So even though the UPF still had a few tricks up its sleeve — the words "second wave" were only still whispered around the ship — it would be just plain dumb to expend everything they had if they had nothing to go on.
In other words, Gordon knew he might be returning to Planet America sooner than he thought.
He detected a sudden movement and looked up to find Pater Tomm was standing in front of him. Gordon jumped an inch out of his seat. It was as if the priest had come out of nowhere.
"Father… you startled me. Did I hear you come in?"
Tomm just shrugged. "Your door was open, and you seemed totally immersed. I did not want to disturb you— until I had to, that is."
Gordon thought about that for a moment, then invited Tomm to sit down. He went back to studying the mind ring.
"They are the oddest things, aren't they?" he said, going back to his magnifying glass. From the perspective across the desk, it looked like he had one enormous eye. "I just can't stop looking at it. And I can't imagine how they work…."
"I share your mystery with them," Tomm said. "Like many things we take for granted in the Galaxy, no one is quite sure who invented these things or how they do what they do."
Gordon snapped his fingers, and a bottle slow-ship wine appeared out of thin air. He'd just mastered this particular technique. He snapped his fingers again; two mugs now came into being. He poured out a healthy shot for both of them. Gordon sipped his — he was still getting used to the sweet, opiate quality of the slow-ship. Not so shy, Tomm drained his mug in one huge gulp.
"And there's no doubt these things can be dangerous," he said to the monk. "Hunter's experience proved that."
"It's a pity, really." Tomm sighed. "To come all this way, thinking we might find a treasure trove of these things, and then finding just this one, only to learn it's so unstable, we can never use it again. I believe that BMK officer would have gone blind had he used it even a few more times—
and he never went anywhere near as deep into as Hunter did."
Gordon sat back, pushed a button under his desk, and the curtains covering the far wall of his office disappeared. Beyond was a huge, arched window made of superglass. Rivets and metal sheeting made up its frame. A control panel of blinking lights was located below. The window gave a startling view of space all around them, stark, almost completely starless. The planet Xronis Trey was slowly turning below.
"Well, it was a nice trip while it lasted, I guess," Gordon said. "A dream certainly. Hunter's dream, that is. But it became ours as well, for a short time, anyway. I'm just not sure if we were little more than fools to chase k."
They looked down on the cracked, ugly landscape of the dirty little planet. "It is a strange place for it all to come to an end," Tomm said, shaking his head.
There was a long silence between them. They knew plans were already being formulated to retrieve any UPF soldiers still down on the surface and plan the long voyage back to the Home Planets.
Only one tough job remained.
"Who's going to tell Hawk?" Gordon asked Tomm.
The priest continued to stare out the window. "Who do you suggest?"
The CIA man just shrugged. "Frankly, I think it would be too emotional for Erx or Berx. I think Zarex, too, might be too heartbroken to deliver such news."
Tomm finally turned back to him.
"That just leaves either you or me," he said.
Gordon nodded. "Want to flip a coin?" he asked.
Tomm picked up the old mind ring and studied it for a moment.
"No need," he said finally, putting the ring in his pocket. "I'm supposed to be the holy man around here. The expert in comforting souls. I'll do it."
Tomm caught a shuttle going down to Xronis Trey ten minutes later. The shuttle landed, and the priest got off, making way for the first of the UPF soldiers who were being withdrawn from the planet's surface. Tomm gave them a quick blessing, then walked over to the battered command cluster. Entering by the main door, he made his way to the same hospital room where Captain Kyx had been interrogated earlier. This was where Hunter was recuperating from his near-tragic mind trip.
Tomm found the pilot not lying in bed as per the UPF doctor's orders, but standing next to his huge, oval window, looking out on the dark night and the near-empty space beyond.
He still looked as if he'd just rolled down a mountain. He had many tubes and wires hovering around him. His healing aura was still in place, it trailed behind him like a faint yellow ghost anytime he moved.
Tomm walked over to him and shook his hand.
"Did I catch you deep in thought, my brother?" he asked.
Hunter just shrugged. "I don't think my life has ever been any other way, Padre."
There was a moment's pause. Then, "I want to go back," Hunter suddenly announced.
Tomm just stared at him. "Go back where?" the priest asked in reply. He really didn't know. He thought maybe Hunter was referring to returning to the Home Planets.
"Back… into the mind ring," Hunter said.
Tomm almost laughed. Then he just shook his head.
"Brother Hawk," he began slowly, "as I believe they used to say on old Earth, 'No freaking way.' "
Hunter turned his eyes back out at the empty night. "Why not?" he asked.
"Brother, you know why not," Tomm replied quickly, his voice rising a notch. "You were quite nearly killed for real inside it the first time. We analyzed it, and its integrity is breaking down even as we speak. Take a look at yourself. You're a mess. And I should know, if you don't know it yourself. You've been through a major conflict on Planet America, you fought on Zazu-Zazu. You ran the Earth Race and God knows what else in your lifetime. Take it from me, brother. You took more of a beating in that mind-trip than in all those actions put together."
"But it doesn't matter if I get killed," Hunter said. "I won't be able to rest ever if I give up now."
The priest took a moment to collect his thoughts. This was going to be harder than he thought.
"Brother Hawk," Tomm began again. "You have come so far, you and Erx and Brother Berx. And Zarex. They are, to a man, people who care for you. And I traversed the Five Arm with you — and by magic went to the Home Planets with you. What I am saying is that we are your comrades, and sometimes we know what is best for you."
"I thank you for the good words, Padre," Hunter replied. "But you must admit the very reason we have come this far could still be buried on the deteriorating ring.
"Whose hands were piloting the ships that were taking the people of Earth away? Who ordered their deportation in the first place? These are probably the biggest riddles in the Galaxy — right up there with the secrets of Supertime and the Big Generator. It was what we came here to find out.
"There is still very valuable information contained in that device. I know if I go back, I can manipulate it more. Move around more. Learn more. Padre, I've taken risks before…"
Tomm took the ring itself out of his pocket and held it up to Hunter's bleary eyes. "Can you see how badly this thing has faded?" the priest asked him sternly. "Would you let any of us — or any soul at all — use it?"
Hunter took the ring and looked at it warily. It was barely holding its shape by now.
"Father, I appreciate your concern," he replied sincerely. "And I admire my friends Erx and Berx — and Zarex, and you Father, my good friend. But in a way, this is not really your fight. Though you all sprang from the same family tree of Earth, so to speak, this is more of a personal thing with me.