Mark Reinsberg

“ I was so upset that I kicked the degravity pedal and we started to rise from the roof. I brought us down with a thud.
"They mean a lot to me," said Celia calmly. "They used to mean a lot to you too."
"But ten thousand!" I protested. "What do you think I am, a millionaire philanthropist?"
"It is a lot of money," Celia agreed placatingly. "But the Mendelsohns are leaving tomorrow for Primus Gladus. We'll never see them again."
"So what!" I said heatedly. "Thousands of people go to the stars as colonists. Thousands of failures like the Mendelsohns think their luck will change on another planet. ”

“ Grain brokerage is a brutal profession, what with thirty billion mouths clamoring for food, and the government keeping speculation in a straight-jacket, and that insurrection on Venus, the granary of the solar system, making wheat futures a nightmare. This kind of generosity leaves me cold. I had more to say on the subject, but the bank teller spoke up to Celia. ”

“ Our hussies and aides greeted us in the First Hall with a wild cheer, crowding around us to beg for details.
"Later," said Naomi, flushed with triumph, "we'll call a formation later. We'll tell our story to the entire gang."
"Back to your posts, now!" I shouted. "You hussies get your girls ready for battle. We can expect the boys to counterattack at any time."
The First Hall cleared rapidly of all except a few of our top officers.
"Confidentially," I said, "I won't go for any more of this shared leadership stuff. This gang can only be run by one boss at a time. ”

“ I craved the protection of darkness. We already had passed two police cars headed eastward, and each time I cringed helplessly, and Celia and Freddie ducked down out of sight. Possibly the red sunset tones were falsifying the green of our car. Otherwise, I can't see how they overlooked us.
Traffic was starting to thin out as we arrived over the Mendota district of Chicago. This was kind of a marginal area—no longer desirable, not yet slum—where respectable poor people maintained some semblance of pride in their old dilapidated solar-heated homes. ”

“ Henry took off for Titan.
Jake turned to Matt. "Look," he said, "I arranged it so Henry would take the letter because I wanted to talk to you. When you come right down to it, Matt, what need do we have for three people in the deal?"
Matt slowly nodded his thick black head of hair, as comprehension spread over his features.
"With just two people to divide up the pot, our shares would be fifteen million apiece," said Jake. ”

“ It was Esther, holding some linens.
"They have you doing everything around here," Brack said with empathy. "What are these?"
"Towels. You use them after you wash."
"Boy, this sure is ancient!"
Esther's eyes betrayed deep torment. "I know. I would do anything to get away from this place."
She put the towels in a rack. The trucker was lying on the bed, contemplating the girl's deft, graceful movements.
"Listen," he said, "why wait for a passenger ship? Why not arrange secretly with one of the cargo ships that stop here? ”

“ The Mendelsohns exchanged glances.
"I don't know," said Solly. "Truthfully. Let me think about it a few minutes."
"Since you've told us the truth about yourselves," said Dolly, "do you mind hearing some things you don't know about us?"
"All cards might as well be face up," I replied.
"Well listen, you two. It isn't easy to emigrate to another system. If you're a shlub, yes. But not if you're a soil chemist, or any other kind of scientist or advanced technician. Earth won't let the boys with know-how get out of its clutches." ”

“ Naomi added patronizingly, "we're all sure that Vera's abilities will be recognized quite soon, even as a recruit, and that she will rapidly rise to a new position of leadership within our organization."
"More rapidly than you can imagine!" I shouted at the top of my voice. Unaided by an amplifier it must have sounded feeble even to the front ranks. But in the same instant I wound up on one foot and cracked my whip resoundingly in her direction, and there was no mistaking this defiant gesture. ”

“ This oxygen cargo is the most valuable stuff in the solar system right now."
"Aw come on," said Matt. "All you have to do is breathe to get a lung full of it. Is this some joke?"
"Eight dead men aren't my idea of a joke," said Henry, a frown crossing his pudgy features.
"All right," said Jake. "This was top secret information on Titan. There's been a bad leak in the city dome. They're losing tons of air every day, and so far no one's been able to find the hole." ”

“ She and Celia and Freddie went into the kitchen.
I hated to be left alone with Solly, and I suppose the feeling was reciprocal.
"Are you glad to be going?" I inquired neutrally.
"Very."
"How long does it take to get there?"
"Two and a half years."
"That's a long time!"
"Not considering the distance. Primus Gladus is nine-tenths of a light-year away."
"Funny," I said, "a star being that close, undiscovered until this century."
"It's not a bright star. Half the luminosity of our sun. For all we know, there may be others just as close." Solly meditated on the idea. ”

