The Early Asimov. Volume 2

There was a long silence after that as each fell into deep thought.

Max.sighed, 'I remember him that day forty years-ago - old suit, pipe, everything. He took me in. Me, a despised halfbreed! And - and he found you for me, Madeline!'

'I know,' there were tears in her eyes. 'But he's still with us, Max, and always will be - here, and there.' Her hand crept first to her own heart and then to Max's.

'Hey, there, Dad, cateh her, catch her!'

Max whirled at the sound of his elder son's voice, just in time to catch up the little bundle of flying arms and legs that catapulted into him.

He held her gravely up before him, 'Shall I give you to your papa, Elsie? He wants you.'

The little girl kicked her legs ecstatically. 'No, no. I want you, grand-daddy. I want you to give me a piggy-back and come out with grandmamma to see how nice everything is.'

Max turned to his son, and motioned him sternly away, 'Depart, despised father, and let old grand-dad have a chance.'

Arthur laughed and mopped a red face, 'Keep her, for Heaven's sake. She's been leading me and the wife a merry chase outside. We had to drag her back by the dress to keep her from running off into the forest. Didn't we, Elsie?'

Elsie, thus appealed to, suddenly recalled a past grievance. 'Grand-daddy, tell him to let me see the pretty trees. He doesn't want me to.' She wriggled from Max's grasp and ran to the porthole. 'See them, grand-daddy, see them. It's all trees outside. It's not black anymore. I hated it when it was black, didn't you?'

Max leaned over and ruffled the child's soft, white hair gravely, 'Yes, Elsie, I hated it when it was black. But it isn't black anymore, and it won't ever be black again. Now go run to grandmamma. She'll get some cake specially for you. Go ahead, run!'

He followed the departing forms of his wife and granddaughter with smiling eyes, and then, as they turned to his son, they became serious once more.

'Well, Arthur?'

'Well, dad, what now?'

'There's no time to waste, son. We've got to start building immediately - underground!'

Arthur snapped into an attentive attitude, 'Underground!' He frowned his dismay.

'I know, I know. I said nothing of this previously, but it's got to be done. At all costs we must vanish from the face of the System. There are Earthmen on Venus - purebloods. There aren't many, it's true, but there are some. They mustn't find us - at least, not until we are prepared for whatever may follow. That will take years.'

'But father, underground!. To live like moles, hidden from light and air. I don't like that.'

'Oh, nonsense. Don't overdramatize. We'll live on the surface - but the city; the power-stations, the food and water reserves, the laboratories - all that must be below and impregnable.'

The old Tweenie gestured the subject away with impatience, 'Forget that, anyway. I want to talk about something else -something we've discussed already.'

Arthur's eyes hardened and he shifted his glance to the ceiling. Max rose and placed his hands upon his son's brawny shoulders.

'I'm past sixty, Arthur. How long I have yet to live, I don't know. In any case, the best of me belongs to the past and it is better that I yield the leadership to a younger, more vigorous person,.'

'Dad, that's sentimental bosh and you know it. There isn't one of us that's fit to wipe your shoes and no one is going to listen for a second to any plan of appointing a successor while you're still alive.'

'I'm not going to ask them to listen. It's done - and you're the new leader.'

The younger man shook his head firmly, 'You can't make me serve against my will.'

Max smiled whimsically, 'I'm afraid you're dodging responsibility, son. You're leaving your poor old father to the strains and hardships of a job beyond his aged strength.'

'Dad!' came the shocked retort. 'That's not so. You know it isn't. You -'

'Then prove it. Look at it this way. Our race needs active leadership, and I can't supply it. I'll always be here - while I live - to advise you and help you as best I can, but from now on, you must take the initiative.'

Arthur frowned and the words came from him reluctantly, 'All right, then. I take 'the job of field commander. But remember, you're commander-in-chief.'

'Good! And now let's celebrate the occasion.' Max opened a cupboard and withdrew a box, from which he abstracted a pair of cigars. He sighed, 'The supply of tobacco is down to the vanishing point and we won't have any more until we grow our own, but - we'll smoke to the new leader.'

Blue smoke curled upwards and Max frowned through it at his son, 'Where's Henry?'

Arthur grinned, 'Dunno! I haven't seen him since we landed. I can tell you with whom he is, though.'

Max grunted, 'I know that, too.'

'The kid's making hay while the sun shines. It won't be many years now, Dad, before you'll be spoiling a second set of grandchildren.'

'If they're as good as the three of my first set, I only hope I live to see the day.'

And father and son smiled affectionately at each other and listened in silence to the muted sound of happy laughter from the hundreds of Tweenies outside.

Henry Scanlon cocked his head to one side, and raised his hand for silence, 'Do you hear running water, Irene?'

The girl at his side nodded, 'Over in that direction.'

'Let's go there, then. A river flashed by just before we landed and maybe that's it.'

'All right, if you say so, but I think we ought to be getting back to the ships.'

'What for?' Henry stopped and stared. 'I should think you'd be glad to stretch your legs after weeks on a crowded ship.'

'Well, it might be dangerous.'

'Not here in the highlands, Irene. Venusian highlands are practically a second Earth. You can see this is forest and not jungle. Now if we were in the coastal regions -' He broke off short, as if he had just remembered something. 'Besides, what's there to be afraid of? I'm with you, aren't I?' And he patted the Tonite gun at his hip.

Irene repressed a sudden smile and shot an arch glance at her strutting companion, 'I'm quite aware that you're with me. That's the danger.'

Henry's chest deflated with an audible gasp. He frowned. 'Very funny - And I on my best behavior, too.' He drifted away, brooded sulkily awhile, and then addressed the trees in a distant manner, 'Which reminds me that tomorrow is Daphne's birthday. I've promised her a present.'

'Get her a reducing belt,' came the quick retort. 'Fat thing!'

'Who's fat? Daphne? Oh - I wouldn't say so.' He considered matters carefully, one thoughtful eye upon the young girl at his side. 'Now my description of her would be - shall we say - "pleasingly plump," or, maybe, "comfortably upholstered." '

'She's fat,' Irene's voice was suddenly a hiss, and something very like a frown wrinkled her lovely face, 'and her eyes are green.' She swung on ahead, chin high, and superbly conscious of her own little figure.

Henry hastened his steps and caught up, 'Of course, I prefer skinny girls any day.'

Irene whirled on him and her little fists clenched, 'I'm not skinny, you incredibly stupid ape.'

'But Irene, who said I meant you?' His voice was solemn, but his eyes were laughing.

The girl reddened to the ears and turned away, lower lip trembling. The smile faded from Henry's eyes and was replaced by a look of concern. His arm shot out hesitantly and slipped about her shoulder.

'Angry, Irene?'

The smile that lit her face of a sudden was as brilliant as the. sparkling sheen of her silvery hair in the bright sun,

'No,' she said.

Their eyes met and, for a moment, Henry hesitated - and found that he who hesitates is lost; for with a sudden twist and a smothered laugh, Irene was free once more.

Pointing through a break in the trees, she cried, 'Look, a lake!' and was off at a run.

Henry scowled, muttered something under his breath and ran after.