柯士甸站

  柯士甸站

一个新的开端的故事...。

林奎斯特通过卡林

第一章

Sareena而不是集中在她的微积分作业像她的意思做，发现自己凝视了两旁的小咖啡馆的大窗户。 在这一天的时间对这一站结束时，她能够得到的地球真是太神奇了看法，她曾在一个星球上她的生活从来没有踏上。 这就是为什么她来到这里的同时，她每天吃午饭，研究她的数学。 但今天，似乎，她无法集中精力于这两个的。 她只是坐在那里盯着窗外。 多么美丽的世界看今天！ 她希望她能够访问它，不知何故，但她从来没有在她的生活负担不起那里旅行。 相反，她被接受为她家柯士甸站。 她含量与不足。

她一眼就离开她的速度不够快抓住豆腐汉堡，并开始进食。 她压制在第一咬和吐到她的盘子回来。 这足以杀死的心情。 她推盘很快离开她，抓住她的书和背包，为首出古雅的小咖啡馆。 她回头望了一眼瞬间看到一个机器人立即处置的混乱她的。

这是一个20分钟的步行回家，通过广泛的走廊，挤满了人。 人行道上似乎正在慢慢地让她走在他们旁边轻快了。 这是一个简单的方法避免了人群。 她需要她的工作而已。 由于她走向了中心站，下发言4，地球是她回来，她不能看它，因为她走路。

柯士甸站有一个非常简单的设计，八辐条，从中央枢纽延伸，并与外部车轮连接。 第九讲延长至该中心在一个垂直的角度对其他8个。 最后，有一个大旋钮，这看起来像一个巨大的香蒲。 旋钮设整个车站的人工重力系统。 由于Sareena继续向着中心，靠近第九发言，她能感觉到她的体重不断增加。 她现在可能重四十磅，当3分钟前，她只在咖啡厅重达30。

相对于其他，更新，在轨道站附近homeworld，奥斯汀是在规模较小的一个。 建成了近100年前，它坐落少于50000人。 Sareena，但是，并不认为在所有的小而已。 她还没有探索每一个走廊，商店，或咖啡，但她从来没有离开车站，甚至访问别人。 这是她的家，而她也希望她能看到其他地方，她没有打算离开。 这是太昂贵了。

她转过身对她回家的路上最后一个弯道。 她停在她的门口。 该系统认-69快乐，因为它插进她的指纹扫描。 门打开一滑几乎听不见的嗡嗡声。 步进内，首先Sareena发现是陌生的女人在厨房里站立。 这并不奇怪她。 她的父亲经常带回家奇怪的妇女。 她身材高大，金发碧眼，胸部沉重。 该女子的确切类型Sareena期望从她的父亲。

“你好，”女人说。 “我假设你必须Sareena，对吗？”

“那是我，是的，”回答Sareena。 “你是莎拉对不对？”

该女子一脸疑惑。 “什么？ 我是卡洛。 没有你的父亲告诉我吗？“

“他从来不提任何卡罗尔给我。”

“他没有？”

“不。”

“那么，谁的莎拉。”

Sareena暂停。 我应该告诉她吗？，她不知道。 爸爸可能会很生气。 但他从来没有提及任何人任何卡罗尔她。 她没有义务帮他保守秘密。 Sareena说：“她的这个女孩他已经在过去的几个星期看到的。”

卡罗尔盯着她。 “就像一个女朋友？”

“这就是他一直告诉我。”

“我明白了。”

Sareena看着窒息娱乐为卡罗尔周围，仿佛她刚刚在一个她从未见过的地方吵醒房间看了看。 说：“我想我最好现在离开”卡罗尔说。

“好吧，很高兴见到你，”Sareena在欢快，几乎嘲弄的声音说。 “我的爸爸在这里顺便说一下，？”

“不，不。 他不在这里。 我不知道他在哪里。“有了这样的，卡罗尔很快离开了公寓，以什么像她的脸上看似乎茫然。

Sareena笑了，她轻轻地对自己进行她的书袋，她的房间和它扔在床上。 “音乐”，她吩咐，和家用电脑立即开始玩她最喜欢的歌曲随机选择预编程组合。 “卷下三”，并相应地降低了声音。 “我要学”，她喃喃地自言自语。

她把她从她的袋子微积分书，翻了翻她的网页已经尝试读取前她离开咖啡厅。 她发现这一点更容易集中在她的工作在这里，那里没有窗户，转移她的注意力。 然而，她仍然无法使任何意义的问题。 她尝试了近一个半小时，但最后，放弃了，接着其他功课。

45分钟后，她所做的一切，但她的积分。 她不想再回到一遍，所以她只是坐在那里听她的音乐，最后睡着了。

她被惊醒了她的父亲，他到她的房间爆裂。

他不是一个大的威胁，也不看数字。 他对42，并开始秃头。 他是为他的年纪的人短，但仍站在上面Sareena几英寸。

“你说什么来卡罗尔今天？”他问她。

“什么？ 什么是你说什么？“Sareena问快。

“你知道我的意思。 你有没有和卡罗尔小聊天。 你怎么告诉她？“

“我讲了不到两分钟便到她。”

“那你对她说？ 你说对我和莎拉的东西，不是吗？“

“是啊，真的吗？”Sareena回答。

“你告诉她，她是我的女朋友。”

“是啊。”

他停顿了一下，看着她，看困惑。 “你为什么会这样说呢？”

“这是真的，是不是？”Sareena说。 “你告诉我你的一天。”

“喂，你有什么权利去公布给大家？”

“她问我谁是萨拉。 什么是我应该说什么？“

他叹了口气，并愤怒地瞪着她看，她瞪着回来。 “音乐，”他说。

该音乐已经在整个交谈玩耍，仍在继续。

“音乐了！”他喊道。

该音乐继续。

“电脑，暂停音乐，”Sareena说，声音相应停止。 “你必须自己来解决它的时候，还有另外一个人在房间里。 你真的要知道，现在。“

他看着她，气愤地说。 “闭嘴，”他说。

她轻轻笑了起来，他提出在她的眉毛，并指出在门口。 “滚出去，”她说，嘲弄他的声音。

他对她采取了威胁的一步。 “你不告诉我怎么做我自己的家。”

她耸了耸肩在嘲笑道歉方式。

“你有没有多少麻烦你使我今天的想法？”他半喊道。 “现在卡罗尔说，她从来不希望看到我了。”

“是啊，嗯，我觉得这是你的错比它更是我的。”

而这时候她的父亲上前打Sareena，很难跨越的脸。

______ ______ ______

“哟，彼得曼，我们得到在地球的第一批照片。”

斯坦利彼得曼，稍微从突兀的声音吓了一跳，抬起头垫在他的掌上电脑，他已经读出。 Estian，在他的短中期到20年代末的人，工作在较低的三个船舶甲板保养，经受住了赤柱，疯狂笑着，显然真正关心的事件感到兴奋。

“他们已经很？”斯坦问快。

“还没有”，回答Estian，“但是他们来了，在约10分钟。 你看下来的船员休息时间？“

“是的，相信我会的。 我不想错过的兴奋。“

“我们走吧。”

这两个一起走了，走的飞船中的长长的走廊轻快。 甲板上的4个会议大厅是他们的目的地。

银河四是有史以来建造的最大的星际工艺，近600公里长的研究。 它2006年的甲板，四食堂，几个一般性会议区，50或60浴室，半打大规模“公园”或“花园”，草，树木，水果和鲜花以及任何你希望能够找到完整一个地球上真正的公园。 在船上有没有窗户。 90个由船员所花的时间内为百分之当船是在光速旅行，也绝对没有在光的速度看到的。 尽管它的规模大，船载只有43人，使得它的大厅比较贫瘠和孤独的大部分时间，但它给了每人一个自由的空间很大，并使其容易某人独处时，他们希望到。 它携带了7年，这些43的人了。

花了两个约五分钟到达会场。 当他们到了那里，斯坦利注意到，巨人的viewscreen已在尽头竖立。 他扫视了房间。 乍一看，它似乎他好像是在出席全船，甚至连队长。 他环顾四周，寻找失踪的面孔，但每个人都在这里。 7在花费了同样的人与一小撮年，你学会一眼认出他们，并可以随时告诉确切人数从总missing。

这当然不是一个必需的会议。 这些照片可以很容易被视为任何船舶的其他部分，但显然每个人都希望看到其他人的反应的东西，他们没有见过一次看到超过一半的10年。

每个人都在谈论一次。 斯坦利切换来回他的注意力从他所听到几个不同的谈话，他坐在一无人居住的座位旁边Estian下来。 他们都在谈论这种或那种形式，对，他们看到或即将对他们的航程是现在即将曲终人散。

“这是伟大的，是不是？”Estian说，作为他的手在他的膝盖兴奋地抽动。 “这一切都将会在几天内结束。 我来说，我也开心。 没有违法，但我越来越漂亮该死的你生病的人。“

赤柱，更比同Estian谈话事件感兴趣，只是喃喃自语，听不清楚，并盯着前面的viewscreen前进。

“那么，你首先要做的事，当我们回到地球，”Estian问。

斯坦看着年轻人。 他想到了这个问题。 “我不知道，”他说。 “也许去游泳。”

“你知道我该怎么办？ 我想去上山和去雪登机。 这样做可能会错过了什么我此行最大。“

“咦，”斯坦说，盯着对房间的前面了。

“嘿彼得曼？”

他看着Estian。 这个男孩给他面临着严重的看。 他们盯着几秒钟，直到Estian让什么很明显是一个完全人为的抽泣对方。 “我会想念你的人”，他葬在斯坦利的肩膀他的脸。 发射后大声，假几秒钟长的呼声，他把远离斯坦，他笑着咯咯地笑疯狂。 “觉得如何？ 好？ 难道我骗你？“

