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diff --git a/32321.txt b/32321.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb96795 --- /dev/null +++ b/32321.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1374 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book, by Michael Shaara + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Book + +Author: Michael Shaara + +Illustrator: Mel Hunter + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32321] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction November 1953. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + THE BOOK + + + [Illustration:] + + + _A weird world--cut off from the Universe, it had universal + wisdom; facing death at every moment, it had the secret of + peace!_ + + + By MICHAEL SHAARA + + + Illustrated by Mel Hunter + + * * * * * + + + + +Beauclaire was given his first ship at Sirius. He was called up before +the Commandant in the slow heat of the afternoon, and stood shuffling +with awkward delight upon the shaggy carpet. He was twenty-five years +old, and two months out of the Academy. It was a wonderful day. + +The Commandant told Beauclaire to sit down, and sat looking at him for +a long while. The Commandant was an old man with a face of many lines. +He was old, was hot, was tired. He was also very irritated. He had +reached that point of oldness when talking to a young man is an +irritation because they are so bright and certain and don't know +anything and there is nothing you can do about it. + +"All right," the Commandant said, "there are a few things I have to +tell you. Do you know where you are going?" + +"No, sir," Beauclaire said cheerfully. + +"All right," the Commandant said again, "I'll tell you. You are going +to the Hole in Cygnus. You've heard of it, I hope? Good. Then you know +that the Hole is a large dust cloud--estimated diameter, ten +light-years. We have never gone into the Hole, for a number of +reasons. It's too thick for light speeds, it's too big, and Mapping +Command ships are being spread thin. Also, until now, we never thought +there was anything in the Hole worth looking at. So we have never gone +into the Hole. Your ship will be the first." + +"Yes, _sir_," Beauclaire said, eyes shining. + +"A few weeks ago," the Commandant said, "one of our amateurs had a +lens on the Hole, just looking. He saw a glow. He reported to us; we +checked and saw the same thing. There is a faint light coming out of +the Hole--obviously, a sun, a star inside the cloud, just far enough +in to be almost invisible. God knows how long it's been there, but we +do know that there's never been a record of a light in the Hole. +Apparently this star orbited in some time ago, and is now on its way +out. It is just approaching the edge of the cloud. Do you follow me?" + +"Yes, sir," Beauclaire said. + +"Your job is this: You will investigate that sun for livable planets +and alien life. If you find anything--which is highly unlikely--you +are to decipher the language and come right back. A Psych team will go +out and determine the effects of a starless sky upon the alien +culture--obviously, these people will never have seen the stars." + + * * * * * + +The Commandant leaned forward, intent now for the first time. + +"Now, this is an important job. There were no other linguists +available, so we passed over a lot of good men to pick you. Make no +mistake about your qualifications. You are nothing spectacular. But +the ship will be yours from now on, permanently. Have you got that?" + +The young man nodded, grinning from ear to ear. + +"There is something else," the Commandant said, and abruptly he +paused. + +He gazed silently at Beauclaire--at the crisp gray uniform, the +baby-slick cheek--and he thought fleetingly and bitterly of the Hole +in Cygnus which he, an old man, would never see. Then he told himself +sternly to leave off self-pity. The important thing was coming up, and +he would have to say it well. + +"Listen," he said. The tone of his voice was very strong and +Beauclaire blinked. "You are replacing one of our oldest men. One of +our best men. His name is Billy Wyatt. He--he has been with us a long +time." The Commandant paused again, his fingers toying with the +blotter on his desk. "They have told you a lot of stuff at the +Academy, which is all very important. But I want you to understand +something else: This Mapping Command is a weary business--few men last +for any length of time, and those that do aren't much good in the end. +You know that. Well, I want you to be very careful when you talk to +Billy Wyatt; and I want you to listen to him, because he's been around +longer than anybody. We're relieving him, yes, because he is breaking +down. He's no good for us any more; he has no more nerve. He's lost +the feeling a man has to have to do his job right." + +The Commandant got up slowly and walked around in front of Beauclaire, +looking into his eyes. + +"When you relieve Wyatt, treat him with respect. He's been farther and +seen more than any man you will ever