Part 28 (1/2)

Temple fell, half stunned by the blow, at her feet. For the s.p.a.ce of a single heartbeat he watched her move slowly toward the round doorway, then he had clambered to his feet, running after her. He got his arms on her shoulders, yanked at her.

When she turned he saw she was crying. ”I--I'm sorry, Kit. You couldn't fool me about.... Stephanie. You can't fool me about this.”

She had more leverage this time. She stepped back, bringing her small, hard fist up from her knees. It struck Temple squarely at the point of the jaw, with the strength of Jovian-trained muscle behind it.

Temple's feet left the floor and he landed with a thud on his back.

His last thought of Sophia--or of anything, for a while--made him smile faintly as he lost consciousness. For a kiss she had promised him another dislocated jaw, and she had kept her promise....

Later, how much later he did not know, something soft cus.h.i.+oned his head. He opened his eyes, stared through swirling, spinning murk. He focussed, saw Arkalion. No--_two_ Arkalions standing off at a distance, watching him. He squirmed, knew his head was cus.h.i.+oned in a woman's lap. He sighed, tried to sit up and failed. Soft hands caressed his forehead, his cheeks. A face swam into vision, but mistily. ”Sophia,” he murmured. His vision cleared.

It was Stephanie.

”It's over,” said Arkalion. ”We're on our way back to Earth, Kit.”

”But the s.h.i.+ps--”

”All destroyed. If my people want to come here in ten thousand years, let them try. I have a hunch you of Earth will be ready for them.”

”It took us five thousand to reach Nowhere,” Temple mused. ”It will take us five thousand to return. We'll come barely in time to warn Earth--”

”Wrong,” said Arkalion. ”I still have my s.h.i.+p. We're in it now, so you'll reach Earth with almost fifty centuries to spare. Why don't you forget about it, though? If human progress for the next five thousand years matches what has been happening for the last five, the parasites won't stand a chance.”

”Earth--five thousand years in the future,” Stephanie said dreamily.

”I wonder what it will be like.... Don't be so startled, Kit. I was a pilot study on the Nowhere Journey. If I made it successfully, other women would have been sent. But now there won't be any need.”

”I wouldn't be too sure of that,” said the real Alaric Arkalion III.

”I suspect a lot of people are going to feel just like me. Why not go out and colonize s.p.a.ce. We can do it. Wonderful to have a frontier again.... Why, a dozen billionaires will appear for every one like my father. Good for the economy.”

”So, if we don't like Earth,” said Stephanie, ”we can always go out.”

”I have a strong suspicion you will like it,” said Arkalion's double.

Alaric III grinned. ”What about you, bud? I don't want a twin brother hanging around all the time.”