“ Twenty-five feet away, Naomi came out of the huddle and signalled for silence. While the clamor was subsiding I saw Jeanette jump off the dais onto one of the lower plateaus and disappear in one of the tunnels. I poised myself for the leap.
"Now look, gang," said Naomi. "Jeanette is our protocol expert and it's her opinion that no challenge is in order. She doesn't remember any precedent for a leader returning from Matrix, but she's just taken off for the archive room to look up the records." A chorus of boos and catcalls broke out, and this got under Naomi's skin. ”

“ I personally think competition is the mainspring of progress—"
Solly started to protest.
"—material progress," I added.
"Well, maybe," said Celia, and in a flash I could see what had gone wrong with Freddie's home-life, from the school principal's point of view. "But I can't see what competitiveness has to do with creative art, or the pure sciences, or philosophy. I think it's positively destructive in those areas. The real struggle there is internal, not external. To me, competition is only a part of life not the whole of it." ”

“ I haven't left Corbie in seven years."
"What makes you stick around a place like this? Married?"
"No. My father owns the Eros."
"You're free, brown and twenty-one," said Brack somewhat inaccurately. "He can't make you stay if you want to leave."
Esther waved warningly at the table phone and Brack again covered it with his hand.
"Maybe he can't legally, but there's only one passenger ship between here and the planets every year, and they've refused me a ticket twice now."
"Sounds pretty rotten to me," said the trucker. "Well, what if you got married to some guy? ”

“ But the minute the Ios broke-off pursuit we renewed our antagonism.
"Say," said Naomi over her helmet phone, "this isn't the right course for Callisto."
"No, dear, I'm landing on Ganymede first. I don't think it's safe to go on until we get that fuel leak fixed."
"Why should we pay good money to a mechanic when our own girls can do the job?"
"We'd never reach Callisto. You don't realize how dense the fumes are in this cabin. We could explode just like that." I tried futilely to snap my clumsy spacesuit fingers.
"Look," said Naomi irritably, "let me do the worrying. ”

“ It's wedding presents when they grow up. It's—it's funeral wreaths!"
Celia started to cry, and Dolly started to cry, and they hugged each other and started to cry even more, and the tears rolled down their cheeks. And the tears rolled down my cheeks, and Solly's too, I guess, and we shook hands very solemnly. And Celia stuffed the envelope into Dolly's hand. And then all of us really cut loose and bawled—I covering my face with my hands, and Solly burying his face in a handkerchief. Only Freddie wasn't crying at first. ”

“ Naomi clarified.
I again managed to sit up and felt the strength begin returning to my limbs. If you aren't stone dead, modern medicine can heal almost anything nowadays in a matter of hours, which I find reassuring. "What do you propose, another duel?"
"That doesn't make much sense," said Jeanette. "Why fight among ourselves when there are so many of those stupid boys buzzing around?" ”

“ They landed on Japetus.
"Now, one of us has to deliver the ultimatum," said Jake. "One of us has to go back to Titan and tell them our terms."
"Isn't that pretty risky?" said Matt. "They'll hold that guy hostage."
"No, we aren't doing it that way." Jake withdrew an envelope from his coat. "We just get there and mail this registered letter to the city manager. It says, deliver the money to Hyperion, and no monkey business or we destroy the oxygen. That means, the city dies if anyone tries to tail us or pull a double cross."
"They won't take a chance when so many lives are at stake," said Henry. ”

“ Poor kid! He's weary of looking at pictures, and so am I."
"Freddie," I asked, "why didn't you like to play games with the other children at school?" Celia glanced at me disapprovingly.
"Oh, I like to play games. But ... it just seems that when everyone's trying so hard to win ... it spoils the fun. ”

“ Naomi launched the first missile straight for their airlock. It struck just before the emergency siege gate slid shut, blasting jagged holes through the outer and inner locks. Air whooshed from the dome, hurling men and debris into the vacuum. ”

“ It's a terrible thing for a father, a Top Competitor, to be told he has a non-competitive son. You momentarily lost control of yourself. Bring him to the school voluntarily. Say you thrashed him within an inch of his life. Say you've been too busy competing to pay much attention to your son's upbringing. ”

“ Celia was tearfully, bitterly sarcastic. "You extended us the favor—"
I was trembling with rage. "We are taking Freddie with us."
"You can't."
"You just try to stop me."
The principal smiled, again disdainfully. "He has already left with the STARS officer. There is nothing you can do. Except leave my office."
I was stunned. That blue car we parked next to. I was paralyzed. I wanted to smash the principal's face—even if it meant going to jail.
His desk buzzer sounded. He flicked a switch. ”

“ Because war is our way of life, and someone is liable to kill you just for the fun of it. Bad situation for a man like yourself who can only afford to die once."
I strode to the door. "Ginger, escort the professor to his ship."
It was a good thing we got rid of him then. Minutes later, our instruments detected ships within a quarter of a million miles, and the alert was sounded. Shortly afterwards, we made positive identification: the Io gang!
Naomi and I quarreled for a second over strategy. Should we split up, each leader piloting her own ship and responsible for half the fleet? ”