meet. I want no cracks and no +pity for that man. Because, listen, boy, sooner or later the same +thing will happen to you. Why? Because it's too big--" the Commandant +gestured helplessly with spread hands--"it's all just too damn big. +Space is never so big that it can't get bigger. If you fly long +enough, it will finally get too big to make any sense, and you'll +start thinking. You'll start thinking that it doesn't make sense. On +that day, we'll bring you back and put you into an office somewhere. +If we leave you alone, you lose ships and get good men killed--there's +nothing we can do when space gets too big. That is what happened to +Wyatt. That is what will happen, eventually, to you. Do you +understand?" + +The young man nodded uncertainly. + +"And that," the Commandant said sadly, "is the lesson for today. Take +your ship. Wyatt will go with you on this one trip, to break you in. +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 damn papers than the chief has ulcers." + +The young man waited. + +"That, God 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 hell 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 space 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. + +Except for the pearl-green glow of dashlights from the panel, the room +was dark. Cooper was lying far back in the pilot's seat, his feet +propped up on the panel. One shoe was off, and he was carefully +pressing buttons with his huge bare toes. The first thing Wyatt saw +when he entered was the foot glowing luridly in the green light of the +panel. Deep within the ship he could hear the hum of the dynamos +starting and stopping. + +Wyatt grinned. From the play of Coop's toes, and the attitude, and the +limp, forgotten pole of an arm which hung down loosely from the chair, +it was obvious that Coop was drunk. In port, he was usually drunk. He +was a lean, likable man with very few cares and no manners at all, +which was typical of men in that Command. + +"What say, Billy?" Coop mumbled from deep in the seat. + +Wyatt sat down. "Where you been?" + +"In the port. Been drinkin' in the goddam port. Hot!" + +"Bring back any?" + +Coop waved an arm floppily in no particular direction. "Look around." + +The flasks lay in a heap by the door. Wyatt took one and sat down +again. The room was warm and green and silent. The two men had been +together long enough to be able to sit without speaking, and in the +green glow they waited, thinking. The first pull Wyatt took was long +and numbing; he closed his eyes. + +Coop did not move at all. Not even his toes. When Wyatt had begun to +think he was asleep, he said suddenly: + +"Heard about the replacement." + +Wyatt looked at him. + +"Found out this afternoon," Coop said, "from the goddam Commandant." + +Wyatt closed his eyes again. + +"Where you goin'?" Coop asked. + +Wyatt shrugged. "Plush job." + +"You got any plans?" + +Wyatt shook his head. + +Coop swore moodily. "Never let you alone," he muttered. "Miserable +bastards." He rose up suddenly in the chair, pointing a long +matchstick finger into Wyatt's face. "Listen, Billy," he said with +determination, "you was a good man, you know that? You was one hell of +a good goddam man." + +Wyatt took another long pull and nodded, smiling. + +"You said it," he said. + +"I sailed with some good men, some _good_ men," Coop insisted, +stabbing shakily but emphatically with his finger, "but you don't take +nothin' from nobody." + +[Illustration] + +"Here's to me, I'm true blue," Wyatt grinned. + + * * * * * + +Coop sank back in the chair, satisfied. "I just wanted you should +know. You been a good man." + +"Betcher sweet life," Wyatt said. + +"So they throw you out. _Me_ they keep. _You_ they throw out. They got +no brains." + +Wyatt lay back, letting the liquor take hold, receding without pain +into a quiet world. The ship was good to feel around him, dark and +throbbing like a living womb. _Just like a womb_, he thought. _It's a +lot like a womb._ + +"Listen," Coop said thickly, rising from his chair. "I think I'll quit +this racket. What the hell I wanna stay in this racket for?" + +Wyatt looked up, startled. When Coop was drunk, he was never a little +drunk. He was always far gone, and he could be very mean. Wyatt saw +now that he was down deep and sinking; that the replacement was a big +thing to him, bigger than Wyatt had expected. In this team, Wyatt had +been the leader, and it had seldom occurred to him that Coop really +needed him. He had never really thought about it. But now he let +himself realize that, alone, Coop could be very bad. Unless this new +man was worth anything and learned quickly, Coop would very likely get +himself killed. + +Now, more than ever, this replacement thing was ridiculous; but for +Coop's sake, Wyatt said quickly: + +"Drop that, man. You'll be on this ship in the boneyard. You even look +like this ship--you got a bright red bow." + +When the tall man was dark and silent, Wyatt said gently, "Coop. Easy. +We leave at midnight. Want me to take her up?" + +"Naw." Coop turned away