The Spheres of Heaven

36: ESCAPE

Chan was far away from the surface, drifting among the tinted luminous globes that filled the skies of Limbo. He was close to one of the pearly spheres, ready to dive into its misty depths, when he heard a faint voice. It was calling his name, telling him to come back. He descended slowly. He didn’t want to return to a region of chaos and danger. He dropped into darkness, down and down. He could see nothing, but at last he heard someone wheezing, noisily and close by. It took a long time to recognize the unpleasant sound as his own breathing.

He opened his eyes. Deb was still leaning over him.

She said, “I wondered if you would ever wake up. How are you feeling?”

He sat up and put his arms around her. He saw that she was still clutching his letter to Dag Korin. He said, “Don’t deliver that until I’ve left the ship.” His voice sounded hoarse and muffled, as though he had developed laryngitis; but his throat felt fine. He went on, “I’d better be going. You shouldn’t have let me go to sleep like that. What time is it?”

“An hour to dawn.”

“You let me sleep all night! At daybreak I have to—”

She pulled away and placed the letter in his hand. “I didn’t just let you sleep. I drugged you. You have to read this.”

“You drugged me. What for?”

“You have to read this.”

“But I know exactly what’s in it. I wrote it.” Chan paused. The envelope that he was holding said, To Chan Dalton, from Dag Korin. To be opened only after I have left the Hero’s Return.

Bewildered and cotton-brained, Chan opened the envelope. He started to read. Chan Dalton — The actions that you have taken so far, and those which you propose in your letter to me, are unauthorized. They are also inspired. I am a natural optimist, but in the past few days I had seen no possible way for our party to survive. I believe that what you suggest offers that survival chance, together with a hope of return to our own universe.

We will therefore carry out your instructions exactly, with one minor change; namely, you and I will change places. I, rather than you, will deal with the Mallies. You will lead our group, and carry out your own detailed instructions. If you doubt that the Mallies will agree to work with me rather than you, allow me to point out that Friday Indigo, in his meeting here, expressed theirpreference for working with the leader of the group. That’s me. I know the exact Link protocol that you proposed to follow, because at my request Elke gave me the same thing. The Mallies will presumably ask where you are. When they do, I will explain that I was obliged to kill you, and that my degree of self-interest equals or exceeds yours. It is my impression that such an explanation will be readily accepted. If they want me to shoot or kill one or two of them to prove my resolve or goodwill, I’ll be more than happy to oblige.

Deb was reading over Chan’s shoulder. He turned to her. “Did you give him my letter while I was asleep?”

“Yes, I did.”

“After I specifically told you not to?”

“Yes.” Deb backed away a step. “Chan, this may not make any sense to you, but if you hadn’t come back, and if you hadn’t told me you were sorry, and you hadn’t confided in me, I could have let you go. I mean, I would obviously have had no choice, because I wouldn’t have known what was happening. But I would have got over you. Somehow. Only when you did tell me, and trust me, and rely on me, I just couldn’t stand to lose you. Not again. I’d rather die. Once was too many.”

“I know that feeling.” Chan could not resist putting his arms around her again, but only for a moment. He said abruptly, “Did General Korin tell you what was in his letter?”

“No. But he called a meeting while you were asleep, and told all of us that he had to leave the ship. You would be in charge, he said, and when I woke you just before dawn you would tell everyone what to do next. I didn’t understand what was going on, but apparently the Angel did. It waved at him and said, `Aha. I am just going outside now, and I may be gone for some time. Go, General Korin, with the gratitude of the Angels of Sellora. We are a long-lived species. We hope that we will meet you again.’ Do you understand all that?”

“Yes. Not the thing that sounds like the quote, but what the Angel meant.” Chan read on, aloud. “You are aware of my opinion of generals and admirals who are miles or lightyears away from the battle, and still try to control the action. My best advice to you is, be flexible and do whatever feels right. Tell everyone — especially Elke Siry — not to worry about me. As I’ve told her many times, Benjamin Franklin is one of my heroes. He said he wished that he could be pickled in a barrel for a couple of hundred years so that he could see what the world was like when he came out. I feel the same way. And who knows—”

The knock on the outer door was loud enough to make Chan jump and Deb spin around into a fighting attitude. Danny Casement poked his head in.

“I don’t want to disturb, but me and Tully need some advice. We dragged together a whole heap of stuff we might need on shore, but it’s a lot more than one trip. The General never got back to us to say how many loads we’d take, and he left the ship before we had time to ask him. He says you’re in charge, right?”

Chan stared at the letter in his hand. “I guess so.”

“Then how much stuff do we want to take?”

Chan stood up. “Nothing. Just ourselves, the Angel, and the Pipe-Rilla. Is she still catatonic?”

“Coming out of it a bit, Angel says. But look, Chan, we can’t set up camp with nothing. We’ll at least need food and drink.”

“We’re not going to set up camp.” Chan looked at his watch. By now, Dag Korin should be ashore. “We’ll need suits, and that’s all. Can you be ready in thirty minutes?”

“With nothing to take we can be ready in five. But I don’t know where the Bun and Liddy have got to, nobody’s seen them since early last night.”

“I know where you can find them. Passenger suite I-47, forward. I hope Bony isn’t brain-dead this morning. He’ll have lots of work to do.”

“Why should he be?”

“Go get them, and you’ll see. Deb and I will take care of Tully and Elke Siry. They’ll give us a hand with the Angel and Vow-of-Silence.”

“Tully’s not in his own place.”

“Where is he?”

“With Elke.” Danny shrugged. “Don’t ask me, maybe it’s the heavy water. I’ve never believed it was safe to drink. Or maybe it’s the thought that we’ll all be dead in a few hours.”

“Not if I can help it.” Chan stuffed Dag Korin’s letter into his pocket. He didn’t need it at the moment, because everything to be done in the next hour had been detailed in his own letter to the General. “Fifteen minutes, in suits, at the main airlock. Come on, Deb.”

Chan walked out. He knew that Danny was itching to ask questions. Everyone would be. They had to wait. Either there would be plenty of time to answer, four hours from now; or all answers would be irrelevant.

* * *

Vow-of-Silence was the most difficult. When Danny had carried the Pipe-Rilla back to the Hero’s Return it had taken half an hour to remove the curled and rigid form from its suit. Putting a suit back on was even harder unless you knew Pipe-Rilla tricks. By the time that Chan and Deb, carrying her between them, reached the airlock, the others were already waiting.

“Elke.” Chan was beginning to worry about one aspect of his own plan. The Malacostracans were not obliged to follow the schedule they had offered the previous day. Suppose they decided to go ahead sooner than expected — any time, once Dag Korin met with The One? “You’ve studied the satellite maps more than anyone else. Can you lead us ashore?”

“I can. But not as well as you could. You and Deb Bisson and Danny Casement have already been there, I