斯坦利摇摇头，恼火。

“噢，地狱。 真的，你没有，？“，但他被切断的队长站起来在人群面前，开始说话了。

“女士们，先生们，”他说。 “正如你们所知，我们将要收到家世界最早的图画。 他们来了就应该在另一个几分钟的viewscreen。 让我们打开它的现在，“-的闪现在屏幕上，并与一个琳琅满目填充，旋转的色彩，”然后等待，直到我们看到的东西。“船长，看似正常和平静，坐在前排，面对巨大的屏幕上，头顶迫在眉睫。

人群陷入了沉默，在飞旋的颜色从更改为纯清楚地看到明星的看法。 还有待观察的恒星几百，跨越它的显示屏黑点睛。 他们都是慢慢地向外侧移动，取代了该中心作为一个空白点什么出现。 还有它是，在现场中心。 这是微小的，根本无法分辨出什么，但它的整体形状，但它的增长。 低杂音走到人群中，但死亡，因为经济增长较大的行星，大到足以辨认出颜色，海洋，大陆。 几分钟后过去了，地球是大到足以填满整个屏幕。 有人认为，只有在停止缩放开始鼓掌，然后数。 有欢呼，缓慢开始上升从房间中坐在人民群众。 它继续上升，慢慢地，直到所有在场的人对他们的脚，他高兴得尖叫。 斯坦利环视了一下房间，看到了他的同伴面临着一些实际的泪水。

这是他所看到的东西，因为他们七年前离开数百次。 很多时候，他走到电脑资料库和检索一个地球，他现在盯着照片，但这些当时是娱乐，人工，照片。 这就是生活。 这是真正的世界，他从何而来。 这是他在那里回家。 这些老照片，从来没有像这样影响了他。

声音终于开始平息，当它没有，船长，再次站起来，站到一边之一的显示屏，并发表了讲话。 “好吧，伙计，”他说，洪亮的，大家听到的。 “我有一些进展报告：我们已开始减速。 我们现在正行驶在略小于光速。 到明天中午，我们将会在这个比率的一半。 我们现在不到48小时我们的目的地。 如果你想知道，我们将停靠在一个狭小的空间轨道上围绕地球站。 你可以看看它。 它叫奥斯汀。“

______ ______ ______

当他站着，他的脸在镜子里，泰森不禁觉得，他的胃可怕的痛苦。 起初他以为是简单地从他的极端持久宿醉引起的，但没有，这种痛苦是不是可以通过简单的身体带来疾病的。 差得远了。 这是有罪的痛苦。 这是痛苦的水平，未能达成，但在一生一次。 这是当你感到痛苦你意识到你已人的生命。

他看着自己，他布满血丝的眼睛，他的脸通红。 的前一天晚上赶回来的事件。 他想起了一切。 他希望，他不能。

* * *

他是出在市中心体育与他的几个朋友昨晚酒吧饮酒。 曾有饮酒它们之间的四场比赛。 他们打小游戏等，与酒保聊天，试图拿起妇女。 他们成为一个保龄球游戏，是在电视上玩几台各地有兴趣的酒吧。 他们的球员放在小赌注。 泰森是他们之间最重的酒徒，但主要是由于这一事实，其他人都必须去工作到第二天早晨。 他的朋友早日起飞和泰森是留给自己和他喝酒。 他呆了一对夫妇多小时，喝酒越来越多，就坐在他身旁女士打，一般享受自己。 在他被枪杀了良好的二十倍，并收到来自妇女的男友有一个很大的威胁，他成了沮丧，并且获得了越来越多的声音，有时甚至使用暴力。 酒保最后踢他出的建立，一个小后凌晨三点。

这是下雨现在很难，因为泰森几个时刻试图让他的汽车门锁打开。 最后，他考上，就全身湿透，坐下来，并告诉他的一辆车回家。 当汽车没有回应，泰森又花了两分钟，他记得第一次打开了它。 他这样做了，说：“带我到2141东台。 这是南部在这里。“

这款车缓缓驶出停车空间，进入街道，并开始采取在每小时60公里泰森到底回家。 “你可以去地狱的很多比这快。 有没有方法之一。“

“在这条公路的时速限制是60公里，”车用电脑的声音回答。 “这就是我们目前的速度。”

“我不在乎我们的速度！ 让我们行动吧！“

泰森的数字速度表从60到61的注视下，62，63，最后停在65。

“更快！”泰森喊道。

“在这公路的车速限制为60公里。 我们目前的速度是65。“

“我想去1 - 100和10。 增长速度为110。“

“这将是一个不安全的速度。 我们建议增加至70公里。“

“啊，地狱，”他对自己说。 “为了这个废话地狱。 释放控制，Autodrive。“

赛车立刻做出回应。 从弹出一个方向盘，仪表板内，出现了两个小兜售从地板，并越过左边的车，向迎面而来的车辆。 泰森在疯狂地抢夺方向盘，并猛烈摇摆它回到正确的。 他觉得作为一个颠簸的车到路边撞上，然后反弹到街上回来。 他继续开车，气体推销到地板上，交织的交通来回两车道。

有时他与迎面而来的车辆，但在他们的汽车的自动驾驶仪熟练地避免遇到他。 很多时候，他们需要转弯的道路完全关闭，但他们从来没有差点撞到他。 在他自己的行车线的交通车也同样避免了他，他轻松地通过了所有这些，当他沿着公路飞驰大大超过每小时120公里。 这是一个相当有趣的经验一段时间。 他实际上并没有带动许多个月的汽车。

但他的乐趣很快结束，当他看到一个年轻妇女到街上，在他的车前一好方法步骤。 她还年轻，也许02年。 短，金发碧眼。 她在她的左手进行一个小钱包。

泰森的反应了几秒钟。 他猛烈抨击了他的脚在刹车，赛车立即开始刹车。 事情变得模糊，在他的纺线疯狂的赛车。 他看见一个女子的第二个快速一瞥。 她是他唯一能清楚看到。 他疯狂地试图控制住赛车，但只是在使事情更糟的成功。

他看到她再度驾驶员侧的窗口，进行。 这一次更接近。 然后，她在那里，她对窗口的脸。 他听取了她与他的车辆连接沉闷。 他看着她。 她似乎看到他回来的蓝眼睛。 她的长金发，有色稍微血红色，包围她的头，顶着他的窗口本身。 她面对的最完美形成他从未见过的。 清除肤色，两个独立的，有条件的眉毛，和粉红色的唇膏只是一个暗示丰满的嘴唇。 一个美丽的面孔。 她可能是一个模型，是唯一以为他。

然后回到车上旋转到左边左右，并连续定位，与路线。 她爱上了，并立即背面左侧的汽车突然部分节节上涨。

这款车最终滑向停止，定位横向越过公路中心。 他回头一看，她在那里，一动不动躺在在道路中间一个很好的距离回来，他期待在左侧窗口散落在血液和挡风玻璃的左侧。 硬雨已经开始冲走。

他从未考虑过回去。 他只是告诉南车送他，某处。 他想回家，但根本无法让自己告诉车停下来。 他接着通过晚上，直到第二天中午时，他停下来，得到了加利福尼亚州北部某处在一家小旅馆的房间。 他睡着后立即上床后未能获得睡在车里。 他睡7小时，10分钟前刚刚醒过来了。

* * *

他盯着自己一个更几秒钟，然后转身到厕所吐。 是时候离开。 他需要去其他地方。 他没有多远，他已到昨晚为止，但不过是想法，这不是远远不够的。 他需要离开该国。 也许墨西哥。

他走出了浴室，进入他的酒店房间的主要领域。 他发现在他上衣口袋里的银行终端和检查它看到他目前的资金。 他有几千美元，他的名字，但它在电子货币形式。 货币可以追查。 他将停在银行取款机和交换现金，并会尽快这样做，在警察找到了他是谁，并把他的银行大楼一示踪剂。 希望他们没有这样做呢。

另一个是他会做的就是找到一个电脑黑客谁可以进入他的赛车的数据库和清除所有的痕迹，并在那里发生了什么事，他一直是，但在那之前，他必须小心，始终驱动下的极限，并希望他没能拦下来。

望着窗外，他惊讶地看到，它已经开始变得黑暗。 幸运的是，他没有看到警车，他认出了他自己的车在该地段的尽头停。 仍然感觉十分之生病，他收集他的东西，去了检查。

大概花了15分钟左右城市驾驶泰森之前，他找到了一个银行取款机。 他停在街对面的车和坐几分钟，担心会发生什么时，他插入插槽在机器的终端。 他可以看到在他心中，爆裂出数十名警察无处，汽笛呼啸声中，他猛扑过来，他试图让他毕生的积蓄。 他拼命试图迫使他心中的理想，但发现他不能。

再过几分钟，他收集他的意志，无视他心中的想法，通过运行，打开门，街对面走去。 他检查他的左，右，以确保没有人在看他，他插入之前在他的终端机器边槽迅速。 他敦促他的手紧紧地握在一起，试图压制的震动。

“我要收回我的钱，”他赶紧说，只要小电脑屏幕提示他进入他的指挥。 “在现金。 50多岁。“

他预期警报，告诉他的东西他被捕了。 他预计至少要被告知他可以不收回他的钱。 但是，没有，像这些东西。 他作为在机器的底部小托盘喜悦的心跃上开放，脆，新，50元钞票开始浇筑出一个整洁的小堆。 他紧张地等待着，直到它被完成，抓在手中的两桩，并成功地塞进他的上衣口袋里。

控股的一叠钱在他口袋里，用一只手，他冲回在街上，钻进了车，以最快的，他知道如何。 “去吧，现在，”他说。 “快点。 直在这条路上去。“

他继续南下，像他前一天晚上。 当汽车在高速公路沿线120公里每小时他，远低于法定上限，他试图去超过他的选择。 有那么多东西，他需要找出来，但可能不是因为他需要去入电脑，让他的身份。 他需要找到一个警察报告，有事要告诉他如何调查此案。 他需要知道，如果他们能够检索eyeflashes，图片直接从该女子拉的最后一件事，她会在她面前出现脑死亡。 如果是的话，他们会在他的车的图片，甚至可能许可证编号或者也许，他担心，甚至是自己eyeflash照片。 他需要知道，但是这是不可能找到了。 他认为，他们可能会说，谈论它电台的东西，而是通过不断翻转站未发现有用的信息。