abruptly, shaking his head. "T'hell with you. +Go die." He sank back deeply in the seat, his gaunt face reflecting +the green glow from the panel. His next words were sad, and, to Wyatt, +very touching. + +"Hell, Billy," Coop said wearily, "this ain' no fun." + +Wyatt let him take the ship up alone. There was no reason to argue +about it. Coop was drunk; his mind was unreachable. + +At midnight, the ship bucked and heaved and leaped up into the sky. +Wyatt hung tenuously to a stanchion by a port, watched the night +lights recede and the stars begin blooming. In a few moments the last +clouds were past, and they were out in the long night, and the million +million speckled points of glittering blue and red and silver burned +once more with the mighty light which was, to Wyatt, all that was real +or had ever meant living. In the great glare and the black he stood, +as always, waiting for something to happen, for the huge lonely beauty +to resolve itself to a pattern and descend and be understood. + +It did not. It was just space, an area in which things existed, in +which mechanized substance moved. Wondering, waiting, Wyatt regarded +the Universe. The stars looked icily back. + +At last, almost completely broken, Wyatt went to bed. + + * * * * * + +Beauclaire's first days passed very quickly. He spent them in combing +the ship, seeking her out in her deepest layers, watching and touching +and loving. The ship was to him like a woman; the first few days were +his honeymoon. Because there is no lonelier job that a man can have, +it was nearly always this way with men in the Command. + +Wyatt and Cooper left him pretty much alone. They did not come looking +for him, and the few times that he did see them he could not help but +feel their surprise and resentment. Wyatt was always polite. Cooper +was not. Neither seemed to have anything to say to Beauclaire, and he +was wise enough to stay by himself. Most of Beauclaire's life until +now had been spent among books and dust and dead, ancient languages. +He was by nature a solitary man, and therefore it was not difficult +for him to be alone. + +On a morning some weeks after the trip began, Wyatt came looking for +him. His eyes twinkling, Wyatt fished him up, grease-coated and +embarrassed, out of a shaft between the main dynamos. Together they +went up toward the astrogation dome. And under the great dome, beneath +the massive crystal sheet on the other side of which there was nothing +for ever and ever, Beauclaire saw a beauty which he was to remember as +long as he lived. + +They were nearing the Hole in Cygnus. On the side which faces the +center of the Galaxy the Hole is almost flat, from top to bottom, like +a wall. They were moving in on the flat side now, floating along some +distance from the wall, which was so huge and incredible that +Beauclaire was struck dumb. + +It began above him, light-years high. It came down in a black, +folding, rushing silence, fell away beneath him for millions upon +millions of miles, passed down beyond sight so far away, so +unbelievably far away and so vast, that there could be nothing as big +as this, and if he had not seen the stars still blazing on either side +he would have had to believe that the wall was just outside the glass, +so close he could touch it. From all over the wall a haze reflected +faintly, so that the wall stood out in ridges and folds from the great +black of space. Beauclaire looked up and then down, and then stood and +gazed. + +After a while, Wyatt pointed silently down. Beauclaire looked in among +the folds and saw it, the tiny yellow gleam toward which they were +moving. It was so small against the massive cloud that he lost it +easily. + +Each time he took his eyes away, he lost it, and had to search for it +again. + +"It's not too far in," Wyatt said at last, breaking the silence. +"We'll move down the cloud to the nearest point, then we'll slow down +and move in. Should take a couple of days." + +Beauclaire nodded. + +"Thought you'd like to see," Wyatt said. + +"Thanks." Beauclaire was sincerely grateful. And then, unable to +contain himself, he shook his head with wonder. "My God!" he said. + +Wyatt smiled. "It's a big show." + +Later, much later, Beauclaire began to remember what the Commandant +had said about Wyatt. But he could not understand it at all. Sure, +something like the Hole was incomprehensible. It did not make any +sense--but so what? A thing as beautiful as that, Beauclaire thought, +did not _have_ to make sense. + + * * * * * + +They reached the sun slowly. The gas was not thick by any Earthly +standards--approximately one atom to every cubic mile of space--but +for a starship, any matter at all is too much. At normal speeds, the +ship would hit the gas like a wall. So they came in slowly, swung in +and around the large yellow sun. + +They saw one planet almost immediately. While moving in toward that +one they scanned for others, found none at all. + +Space around them was absolutely strange; there was nothing in the sky +but a faint haze. They were in the cloud