She brushed by the sergeant at arms at the door. It closed gently behind her.
“Let her go,” Leedry said. “I rather imagine that she’ll have a long, long wait before Civil Service is able to place her in another government position. And she just told us all we need to know. Her infatuation with Lane, and the effect of that infatuation on her judgment is now a matter of record. I suggest that we consider arriving at a conclusion. My personal opinion is that Project Tempo failed due to the gross negligence and mental instability of Dr. Bard Lane. We should clear out the witnesses and poll the committee.”
General Sachson, as he stood up, said, “If I could have the privilege of making one comment, Senator.”
“Of course, General,” Leedry said warmly.
“You will find in my record that two years ago when Project Tempo was being considered, I read the survey reports and filed a negative opinion. That girl — I should say Dr. Inly — inferred that the military has attempted to block Project Tempo. I wish to deny that allegation. I am a soldier. I follow orders. Once Project Tempo was approved, I gave it my wholehearted cooperation. The minutes of my staff meetings in connection with Tempo are available as proof of this cooperation.
“However, in all honesty, I must confess that from the beginning I considered Tempo to be a wild scheme. I believe that with persistence, with the application of discipline and effort, we will succeed in conquering space in accordance with the plan outlined by General Roamer sixteen years ago. First we must beef up our moon base. The moon is the stepping stone to Mars and Venus. Gentlemen, it is sound military thought to consolidate your own area before advancing further. Project Tempo put the cart several miles ahead of the horse. The old ways are the best. The known methods are tried, and they will be true.
“Is this time-jump theory something you can see, feel, hold on to? No. It is a theory. I personally do not believe that there is any variation. I think time is a constant throughout all the galaxies and all the universe. Lane was a dreamer. I am a doer. You know my record. I do not want this fiasco to make you turn your backs on space flight. We need a vastly augmented moon base. From a moon base we can look down the throat of Pan-Asia. We must reinforce that base, and not dissipate our efforts in humoring the more lunatic fringe of our nation’s physicists. Thank you, gentlemen.”
Leedry led the round of polite but enthusiastic applause. Major Leeber rose quickly to his feet and clapped with the rest.
Twelve
For an uncounted number of days, Raul Kinson sat in one of the rooms of learning, alone, many levels above the rest of the Watchers. Infrequently he went down to pick at the food on one of the trays. Once Leesa found him. He did not look at her, or hear what she said. He was vaguely aware of her presence and felt a mild distant relief when she went away.
Over and over and over again he saw, as he had seen it through Bard Lane’s eyes, the roaring ruin of the Beatty One, the ruin of his hopes, the clear cue to treachery. He wanted Leesa’s throat between his fingers, yet knew that he could not kill her.
He did not dream. He did not wish to project himself back to Earth. He had been ashamed of the Watchers before. This was a new shame, more intense than ever before. And slowly he came back to life. Hour by hour. On Earth there had been one ship. Here there were six. Would a man die outside the building? If a man could live, could find his way into one of the six ships...
He knew where the door was. If he died outside the building, it did not matter.
He went down to the lowest level, hurried by the throb of the power rooms, glancing often over his shoulder. He made certain that he was not followed. The rooms that lined the corridor leading to the door contained things that the others no longer understood. Odd garments. Tools. Undisturbed for centuries.
At last he came to the door. The top of it was on a level with his eyes. Two spoked wheels projected from the door itself. He touched one. It turned easily. He spun it hard. It spun without sound, stopped with a soft click. He did the same with the other one. He glanced back up the corridor, then grasped both wheels. His breath came deep and hard and excitement fluttered along his spine. He pulled slowly. The door opened. He knew of wind and coldness, but always he had felt them in an alien body and now he knew that such sensations had been muted. The wind was a dull knife scraping his flesh and sand, heaped against the door, trickled in onto the corridor floor. He knew that he could not stand such cold. The sand prevented him from closing the door again. He dropped to his knees and shoveled the sand back out with his hands. At last he could close the door. As he leaned against it he began to stop shaking as the warmth seeped back into his body. It seemed incredible that beyond the door there was not another corridor, equally warm.
He found the garments in the third room. They were metallic, dark green. The inner lining was soft. He found a large one, put it on awkwardly. It felt strange against his legs, heavy. The fastening was difficult until he discovered that the two strips of metal down the front would cling together firmly of their own accord.
Thus clad against the cold, it was only as he returned to the door the second time that he thought of a more obvious danger. When shut the door would remain closed until he pushed against it from the outside. But if Jord Orlan or any one of the old ones should be following him, should come and spin the wheels—
“Raul!” she said, close behind him. It startled him badly. He turned and stared at Leesa, then turned his back to her.
“Raul, you must listen to me. You must!”
“There is nothing you can say to me.”
“I know what you think of me. I betrayed you, Raul. I gave you my word and betrayed you. You know that I smashed that ship.” She laughed in a strange and brittle way. “But you see, I didn’t realize that I was betraying myself too.”
He did not turn. He stood stolidly, staring at the burnished metal of the door.
“I have dreamed many times, Raul, trying to find him. I have found Sharan Inly. I told her what I had done. She hated me, Raul. And after a long time I made her understand. She is... kind, Raul. But she cannot find him. No one knows where he has gone. And I must find him and tell him... why I did that to him.”
Behind him he heard an odd sound. A small sound. He turned. She had dropped to her knees, and sat on her heels, shoulders slumped, face in her hands.
“Never before have I seen you weep, Leesa.”
“Help me find him, Raul. Please help me.”
“I want you to find him, Leesa. I want you to see, in his mind, precisely what you did to him.”
“I know what I did to him. I was in his mind once, Raul, after it happened,” she said, lifting her tear-tracked face. “It was... horrid.”
“How can that be, Leesa? Remember? They are only dream creatures. They don’t exist. The machines are clever. The dream machines manufactured Bard Lane for your special amusement.”
“Don’t. Please don’t.”
“Don’t tell me, my sister, that you have come to believe those creatures exist,” he said mockingly. “What could have changed your mind?”
Her eyes were grave on his. There was an odd dignity about her. “I cannot think it out the way you do. I was in his mind. I know his thoughts, his memories and his dreams. I know him better than I know myself. It is just that I cannot go on living in a universe where he does not exist. And if he exists, then all the others do. You have been right. All the others have been wrong, as wrong as I have been.”
“I should trust you now?”
“Is there any reason for distrusting me... now?”
He took her hands and lifted her to her feet, and he smiled. “I shall trust you again. If you help me, maybe we can find him again. I know how you feel, Leesa, because I cannot... stop thinking, remembering. She was...”