最终，他发现公路标志，指示给当地机场。 他想过。 他有足够的金钱来买车票的地方，但他将不得不沟车，这是不是他想做的事，但如果它已被确认，他将不得不摆脱它的某个时候。 他驾驶的时间越长，越接近他是被捕获。

“拉过，未来的权利，”他说，给的指示前往机场。

他支付了停车停，18元，走进候机楼主体轻快，不断一眼超过任何人靠近他在通过他的肩膀。 他徘徊了很久，机场，问自己在那里正是他想去。 他停在一台计算机终端，并要求它造就了在未来48小时所有传出的航班列表。 在屏幕中出现了不同的航班号，目的地几百，以及相应的价格。 一旁，他看见一个航班的栖息地世界上市。 这引起了他的注意。 他当时提出来的。 这份名单要短得多，只有9项。 他检查了清单。 都是出于他的价格范围，除外之一。 飞行2131至柯士甸站。 4000名，为1 300美元的单程机票。 他刚刚够到了他的生命重新开始。

如果没有给予第二次思想观念，他告诉电脑，他想购买车票。 随即，他开始推入了这是专为罕见之际，当有人想用现金购买的东西设计的终端槽50。

第2章

这是前士丹利能够从小组中，记者和他的所有采访了数天，并通过自己漫步柯士甸站。 事实上，他已经偷偷离开时似乎没有人留意。

这个地方是巨大的。 船长曾经说过，它是一个小车站。 斯坦利甚至无法想象什么人会像大。 他漫无目的地游荡，经常到他从未见过不同的人崩溃，并设法使他们中的多少对他生气。 什么是他最惊讶的人数量之多，挤在这么小的空间。 他最终成为幽闭恐惧症，花了他所有的精力，避开左，右各走廊，试图找到没有太多的人之一。 他预期将有更多的休憩用地已就在这里比在银河四 ，但这里的大厅显得更加拥挤一些原因。

他最后遇到了一个小咖啡馆，车站在那里，他可以坐下来结束。 这个地区是一个少人多挤迫，但即使如此，他才能够找到一个空置表。 他坐下来，看着星星透过巨大的图片窗口，排队远的墙壁和天花板。 他想吃点东西。 他低头看着控制台对他的表，让他为了什么，他想结束，但他没有钱，没有任何东西，他能得到支付的方式。 因此，他只是坐在那里，休息，聆听别人的谈话，并盯着窗外。

经过这几分钟，他听到一个女人的声音。 “你介意我坐这儿吗？”

他抬起头，吃惊。 “没有，”他说。 “继续做。”

“谢谢，”她说，她放弃了在桌上的背包，坐了下来。 “没有其他空的地方。”

他望着她，她学习了电脑主机和为自己选择了一个主菜，并为它付出了手持银行终端。 她还年轻。 他判断可能是18。 她打开她的袋子，开始翻找，但通过它，然后简单地设置在地板上，并开始在她的座位在桌子上顶部振打她的指关节。

对于别人的小机器人带出了她的盘子几分钟后。 赤柱盯着她的晚餐。 他比他饿了思想。 但她并没有采取任何通知他的目光。 他转过身来，继续看窗外。

“你不是吃什么？”他听到她问。

“不，我什么也没看到，”他回答。

“不是饿了吗？”她说，通过一个汉堡包一口。

“没有钱。”

“没有钱？”她问，吓了一跳。 “什么，你忘了你的终端在家里？”

“我没有一个终端。 我刚下了船，你看，和我没有得到到处finding是否我已离开接替any money before我离开。“

“你是多久以前离开？”她问道。

“7年。”

“你要在7年的飞船？”

“这是正确的。”

“为什么你要那样做？ 这是这些昂贵的邮轮之一？ 这是否你吹你所有的钱？“

“这是一个星际工艺，以光的速度能力。”

“你在开玩笑！”

“号 我们正在探索一个约10光年的恒星系统了。“

她看着他，形迹可疑。 “你是完全认真的吗？”

“当然。”

“哇，我从来没有见过任何人谁是真正离开了太阳系。”她伸出了手。 “我Sareena。”

“斯坦利彼得曼。”

“瞧，哥们，”她说，“我不关心你告诉我，但我不买你一起吃晚餐。 我想我应该告诉你，为了intice对你的真实性。“

“你以为我在撒谎？”

“思想掠过我的想法。”

“嗯，我没有，”他说。 “我反正没那么饿了。”

“那你做这个船吗？”

“我是一个工程师。 有助于确保一切运行正常。“

“一个工程师，是吧？ 难道不应该有数学背景的工程师？“。

“我做的事。 为什么？“

从起飞到她的盘子一马铃薯楔咬，她说：“我在我的数学课上有点麻烦，”

他给了与他的小手运动。 “让我们看看这本书。”

她取出一包厚厚的蓝色从她的微积分书，轻轻地放在了他面前的桌上。 她站起来，走到他身后站着看四周，在他的肩膀。 她俯下身，选择了一个网页。 “就在那儿，”她说，指着一个特别的问题。 “我无法算出它。 我继续得到不同的答案。“

他看了看这个问题。 “那是它吗？”他讽刺地说。 “你没有什么比那种硬？”

她愤怒地看着他。 “我知道，”她说。 “你不会有一个线索，你呢？”她喜欢的书，她就准备把它收回。

他抓住她的手，并举行了回去。 “不，我可以做到这一点。 只要给我一秒钟。“他的有关如何操作的问题想了几秒钟。 在他的手躺在她的，在桌子上休息。 “好了，所以这里的你做了什么...”

           It took ten minutes or so until she had grasped the concept of the first problem. Then they went on to more problems. She sat down beside him. They spent nearly forty-five minutes working. She seemed to get truly interested in the subject of mathematics and she was obviously understanding at least most of what he was telling her. He was actually pretty proud of himself. I should be a teacher, he thought.

Finally, it came to a close. Apparently satisfied with her new found knowledge, Sareena closed and put away her book. “Are you really not hungry?” she said.

”I'm starving.”

She smiled, pulled out her bank terminal, and inserted it into the slot at the end of the table. “What do you want?”

He found a nice, moderately priced pasta dinner and ordered it. “Thank you,” he said.

”I should be thanking you,” she said. “You have no idea how much you've helped me out today.”

He looked at her, smiled. “You have no idea how hungry I am.”

She laughed lightly.

Then she did something completely unexpected. She pulled herself closer to him. She leaned her face in towards his, pausing slightly before closing the gap and kissing him quickly on his lips. She pulled away again and looked down at the table top. His stunned gaze remained constant. She turned back to him. She looked strange, nervous, embarrassed, and Stanley could think of nothing to do to relieve her, but lean back and return the kiss. This one remained for longer. He felt her start to move her lips across his, he felt a little wetness, and finally, he felt a tiny tongue, burrowing it's way between his clenched teeth. He opened up and let her in but he looked upward, away from her and saw out of the giant windows, what he had been missing since he had been concentrating on her calculus. The view of the planet below now filled his entire line of sight. It was enormously, overpoweringly, beautiful, much bigger and fuller than he had seen on the Galaxy Four's computer screen and this time he knew he was looking directly at it.

”Holy shit!” he blurted.

She screamed and pulled away from him. She put her hand across her mouth. “What the hell do you think you're doing? You bit me!”

But he was still staring up at the Earth looming above him and her voice didn't quite reach his inner consciousness.

She pressed her tongue against the back of her hand for a few seconds then looked closely at her hand. “Owe, hell. That hurts. Now why'd you have to go and do that?”

Now he looked at her. “What?”

”I'm leaving,” she said, and grabbed her bag and slung it across her back.

Stanley looked back up at the windows. Then he realized what had just happened. “No! Wait!” He reached out for her but she was already beyond his grasp. At a last desperate attempt, he leapt from his seat, fell on his stomach flat on the floor but managed at least to grab a strap hanging down from her pack and hold her back. “Don't go. 我很抱歉。 It caught me off guard, that's all.” As he looked up at her, he noticed, on the edge of his vision, all the people in the cafe seated near them were now staring intently at him.

”You bit me,” she said softly enough so only he could hear.

”I didn't mean to,” he said.

”Get up,” she said. “You look like an idiot.”

He picked himself off the floor and they stared at each other, consciously aware of the dozens of people still watching. “Can we sit down now?” he asked her quietly.

They sat back down at their table and tried to look calm as they waited for everyone around them to lose interest. “I'm sorry,” Stanley finally said. “I've been away a long time.”

”It shows,” she replied.

”Next time we do this, ” he said, “do you think it would be possible to find someplace without so many people watching?”

She smiled. “I think that could be arranged.”

______   ______   ______

起飞推迟6，因为航天飞机上的技术困难小时。 这使泰森有点感到不安。 他已经等待了近30小时。 他不想再等待下去。 这是因为如果他能感觉到当局坐视不管，他得到的每分钟浪费越来越接近他的位置。

他坐在靠近他的大部分时间码头旅客休息室。 提供服务的两个机器人在该机场部分商店才知道他相当密切，因为他将通过每一个通过每两个小时，很少买东西。 然而他，买了短恐怖科幻小说打发时间，但它只是做了几个小时之内。 He thought about getting a second but decided it was necessary for him to save his money for when he finally got to Austin. If he ever would get there.

The car was still out in the lot. He had gotten a two day parking pass so they wouldn't have towed it yet. In a way he wished they would. The car was something that could be traced and if it wasn't in the same location he was, he would be a great deal safer. As he thought about his vehicle sitting alone out there in the parking garage, he became more and more worried that someone would find it and recognize it. He finally decided, as much as he feared going back, he would have to check to see if the car was okay.