now, and of course could see +no star. There was nothing but the huge sun and the green gleaming dot +of that one planet, and the endless haze. + +From a good distance out, Wyatt and Cooper ran through the standard +tests while Beauclaire watched with grave delight. They checked for +radio signals, found none. The spectrum of the planet revealed strong +oxygen and water-vapor lines, surprisingly little nitrogen. The +temperature, while somewhat cool, was in the livable range. + +It was a habitable planet. + +"Jackpot!" Coop said cheerfully. "All that oxygen, bound to be some +kind of life." + +Wyatt said nothing. He was sitting in the pilot chair, his huge hands +on the controls, nursing the ship around into the long slow spiral +which would take them down. He was thinking of many other things, many +other landings. He was remembering the acid ocean at Lupus and the +rotting disease of Altair, all the dark, vicious, unknowable things he +had approached, unsuspecting, down the years. + +... So many years, that now he suddenly realized it was too long, too +long. + +Cooper, grinning unconsciously as he scanned with the telescope, did +not notice Wyatt's sudden freeze. + +It was over all at once. Wyatt's knuckles had gradually whitened as he +gripped the panel. Sweat had formed on his face and run down into his +eyes, and he blinked, and realized with a strange numbness that he was +soaking wet all over. In that moment, his hands froze and gripped the +panel, and he could not move them. + +It was a hell of a thing to happen on a man's last trip, he thought. +He would like to have taken her down just this once. He sat looking at +his hands. Gradually, calmly, carefully, with a cold will and a +welling sadness, he broke his hands away from the panel. + +"Coop," he said, "take over." + +Coop glanced over and saw. Wyatt's face was white and glistening; his +hands in front of him were wooden and strange. + +"Sure," Coop said, after a very long moment. "Sure." + +Wyatt backed off, and Coop slid into the seat. + +"They got me just in time," Wyatt said, looking at his stiff, still +fingers. He looked up and ran into Beauclaire's wide eyes, and turned +away from the open pity. Coop was bending over the panel, swallowing +heavily. + +"Well," Wyatt said. He was beginning to cry. He walked slowly from the +room, his hands held before him like old gray things that had died. + + * * * * * + +The ship circled automatically throughout the night, while its crew +slept or tried to. In the morning they were all forcefully cheerful +and began to work up an interest. + +There were people on the planet. Because the people lived in villages, +and had no cities and no apparent science, Coop let the ship land. + +It was unreal. For a long while, none of them could get over the +feeling of unreality, Wyatt least of all. He stayed in the ship and +got briefly drunk, and then came out as carefully efficient as ever. +Coop was gay and brittle. Only Beauclaire saw the planet with any +degree of clarity. And all the while the people looked back. + +From the very beginning it was peculiar. + +The people saw the ship passing overhead, yet curiously they did not +run. They gathered in groups and watched. When the ship landed, a +small band of them came out of the circling woods and hills and ringed +the ship, and a few came up and touched it calmly, ran fingers over +smooth steel sides. + +The people were human. + +There was not, so far as Beauclaire could tell, a single significant +difference. It was not really extraordinary--similar conditions will +generally breed similar races--but there was something about these men +and women which was hard and powerful, and in a way almost grand. + +They were magnificently built, rounded and bronzed. Their women +especially were remarkably beautiful. They were wearing woven clothes +of various colors, in simple savage fashions; but there was nothing at +all savage about them. They did not shout or seem nervous or move +around very much, and nowhere among them was there any sign of a +weapon. Furthermore, they did not seem to be particularly curious. The +ring about the ship did not increase. Although several new people +wandered in from time to time, others were leaving, unconcerned. The +only ones among them who seemed at all excited were the children. + +Beauclaire stood by the view-screen, watching. Eventually Coop joined +him, looking without interest until he saw the women. There was one +particular girl with shaded brown eyes and a body of gentle hills. +Coop grinned widely and turned up the magnification until the screen +showed nothing but the girl. He was gazing with appreciation and +making side comments to Beauclaire when Wyatt came in. + +"Looka _that_, Billy," Coop roared with delight, pointing. "Man, we +have come home!" + + * * * * * + +Wyatt smiled very tightly, changed the magnification quickly to cover +the whole throng around them. + +"No trouble?" + +"Nope," Coop said. "Air's good, too. Thin, but practically pure +oxygen. Who's first to go out?" + +"Me," Wyatt