Ben Bova

“ You're afraid of the unknown quantity they represent, distrustful of your own leadership when new problems arise...."
"We've worked for more than ten years to make this settlement what it is," Jason fumed. "We fought and died to keep those marauding lunatics from wrecking us. We are mankind's last hope! We can't afford to let others in ... they're not scientists, they wouldn't understand, they'd ruin everything."
"Mankind's last hope, terrified of men." Tom was suddenly tired, weary of the whole struggle. ”

“ The Soviets built an Iron Curtain around themselves, and wiped themselves out because of it.
"Don't you see, Jason? There are only two types of animals on this planet: the gamblers and the extinct. It won't be easy to live with the outsiders, there'll be problems of every type. But the alternative is decay and destruction. You've got to take the chance, if you don't you're dead."
A long silence. Finally Jason said, "You've only got about a half-hour's worth of oxygen left. Will you tow the satellite into the proper position?"
Tom stared at the planet unseeingly. ”

“ He had arrived a year before the completion of the rocket after walking 1,300 miles to find the settlement; his purpose was to organize some of the scientists and explore the bombed-out cities to see what could be salvaged out of man's shattered heritage.
But Tom was ideal for the satellite job: the right size—five-six and one-hundred thirty pounds; no dependents—wife and two sons dead of radiation sickness. True, he had no technical background whatsoever; but with Arnoldsson's hypnotic conditioning he could be taught all that it was necessary for him to know ... maybe. ”

“ Of course Jason will be here, Tom thought. Aloud he said, "He needn't bother. I can see the satellite packages; they're only a couple of hundred yards from the ship."
Even through the radio he could sense the stir that went through them.
Don't get your hopes up, he warned silently. Remember, I'm no engineer. Engineers are too valuable to risk on this job. I'm just a tool, a mindless screwdriver sent here to assemble this glorified tinkertoy. I'm the muscle, Arnoldsson is the nerve link, and Jason is the brain.
Abruptly, Jason's voice surged through the radio speaker, "We did it, Tom! ”

“ There could be no return to any kind of organized society while men had to scavenge for wood to warm themselves and to run their primitive machines.
Then someone had remembered the satellite.
It had been designed, before the war, to collect solar energy and beam it to a receiving station on Earth. The satellite packages had been fired into a 24-hour orbit, circling the Earth over a fixed point on the Equator. The receiving station, built on the southeastern coast of the United States, saw the five units as a single second-magnitude star, low on the horizon all year, every year. ”

“ He could sense Jason nod. "The heaters are on minimum power automatically unless you turn them up. It'll warm you up in a few seconds. How's the satellite?"
Tom told him what remained to be done.
"You're not even half through yet." Jason's voice grew fainter and Tom knew that he was doing some mental arithmetic as he thought out loud. "You've been up about twenty hours; at the rate you're going you'll need another twenty-four to finish the job. That will bring you very close to your oxygen limit."
Tom sat impassively and stared at the gray metal and colored knobs of the radio. ”

“ So don't talk, Tom growled silently, I can keep warm just by hating you, Jason.
He worked through the frigid night, struggling ant-like with huge pieces of equipment. Slowly he assembled the big parabolic mirror, the sighting mechanism and the atomic convertor. With dreamy motions he started connecting the intricate wiring systems.
And all the while he raged at himself: Why? Why did it have to be this way? Why me? Why did I agree to do this? I knew I'd never live through it ”

“ Ruth said.
"Look—those cities hold mankind's memory. I want to gather up the fragments of civilization before the last book is used for kindling and the last machine turns to rust. We need the knowledge in the cities if we expect to rebuild a civilization...."
"But Jason and Dr. Arnoldsson and the engineers—they know all about...."
"Jason and the engineers," Tom snapped. "They had to stretch themselves to the breaking point to put together this rocket from parts that were already manufactured, waiting for them. Do you think they'd know how to build a city? Dr. Arnoldsson is a psychiatrist ”

“ The transmitters are aimed at some good farming country, and within miles of a city that's still half-intact."
"You're insane!"
"Not at all. We're keeping our deal, Jason. I'm giving you the satellite's power, and you're going to allow exploration of the cities. You won't be able to prevent your people from rummaging through the cities now; and you won't be able to keep the outsiders from joining you, not once you get out from behind your own fences."
"You can't do this! You...."
Tom snapped off the radio. ”

“ Silence.
"I'm a historian," Tom continued, "and I know that a civilization can't exist in a vacuum. If outsiders don't conquer it, it'll rot from within. It's happened to Babylonia, Greece, Rome, China, even. ”

“ And you need everything else ... the radio, the controls, the oxygen pumps...."
"What about the lights? I don't need them, I've got the lamp on my suit helmet."
"They don't take as much power as the heaters do. It wouldn't help at all."
Tom twisted weightlessly and stared back at Earth. "Well just what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Don't get excited," Jason's voice grated in his earphones. "We've calculated it all out. According to our figures, your suit will store enough heat during the day to last the night...." ”

“ You're wrong. The satellite will send us the power we need. Then we'll build our machines and teach our children."
How can you teach what you don't know? Tom wanted to ask, but didn't. He worked without talking, hauling the weightless tons of satellite packages into position, electronically welding them together, splicing wiring systems too intricate for his conscious mind to understand. ”

“ Yes you are. Oh, you could use the hope of exploring the cities to lure me up here on this suicide-job, but you knew I'd never be back to claim my half of the bargain. You're afraid of the cities, and I think I know why. ”