He decided not to ride the high-speed subway that ran the entire length of the airport. It would kill time to walk, and he was not at all anxious to arrive at his destination anyway. It took Tyson nearly forty-five minutes to fight the crowds all the way back across the other side of the airport and into the massive, sixty-six story parking garage. When he arrived in front of the elevator that would take him up, he pulled out the little card his car had printed out for him to remind him where he had parked. He looked at it and read:

Lot: B

Level: 23

Blue Section

Row: 19

space # 63

When the lift hit the twenty-third floor, he stepped off slowly and cautiously, prepared to see masses of cops gathered around just waiting for him to return. He saw no police around, however, just a few stray people searching for their cars. He allowed himself to breath a quick sigh of relief before he continued on.

The big blue arrows painted on the walls pointed him in the right direction. He followed the numbers down the walkway, frequently glancing over his shoulder and around in any direction searching for any sign of someone that might be watching him.

He reached row nineteen and began cautiously walking down it, scanning in all directions and eventually he saw his car, nestled snugly between a large family station wagon and a full-sized pick-up truck. No one was in sight.

After walking around his car once he slipped into the drivers seat and relaxed. It was much more comfortable in here than it had been in the waiting area inside the airport. He allowed himself five minutes to rest and calm down, then he told the car to bring up the video log-book.

The little viewscreen built into the dashboard flashed on and Tyson saw a view of the parking garage, much how it looked if he simply looked out the window.

”Scan log,” he said. “Look for anything out of the ordinary.”

The screen blurred and another view of the surrounding parking lot came up, this one from a different angle. A man, possibly thirty years old, crossed in front of the screen and disappeared on the other side. The screen blurred again and Tyson watched and waited as he saw dozens of people walk past along the viewscreen, none of them ever looking in his direction and probably completely unaware of the fact that they were being recorded.

”When was this recorded?” he asked at one point.

The computer responded by putting up a readout on the screen, displaying the time when each significant event–if you could call them significant–happened.

At one point when the screen blurred, Tyson was greeted by an old woman with severely wrinkled and hanging skin and too much eye-shadow, staring directly at him. She turned away from him and yelled, “I think–I think I might have found it.” She looked back, squinted. “What?” she called out to someone obviously several rows away. “I think this is it. 什么？ Oh, you have it? Oh, okay.” She backed away, turned and was gone from view. “Why didn't you tell me you got a printout?” she said just before she was out of audio range.

”Forget this,” Tyson said. “There's nothing here. Cancel search.”

The screen obediently went blank again.

He thought about what he should do now. Would it be safe to leave the car here?, he wondered. He didn't like the thought of abandoning it. It was an expensive piece of machinery and to simply throw it away would be such a waste. And it provided for him a sense of security, that if anything happened to go wrong, he could just drive away. Without it he would be stuck. If he told it to leave, then the flight to Austin was canceled, he would be stuck here forever.

But he knew that the car was something that could be traced. As soon as the police found it, they would simply go through the list of outgoing flights and it would only be a matter of finding which one was paid for with cash. They would have him pinpointed, trapped on one of the puny habitat worlds.

I have to ditch the car, he decided. There's no getting around it.

He took a deep breath. “Okay, in three minutes I want you to pull out of this parking lot, head towards the freeway going east and travel in that direction until there's no you're out of gas.”

The vehicle made a little beep that meant it understood the directions. A map appeared on the computer screen and the route Tyson had just programmed was shown in red. He looked at it. “Yeah, that's good,” he said.

He got out slowly and walked back towards the elevator. Halfway down the row of cars, he stopped and watched his car pull easily out of it's space and drive off. It was like watching the last bit of his former life drifting away.

On his way back towards the waiting area, he noticed an unoccupied computer terminal. He thought about the danger of being caught. He knew almost nothing about the inner workings of a computer and had no idea how much information he could retrieve before someone caught on to who he was and what he had done. He didn't even know if he would be able to get any information. Any police report might be classified and not open to just anyone wanting to see it. However, he was simply too curious about the fate of that young woman to head off without finding out whether or not she was actually dead.

He slipped his bank terminal into the slot and watched in suspense as he logged on to the world-wide net. There were probably thousands, maybe millions of people logged onto computers in this area. It would probably be nearly impossible for someone to get a good lock in on his terminal. Just the same, Tyson wanted to get in, get the information and get out as quickly as possible.

”Show me the obituaries for Roseburg, Oregon.” That seemed like a good and safe place to start.

A list of names appeared on the screen. Too many of them.

”Exclude the males,” he told the computer.

The list shortened by about half.

”Exclude all that died of natural causes.”

The list was still too long.

”Exclude everyone that died in their home.”

Now the list was only six names long. Alphabetical order. He touched the first name. “Bring up this one,” he said.

The words “Auto Accident,” caught his attention. He read on, not paying much attention to the photo in the upper right corner of the screen. He thought he might have dreamed up what she looked like and couldn't trust a picture alone. He found that this woman had been driving a vehicle with faulty auto drive and had been dozing. The report said she had died instantly when her car crashed into a large pine tree at 190 kph.

Tyson went on to the second obituary, an elderly woman who had been knifed to death by an anxious mugger.

The third woman had died of a drug overdose.

           The fourth was a suicide.

Tyson was, by this time, growing a little less concerned. Perhaps he hadn't killed her. Maybe she was just fine, in a hospital somewhere, recovering slowly but surely.

He brought up the fifth one and was relieved to find she had died falling from the sixth floor of an office building.

With shaking fingers he touched the sixth name. The screen flashed, seemed to pause longer than it had on the previous names, and went clear again to reveal the last obituary.

And there she was.

He recognized the picture immediately: the young blond, clear complexion, perfectly shaped facial features as if they had been carved from stone. He read the words, “killed by drunk driver,” and nearly doubled over from the return of that terrible pain in his stomach.

He closed his eyes, tried to calm himself. “Oh, God.”

He read the caption. She had been a law student, home for the weekend. Her name was Anathene Ravanis. She had grown up in north-west Washington with her natural parents. They moved to Oregon to be closer to the rest of the family when Anathene was fourteen. She moved back to Washington state when she was barely into her twenties to study to become a lawyer. She was twenty-four when she was tragically run down in the middle of the street three days earlier. She was survived by her two parents, her husband of three years, and her six month old daughter.

”Exit out,” Tyson said quickly, now suddenly, not wanting to learn any more. “Turn it off.”

The screen changed to show him that it had charged him three dollars for the retrieval of the information. His bank terminal popped out of it's slot. He grabbed it and hurried off towards his shuttle, the tears just barely standing out in his eyes, the pain in his stomach spreading towards his chest and growing with every step he took.

______   ______   ______

Sareena decided to bring Stanley back to her apartment. When the two arrived, she was happy to find that her father was not home. They sat on the couch in the living room, listening to music, talking. Their conversation shifted from subject to subject, never sticking in one place too long. Stanley told her a good deal about life aboard a starship, and she told him bits and pieces of what it's like to live on Austin station. She mostly tried to avoid talking about herself though. She felt her life was small and meaningless when compared to his.

Eventually they became bored with talk and moved on to other things.

They started out small–little pecks on the cheek–but it did not take them long before they were into the long, deep, passionate kisses that Sareena enjoyed so much. She pulled herself close to him. As she felt his hand, slowly and cautiously, moving under her shirt, she thought to herself, perhaps things are moving a little too quickly. At first she had an urge to push his arm back, to tell him she wasn't ready, but she quickly rejected the idea. She was too into the moment.

Then, suddenly, she heard a low, almost silent, hiss as the front door slid open.

Her reactions were quick. She slammed her hand down on his arm, driving his hand out from under her clothing and at the same time leapt away from him. She turned, straitened herself on the sofa and looked towards the door as her father entered, looking somewhat tired out.

”Hello, Daddy,” she said, trying her best to sound calm.

”Hi,” he replied. He seemed to immediately notice Stanley, sitting next to Sareena “And who would this be?”

”This–” Sareena thought as quickly as she could to come up with a worthy lie. “This is my math tutor, Stanley Peterman.” That seemed believable enough. 她停顿了一下。 “Oh, and Stanley, this is Spanfell, my father.”

”It's nice to meet you.”

The two men shook hands.

Her father's eyes visibly narrowed. “Where's your math book, Sareena?”

”We haven't started studying yet,” she replied quickly. “We were just talking”

”Well then, I guess I'll leave you two alone,” He quietly left the room and headed towards the back of the apartment. Sareena saw him glance back over his shoulder at them once as if he suspected something.

”You live with your parents?” Stanley asked after Spanfell was completely out of earshot.

”Just my dad,” Sareena replied.

”I figured you lived by yourself. It's a little surprising to have someone burst in like that. What does your father do anyway?”

”He's a courier,” Sareena answered.

Stanley didn't seem to understand her meaning.

”He pressures people into giving him money so he can show them around Austin. He gets them hotel rooms but that's about it. They pay him pretty good money for it too–when he actually has a client. Most of the time he's just looking for newcomers who don't know their way around.”

”That sounds like fairly interesting work,” Stanley said.

”He seems to think so.”

Sareena looked at him. She wanted to restart what had been so rudely interrupted. She wanted to move in closer to him again but couldn't seem to bring herself to close the gap between them. It didn't seem appropriate anymore. They sat silently for a long while.

Finally, Stanley said, “They're probably missing me back at the docking bay and on the ship. I never told anyone I was leaving. I really ought to be getting back.”

”All right,” she said. “Are you coming back here sometime?”

”Sure. I'll stop by in a couple of days.”

”I guess I'll see you then,” she said as she watched him cross the room to the door.

”Thanks for the pasta,” he said, just before the door closed.

Sareena was left to herself. She contemplated what she was going to do for the rest of the day. She sat for a long while, thinking. It had been a strange day, one to remember. She didn't know what to make of it all.

Eventually she got up and went to her room.

Before she had settled in, her father entered. “Did your friend leave already?” he asked.

”He just left,” she said.

”Did you two get much studying done in that short time?”

