Raft

Hollerbach smiled, the skin stretching over his bony jaw. 'That's not bad thinking… Suppose I told you that there has never been anywhere in this universe with such a region?'

Rees thought that over. 'Then I'd suggest that men came here from somewhere else.'

'Are you sure about that?'

'Of course not,' Rees said defensively. 'I'd have to check it out… find more evidence.'

The old Scientist shook his head. 'Boy, I suspect there's more scientific method in your untrained head than in whole cadres of my so-called assistants.'

'But what's the answer?'

Hollerbach laughed. 'You are a rare creature, aren't you? More interested in understanding than in your own fate…

'Well, I'll tell you. Your guess was quite right. Men don't belong in this universe. We came here in a Ship. We passed through something called Holder's Ring, which was a kind of gateway. Somewhere in the cosmos on the other side of the Ring is the world we came from. It's a planet, incidentally; a sphere, not a Raft, about eight thousand miles wide. And its surface has a gravity of exactly one gee.'

Rees frowned. 'Then it must be made of some

gas.' |

Hollerbach took the orrery from the shelf and studied the tiny planets. 'It's a ball of iron, actually. It couldn't exist… here.

'Gravity is the key to the absurd place we're stranded in, you see; gravity here is a billion times as strong as in the universe we came from. Here our home planet would have a surface gravity of a billion gees — if it didn't implode in an instant. And celestial mechanics are a joke. The home world takes more than a thousand shifts to orbit around its star. Here it would take just seventeen minutes!

'Rees, we don't believe the Crew intended to bring the Ship here. It was probably an accident. As soon as the increased gravity hit, large parts of the Ship collapsed. Including whatever they used to propel it through the air. They must have fallen into the Nebula, barely understanding what was happening, frantically seeking a way to stay out of the Core…'

Rees thought of the foundry implosion and his imagination began to construct a scene…

…Crew members hurried through the corridors of their falling Ship; smoke filled the passageways as lurid flames singed the air. The hull was breached; the raw air of the Nebula scoured through the cabins, and through rents in the silver walls the Crew saw flying trees and huge, cloudy whales, all utterly unlike anything in their experience , . .

'The Bones alone know how they survived those first few shifts. But survive they did; they harnessed trees and stayed out of the clutches of the Core; and gradually men spread through the Nebula, to the Belt worlds and beyond—'

'What?' Rees's focus snapped back to the present. 'But I thought you were describing how the Raft folk got here… I assumed that Belt folk and the others—'

'Came from somewhere else?' Hollerbach smiled, looking tired. 'It's rather convenient for us, in comparative comfort here on the Raft, to believe so; but the fact is that all the humans in the Nebula originated on the Ship. Yes, even the Boneys. And in fact this myth of disparate origins is probably damaging the species. We need to cross-breed, to expand the size of our gene pool…'

Rees thought that over. In retrospect there were so many obvious points of similarity between life here and in the Belt. But the thought of the obvious differences, of the relentless harshness of Belt life, began to fill him with a cold anger.

Why, for instance, shouldn't the Belt have its own supply machine? If they had a shared origin surely the miners were as entitled as the Raft dwellers…

There would be time to think on this later. He tried to concentrate on what Hollerbach was saying. '… So I'll be frank with you, young man. We know the Nebula is almost spent. And unless we do something about it we'll be spent too.'

'What will happen? Will the air turn un-breathable?'

Holierbach replaced the orrery tenderly. 'Probably. But long before that the stars will go out. It will get cold and dark… and the trees will start to fail.

'We'll have nothing to hold us steady any more. We'll fall into the Core, and that will be that. It should be quite a ride…

'If we're not to take that death ride, Rees, we need Scientists. Young ones; inquiring ones who might think up a way out of the trap the Nebula is becoming. Rees, the secret of a Scientist is not what he knows. It's what he asks. I think you've got that trick. Maybe, anyway…'

A flush warmed Rees's cheeks. 'You're saying I can stay?'

Hollerbach sniffed. 'It's still probationary, mind; for as long as I think it needs to be. And we'll have to fix up some real education for you. Chase Grye a bit harder, will you?' The old Scientist shuffled back to his desk and lowered himself into his seat. He took his spectacles from a pocket of his robe, perched them on his nose, and bent once more over his papers. He glanced up at Rees. 'Anything else?'

Rees found himself grinning. 'Can I ask one more question?'

Hollerbach frowned in irritation. 'Well, if you must—'

'Tell me about the stars. On the other side of Bolder's Ring. Are they really a million miles across?'

Hollerbach tried to maintain his mask of irritation; but it dissolved into a half-smile. 'Yes. And some much bigger! They're far apart, studded around an almost empty sky. And they last, not a thousand shifts like the wretched specimens here, but thousands of billions of shifts!'

Rees tried to imagine such glory. 'But…how?'

Hollerbach began to tell him.

5

After Rees's interview with Hollerbach Grye took him to a dormitory building. There was room for about fifty people in the long, flat building, and Rees, overwhelmed by self-consciousness, trailed the fussy Scientist down an aisle between two rows of simple pallets. Beside each pallet was a small cupboard and a rack on which clothes could be hung; Rees found himself staring curiously at the few personal possessions scattered on the floor and cupboard tops — combs and razors, small mirrors, simple sewing kits, here and there photographs of families or young women. One young man — another Science apprentice, judging by the crimson strands woven into his coveralls — lounged on a pallet. He raised narrow eyebrows at Rees's unkempt appearance, but he nodded, friendly enough. Rees nodded back, his cheeks burning, and hurried after Grye.

He wondered what this place was. Pallis's cabin — where he had lodged since his arrival — had seemed unimaginably luxurious to his Belt-developed tastes, and this was hardly so grand, but surely still the dwelling of some exalted class. Perhaps Rees was to clean it out; maybe he would be given somewhere to sleep nearby—

They reached a pallet free of sheets or blankets; the cupboard beside it swung open, empty. Grye waved his hand dismissively. 'Here will do, I think.' And he turned to walk back down the dormitory.

Rees, confused, followed him.

Grye turned on him. 'By all the bloody Bones, what's the matter with you, boy? Don't you understand simple speech?'

'I'm sorry—'

'Here.' Grye pointed once more at the pallet and spoke slowly and excessively clearly, as if to a simple child. 'You will sleep here from now on. Do I need to write it down?'

'No—'

'Put your personal possessions in the cupboard.'

'I don't have any—'

'Get yourself blankets from the stores,' Grye said. 'The others will show you where.' And, oblivious to Rees's lost stare at his back, Grye scurried from the building and on to his next chore.