Closed System

'I'm sorry,' Pat said. 'I am truly sorry, honey.'

Her head began to move back and forth, and asound of agony came from her lips. He saw herfingers

tighten, her hand go white on the weapon.And then she stopped trembling.

'I can't kill you,' she whispered. 'I can't.' 'Thank you,' Pat said. 'But why, Pat?' she asked. 'Why?' He shrugged. 'I don't think you could under­stand if I told you, honey. Look. It's over. I wishyou'd

come with me, but I suspect you can't. Whydon't you get into gear and we'll transfer you overto the other ship. The two of you can handle her totake her back to Taratwo.' 'To wait for the forces of the UP to come andpunish us?' she asked.

'I'm afraid they'll at least want to be sure thereare no disrupters on the planet,' Pat said. A tear grew and rolled down her cheek. 'We had it all, Pat,' she whispered. 'We had it all and you threw it away.'

'Admiral,' came Gorben's voice. 'Yes, Gorben,' Pat said. 'I have, in compliance with your orders, totallydestroyed the disrupter aboard this ship, and I amready

to join you, Holiness.' 'Very well, Gorben,' Pat said. 'Carry on.' Corinne had holstered her weapon. He helpedher get into space gear. She was grimly silent. Andthen,

just before he lifted the helmet onto herhead, she said, 'Kiss me, Pat.' He kissed her lightly, and for a moment hopecame to him. Maybe, someday— Gorben and Corinne passed in space, and thenGorben was aboard Pat's ship and Pat had watchedthe

hatch close on Brenden's ship. Gorben lookedat Werner's body without emotion. 'I'm sorry about Werner,' Pat said. 'He has gone to Zede, to his glory,' Gorbensaid. 'I envy him. I regret only, Holiness, that I am not with

the others.' 'In time,' Pat said sadly, for it happened to allin time, and to some too soon. He sat down in the command chair. The thrusters on Brenden's shipwere beginning to glow. Nothing to do now but go back

and get the good oldSkimmer and gohome. 'Your orders, Admiral?' Gorben asked, stand­ing tall. 'We'll go back to Dorchlunt in a few minutes,Gorben,' Pat said. 'I'm going to leave you in chargethere

until I come back, with others.' 'And then to Zede?'

'Or better,' Pat said, wondering what X&A and the eggheads would make of Dorchlunt, and what

they'd do to integrate the remaining Dorchlunters into the UP. 'It's all going to work out, Gorben.Trust me.'

'Of course, Holiness,' Gorben said.

Brenden's ship was moving. Pat felt a tightnessin his throat. He would gladly have traded thegalaxy and all its treasures for one small, curvy,auburn-haired girl.

Brenden's ship was moving across his bow, com­ing broadside.

'Holiness,' Gorben said, 'he is going to passdangerously near.'

'It's all right, Gorben,' Pat said.

He couldn't take his eyes off the ship, for tworeasons, the most painful being that she was on it.He held his finger poised over a certain button. He glanced over his shoulder. Gorben was gone. Hereached for the communicator button to tell Gorbenthat everything was under control, but his finger never reached it, for at that moment all the weap­ons on Brenden's ship, obviously under central control, opened up. A swarm of missiles shot out,and the projectile weapons fired intelligent shells, and the deadly beams reached for Pat's ship, siz­ zling the shield even as he reversed the movement of his hand and his finger shot toward the buttonwhich would take the ship away from the missiles,projectiles, beams on a blink which he'd pro­grammed into the navigation computer for justthis eventuality.

The screen went with an electrical distortionwhich caused his hair to stand up, and then hewas screaming as his finger hit the button and theship slid into that nowhere which is a blink, for inthat last instant before there was empty, clearspace in front of his screens as he reemerged hehad seen Brenden's ship glow.

He had screamed, 'No, Gorben, no!'

