Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve
Hamid Thompson got a ticket to go outside.Some tickets are more expensive than others.What would he pay for the ticket?
Eight hours later, the spacecraft turned on its air-breathing ramjets and sped toward the outer reaches of the Milky Way.Hamid sat alone on the bridge.A view of the stern of the ship can be seen through a "window" on one side of the room.The mid-American sun floods the house with sunshine.
Ahead of them, the spacecraft was absorbing interplanetary matter to serve as fuel for the ramjet.The acceleration is about one-fifteenth of a G, barely perceptible.The ramjet is for long distances, so this acceleration goes on and on, eventually reaching about half a G - bringing them close to the speed of light.
China and the United States look like a blue spot, with two small spots, one white and one yellow.In a few hours, Hamid's hometown and its two moons will disappear from the naked eye.In a few days, they will be invisible even with a telescope.
Hamid had come here not long after Talon had shown him the room.How long has he been here?One hour, or two hours?
He felt as though a great battle had just been fought in his head.His good partner was such a creature.The man he hated turned out to be the kind of father he'd always wanted...and his mother was an uncaring, self-absorbed one.Now I can never go back, never ask you who you are, whether you really loved me.
His face felt wet.That's one of the perks of having gravity: Even if it's only a fifteenth of a G, it'll keep a tear from your eye.
He will have to be more careful in the next two years.There are too many things to learn, and he can only guess more by himself.Which are lies and which are the truth?In their stories, some things are really... how can a human being be as important as Ravna and Claw say?Compared with heaven and man, any humanoid life is nothing.
There was another possibility: that the two men believed the stories they told—and that was the most terrifying possibility.They made the man Christlike.There were parallels in the history of Earth that Hamid had read: twentieth-century Nazis worshiping Hitler, fanatical Afghan jihadists trying to keep theirs in power.The news that Larry got through the Ansible may also be true. The so-called great man may be their accomplice in destroying a thousand worlds.
Hamid couldn't help laughing out loud.In this way, what have I become?Can a demonic clone become better than the original?
"What are you laughing at, Hamid?" Talon walked softly into the bridge.He walked over to the table, and several components surrounded Hamid.The component that had been Quack was only a meter away from him.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, their eyes on the sky.The air fluctuated somewhat, like the heat of a stove—suggesting the force field of the air-breathing ramjet around them.He glanced at Talon.Four of the components were looking out the window, and the other two answered his gaze, their dark eyes so soft, just as they had been before Quack.
"Please don't blame Ravna," said Sharppaw. "She has a deep bond with the old you. They are very much in love."
"I got it."
The two pairs of eyes looking at him turned to the space outside the ship.He'd have to watch the creature for the next two years and make a judgment call...but doubts aside, the more he got in touch with Talon, the more he liked him.Hamid almost felt that instead of losing Quack, she got to know five of her kind.And that big mouth who used to only know quack quack has become a real person.
They fell into a friendly and comfortable silence.After a while, the former Quack slowly came to Hamid and bumped his head on the shoulder.
Hamid hesitated for a moment, then stroked her neck.Together they look at the sun and that bit of blue.Then, Sharp Claw opened his mouth, using Quack's favorite female voice. "You know," he said, "I'm going to miss that place. And... I'm going to miss those cats and dogs, too."
Notes:
Notes: