Chapter 51 Chapter 50 Farewell to Jupiter

The wording of the message was not an easy one, especially after he had just sent a message to his lawyer.Floyd felt like a hypocrite, but he knew it was the only way to minimize the inevitable pain on both sides. He was sad, but not melancholy anymore.For he was heading home to Earth in a halo of honor - though not quite a hero - which would give him a stronger position in the negotiations.Nobody—nobody—could take Chris away from him. "... dear Caroline (no longer "My dearest..."), I am on my way home. When you receive this message, I have gone into hibernation. It seems to me that only In a few hours, I would open my eyes - and I would see the beautiful blue Earth floating in space beside me.

"Yes, I know it's still many months away for you, and I'm sorry for that. But we knew about this arrangement before I set foot on the journey, and in reality, due to a change of mission Plan, I'm returning to Earth weeks ahead of schedule. "I hope we can get things done. The first question is: what's best for Chris? No matter what our feelings are, we have to put him first. I know I'm very Would love to do it, and I'm sure you will, too." Floyd turned off the tape recorder.Should he say what he wanted to say: "Boys need fathers"?No - that's too bad, and probably only makes things worse.Caroline would probably counter that the mother was the most important thing to the child from birth to the age of four—and that if he believed that was the father's responsibility, he should have stayed on earth.

"... Now let's talk about the house. I'm glad the directors have taken this attitude and it's made it easier for the two of us. I know we both love it, but now it's going to get too big and it's going to be too much for us. People make too many memories. For now, I'll probably find an apartment in Hilo: I hope to find a place to settle down soon. "I can swear to everybody—I'm never leaving Earth again. I've been through too much space travel in my life. Oh, and maybe to the moon, if I really have to—but of course, that's only The equivalent of a weekend excursion.

"And speaking of satellites, we've just passed the orbit of Jupiter, which means we're flying out of the Jupiter system. Jupiter is now 20 million kilometers away, and looks only slightly larger than our own moon. "Yet even from this great distance it can be seen that something terrible has happened to the planet. The beautiful orange is gone, it's a sickly gray now, and its former splendor is all but gone. No wonder it's just EarthSky now A tiny star in the "But other than that, we've passed the deadline well. Is this whole thing a false alarm, or some kind of cosmic hoax? I don't know if we'll ever figure it out. Anyway, it makes us I am grateful for the early return to Earth.

"Farewell for now, Carolyn - thank you for everything. I hope we remain friends. Sending the deepest love I've always had to Chris." When he was done, Floyd sat quietly for a while in the cabin where he was temporarily sheltering—soon to be no longer needed.He was sending the audio chip to the bridge of the boat for transmission when Chandra drifted in. Freud was half surprised and half pleased that the scientist had come to terms with the growing distance between him and Hal.They still keep in touch for hours each day — exchanging data on Jupiter and monitoring conditions aboard Discovery.While no one wanted to see an emotional outburst, Chandra seemed to bear the blow with uncanny tenacity.Nikolai Ternovsky, his only confidant, had given Freud another plausible explanation for his behavior.

"Chandra's got a new interest, Woody. Remember - as soon as a design works in his opinion, it's behind the times. He's figured out a lot these months. You guessed it What is he going to do now?" "Frankly, I can't guess. Tell me." "He's busy designing the Hal 10,000." Floyd's mouth fell open. "No wonder Sasha is complaining about the tirade that was sent to Urbana. Well, he won't hold up the tunnel for too long." When Chandra came in, Floyd thought about that conversation again, and he knew better not to ask Chandra if it was real or not, because that had nothing to do with him.However, he was also curious about another thing.

"Chandra," he said, "I haven't thanked you enough for convincing Hal to work with us on the return trip. For a moment, I was genuinely afraid he was going to give us trouble. But you've been so confident—and you're right. Still, don't you have any doubts?" "Not at all, Dr. Floyd." "Why not? He must have been taken aback by the situation—and you know what happened last time." "There is a big difference between the two. If I may say this, maybe the successful result this time has something to do with the characteristics of our nation."

"I do not understand." "Let's put it this way, Dr. Floyd. Bowman tried to use violence against Hal. I didn't. There is a word in our language - erximsa, usually translated 'non-violent', and it has more What a positive connotation. I'm judiciously adopting Ersimza's way with Hal." "Very successful, I'm sure. But sometimes something goes out of control and it doesn't have to cost you." Floyd paused, resisting the urge to tell the truth, Chandra "than you Holy" (holier-than-thou, English idiom, with a derogatory meaning, mostly refers to a hypocrite. ——Reviser's note) is really annoying.Now that there was no harm to be done, it was time to tell him some truths about life.

"I'm glad it worked. But it might not work out, so I have to be prepared for either. Ursimsa, or whatever it is called, is a very good way, I have to Acknowledge that I have another hand for your philosophizing. If Hal is - er, stubborn, I can handle him too." Floyd had seen Chandra yell, and now he saw him laughing, an equally disturbing sign. "Really, Dr. Floyd, I am sorry that you underestimated my intelligence. It was obvious from the beginning that you had a power circuit breaker somewhere and I removed it months ago." It is impossible to know whether the stunned Floyd could think of a decent answer.Sasha on the bridge yelled, "Captain! Everyone! Go to the monitors! God! Look there!"