said, for obvious reasons. He would not be missed. + +No one argued with him. Coop was smiling as Wyatt armed himself. Then +he warned Wyatt to leave that cute little brown-eyed doll alone. + +Wyatt went out. + +The air was clear and cool. There was a faint breeze stirring the +leaves around him, and Wyatt listened momentarily to the far +bell-calls of birds. This would be the last time he would ever go out +like this, to walk upon an unknown world. He waited for some time by +the airlock before he went forward. + +The ring of people did not move as he approached, his hand upraised in +what the Mapping Command had come to rely on as the universal gesture +of peace. He paused before a tall, monolithic old man in a single +sheath of green cloth. + +"Hello," he said aloud, and bowed his head slowly. + +From the ship, through the wide-angle sights of a gun, Beauclaire +watched breathlessly as Wyatt went through the pantomime of greeting. + +None of the tall people moved, except the old man, who folded his arms +and looked openly amused. When the pantomime was done, Wyatt bowed +again. The old man broke into a broad grin, looked amiably around at +the circle of people, and then quite suddenly bowed to Wyatt. One by +one the people, grinning, bowed. + +Wyatt turned and waved at the ship, and Beauclaire stood away from his +gun, smiling. + +It was a very fine way to begin. + + * * * * * + +In the morning Wyatt went out alone, to walk in the sun among the +trees, and he found the girl he had seen from the ship. She was +sitting alone by a stream, her feet cooling and splashing in the clear +water. + +Wyatt sat down beside her. She looked up, unsurprised, out of eyes +that were rich and grained like small pieces of beautiful wood. Then +she bowed, from the waist. Wyatt grinned and bowed back. + +Unceremoniously he took off his boots and let his feet plunk down into +the water. It was shockingly cold, and he whistled. The girl smiled at +him. To his surprise, she began to hum softly. It was a pretty tune +that he was able to follow, and after a moment he picked up the +harmony and hummed along with her. She laughed, and he laughed with +her, feeling very young. + +_Me Billy_, he thought of saying, and laughed again. He was content +just to sit without saying anything. Even her body, which was +magnificent, did not move him to anything but a quiet admiration, and +he regarded himself with wonder. + +The girl picked up one of his boots and examined it critically, +clucking with interest. Her lovely eyes widened as she played with the +buckle. Wyatt showed her how the snaps worked and she was delighted +and clapped her hands. + +Wyatt brought other things out of his pockets and she examined them +all, one after the other. The picture of him on his ID card was the +only one which seemed to puzzle her. She handled it and looked at it, +and then at him, and shook her head. Eventually she frowned and gave +it definitely back to him. He got the impression that she thought it +was very bad art. He chuckled. + +The afternoon passed quickly, and the sun began to go down. They +hummed some more and sang songs to each other which neither understood +and both enjoyed, and it did not occur to Wyatt until much later how +little curiosity they had felt. They did not speak at all. She had no +interest in his language or his name, and, strangely, he felt all +through the afternoon that talking was unnecessary. It was a very rare +day spent between two people who were not curious and did not want +anything from each other. The only words they said to each other were +goodbye. + +Wyatt, lost inside himself, plodding, went back to the ship. + + * * * * * + +In the first week, Beauclaire spent his every waking hour learning the +language of the planet. From the very beginning he had felt an +unsettling, peculiar manner about these people. Their behavior was +decidedly unusual. Although they did not differ in any appreciable way +from human beings, they did not act very much like human beings in +that they were almost wholly lacking a sense of awe, a sense of +wonder. Only the children seemed surprised that the ship had landed, +and only the children hung around and inspected it. Almost all the +others went off about their regular business--which seemed to be +farming--and when Beauclaire tried learning the language, he found +very few of the people willing to spend time enough to teach him. + +But they were always more or less polite, and by making a pest of +himself he began to succeed. On another day when Wyatt came back from +the brown-eyed girl, Beauclaire reported some progress. + +"It's a beautiful language," he said as Wyatt came in. "Amazingly +well-developed. It's something like our Latin--same type of +construction, but much softer and more flexible. I've been trying to +read their book." + +Wyatt sat down thoughtfully and lit a cigarette. + +"Book?" he said. + +"Yes. They have a lot of books, but _everybody_ has this one +particular book--they keep it in a place of honor in their houses. +I've tried to ask