Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [245]
Had what? Harvey wondered. Maybe Christopher was right. But Loretta never knew, and she wasn't harmed, and neither was Maureen, and it's all a pile of excuses because you knew damned well what you were doing.
Instead he went into the living room to talk with the other astronauts.
Exile's Story
When the Sun shall be folded up and when the stars shall fall,
And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together …
And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled
And when Hell shall be made to blaze and Paradise brought near,
Every soul shall know what it hath produced.
And by the Night when it cometh darkening on,
And by the Dawn when it brighteneth …
WHITHER THEN ARE YE GOING?
The Holy Koran
Hot water to soak your feet in," said Harry. "Cooked food. A change of clothes. And, man, they need you, and they'll know it."
"I'll make it," Dan Forrester puffed. "I feel light … as a feather without … that pack. And they've got sheep?" He'd been afraid to look at his feet, these last few days, but in a while he wouldn't need them. They'd served him well. As for his insulin stock, well, he'd had to increase the dosage; it must be deteriorating. "Have they got a working refrigerator?"
"Refrigerator, no. Sheep, yes. We'll have to deal with that right away. Won't be long now, that's the roadblock ahead."
Their companion, striding ahead of them on the deserted road with Dan Forrester's backpack riding lightly on his hips, stopped suddenly and glanced back.
"You're with me," Harry said. "It'll be all right." Hugo Beck nodded, but he waited for Dan and Harry to catch up. He was afraid, and it showed.
There was a sign fifty yards from the log barricade. It said:
DANGER! YOU ARE ENTERING GUARDED LAND. GO NO FURTHER. IF YOU HAVE BUSINESS HERE, WALK SLOWLY TO THE BARRICADE AND STAND STILL. THERE WILL BE NO WARNING SHOTS FIRED. KEEP YOUR HANDS IN PLAIN SIGHT AT ALL TIMES.
Under it was another, in Spanish, and beyond that a large death's head with the universal traffic symbol for "Do not enter."
"Strange welcome mat," Dan Forrester said.
Rotation of work: Mark Czescu was enjoying his day of guard duty while someone else made little rocks out of big ones. It wasn't always fun, though. Earlier there had been a family on bicycles who had won their way through the San Joaquin and had tales of cannibals and worse, and Mark hadn't much enjoyed turning them away. He'd shown them the road north, where there was a fishing camp that was just hanging on to life.
Four people. The Stronghold could feed four more—but which four? If these, why not more? The decision was right, take in no one without special reasons, but it didn't make it any easier to look a man in the eye and send him up the road.
Mark sat behind a screen of logs and brush where he could watch without being seen. His partners watched him. One of these days Bart Christopher was going to be slow, and they'd lose the front man at the gate …
There were three figures coming up the road, and Mark came out when he recognized the remnants of a gray U.S. Postal Service uniform. He hailed Harry joyfully, but his smile had vanished when the three trudged up to the barrier. He was looking at Hugo Beck when he said, "Happy Trash Day, Harry."
"I brought him," Harry said. He said it belligerently. "You know the rules, he's got my safe conduct. And this is Dr. Dan Forrester—"
"Hi, Doc," Mark said. "You and your damned Hot Fudge Sundae."
Forrester managed the ghost of a smile.
"He's got a book," Harry said. "He's got a lot of books, but this one he brought with him. Show him, Dan."
It was drizzling lightly. Dan didn't open the tape seals. Mark read the title through four layers of Baggies: The Way Things Work, Volume II.
"Volume One is in a safe place," Dan said. "With four thousand other books on how to put a civilization together."
Mark shrugged. He was pretty sure they'd want Dan Forrester up at the Stronghold anyway. But it would be nice to know what other gifts Forrester had