”Some.”

They stared at each other for several seconds, not speaking. She tried her best to put on an innocent-looking face, but, while she could not see herself, she was unsatisfied with her attempts.

Spanfell sat down on the edge of Sareena's bed. “So who is he?”

”He's my Calculus tutor.”

”That's a likely story.”

”He is!”

”Why'd he have to take off so quickly after I got home?”

”He had to get back to his class.”

”Is he a student or a teacher?”

Sareena randomly chose one of the two options. “Teacher,” she replied.

”So why did he come here at all if he had to leave so early?”

”He didn't leave early,” she said. “We were studying for a couple hours before you got here.”

”You told me you hadn't started yet.”

”I said that?”

”Yes you did.”

”I don't remember saying anything like that. No, we studied for a long time before you came home. I had just put my book away.”

”What were you studying?”

”My math!” Her voice was raised to a high level now from the frustration of the conversation. “Don't you listen to anything I say?”

”I happen to listen very well,” he said, calmly. “I have very good ears. I also have very good eyes. I can see what's going on between you and that guy.”

”What makes you think anything is going on between us?”

”You're tongue down his throat was my first clue.”

She stopped, glared at him. He glared back, but in a sort of triumphant way, apparently proud of himself for discovering her lies.

           ”Well so what?” she said after a long while. “What does it matter to you anyway?”

”I'm your father, Sareena. I worry about you.”

”I'm sure you do but I think I can make my own decisions about who I spend my time with.”

”You don't seem to be making very sound choices, Sareena. He's too old for you.”

”That's for me to decide,” she said.

”So you're not going to obey your father?”

She thought about how to handle the situation. He seemed to be acting coolly. He seemed to be calm, rational–at least on the outside. He had probably planned out everything he was going to say to her.

”What do you want me to say?” she said.

”I want you to say you'll stop seeing him.”

”I'm not going to do that.”

She could see his anger rising. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a second. “He's no good for you, Sareena. What is he, twice your age?”

”I doubt the difference is that great,” she said.

He sighed. “So how long have you been seeing this guy anyway.”

”Oh, I'm not seeing him,” she said. “I've just been fucking him off and on. Surely you of all people would understand that.” She regretted saying the line even before the words had exited her mouth.

He stood quickly. “God damn it, Sareena! Can't you take anything seriously?”

As he raised his hand, Sareena suddenly thought he was going to strike her again, like he had several days earlier. She flinched, put her arm up to block. But he didn't hit her. He clenched his fist tightly, as if he was trying desperately to hold himself back. Taking a deep breath, he looked away from her and walked quickly out of the room, pounding his fist into the door activator. A second later, it closed behind him.

She looked after him. She shook her head and sighed. Why do I do this?, she thought. Why can't I just think before I say things like that?

She sat for a long time, wondering what she should do. She didn't want to apologize to him for what she had said, but she also couldn't stand the idea of him staying mad at her for any long period of time. Why should I have to do this?, she thought. He's the unreasonable one. Why can't he just let me run my own life, and quit butting in? I can make my own decisions. Why doesn't he see that?

But she knew she was going to have to do it. She was going to have to go out and talk to him, but she waited a while longer and planned out exactly what she was going to say. Finally, she took a deep breath, got up, and went out towards the main room of the apartment.

She found him sitting at the kitchen table, silently, his head resting in his hands. She leaned up against the counter top, a few meters away and watched him, not saying anything. Eventually he looked up at her. They silently stared at each other for a while.

”Look,” she said finally, “I appreciate your concern in this matter, but really, it is not needed. I know what I'm doing. Besides, I'm not interested in Stanley. That kiss you saw was just a one time deal. It's not going anywhere between us, and he understands that. He's just a friend.” It was all a lie, of course, but he seemed to buy it.

”That was all I wanted to hear, Sareena.”

”I know it, but what if I did like this guy? I'd like to think that you wouldn't go blowing up on me if I brought home a guy you didn't approve of.”

”I'm sorry I got so mad at you,” he said. “It's just that I worry about you so much. I don't want to see you get involved with someone who's no good for you.”

”I understand that, but you can't decide that. I think I can decide for myself who I want to be dating. All right?”

”All right. From now on, I'm going to try to stop making your decisions for you, but if I see you making a poor one, I'm still going to tell you.”

”Just don't be too pushy about it, okay?”

”Sure.”

”Look,” she said, “I'm sorry about what I said to you earlier.”

”Don't worry about it,” he replied.

”So are we squared away now?”

”Yeah, we are.”

“好。 I'm glad.”

”So you're not going to be bringing Stanley by here anymore?” he asked.

”Well, yes, I am. He's still going to be helping me with my Calculus.”

”You weren't lying about that?”

”Of course not.” She grinned at him. “Have you ever known me to lie to you?”

______   ______   ______

He felt the cold rain of the roadway, soaking through his pants. He was dazed. He could barely stand. Every time he would try, he would get to a low squat, and the gravity would shift and he would topple to the ground. It was raining hard. He knew it was raining, but for some reason, the only dampness he could feel was coming from the road he was lying on. It was dark. Blackness was all around. Penetrating blackness, the kind that chills the soul, but for some reason he could see. He could see the buildings standing tall above him on both sides of the road, or perhaps he simply sensed that they were there. They were all dark and empty, as if they had been abandoned long ago. He looked all around him. The area was somehow familiar, but he couldn't remember when he had ever been here. He realized he was crying, but couldn't seem to remember why.

”Get out of the road,” someone said.

Tyson looked around, frantically searching for the source of the sound.

”Get out of the road.”

”Who are you?” Tyson shouted.

”Get out of the road.”

”I can't.”

He turned, and suddenly, standing high above him, was a man of great size with a wicked glare on his face and a long dark beard, hanging down to his chest.

”Get out of the road,” the man said.

”I can't. Can't you see I can't move?”

”You're blocking traffic.”

Tyson looked up and down the road. He could see no cars. “Who are you?” he asked.

”I'm here for you.”

Waves of fear crashed in on him. They had found him! They had finally found him. But who were they? And why were they looking for him?

”No!” Tyson screamed. He curled himself up, making himself as small as he possibly could, putting his arms over his face to block the view of the hulking figure. “No, please. Leave me. Leave me alone. Please!”

Then, everything was silent. He looked up and the man was gone. He got to his knees, and with a little bit of trouble was able to stand up. Looking down the road, he saw something lying there. It was a woman, face down. He slowly staggered over to her.

”Get out of the road,” he said.

She didn't respond.

”You're blocking traffic.”

After a moment she replied, “Please, leave me be.”

”Why?”

”Just leave me be. I beg of you.”

”You're going to get hurt.”

”That's my choice.”

”Very well.” He turned to walk away from her but her hand caught him by the back of his pantleg.

”I'm sorry,” she said.

”For what?”

”I'm sorry.”

”You didn't do anything.”

”Yes I did,” she said. “I hurt you. I made you this way. I didn't mean to do this to you. 我没有。 I'm sorry.” She turned onto her back and looked up at Tyson. For the first time, he saw her face. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He knew immediately who she was.

”You're supposed to be dead.”

”I was,” she replied.

That confused him. He had always believed that a person could not be dead one moment then alive the next. He thought about that a long time, and finally concluded that he must have been mistaken on that point. A person could be alive one moment then dead the next, so why couldn't it work the other way around? He wasn't the type of person to question the way of the world anyway.

”Here,” she said. She took his hand and directed it towards her face. “Do I feel dead to you?”

”No,” he said as he ran his palm across her warm cheek.

”Everything comes back,” she said. “Did you know that? Things happen again and again and again. They're beyond our control. We live in a wheel. It goes round and round and around, and we can never get off. Never. It will spin around some day and this will come back to haunt you.”

           He stared at her, barely comprehending her words. She was standing now and he was lying on the pavement again. “Who are you?”

”You know who I am.”

”You're supposed to be dead.”

”I've come back.”

”Have you come back to haunt me?”

”I've come back to show you things.”

”Like what?”

”Like what I just told you–how we live in a wheel. How things will come back for you. Like how this will come back for you.” She pointed down the road and Tyson saw a car coming towards him.

He looked at her, tried to move towards her but found himself immobile. She took a cautious step backward. “Help me,” he pleaded.

”I can't. It was meant to be. It's coming for you. They're coming for you. Deal with it.”

He tried desperately to move but found himself stuck to the roadway. He was strapped down, by some invisible harness. He watched the car speeding closer and closer, making no move to avoid him. Covering his head with his arms, he gave out one last frightful scream, a plea to the woman to help him, but she did not, and he finally felt the incredible impact of the car's bumper as it connected with his body.

*   *   *

He awoke with a start, drenched with sweat, the safety harness digging into his flesh. He breathed a deep sigh of relief realizing he was still on the shuttle. The people around him were all still sleeping. His sedative must have worn off early. He looked out one of the side windows and saw the earth, looming before him. He was escaping. In a few hours he would be on the station, a brand new world to him, and he would start a new life.

Chapter 3

Spanfell stared for a long while, through the glass wall that separated him from the shuttle's passengers that were now starting to come off. He searched the crowd, looking for one who seemed like he didn't know what he was doing or where he was going. It didn't take long to find one. That one, right there, he told himself. The one who's trying so desperately to blend into the crowd.

He watched as the new arrivals exited their shuttle. Where was this one from?, he wondered. Earth? One of the other habitat worlds? But it didn't matter where they were from as long as they had money and didn't know their way around.

He watched the young man he had selected, burned his face into his memory so he could pull him aside as soon as he exited the decontamination chamber. He walked along, keeping pace with him until the group of new arrivals were all herded into a side chamber where they would go through the process of decontamination.

Hurrying towards the gate where he knew his target would be coming from, Spanfell tried to get ahead of the rest of the masses of people, some of who were waiting to meet incoming family members, but most of who were couriers, like himself, out to make a buck off the tourists.

