Of course the changes would not come about overnight. No one pretended to expect that. Old hatreds still flared. Old fears still paralyzed the thinking of many men. The end of suspicions that had festered for centuries would not be brought about by magic, and the wise ones both on Earth and in space acknowledged that decades and maybe centuries would be required to heal the wounds laid raw by human childishness.
But now, at least, there was a reason to try.
In the first days after the blockade was broken Ben Trefon returned to Earth with the two friends who had stood by his side when the mauki chant began. Before, he came as a raider. Now he came in peace, as an envoy from the Spacer Council, to help in the vast job of education and change that had to be done. Soon after their return Joyce Barron went back to her training in nursing in a Chicago hospital, but Ben and Tom continued their tour of the cities and nations of Earth, working as a team to build and reinforce the strength of the Searchers’ message.
But Ben Trefon was first and last a Spacer. Presently the oppressive atmosphere, the difference in gravity and the pressing crowds of people at every hand became more than he could bear, and he made ready to return to Asteroid Central.
He was not surprised to learn that Tom Barron was returning with him, one of the first Earthmen to be accepted for training in the school of space navigation on Asteroid Central.
“I hope you realize what you’re buying into,” Ben warned his friend on the night of their departure.
“Life out there won’t be easy just because we have peace and free access to Earth. Space will always be a hard master, and men in space will still carry the flaw they have always carried. There are still no girls born in space.”
Tom Barron nodded. “I know. At least not now; some of our geneticists think that a solution can be found, and that soon there won’t even be that distinction between Earthmen and Spacers. And I’m not looking for an easy life, exactly.”
“But you had work to do down here.”
“There are plenty here to do it,” Tom replied. “Plenty and more than plenty. For me, I know as well as you do where the important work is waiting to be done.”
They stood on the wide upper concourse above the vast residential city where the Barrons’ quarters were located. Over their heads the sky was dark, and a night wind filtered across the city. Tom walked to the guard railing, staring at the sky. “It looks different here,” he said. “With the sky-glow and the thick atmosphere, you’d never dream the number of stars that are out there.”
“They’re there, all right,” Ben agreed.
“And some day fleets of ships will be going out. That will be where the real work begins, when the Searchers come back.”
“Maybe,” Ben Trefon said, but he knew Tom Barron was right. Some day the time would come. But for now, strangely enough, the Searchers had disappeared. Since the night the mauki had sung her song, Spacer and Earth ships together had combed the solar system in search of the small gray men with the misty-blue eyes, but no sign of them had been found. Whether they had really left the solar system altogether, or were simply hiding and watching as they had watched before, nobody knew. Some even questioned that they had ever been there at all, but Ben Trefon still wore the black web belt around his waist, with the shiny capsule lodged in its pocket. Now he touched the metallic surface lightly and felt the barely perceptible vibration that was there.
“They’ll be back,” he said confidently. “Some day, when the time is right, we’ll meet them again.” Tom grinned at his Spacer friend. “Let’s be honest. They’ll be back when we’re ready for them, and not a minute before. But who knows? That may be sooner than we think.” Side by side they crossed the glittering concourse and started down the ramp toward the space port.
* * *
First published by David McKay Company Inc., 1962
Scanned from Pyramid Books F-933, 1963
Scanned & proofed by colonial boy, August 2008