Kingsley heaved himself to his feet.
'We should be leaving for Pluto,' he said. 'Our work here is done.”
He stepped up to the Engineer. 'Before we go,' he said, 'I would like to shake your hand.”
'I do not understand,' said the Engineer.
'It is a mark of respect,' Caroline explained. 'Assurance that we are friends. A sort of way to seal a pact.”
'That is fine,' said the Engineer. He thrust out his hand. And then his thoughts broke. For the first time since they had met him, in this same room, there was emotion in his voice.
'We are so glad,' he said. 'We can talk to you and not feel so alone.
Perhaps someday I can come and visit you.”
'Be sure to do that,' bellowed Herb. 'I'll show you all the sights.”
'Are you coming, Gary?' asked Caroline, but Gary didn't answer.
Some day Man would come home… home to this wondrous city of white stone, to marvel at its breathtaking height, at its vastness of design, at its far-flung symbol of achievement reared against an alien sky. Home to a planet where every power and every luxury and every achievement would be his. Home to a place that had grown out of a dream… the great dream of a greater people who had died, but in dying had passed along the heritage of their life to a new-spawned solar system. And more than that, had left another heritage in the hands and brains of good stewards who, in time, would give it up, in fulfillment of their charge.
But this city and this proud achievement were not for him, nor for Caroline, nor Kingsley, nor Herb, nor Tommy. Nor for the many generations that would come after them. Not so long as Man carried the old dead weight of primal savagery and hate, not so long as he was mean and vicious and petty, could he set foot here.
Before he reached this city, Man would travel long trails of bitter dust, would know the sheer triumphs of the star-flung road. Galaxies would write new alphabets across the sky, and the print of many happenings would be etched upon the tape of time. New things would come and hold their sway and die, Great leaders would stand up and have their day and shuffle off into oblivion and silence. Creeds would rise and flourish and be sifting dust between the worlds. The night watch of stars would see great deeds, applaud great happenings, witness great defeat, weep over bitter sorrows.
'Just think,' said Caroline. 'We are going home.”
'Yes,' said Gary. 'At last, we're going home.”