He made it to the main gate, stopped and waited. After a few moments, the doors opened and the people started piling out. He saw his target in the middle of the crowd, saw that no one was coming to meet him. Watching intently so as not to lose him, Spanfell plowed through the rest of the people and started walking close to the young man he had selected.

”Hello, my name is Spanfell. I'm here to give you a hand in finding your way around.”

The man stopped. “What?”

”My name's Spanfell. I'ma courier. I'm here to help. This is quite a large and confusing station, but I can guide you all through it–for a small fee of course.”

”A tour guide?”

”And much more. What do you say?”

”I don't think so buddy. Sorry.”

”Oh, now come on. I haven't told you what it is I can do for you.”

”What can you do for me?”

”I can get you hotel or restaurant reservations. I can hook you up with just about any type of person you'd want to meet here. If you're thinking of moving here, I can handle all it takes to get your citizenship. I can do basically anything you need done.”

”Can you get me a job?”

”I could do that. What kind are you looking for?”

”One that pays.”

”I think I can handle that. But first we need to get the business of my fee out of the way.”

”What is it that you charge?”

”I never caught your name,” Spanfell said.

”Tyson. How much do you charge?”

”I'll offer you a deal. Two hundred a week. You may actually save money by hiring me though, since I can get you the best deals on anything around. Anything you can possibly get on Austin Station. So is this your first visit to this fine habitat world?”

”Yes, it is,” Tyson said.

”Have you ever visited any other stations?”

”No.”

”Then you don't know much about station life do you?”

”I guess not.”

”Well, I can help you out there. I can teach you anything you need to know. Station life is pretty confusing you know, but I've got it down and I'll help you get it down too.”

Tyson pulled Spanfell aside, out of the stream of traffic and said to him, “Okay, I'm going to need a job, a place to stay, a citizenship here, and I need it all to be completely confidential. I don't want anything entered into the computers about my being here. Nothing that could get back to Earth.”

”I think I could pull that off. 没问题。 May I ask why it must be confidential though?”

”No you may not.”

”So am I hired?”

”Two hundred, you say?”

”Uh-huh.”

”I suppose I could handle that, assuming you find me a paying job real quick.”

”I'll get on it right away. Do you have a place to stay?”

”I'm expecting you to find me one. Not too much though. I'm rather short on funds right now.”

”You have enough for my fee though don't you?”

”Barely.”

”Well, let's say we get that out of the way right now, shall we?”

”How do I know you won't just run off with my money and leave me hanging?”

”You can trust me.”

Tyson shook his head. “No. I can't risk that. I can't afford to put all of my funds into something before I even have a job here. I'll pay you fifty now, and the rest when you find me a way for me to make some money.”

”That would be acceptable I suppose.” Spanfell pulled out his bank terminal and presented it to Tyson. “Fifty now, and I should be able to find you some sort of work within the next few days, but you can't take the job until you've paid me the other one-fifty.”

Tyson shook his head. “I don't have any electronic funds. You're going to have to accept cash.”

Cash? That was certainly odd. Who used cash these days?

Spanfell shrugged. What did it matter? Money is money. “Whatever you say.”

Tyson handed Spanfell a fifty dollar bill. Spanfell stared at it for several seconds. It had been a few years since he had seen actual money like this. I wonder if it's real, he thought. Going to have to check that out before I do anything big for this guy.

”All right,” Spanfell said, “you say you need a place to stay. Should I show you to a place I happen to know?”

”The cheapest you can find.”

”Of course.”

Spanfell led Tyson down the crowded halls of the station towards a small hotel that he often used for his clients. He wondered why this man was here. Probably running from someone. That was fairly obvious. He hadn't brought any baggage with him so it must have been a fairly hasty decision.

”So where are you from?” Spanfell asked.

”Earth.”

”I know that. Where on Earth?”

Tyson didn't answer, and Spanfell decided that it probably wasn'ta good idea to push the subject.

They soon arrived at their destination. Tyson checked in and paid for a room and Spanfell followed him up to it. Tyson gave a quick run around the small apartment, checking it all out, came back and sat down on the bed with Spanfell.

”Okay, What kind of a job do you think you can get me?”

           ”What are your qualifications? What did you do on Earth?”

”I was a salaryman for Microsoft.”

”What level?”

”Thirteen.”

”Hmm.” That probably wasn't going to help much. A thirteenth level salaryman wasn't too far up the corporate ladder, but it would probably put him at the top of the list for any menial, minimum wage job that happened to be open. “What we're going to need to do, is first of all, put your information down in the computer.” He went over to the desk sitting against a wall and flipped on the computer terminal.

Tyson went over and stood by the desk. “What sort of information do you mean?”

”Anything that would be relevant to prospective employers. Where exactly did you work before you came here?”

”Look, I don't know if I can do this.”

”What?”

”I'm not supposed to be here. I can't enter in anything that could pinpoint who I am.”

”Well now, that could be a problem. How am I supposed to find you work if I can't tell them about any of your past experience?”

”I have faith in you.”

Spanfell flipped the computer terminal off. “All right then. This may take a while. Shall I go now and start looking or is there anything else you're going to need tonight.”

”No. Go now. My money is running short already. I need a way I can get ahold of you though. Give me your ID number.”

Spanfell found a small piece of paper in his pocket and wrote out the eighteen digit code and gave it to Tyson. “Why don't you give me yours too.”

Tyson shook his head. “Can't do that. I'm going to have it changed soon anyway.”

”How do you plan on doing that?”

”I have no idea. I'm trusting you to find me a way. Go, now. Find me work. Hurry. You can call me here. I should be right here for the next couple days.”

As Spanfell was shooed out of the room, he thought to himself, Jesus Christ, this guy's going to be a real problem.

______   ______   ______

Stanley Peterman sat, waiting at the same table where he had first met Sareena. They had agreed to meet here. He was anxiously awaiting her arrival. Picking at his french fries absently with one hand, he stared up through the huge windows at the Earth that was just beginning to come into view.

”You came,” he heard Sareena say.

He looked at her as she took a seat across the table from him. “I told you I'd come,” he said. “I missed you the last couple days.”

”Me too.” She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss then began picking at his plate of fries.

”So what do you want to do?” he asked her. “Do you want to go back to your place?”

”Don't you have a place here yet? I don't really want to go to mine. I'm afraid my father's going to be there.”

”What is with him anyway? Do you fear him or something?”

”No,” she replied. “It's just that I don't want him to know what's going on here.”

”I don't understand why not.”

”I had a long talk with him just after you left the last time. He thinks your just my math tutor.”

”You know, Sareena, I think your life would be a lot easier if you were just honest with him. A lie can get quite complicated if you don't know how to control it.”

”I know how to control myself,” she said. “I have a great deal of practice with this.” Her voice softened as she said, “He can't handle the truth anyway. He wouldn't know how to deal with it. He still thinks of me as his little baby girl.”

Stanley shook his head. Sometimes he wondered about her. Was she a pathological liar or did she actually have good reasons for avoiding the truth when dealing with Spanfell? He wondered what kind of secrets she might someday start keeping from him.

”So should we go to your place?” she said.

”I suppose we could do that. 来吧。 I think I remember how to get there.”

As they left, Stanley watched a human attendant come out and clear his half eaten plate of fries.

           He led the way this time, through the crowded corridors, away from the little cafe. After a time, she took his hand in hers and they walked in that fashion for half an hour or so around the outer wheel of the station. Every once in a while, a window would open up along the roof of the hall they were walking through and they would both glance up at the planet above them.

After a time, Stanley said, “I'm going to be leaving here soon.”

Sareena stopped and turned to him. “What?”

”I'm scheduled to take a trip to Earth in three weeks.”

”You're leaving me?”

”I wasn't planning on it,” he said. “I'd like it if you came with me.”

”What? 如何？ I don't have enough money to finance a shuttle trip.”

”I'll pay for you.”

”I thought you didn't have any money,” she replied. “I had to buy you lunch not too long ago because you were flat broke and starving.”

”I wasn't broke. I just didn't have a bank terminal at the time.”

”And you do now?”

He pulled it out and showed it to her.

”And you expect me to go with you down to the planet? Just like that? Not a second thought?”

”It doesn't have to be forever, Sareena. You can come back whenever you like.”

”Will you pay for my return too?”

”Of course.”

”I don't know if I can ask you to do that. We've only just met. Shuttle tickets are expensive.”

”They paid me well for taking the Galaxy Four trip.”

”But still–”

”Please, Sareena?”

”But what about my father?”

”Forget about him for the moment. Don't you want to see the world down there. You've never been there have you? I know I'm anxious to see it again.”

”We'll see,” she said. “We'll just have to wait and see.”

______   ______   ______

Spanfell wandered the station aimlessly, stopping here and there, asking if there were any employment opportunities for an inexperienced man who, for one reason or another, was unable to look for a job himself. He wasn't having much luck.

As he turned out of a small antique shop, he happened to notice his daughter some distance away, down the corridor. She was stopped, talking to someone. He started towards her, wanting to ask her to keep her eyes open for a possible job opportunity. But then, he saw who she was with. It was that guy–what's his name?–Stanley. Her math tutor, or so she says. Spanfell stopped in his tracks and watched them for a short while. They were just talking. He crept closer to them, making sure to blend in with the crowd. When he had gotten as close as he dared, he stopped and continued watching. It appeared as if they were simply having a discussion. Hopefully about her math, but it seemed a little too animated of a conversation to be about school work. Eventually they began walking again. Spanfell followed the two for a while.

Then he noticed something about them. They had started holding hands. So they were lovers. This enraged him. She had lied to him. He wanted to run up and throw Stanley to the ground and beat him, but he held himself back. He stopped, glared and watched them disappear into the crowd.

______   ______   ______

The prospect of finally seeing Earth firsthand was both exciting and frightening at the same time. This was something she had wanted–or thought she had wanted–for all her life, but now she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave her life on the station, even for a short while. She knew this place. This was her home. She knew her way around almost perfectly. On Earth, she wouldn't have the first clue how to get anywhere. She would be tiny, insignificant. Here she felt as if she was somebody, large, important in some way.