them what it is--I think it's a bible of some +kind--but they just won't bother to tell me." + +Wyatt shrugged, his mind drifting away. + +"I just don't understand them," Beauclaire said plaintively, glad to +have someone to talk to. "I don't get them at all. They're quick, +they're bright, but they haven't the damnedest bit of curiosity about +_anything_, not even each other. My God, they don't even gossip!" + +Wyatt, contented, puffed quietly. "Do you think not seeing the stars +has something to do with it? Ought to have slowed down the development +of physics and math." + +Beauclaire shook his head. "No. It's very strange. There's something +else. Have you noticed the way the ground seems to be sharp and jagged +almost everywhere you look, sort of chewed up as if there was a war? +Yet these people swear that they've never had a war within living +memory, and they don't keep any history so a man could really find +out." + +When Wyatt didn't say anything, he went on: + +"And I can't see the connection about no stars. Not with these people. +I don't care if you can't see the roof of the house you live in, you +still have to have a certain amount of curiosity in order to stay +alive. But these people just don't give a damn. The ship landed. You +remember that? Out of the sky come Gods like thunder--" + + * * * * * + +Wyatt smiled. At another time, at any time in the past, he would have +been very much interested in this sort of thing. But now he was not. +He felt himself--remote, sort of--and he, like these people, did not +particularly give a damn. + +But the problem bothered Beauclaire, who was new and fresh and looking +for reasons, and it also bothered Cooper. + +"Damn!" Coop grumbled as he came stalking into the room. "Here you +are, Billy. I'm bored stiff. Been all over this whole crummy place +lookin for you. Where you been?" He folded himself into a chair, +scratched his black hair broodingly with long, sharp fingers. "Game o' +cards?" + +"Not just now, Coop," Wyatt said, lying back and resting. + +Coop grunted. "Nothin to do, nothin to do," he swiveled his eyes to +Beauclaire. "How you comin, son? How soon we leave this place? Like +Sunday afternoon all the time." + +Beauclaire was always ready to talk about the problem. He outlined it +now to Cooper again, and Wyatt, listening, grew very tired. There is +just this one continent, Beauclaire said, and just one nation, and +everyone spoke the same tongue. There was no government, no police, no +law that he could find. There was not even, as far as he could tell, a +system of marriage. You couldn't even call it a society, really, but +dammit, it existed--and Beauclaire could not find a single trace of +rape or murder or violence of any kind. The people here, he said, just +didn't give a damn. + +[Illustration] + +"You said it," Coop boomed. "I think they're all whacky." + +"But happy," Wyatt said suddenly. "You can see that they're happy." + +"Sure, they're happy," Coop chortled. "They're nuts. They got funny +looks in their eyes. Happiest guys I know are screwy as--" + +The sound which cut him off, which grew and blossomed and eventually +explained everything, had begun a few seconds ago, too softly to be +heard. Now suddenly, from a slight rushing noise, it burst into an +enormous, thundering scream. + +They leaped up together, horrified, and an overwhelming, gigantic +blast threw them to the floor. + + * * * * * + +The ground rocked, the ship fluttered and settled crazily. In that one +long second, the monstrous noise of a world collapsing grew in the air +and filled the room, filled the men and everything with one +incredible, crushing, grinding shock. + +When it was over there was another rushing sound, farther away, and +another, and two more tremendous explosions; and though all in all the +noise lasted for perhaps five seconds, it was the greatest any of them +had ever heard, and the world beneath them continued to flutter, +wounded and trembling, for several minutes. + +Wyatt was first out of the ship, shaking his head as he ran to get +back his hearing. To the west, over a long slight rise of green and +yellow trees, a vast black cloud of smoke, several miles long and very +high, was rising and boiling. As he stared and tried to steady his +feet upon the shaking ground, he was able to gather himself enough to +realize what this was. + +Meteors. + +He had heard meteors before, long before, on a world of Aldebaran. Now +he could smell the same sharp burning disaster, and feel the wind +rushing wildly back to the west, where the meteors had struck and +hurled the air away. + +In that moment Wyatt thought of the girl, and although she meant +nothing to him at all--none of these people meant anything in the +least to him--he began running as fast as he could toward the west. + +Behind him, white-faced and bewildered, came Beauclaire and Cooper. + +When Wyatt reached the top of the rise, the great cloud covered the +whole valley before him. Fires were burning in the crushed forest to +his right, and from the lay of the cloud