swirling mists-tiny, yet perfect in form and color. At first she would be in proffle; then she would turn and suddenly-Duncan could never be sure of the moment when it arrived-there would be the faint smile that only
Leonardo could have captured in an earlier age. She did not seem to be smiling at him, but at someone over his shoulder. The impression was so strong that more than once Duncan had looked back, startled, to see who was standing behind him.
Then the image would fade, the bubble would become opaque, and he would have to wait five minutes before the system recharged itself. It did not matter; he had only to close his eyes and he could still see the perfect oval face, the delicate ivory skin, the lustrous black hair gathered up into a toque and held in place by a silver comb that had belonged to a
Spanish princess, when Columbus was a child. Calindy liked playing roles, though she took none of them too seriously, and Carmen was one of her favorites. when she entered the Makenzie household, however, she was the exiled aristocrat, graciously accepting the hospitality of kindly provincials, with what few family heirlooms she had been able to save from the
Revolution. As this impressed no one except Duncan, she quickly became the studious anthropologist, taking notes for her thesis on the quaint
habits of 46 primitive societies. This role was at least partly genuine, for Calindy was really interested in differing life styles; and by some definitions, Titan could indeed be classed as primitive—or, at least, undeveloped.
Thus the supposedly unshockable Terrans were genuinely horrified at encountering families with three—and even fourl–children on Titan. The twentieth century’s millions of skeleton babies still haunted the conscience of the world, and such tragic but understandable excesses as the “Breeder Lynching” campaign, not to mention the burning of the Vatican, had left permanent scars on the human psyche. Duncan could still remember
Calindy’s expression when she encountered her first family of six: outrage contended with curiosity, until both were moderated by Terran good manners.
He had patiently explained the facts of life to her, pointing out that there was nothing eternally sacred about the dogma of Zero Growth, and that
Titan really needed to double its population every fifty years. Eventually she appreciated this logically, but she had never been able to accept it emotionally. And it was emotion that provided the driving force of
Calindy’s life; her will and beauty and intelligence were merely its servants.
For a young Terran, she was not promiscuous. She once told Duncan-and he believed her-that she never had more than two lovers at a time. On Titan, to Duncan’s considerable distress, she had only one.
Even if the Helmers and Makenzies had not been related through Grandma
Ellen, it was inevitable that she would have met Karl, at one of the countless concerts and parties and dances arranged for Mentor’s castaways.
So Duncan could not really blame himself for introducing them; it would have made no difference in the end. Yet even so, he would always wonder…. Karl was then almost twenty-two-a year older than Calindy, though far less experienced. He still possessed the slightly overmuscled build of the native born Terran, but had adapted so well to the lower gravity that he moved more gracefully than most men who had spent their entire lives on
Titan. He seemed to possess the secret of power without clumsiness. And in a quite literal sense, he was the Golden Boy of his generation.
Though he pretended to hate the phrase, Duncan knew that he was secretly proud of the title someone had given him in his teens: “The boy with hair like the sun.” The description could only have been coined by a visitor from Earth. No Titanian would have thought of it-but everyone agreed that it was completely appropriate. For Karl Helmer was one of those men upon whom, for their own amusement, the Gods had bestowed the fatal gift of beauty.
Only years later, and partly thanks to Colin, did Duncan begin to understand all the nuances of the affair. Soon after his twenty-third birthday, the Makenzies received the last Star Day card that Calindy ever sent them.
“I still don’t know if I made a mistake,” Colin said ruefully as he fingered the bright rectangle of paper that had carried its conventional greetings halfway across the Solar System. “But it seemed a good idea at the time.”
“Well, I don’t think it did any harm, in the long run. tv
Cohn looked at him strangely.
“I wonder. Anyway, it certainly didn’t turn out as I expected.”
“And what did you expect?”
It was sometimes a great advantage, and sometimes downright embarrassing, to have a father who was also your thirty-year-older identical twin. He knew all the mistakes you were going to make, because he had made them already. It was impossible to conceal any secrets from him, because his thought processes were virtually the same. In such a situation, the only policy that made any sense was complete honesty, as far as that could be achieved by human beings.
“I’m not quite sure. But the moment I saw Calindy, shining like a nova amid all that gloom and chaos down in the old mine workings, I wanted to learn more about her … wanted to make her part of my life. You
know what I mean.” 48 Duncan could only nod his head in silent agreement.
“Sheela didn’t mind-after all, I’m not a babysnatcherl And we both hoped that Calindy would give you someone to think about besides Karl.”
“I was already getting over that, anyway. It was much too frustrating.”
Colin chuckled, not unsympathetically.
“So I can imagine. Karl was spreading himself pretty thin. Half of Titan was in love with him in those days-still is, for that matter. Which is why we must keep him out of politics. Remind me to tell you about Alcibiades someday.”
“Who?”
“Ancient Greek general-too clever and charming for his own good. Or for anyone else’s.”
“I appreciate your concern,” said Duncan, with only a slight trace of sarcasm. “But that increased my problems a hundred percent. As she made quite clear, I was much too young for Calindy, and of course Karl was now interested only in her. And to make matters worse, they didn’t even mind me sharing their bed as long as I didn’t get in the way. In fact—2’
“Yes?”
Duncan’s face darkened. How strange that he had never thought of this before, yet how obvious it wasl
“Didn’t mind, hell! They enjoyed having me there, just to tease me! At least Karl did.”
It should have been a shattering revelation, yet somehow it did not hurt as much as he would have expected. He must have realized for a long time, without admitting it to himself, that there was a very definite streak of cruelty in Karl. Certainly his lovemaking often lacked tenderness and consideration; there were even times when he had scared Duncan into something approaching impotence. And to do that to a virile sixteen-year-old was no mean feat. “I’m glad you’ve realized that,” said Colin somberly. “You had to find it out for yourself-you wouldn’t have believed us. But whatever Karl did, he certainly paid for it. That breakdown was serious. And, frankly, I don’t believe his
recovery is as complete as the doctors claim.” This was also a new thought to Duncan, and he turned it over in his mind.
Karl’s breakdown was still a considerable mystery, which the Helmer family had never discussed with outsiders. The romantics had a simple explanation: he was heartbroken over the loss of Calindy. Duncan had always found this too hard to accept. Karl was too tough to pine away like some character in an old time melodrama–especially when there were at least a thousand volunteers waiting to console him. Yet it was undeniable that the breakdown had occurred only a few weeks after Mentor had, to everyone’s relief, blasted Earthward.