“ Naomi continued, "a girl who has just returned from the Matrix Center, and is once again ready to do battle for the glory of our gang. This great Callisto had the misfortune to be killed in a fight with private detectives during that costly, but on the whole successful, raid on the ration warehouse on Eros. I refer, of course, to our own immortal Vera ... whom I believe is ..." (here Naomi peered out into the darker recesses of the hall) "... among us right now." ”

“ I could see a puzzled expression at the window as I glided away and became lost in pedestrian cross-traffic.
In a mood of self-congratulation, I headed for the Art Institute. The mood vanished as I passed the first newsstand. Boldly on its display screen was a front page story about the fugitive Sponsor family. There were pictures, of course. They didn't have a very good one of Celia. College graduation shot. She had nothing to worry about. The photo of Freddie was better, but the city is full of skinny seven-year-olds with sensitive features. No great risk of recognition there. ”

“ The gals in our ordnance crew would rig it up with missile launchers, turn it into a killer, flagship of our fleet.
But just now my ship was unarmed, defenseless. And as I approached our base on airless, rocky Callisto I again had the feeling I was being followed, trailed in space.
Not by any of the Io boys; I was pretty sure of that. Because that brave gang will always attack when the odds are five to one in their favor. And not by the police either: They've always left us alone. Someone else. ”

“ But of course you can't get to know your son very well that way.
"Just what is this trouble Freddie's involved in?" I asked as we descended. "Why don't you keep me better informed on the boy?"
"I try to, but when have you had time to listen? I usually see you at our cocktail parties for clients, or else at three in the morning when you drop into bed too exhausted to get into pajamas."
"Well, this matter with the principal. Are you sure it's so serious?"
"They never ask for both parents unless it is," Celia assured me, glancing soberly at the school buildings as we came to earth. ”

“ Naomi smiled craftily. "Steal it, eh? All right, I'll go along with you for the time being."
I left her at the public library and headed, with serious misgivings, in the direction of my family home.
Ganymede City is a drab industrial town of a million or so people, with very little excitement or glamor beneath its turquoise dome. The chamber of commerce used to give a big buildup to the view of Jupiter and the good job opportunities when they first wanted to attract workers from Earth. ”

“ Intellectually, he won't exert himself against his classmates. Financially, he refuses to earn bonus points selling magazine subscriptions in his leisure time. This, as you know, goes against the very principles on which our democracy is based. It's subversive in its influence on the other children. If he were not so young, if he did not come from a well-known competitive family, one would almost be tempted to think Edmund an Australian spy!"
"Come now!" said Celia indignantly. "Expel Freddie from your school if you wish, but don't slander him." ”

“ School is a powerful influence, but home is the decisive influence in the molding of a child's character and outlook. The plain and simple fact is that your home—Edmund's home—has been an anti-competitive influence! No school can counterbalance it. ”

“ Naomi showed surprise. "Right now? In our condition?"
"Sure. What this gang needs is a little boost in morale."
Naomi nodded, her brown eyes flashing. "Good. We'll go in my ship."
Together we strode from the sickbay, through the tunnel to the airlock. Ginger intercepted us at the First Hall. Her guards held a man at pistol point.
"Naomi ... Vera ... whichever of you is in charge now. We've just caught an Io spy!" ”

“ Solly looked down for a moment, then threw back his head. "Look, that's still your money, even if you did give it to us. Dolly and I are willing ... would be happy to pay Freddie's fare. And take care of him as our own if you and Celia can't get on."
"My son has no future on Earth," I said. "If Celia's willing, I am. Go talk to her."
Solly went to Celia. She did not once look in my direction and I was glad. In the end, Freddie went with Solly, and I could tell what the lie was. Solly was going to show Freddie the insides of the wonderful ship. ”

“ You see, I'm seeking to understand—and it would be a contribution to social science if you'd help me find out—just why you teenagers are striking out at each other, scorning adult society, rejecting the opposite sex. ”

“ Sponsor, that aggressive non-competitiveness is carried on the statute books as a misdemeanor."
Scorn and ridicule were in Celia's voice. "But Freddie is a seven-year-old!"
"Quite. But our concern as educators is with the future adult. And unless the child's habits of thought are corrected in the early, formative years, all of his aberrations are magnified by maturity. Would you want your son to grow up a criminal, a seditionist?"
"You need not worry about that," I answered firmly. "I'll take Freddie in hand. He'll learn the value of competition if I have to beat it into him!" ”

“ For that is, after all, the meaning of your immediate past."
"What are these two alternatives?" My voice was quite small. I felt as though my life was warped into this moment like a mobius sheet.
"You will go to Mars University, and there train yourself to become a laboratory technician, as you originally promised your parents. This is a useful profession, of service to society. Sufficient funds will be provided." ”