Sareena turned to Stanley. They were sitting close together on the couch in his apartment. “When would we leave?” she asked.

”Three weeks. There's still more work for me to do on the ship before we can go.”

           ”I'm not even sure I'll want to go,” she replied. “I don't know if I can just pack up and leave my home like that.”

”I'm not asking you to leave for good. Just a little vacation. You could come back at any time.”

”Would you come back with me?”

He waited a long while before answering, “I don't know if I could. I don't like it here. It's too crowded, feels as though the walls are closing in. I want to see the open sky again. I want to live out in the open like I did before I left on the Galaxy Four .”

”I want to too,” she said. “But–” and she stopped herself. How could she say no? This was something she had wanted all her life. To see the world up close. Could she ever live with herself if she let an opportunity like this slip through her fingers. How could she ever live with herself if she let him walk out of her life? “All right,” she said. “I'll go. I'll need to talk with my dad first though.”

”I wouldn't let you leave without telling him.”

”But he may not let me go,” she said. “I'm going to have to tell him about us. I may end up having to sneak away from here without his permission.”

”I figured you'd be up for something like that,” Stanley said.

______   ______   ______

Now that things had finally settled down for Tyson, he had a chance to finally sit and think to himself. Alone in his hotel room, he thought, for once, not about Anathene, but about his past life, the one he left behind down on Earth. He had been a salaryman for a large American company. Not a glamorous job, or an exciting one, or a well paying one, but it was better than he could ever hope to achieve on this tiny station. He wondered if his boss had found a replacement for him yet.

He missed his family, his friends, his coworkers. He wondered if he could ever see any of them again. It's strange, he thought, how one instant, one moment in time, one tiny decision can completely alter your life forever.

But he didn't want to get too tied down thinking about the past. What's done is done. There's no going back. What he had to do now was look toward the future. He had to make a new life for himself here on the station, and he had to do it quickly before his funds ran out. He needed to get in touch with Spanfell, see how the job search was going.

Tyson went over to the little computer on the desk against the wall and entered Spanfell's ID code, instructing it to seek out Spanfell and get in touch with him. He turned around, and began to wander the apartment, expecting the search to take several minutes, but instead, Spanfell's face appeared almost immediately on the small screen.

”Hello,” he said.

”I just called to see how the hunt is going. Have you found me anything yet?”

”Not yet,” Spanfell said. “I'm still working on it.”

Tyson noticed that Spanfell looked agitated, angry about something. “Is there something wrong?” he asked.

”Nothing wrong,” Spanfell replied. “Family troubles is all. Just sit tight. I'll find you work very soon.”

”Within the next couple days?”

”Very soon. 不要担心。 I've done this before. I should go now, continue the search. Was there anything else you needed?”

”No. I just wanted to make sure you were out and looking. I'm rather desperate you know.”

”Don't worry. I'm doing a good job out here. I'll find you something.” And the screen went blank.

______   ______   ______

Instead of continuing his job hunt like he said he was going to, Spanfell went home. He sat for a long while at the kitchen table, trying to stifle his anger, waiting for his daughter to return home from wherever she was. He knew she would be here soon. Her book bag was here and she needed to be at school in less than an hour now.

Why am I making such a big deal out of this?, Spanfell asked himself. Why should I care? I should let Sareena make her own decisions.

He couldn't understand why it mattered to him that Sareena was seeing someone who was so much older than she was. He had always believed that age shouldn't be a factor in a dating relationship–or thought he had.

           It was because she had lied to him. That's all he cared about. He hated being lied to. If she had simply told him the truth from the beginning, instead of trying to hide it, he probably wouldn't have had a problem with her relationship with Stanley. It was a frustrating situation. He was frustrated because she had been so stupid to lie to him. It would have been so much easier for everyone if she had just been straight with him. Why didn't she understand that?

He wanted to just forget it all. He wished he could just let Sareena alone and allow her to live her life as she saw fit. She deserved to be able to do that. But, for some reason he knew, he would not be able to just leave it alone.

Sometimes, he thought, I just have no control over myself. This thought set his mind racing back to one of the most recent times where he had been unable to gain control over his own actions. He saw himself stepping forward, menacingly, towards his daughter, unthinkingly, raising his hand, striking her across her cheek. That one moment kept running through his mind, over and over again. One moment of weakness. He had just been so upset from being dumped by Carol that he was simply unable to control himself, but that was no excuse.

It doesn't matter, he tried to tell himself. She probably never even thinks of it. It probably never even mattered to her at all. It was just a little slap, barely worth mentioning. It never happened before. It'll never happen again.

It will never happen again, he told himself. 从来没有。 I won't do it again. I couldn't.             But for some reason he couldn't make himself believe that.

Spanfell shook his head wildly, trying to force the thoughts from his mind. He wished he could stop thinking about it all, for once, put it behind him. Burying his face in his hands, he began vigorously rubbing his eyebrows with his fingertips, as if he could physically force the unwanted thoughts from his mind.

Just then, he heard the front door open. Looking up, he saw Sareena come in. He had forgotten he was waiting for her. He wanted to talk to her on a subtle level, hinting at what he had found out about her and Stanley, but as soon as he saw her, he couldn't help blurting out, “You lied to me didn't you?”

”What?” she replied quickly.

”I saw you with that Stanley person today. You two were holding hands.”

”Oh, Jeez! Why do you have to do this? You were spying on me again weren't you?”
”No. I just happened to notice you two together, that's all.”

”Well what the hell should it matter to you anyway?” said Sareena.

”You lied to me.”

”I had to. You would have gone berserk if you knew the truth.”

”Do I look berserk to you Sareena?” Spanfell was sitting, his hands folded, calmly watching his daughter. But it was taking all he had to contain himself.

She shook her head. “I don't care. I don't care what you think. Just stay out of my life. Quit spying on me.” She said this as she was walking back towards her room. A moment later she returned, carrying her backpack across her right shoulder, and hurried towards the door.

”Sareena,” Spanfell said.

She stopped. “什么？ What do you want?”

He paused. He decided it would perhaps be better if he let the subject drop for now. “My latest client is looking for a job. Could you keep your eyes open, look for any openings?”

”Sure, I suppose I could do that,” she said, heading for the door.

”Thank you,” Spanfell tried to tell her but she was already gone.

Chapter 4

Spanfell was becoming more and more worried that he would never be capable of finding Tyson a job. He had had no idea how difficult the search was going to be. The calls from Tyson were becoming more and more frequent. Apparently he was even more agitated about it than Spanfell.

Spanfell made a quick stop at his apartment for a meal break. He was there for fifteen minutes or so, and was just about ready to head out the door again and continue the job search when he heard the door chimes. He got up and opened it.

It was Stanley.

           Spanfell hadn't seen Stanley since he had spied him and Sareena holding hands in the corridor several days earlier. Since then he had kept his distance from his daughter and had tried his best not to think about the subject. But now, the sight of this man enraged him. It was mostly the frustrations of job hunting that made him so angry but Stanley was his most immediate target.

”Is Sareena here?” said Stanley.

Spanfell lunged, driving his right fist hard into Stanley's jaw.

Stanley was forced backwards and landed five or six feet away on his back, but quickly rolled to his feet. He put a hand to his chin. Spanfell saw blood.

”What the hell?” Stanley said.

”Stay away from my daughter.”

”What? I'm just her Calculus tutor. We had a study session scheduled.”

”Stay away! The next time you show up at this door, I'll kill you.”

”But–”

”Do you understand me? I'll kill you.”

Stanley said, “So I take it you know what's been going on between us.”

”Leave! Now! 去吧！ I don't ever want to see you around here again.”

Stanley rubbed at his chin where Spanfell had struck him. “It's not really a good idea to go around hitting people,” he said as he turned to leave. “One of these days someone is gonna hit you back.”

______   ______   ______

After the unexpected encounter with Spanfell, Stanley decided to head home and call Sareena from there. It didn't take long for the computer to track her down. Fortunately she had not been at home. She was on her way home.

”I just had a rather interesting discussion with your dad,” he said to Sareena.

”Oh, what happened? What did you say?”

”We didn't say much, actually. He seemed kind of mad about something. Did you tell him about our plans to go to Earth?”

”I haven't found the right time yet,” she said.

”I'm beginning to think maybe you shouldn't tell him. Maybe we should just leave and you can call him when we get there.”

”What?” she replied. “Why do you say that? You were the one who was pushing me to always tell him everything about us.”

”I didn't realize what kind of a guy he really is.”

”What do you mean? What happened when you spoke to him today?”

”He hit me, Sareena. He attacked me.”

”You're kidding! Are you okay?”

”I'm fine. He doesn't hit that hard. It was just sort of stunning. What is his problem anyway?”

”Oh, I don't know,” she said. “He doesn't have a girlfriend. He's upset about that. And he has this client who needs him to find a job for him, but he can't come up with anything. He's been out looking every day for the past week. It seems like no one on the station is hiring these days.”

”What kind of job does this client want?”

”Just some menial job, I guess. Minimum wage. Look, do you want me to come over? I should be on my way to school right now but I could miss a day. I could come to your place and we could talk about this whole trip.”

”Hmm.” Stanley paused to think a moment. “No,” he said. “Go to school. You could drop by here afterwards if you want. We can talk then”

They said quick goodbyes and disconnected the phone link.

Stanley sat and thought for a few minutes, then got up and headed out the door. After about a half hour walk, he found himself at Sareena's door. He knew she wouldn't be home but he rang the bell anyway. After a few moments, the door slid open with a small hiss. Standing before him, was Spanfell. The two men glared at each other for a long while.

Spanfell spoke first: “Did you not hear what I said to you before?”

”I heard you.”

”Then why are you here? 你是愚蠢的东西？ Do you not really think I'll do what I said I would do?”

”I think you're overreacting a little, Spanfell.”

