Part 1 (2/2)

Pay attention to what he has to say--it will mean something. There's one other crewman, a man named Cooper. You'll be flying with him now.

Keep your ears open and your mouth shut, except for questions. And don't take any chances. That's all.”

Beauclaire saluted and rose to go.

”When you see Wyatt,” the Commandant said, ”tell him I won't be able to make it down before you leave. Too busy. Got papers to sign. Got more d.a.m.n papers than the chief has ulcers.”

The young man waited.

”That, G.o.d help you, is all,” said the Commandant.

Wyatt saw the letter when the young man was still a long way off. The white caught his eye, and he watched idly for a moment. And then he saw the fresh green gear on the man's back and the look on his face as he came up the ladder, and Wyatt stopped breathing.

He stood for a moment blinking in the sun. _Me?_ he thought ... _me?_

Beauclaire reached the platform and threw down his gear, thinking that this was one h.e.l.l of a way to begin a career.

Wyatt nodded to him, but didn't say anything. He accepted the letter, opened it and read it. He was a short man, thick and dark and very powerful. The lines of his face did not change as he read the letter.

”Well,” he said when he was done, ”thank you.”

There was a long wait, and Wyatt said at last: ”Is the Commandant coming down?”

”No, sir. He said he was tied up. He said to give you his best.”

”That's nice,” Wyatt said.

After that, neither of them spoke. Wyatt showed the new man to his room and wished him good luck. Then he went back to his cabin and sat down to think.

After 28 years in the Mapping Command, he had become necessarily immune to surprise; he could understand this at once, but it would be some time before he would react. _Well, well_, he said to himself; but he did not feel it.

Vaguely, flicking cigarettes onto the floor, he wondered _why_. The letter had not given a reason. He had probably flunked a physical. Or a mental. One or the other, each good enough reason. He was 47 years old, and this was a rough business. Still, he felt strong and cautious, and he knew he was not afraid. He felt good for a long while yet ... but obviously he was not.

_Well, then_, he thought, _where now_?

He considered that with interest. There was no particular place for him to go. Really no place. He had come into the business easily and naturally, knowing what he wanted--which was simply to move and listen and see. When he was young, it had been adventure alone that drew him; now it was something else he could not define, but a thing he knew he needed badly. He had to see, to watch ... and _understand_.

It was ending, the long time was ending. It didn't matter what was wrong with him. The point was that he was through. The point was that he was going home, to nowhere in particular.

When evening came, he was still in his room. Eventually he'd been able to accept it all and examine it clearly, and had decided that there was nothing to do. If there was anything out in s.p.a.ce which he had not yet found, he would not be likely to need it.

He left off sitting, and went up to the control room.

Cooper was waiting for him. Cooper was a tall, bearded, scrawny man with a great temper and a great heart and a small capacity for liquor.

He was sitting all alone in the room when Wyatt entered.

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