he could tell that the +village of the people was not there any more. + +He ran down into the smoke, circling toward the woods and the stream +where he had passed an afternoon with the girl. For a while he lost +himself in the smoke, stumbling over rocks and fallen trees. + +Gradually the smoke lifted, and he began running into some of the +people. Now he wished that he could speak the language. + +They were all wandering quietly away from the site of their village, +none of them looking back. Wyatt could see a great many dead as he +moved, but he had no time to stop, no time to wonder. It was twilight +now, and the sun was gone. He thanked God that he had a flashlight +with him; long after night came, he was searching in the raw gash +where the first meteor had fallen. + +He found the girl, dazed and bleeding, in a cleft between two rocks. +He knelt and took her in his arms. Gently, gratefully, through the +night and the fires and past the broken and the dead, he carried her +back to the ship. + + * * * * * + +It had all become frighteningly clear to Beauclaire. He talked with +the people and began to understand. + +The meteors had been falling since the beginning of time, so the +people said. Perhaps it was the fault of the great dust-cloud through +which this planet was moving; perhaps it was that this had not always +been a one-planet system--a number of other planets, broken and +shredded by unknown gravitational forces, would provide enough meteors +for a very long time. And the air of this planet being thin, there was +no real protection as there was on Earth. So year after year the +meteors fell. In unpredictable places, at unknowable times, the +meteors fell, like stones from the sling of God. They had been falling +since the beginning of time. So the people, the unconcerned people, +said. + +And here was Beauclaire's clue. Terrified and shaken as he was, +Beauclaire was the kind of man who saw reason in everything. He +followed this one to the end. + +In the meantime, Wyatt nursed the girl. She had not been badly hurt, +and recovered quickly. But her family and friends were mostly dead +now, and so she had no reason to leave the ship. + +Gradually Wyatt learned the language. The girl's name was ridiculous +when spoken in English, so he called her Donna, which was something +like her real name. She was, like all her people, unconcerned about +the meteors and her dead. She was extraordinarily cheerful. Her +features were classic, her cheeks slim and smiling, her teeth perfect. +In the joy and whiteness of her, Wyatt saw each day what he had seen +and known in his mind on the day the meteors fell. Love to him was +something new. He was not sure whether or not he was in love, and he +did not care. He realized that he needed this girl and was at home +with her, could rest with her and talk with her, and watch her walk +and understand what beauty was; and in the ship in those days a great +peace began to settle over him. + +When the girl was well again, Beauclaire was in the middle of +translating the book--the bible-like book which all the people seemed +to treasure so much. As his work progressed, a striking change began +to come over him. He spent much time alone under the sky, watching the +soft haze through which, very soon, the stars would begin to shine. + +He tried to explain what he felt to Wyatt, but Wyatt had no time. + +"But, Billy," Beauclaire said fervently, "do you see what these people +go through? Do you see how they live?" + +Wyatt nodded, but his eyes were on the girl as she sat listening +dreamily to a recording of ancient music. + +"They live every day waiting," Beauclaire said. "They have no idea +what the meteors are. They don't know that there is anything else in +the Universe but their planet and their sun. They think that's all +there is. They don't know why they're here--but when the meteors keep +falling like that, they have only one conclusion." + + * * * * * + +Wyatt turned from the girl smiling absently. None of this could touch +him. He had seen the order and beauty of space, the incredible +perfection of the Universe, so often and so deeply that, like +Beauclaire, he could not help but believe in a Purpose, a grand final +meaning. When his father had died of an insect bite at Oberon he had +believed in a purpose for that, and had looked for it. When his first +crewmate fell into the acid ocean of Alcestis and the second died of a +horrible rot, Wyatt had seen purpose, purpose; and each time another +man died, for no apparent reason, on windless, evil useless worlds, +the meaning of things had become clearer and clearer, and now in the +end Wyatt was approaching the truth, which was perhaps that none of it +mattered at all. + +It especially did not matter now. So many things had happened that he +had lost the capacity to pay attention. He was not young any more; he +wanted to rest, and upon the bosom of this girl he had all the reason +for anything and everything he needed. + +But Beauclaire was incoherent. It seemed to him that here on this +planet