«Like it?»
«It’s wild … gorgeous!»
And then back on the ground. Back in reality.
«Chet, I’ve got to go to this meeting. Can’t you come along with me?»
«No. Got to report for duty.»
Just like that. An hour of sharing his world, and then gone. The last he had seen of her. Until tonight.
The crowd had thinned out considerably. People were leaving. McGrath was at the hallway door, making the customary noises of farewell. Kinsman spotted Diane sitting alone on the sofa, tucked against a corner of it, as if for protection.
He went over and sat down beside her. «I’ve got news for you.»
«Oh? What?»
«An answer to your question. About what turns me on. I’ve been thinking about it all through the party and I’ve formed a definite opinion.»
She turned to face him, leaning an arm on the sofa’s back. «So what is it?»
«You do. You turn me on.»
She didn’t look surprised. «Do I?»
Nodding. «Yep. After five years, you still do.»
Diane said, «Chet, haven’t you learned anything? We’re in two entirely different worlds. You want to go adventuring.»
«And you want to join demonstrations and sing to the kids about how lousy the world is.»
«I’m trying to make the world better!» Her face looked so damned intent.
«And I’m trying to start a new world.»
She shook her head. «We never did see eye to eye on anything.»
«Except in bed.»
That stopped her, but only for a moment. «That’s not enough. Not for me. It wasn’t then and it isn’t now.»
He didn’t answer.
«Chet… why’d they ground you? What’s it all about?»
A hot spark of electricity flashed through his gut. Careful! «I told you. it’s a long story. I’m a valuable public relations tool for Colonel Murdock. You know, a veteran of lunar exploration. Heroic rescuer of an injured teammate. All that crap. So my address is the Pentagon. Level three, ring D, corridor F, room—»
«Whether you like it or not.»
«Yes.»
«Why don’t you quit?»
«And do what? To dig I am not able, to beg I am too proud.»
Diane looked at him quizzically. They had both run out of stock answers.
«So there it is,» Kinsman said, getting up from the sofa. «Right where we left it five years ago.»
Mary-Ellen came over to them. «Don’t leave, Chet. We’re getting rid of the last of the guests, then we’re going to have a little supper. Stay around. Neal wants to talk with you.»
«Okay. Fine.» That’s what I’m here for.
«Can I fix you another drink?» Mary-Ellen asked.
«Let me fix you one.»
«No, no more for me, thanks.»
He looked down at Diane. «Still hooked on tigers?»
She smiled. «I haven’t had one in years … Yes, I’d like a tiger.»
By the time he came back from the bar with the two smoke-yellow drinks in his hands, the big living room was empty of guests. Diane and Mary-Ellen were sitting on the sofa together. Only when they were this close could you see that they really were sisters. Kinsman heard McGrath out in the hallway, laughingly bidding someone good night.
«Like a family reunion,» Kinsman said as he sat on a plush chair facing the sofa.
«You’re still here, Chet,» McGrath called from the hall archway. «Good. I’ve got a bone to pick with you, old buddy.»
As the congressman crossed to the bar, Mary-Ellen said, «Maybe Diane and I ought to hide out in the kitchen. We can see to supper.»
«Not me,» Diane said, «I want to be in on this.»
Kinsman grinned at her.
McGrath came up and sat beside his wife. The three of them—husband, wife, sister—faced Kinsman. Like the beginning of a shotgun wedding.
«Listen, Chet,» McGrath began, his voice huskier than usual from too much drinking and smoking. «I don’t like the idea of Murdock sending you over here to try to soften me up. Just because you’re an old friend doesn’t give you—»
«Hold on,» Kinsman said. «I was invited here two weeks ago. And I came because I wanted to.»
«Murdock knew these hearings were coming up this week and next. Don’t deny it.»
«I’m not denying a damned thing. Murdock can do what he wants. I came here because I wanted to. If it fits Murdock’s grand scheme, so what?»
McGrath reached into his jacket pocket for a cigarette. «I just don’t like having space cadets from the Pentagon spouting Air Force propaganda at my parties. Especially when they’re old friends. I don’t like it.»
«What if the old friend happens to believe that the propaganda is right and you’re wrong?»
«Oh, come on now, Chet…»
«Look, Neal, on this Moonbase business, you’re wrong. Moonbase is essential, no matter what you think of it.»
«It’s another boondoggle—»
«The hell it is! We either build Moonbase or we stop exploring the Moon altogether. It’s one or the other.»
McGrath took a deep, calming drag on his cigarette. Patiently, he said, «There’s too much to do here on Earth for me to vote for a nickel on Moonbase. Let alone the billions of dollars—»
«The money is chickenfeed. We spend ten times that amount on new cars each year. A penny tax on cigarettes will pay for Moonbase.»
McGrath involuntarily glanced at the joint in his hand. Scowling, he answered, «We need all the money we can raise to rebuild the cities. We’re going under, the cities are sinking into jungles.»
«Who’s spouting the party line now?» Kinsman shot back. «Everybody knows about the poor and the cities. And the population overload. And the whole damned social structure. That’s a damned safe hobbyhorse to ride in Congress. What we need is somebody with guts enough to stand up for spending two percent of all that money on the future.»
«Are you accusing me—»
«I’m saying you’re hiding in the crowd, Neal. I don’t disagree with the crowd; they’re right about the cities and the poor. But there’s a helluva lot more to life than that.»
Diane cut in. «Chet, what about Moonbase? What good is it? Who will it help? Will it make jobs for the city kids? Will it build schools?»
He stared at her for a long moment. «No,» he said at last. «It won’t do any of those things. But it won’t prevent them from being done, either.»
«Then why should we do it?» Diane asked. «For your entertainment? To earn your Colonel Murdock a promotion or something? Why? What’s in it for us?»
Standing on the rim of a giant crater, looking down at the tiered terraces of rock worn smooth by five eons of meteoric erosion. The flat pitted plain at the base of the slope. The horizon, sharp and clear, close enough to make you think. And the stars beyond. The silence and the emptiness. The freedom. The peace.
«There’s probably nothing in it for you. Maybe for your kids. Maybe for those kids in the cities. I don’t know. But there’s something in it for me. The only way I’ll ever get to the Moon again is to push Moonbase through Congress. Otherwise I’m permanently grounded.»
«What?»
Diane said, «Your man Murdock won’t let you—»
Kinsman waved them quiet. «Officially, I’m grounded. Officially, there are medical and emotional reasons. That’s on the record and there’s no way to take it off. Unless there’s a permanent base on the Moon, a place where a non-pilot passenger can go, then the only people on the Moon will be flight-rated astronauts. So I need Moonbase; I need it. Myself. For purely personal, selfish reasons.»