Gor Terr exploded.
“They’re selfish! All they think about is themselves. Who gave them the r-right to demand such a sacrifice of us as the r-re-fusal to live on a bountiful planet? And they’re the ones who tried to blow up a space station like their own! If I was deciding whether we should fly to them or not, I wouldn’t allow it!”
Mada was frightened to detect a familiar ring in his booming bass voice.
Toni Fae looked dismally at his friend.
’They’re not all in the wrong. We’ve got to distinguish between the station chief, the Supreme Officer of the Blood Guard, and Ala Veg and the roundhead Luas, neither of whom is in the least to blame.”
“And there are some Faetians on Phobo who aren’t in the least to blame either,” interposed Mada.
“No matter how many of them there may be, how can we possibly help them?” snapped Gor Terr.
“It’s not quite like that,” intervened Ave suddenly.
All turned to look at him. Even Dm Sat, lying on a bench near the table, tried to raise himself on one elbow.
“I did some calculations during the night Gor Terr, as an engineer, could verify them.”
“A specialist on elementary particles has been checking the engineer who designed the spaceship Quest?” inquired Gor Terr darkly.
“Excuse me, Gor Terr, but I’ve been going through your calculations and I found them correct”
“Well, well!… I’m so glad,” said Gor Terr, heaving a sigh of relief.
“What a pity!” responded Toni Fae.
“Even so, Gor Terr’s calculations can be taken further.”
“R-really?” Gor Terr looked sharply round at Ave Mar.
“His calculations were based on the assumption that all the Faetians of Quest must fly to Deimo.”
“But of course! How can we possibly split up?” exclaimed Mada.
“Only by doing that could we save the civilisation of Faena.”
“Let Ave clarify his idea,” requested Dm Sat.
“To economise in fuel for Quest, only two of us must go up in her, not five. Then the remainder of the fuel plus the reserves of fuel on Deimo and Phobo will enable us to deliver the Faetians on the space stations to Mar. Quest, of course, will not be able to return to Terr.”
“Which means,” shouted Toni Fae, “that only one Faetian can go with the pilot Gor Terr!”
“Ave Mar can also fly the ship,” commented Gor Terr. “After all, he’s been fighting so hard for the preservation of Faena’s culture.”
Mada looked at her husband in alarm.
“I haven’t had the time to discuss it with Mada, but she can express her opinion now.
In the name of Reason, I am prepared to stay on Terr if Mada stays with me. True, after Quest has gone, we’ll be living like savages who will from then on have to make axes and arrowheads out of stone.”
“I am prepared to stay with my Ave,” said Mada, “as I would be prepared to fly with him to Deimo.”
“Then I can fly with Gor Terr!” whispered Toni Fae with unconcealed joy.
“No,” objected Ave firmly. “If a great sacrifice has to be made in the name of Reason, then the continued Faetian civilisation on Mar can only be headed by Faena’s Great Elder, Urn Sat, its first man of learning.”
Toni Fae buried his head in his hands.
Dm Sat looked at him with compassion and said:
“I am old and ill. Is it worth counting on me when you speak of a new civilisation on Mar?”
“Surely it is not for a Great Elder to live like a savage in the primeval forest?” objected Ave. “That is the lot of the younger ones.”
“I agree to anything,” said Toni Fae in a dead voice.
“I swear it’s not going to be like that!” Gor Terr suddenly banged his fist on the table. “Urn Sat will, of course, fly on Quest to head the civilisation of the Marians. They’ll have to apply the technology of the space stations. Without technology, the Marians won’t survive. However, it is not Engineer Gor Terr who will fly to Mar with the great scientist, but his fr-riend Toni Fae.”
“But I can’t fly spaceships!” exclaimed the agitated Toni Fae.
Mada looked admiringly at Gor Terr.
“I’m r-right, am I not?” continued Gor Terr. “Those who stay behind on Terr won’t have it any easier than the ones flying to Mar. They’ll have to fight for every step they take in this confounded forest. Toni Fae would find it hard protecting the family of Ave and Mada here.”
“But I can’t fly spaceships,” repeated Toni Fae sadly.
“You’ll learn. Let the first university also start work in this first house, knocked together on Terr. It will have only one student, but three professors: the gr-reat scientist Um Sat, his celebrated pupil Ave Mar and the modest engineer, Gor Terr.”
“Two professors will eventually become savages,” said Ave Mar with a smile. “Gor Terr has just shown us what true friendship is. I will undertake to help Toni Fae in every way so that he can fly to Deimo with Um Sat”
The Elder rose from his bench.
“However hard the history of future generations of Terrans and Marians may be, it is a good thing that it begins with such noble sentiments!”
Tears were trickling down the old man’s wrinkled face.
There was never a more terrible day than the one when Quest had to lift off from Terr for space.
Left behind on Terr, Ave Mar, Mada and Gor Terr tried not to show what it cost them to see the others off.
The giant rocket loomed above the forest like a pointed tower. The last farewells were imminent.
The Elder embraced in turn each of the two sturdy, strong Faetians who were staying behind on the alien planet. Would they be able to survive?
Then Mada came up to him. Resting her head on his white beard, she raised her head and said something. The Elder drew her close to him and kissed her hair.
“Does Ave Mar know about it yet?”
“No, not yet,” replied Mada.
“May Reason remain to live on in your descendants!”
Ave Mar, who had just come up, understood everything without having to be told. He hugged his wife in gratitude.
When Um Sat followed by Toni Fae, climbed with difficulty up the vertical ladder, he looked round and called:
“At least teach them how to write!”
Gor Terr understood and smiled bitterly.
“They’ll have to learn hunting, not writing. And how to make stone axes!”
The Elder disappeared through the hatch.
As the engines fired, the three Faetians moved away from the rocket and raised their hands in a last farewell. They were seeing off forever those who, in the name of Reason, were taking away with them the heritage of Faetian civilisation.
Clouds of black smoke burst out from under the rocket.
In the dense forest, the trees were dotted with shaggy Faetoids. With malignant curiosity, they watched their two-legged victims, who were to be eaten in the gully.
The strongest of the Faetoids would seize the hairless ones and not let them return to their “cave without rocks”.
Suddenly, under the smooth stone tree into which two of the hairless ones had disappeared, such a terrible thunder roared that even the fiercest of the Faetoids fell from their branches. Then, from under the smooth stone tree, black clouds billowed forth, as before the water falling from above, and flames gushed forth.
The beasts fled helter-skelter in all directions.
The path to the house of the depleted Faetians on Terr had been cleared.
This time they were able to return to their refuge, not suspecting that, in dispersing their enemies, their departed friends had rendered them their last service.