a great wrong was being done, and the more he thought of it the +more angry and confused he became. He went off by himself and looked +at the terrible wound on the face of the planet, at all the sweet, +lovely, fragrant things which would never be again, and he ended by +cursing the nature of things, as Wyatt had done so many years before. +And then he went on with the translation of the book. He came upon the +final passage, still cursing inwardly, and reread it again and again. +When the sun was rising on a brilliant new morning, he went back to +the ship. + +"They had a man here once," he said to Wyatt, "who was as good a +writer as there ever was. He wrote a book which these people use as +their Bible. It's like our Bible sometimes, but mostly it's just the +opposite. It preaches that a man shouldn't worship anything. Would you +like to hear some of it?" + +Wyatt had been pinned down and he had to listen, feeling sorry for +Beauclaire, who had such a long way to go. His thoughts were on Donna, +who had gone out alone to walk in the woods and say goodbye to her +world. Soon he would go out and bring her back to the ship, and she +would probably cry a little, but she would come. She would come with +him always, wherever he went. + +"I have translated this the best way I could," Beauclaire said +thickly, "but remember this. This man could write. He was Shakespeare +and Voltaire and all the rest all at once. He could make you _feel_. I +couldn't do a decent translation if I tried forever, but please listen +and try to get what he means. I've put it in the style of Ecclesiastes +because it's something like that." + +"All right," Wyatt said. + + * * * * * + +Beauclaire waited for a long moment, feeling this deeply. When he +read, his voice was warm and strong, and something of his emotion came +through. As Wyatt listened, he found his attention attracted, and then +he felt the last traces of his sadness and weariness fall away. + +He nodded, smiling. + +These are the words Beauclaire had gathered from the Book: + + Rise up smiling, and walk with me. Rise up in the armor of + thy body and what shall pass shall make thee unafraid. Walk + among the yellow hills, for they belong to thee. Walk upon + grass and let thy feet descend into soft soil; in the end + when all has failed thee the soil shall comfort thee, the + soil shall receive thee and in thy dark bed thou shalt find + such peace as is thy portion. + + In thine armor, hear my voice. In thine armor, hear. + Whatsoever thou doest, thy friend and thy brother and thy + woman shall betray thee. Whatsoever thou dost plant, the + weeds and the seasons shall spite thee. Wheresoever thou + goest, the heavens shall fall upon thee. Though the nations + shall come unto thee in friendship thou art curst. Know that + the Gods ignore thee. Know that thou art Life, and that pain + shall forever come into thee, though thy years be without + end and thy days without sleep, even and forever. And + knowing this, in thine armor, thou shalt rise up. + + Red and full and glowing is thy heart; a steel is forging + within thy breast. And what can hurt thee now? In thy + granite mansion, what can hurt thee ever? Thou shalt only + die. Therefore seek not redemption nor forgiveness for thy + sins, for know that thou hast never sinned. + + Let the Gods come unto _thee_. + +When it was finished, Wyatt sat very still. + +Beauclaire was looking at him intently. + +Wyatt nodded. "I see," he said. + +"They don't ask for anything," Beauclaire said. "No immortality, no +forgiveness, no happiness. They take what comes and don't--wonder." + +Wyatt smiled, rising. He looked at Beauclaire for a long while, trying +to think of something to say. But there was nothing to say. If the +young man could believe this, here and now, he would save himself a +long, long, painful journey. But Wyatt could not talk about it--not +just yet. + +He reached out and clapped Beauclaire gently upon the shoulder. Then +he left the ship and walked out toward the yellow hills, toward the +girl and the love that was waiting. + + * * * * * + +_What will they do_, Beauclaire asked himself, _when the stars come +out_? _When there are other places to go, will these people, too, +begin to seek?_ + +They would. With sadness, he knew that they would. For there is a +chord in Man which is plucked by the stars, which will rise upward and +outward into infinity, as long as there is one man anywhere and one +lonely place to which he has not been. And therefore what does the +meaning matter? We are built in this way, and so shall we live. + +Beauclaire looked up into the sky. + +Dimly, faintly, like God's eye peeking through the silvery haze, a +single star had begun to shine. + + --MICHAEL SHAARA + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book, by Michael Shaara + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 32321.txt or 32321.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32321/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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