Within minutes he was back, blinking his shipto within half a mile of the pride of the Taratwofleet, the Brenden's flagship. The ship was as dead,as empty of any mechanical, electronic, or life-form impulse, as was the ancient colony ship whichcircled Dorchlunt. Gorben had been trained toowell. In those few seconds he'd reached the disrupter,and in that split second between the firing ofBrenden's weapons and the blink, his superb reac­ tiontime had allowed the beam of his disrupter tostrike Brenden's flagship amidships.

FOURTEEN

The ways of the gods, Gorben thought, are verystrange. They are not, however, to be questioned,even when a god does something as odd as intertwo human bodies encased in boxes in the earth. He had the honor of being on the detail whichhelped the God Fleet Admiral Torga Bluntz re­move the bodies of the red-headed ones from thedead ship, encase them in metal boxes fabricatedin the shops from valuable, ancient material, andthen bury them under six feet of the red earth ofDorchlunt.

Nor did Gorben question or doubt when the god used the weapons of his own little ship to destroy the last surviving Taratwo cruiser, with the last ofthe disrupters aboard.

'Admiral Bluntz,' Gorben said, for, as the godhad said, now everyone could speak the sacredname openly, much to the chagrin of the priest­hood, 'if I may be so bold, sir, will you return, inmy own lifetime, or is your return, with thoseothers of whom you speak, to be a matter of pa­tience and generations as was the period of yourfirst return?'

'In your lifetime, Gorben. A matter of weeks, atmost. Greet those who come with friendship,Gorben. They will bring odd and wonderful things,and the life-style of the Dorchlunters will be al­tered forever.'

'I await eagerly my ascent to glory,' Gorbensaid.

The computer aboard theSkimmer was next touseless. Pat had to stay alert on the long trip home,as the ship blinked and blinked and then pausedto charge. During the charge periods he slept withthe aid of an intake of alcohol far beyond his cus­tomary habits. He did not drink the last two daysbefore reaching Xanthos so that his head would beclear for his report. He asked specifically for Jeanny Thompson, needing, wanting, a friendly face as hetold his incredible story.

A crusty X&A admiral, called in for the secondtelling of Pat's tale, grunted and said, 'Has thisman been given a psychological evaluation?' Thatwas his way of saying he didn't believe. Pat didn'tgive a damn.

'Sir,' he said, 'I'll pass on the psychologicalevaluation. Just follow the blink route I've givenJeanny and you'll have your proof.'

Almost five thousand ships dead in space was ample proof.

At last he was finished. He kept himself togetherlong enough to lift theSkimmer to the shipyardand leave orders for that long-delayed overhaul. Then he tried his damnedest to disappear into a bottle.

When Jeanny Thompson finally found him she used her handbeam to cut the lock which he yelledout to her that he would not open.

'God, what a slob,' she said, when she saw him.

She walked to the holo projector and stood behindit. A beautiful auburn-haired girl in period cos­tume was frozen in time and space, standing atthe head of a long, sweeping staircase.

'So that's Corinne,' Jeanny said.

Then she took the cassette from the projector and opened a window and threw it out. It shat­tered into a thousand pieces on the pavement fourstories below. Pat bellowed and charged at her drunkenly, and she clipped him neatly on the side of the neck and caught him before he fell.

When he awoke he was clean, his three-week-beard had been shaved, not too gently, and theapartment no longer reeked of stale sweat andbooze. His head was clear.

'I used detox on you,' Jeanny said.

'I don't thank you for it,' Pat said. She had diedwithin half a mile of him, that beautiful woman.She had died and—

'Hungry?' Jeanny asked. 'No,' he said. 'Eat anyhow,' Jeanny ordered, putting food infront of him. In spite of himself, the smell of it caused his

stomach to growl. 'OK, Audrey,' Jeanny said. 'Don't call me Audrey,' he said, around a bite ofdelicious meat. 'You've spent a month feeling sorry for yourself.So you've lost your great love, the love of yourlife—' The food turned to straw in his mouth. And hislook caused Jeanny to hold up one hand quickly. 'Sorry,' she said. 'I won't do that again.' He chewed and swallowed. 'Pat, an X&A ship just got back from your planet.They found everything