”I don't care what you think. I want you to leave, now. Leave. Do I have to smack you really hard this time?”

           Stanley thought quickly about what he had come here to do. There was something else he wanted to do first though, but didn't know if he should. Why not?, he wondered. He deserved it. What could Spanfell do anyway? And with that little thought, Stanley took a quick step forward and gave Spanfell a hard right jab, just to the left side of his nose.

Spanfell staggered back, his hands to his face. “Oh, Jesus!” he said. He pulled his hands away slightly to reveal a great deal of blood, dripping from his nose. “You little bastard!” And he lunged at Stanley.

Stanley stepped aside, easily avoiding the attack. Spanfell stumbled past him and Stanley wrapped his arm around Spanfell's neck from behind in a kind of headlock, pulled him inside the apartment and threw him to the floor. The door slid closed automatically, giving the two men privacy. Stanley stood over Spanfell in triumph. He smiled down on him, and said, “I have a job opportunity for you.”

”What?” Spanfell said, still lying on the floor, still holding in the blood from his nose with his hands.

”Sareena tells me you need a job for some client of yours. I happen to know of an opening. I can get this guy in, if you're willing to do something for me.”

Spanfell staggered to his feet and moved away from Stanley. He went to the sink in the kitchen and washed the blood from his face. “What the hell are you trying to pull here buddy?” he said.

”I'm not pulling anything. We need people to help clear off all of the equipment from my ship. We're short handed and I heard you had someone looking for a job. It seems to me like it's perfect.”

Spanfell looked across the room at Stanley. “You hit me,” he said.

”You hit me too.”

”You deserved it.”

”So did you.”

”What are you trying to do here?” Spanfell asked.

”I'm trying to give you a hand. I want to help you out.”

”No you don't. You just want to get at my daughter.”

”I've already gotten at her. This has nothing to do with her. Nothing you say or do could change what is happening between us. What I am doing here, is trying to offer you something in return. You can take it or leave it. I suggest you take it because if you don't, you'll still need to be out looking for work and there's no guarantee that you could find this guy anything. Whether you take my offer or not, it won't change anything between me and your daughter. That's something you will need to learn to accept.”

There was a time of silence. Spanfell wiped more blood off his face and said, “This does not mean that we're friends now you understand.”

”I understand.”

”I still don't approve of you and Sareena.”

”I know.”

”You're too old for her.”

”That doesn't matter.”

”All right,” Spanfell said. “Let's go give this guy his job.”

______   ______   ______

Tyson was nearly in tears as he sat alone in his motel room. He was now completely out of money. He had spent it all, just living here. Station life was expensive. That was something he had not planned for. Now, he was without options. In another three days he would be kicked out of the motel, and would be forced to roam the station, homeless, looking for work. Eventually he would be picked up by the police and they would most definitely find out about what he had done. It was over. You can't hide from the world unless you have a good supply of cash to do it with, and he had none. He would have to turn himself in. That was his only option left. Coming here had been a grave mistake. Possibly the worst mistake of his life–besides switching off the auto drive.

The door bell rang. Tyson checked himself and got up to answer it. Standing just outside was Spanfell with a man Tyson did not recognize. They seemed to be smiling. “I found you something,” Spanfell said.

Tyson felt a surge of joy rising from within him. A job? A real job?, he thought.

”This is your new boss,” Spanfell said, indicating the man next to him. “This is Stanley Peterman.”

           Tyson resisted the urge to grab Stanley in a tight embrace and smother him with kisses. “Hello,” he said. “I'm Tyson. Pleased to meet you.”

Tyson and Stanley shook hands.

”What exactly is it that I'll be doing?” Tyson asked

”Have you heard of the Galaxy Four , interstellar space craft that has been docked here?”

”No,” Tyson said.

”Well, it's here, and we need people to help get it ready for it's next voyage. You see, we don't have any androids programmed for work on this particular type of craft. Therefore, we need human workers. Do you think you can help us out?”

”Oh, yes. Does it pay well?”

”Minimum wage. It's only a temporary job, of course. It should take about a month and a half before we're finished, so you should have a job for about that long.”

”Great. When do I start?”

”Right now.”

”Let's go.”

______   ______   ______

This is it, Sareena told herself. It has to be now. Let's tell him and get it over with.

She opened the door to her home. Her father was sitting at the kitchen table. He seemed to be smiling. 良好。

”Hello,” he said happily.

”Hey.”

She went back to her room and dropped her school bag on the floor and came back out. She sat down at the table, across from her father. He didn't pay much attention to her at first. He was eating a bowl of soup.

”I need to talk to you,” she said.

”Oh, what about?”

She thought about what the best way was to approach this, and finally decided to just say it. It probably wouldn't help much to tell him craftily. The meaning would be the same anyway. “Stanley is taking me down to the planet for awhile. We're leaving next week. You don't have to worry; I'm coming back. It's just a little vacation.”

She saw his smile fade into a deep glare. “You're leaving me?”

”Only for a little while,” she said.

He glared at her. The spoon he had been holding, dropped from his hand and clattered on the table top. He got up, threw his chair back, glared at her for another moment, then stormed out of the room. She heard him slam his fist into the door activator in the back bedroom.

She sighed. Was it really worth it to go back there and try to talk to him? No, she decided. Let him calm down first. I don't care anymore, she thought. Let him be like this. I'll just leave with Stanley. Forget about Spanfell. I'll just leave and never come back. I don't need him.

But how could she do that? This was her home, the only place she had ever known. How could she just leave without a second thought? It wasn't Spanfell that she was reluctant to abandon so much as it was the place, Austin Station. She had been here for so long that no other place could possibly feel like home.

But if she ever wanted to come back here, she would have to make peace with her father. She knew that was something she had to do or she would never feel comfortable visiting. He was just as much a part of this place as anything else.

但不是现在。 Not right now.

She stood up slowly, and went to the front door. She glanced back. He was still locked in his bedroom.  And with that, she turned and walked out and headed towards Stanley's place on the other side of the Station.

第五章

As far as Tyson could see, the job was working out fairly well. It consisted mostly of him pushing carts, piled with boxes of supplies, on and off the huge spacecraft. His job would vary from day to day. He would move around the ship, organizing the supplies needed for the Galaxy Four’s next voyage or removing supplies left over from the last one. He rarely had the same supervisor two days in a row, but everyone seemed impressed by his work performance. Growing up with Earth's gravity had given him more strength than most of the other workers and he was able to put them all to shame with his lifting ability.

The one problem with the job, however was that it was only temporary. In a month and a half, Tyson would have to be out again, looking for work, and this time he would have to do it himself. He had already paid off Spanfell and was no longer using his services. Tyson worried about what was to come, whether or not he would be able to find permanent employment. He still had not settled completely into station life, but he was getting used to it.

It was now more than a week since that night when he had had so much to drink and unintentionally run down that woman. He still thought about her all the time, but now, the pain in his stomach was gone. He was surprised at how quickly he seemed to get over accidentally killing someone. He was beginning to believe that he would never be caught. It's strange, he thought. You kill someone one day, then a week later you've forgotten all about it.

But he hadn't forgotten it. He only thought he had, wished he had. He kept seeing himself, in her place, standing in the middle of the road, watching as some unknown vehicle plowed into him.

Anathene was like an old girlfriend to him. That's how he thought of her. He felt as if he had known her intimately, and somehow hurt her and she had left him forever. Gone forever, but still alive. There was nothing he could do now. He couldn't change how things were. He could only change how he thought.

He knew he wasn't thinking clearly, but he couldn't find anything to do about that. He needed to get away. Farther. Leave everything behind. Not only Earth, but civilization entirely. Maybe then, he could finally be free of Anathene Ravanis, the girl that haunted his mind, day and night.

One day, as he was riding a gliding sidewalk to work, he stopped to look out a large picture window that was set into the side of one small corridor. He looked out at the stars, glittering the sky, wondering which one the Galaxy Four would be visiting on it's next trip. The perfect escape, he thought. He wondered if it would be possible to somehow sneak aboard the starship before it's departure and travel with it to that unknown solar system. He wondered what they would do with him if he somehow succeeded. Would they turn back and make him get off again or would they keep going, allowing him to tag along? He figured they would keep going. It was probably tremendously expensive to send a ship into light speed and they wouldn't wish to waste so much fuel for just one stowaway. They would be forced to deal with his presence.

But was it a good idea? Twelve years he would be gone. He thought, maybe, that would be going a little too far. And when he got back, he would almost certainly be charged with stowing away and they would probably be able to find out about the death of Anathene and would probably charge him with that. But that would be twelve years from now. That's nearly an eternity, he thought.

As he turned to continue on his way toward the docking bay where he worked, he began to formulate a plan.

______   ______   ______

”Why don't you show me your ship?” Sareena said to Stanley.

The two were sitting at a table in the cafe where they had met. They had just finished their evening meal and were getting ready to leave.

”You want to see it?” asked Stanley.

”It was your home for seven years, wasn't it? I feel as though I should at least see it once before it's gone. I want to know what it was like for you.”

”All right,” he said. “Right now?”

”Good a time as any,” she replied.

           They arrived at the docking bay and Stanley proceeded to show Sareena all over the huge starship. They went first to his quarters and to the meeting hall where he had watched the first pictures of Earth coming in, only a couple weeks earlier. He showed her a few of the storage areas and cafeterias. She seemed to be fairly interested in it all, but he wasn't. It was all so familiar to him that it was nearly boring. He had spent so long here, but now that he was back in the middle of a huge civilization, it seemed as if those seven years had slipped by in a matter of hours.

As they were leaving again, they ran into Tyson. “Oh, hello, Mister Peterman,” he said.

”Please: Stanley.”

”I'd like to thank you again for getting me this job.”

”It was no problem.” Stanley looked down at Tyson and noticed he was carrying a blanket and pillow under one arm and a flashlight and paperback novel in the other hand. But they were in the food storage area. Why would he be taking those things here? Stanley shrugged off the question, assuming Tyson had some logical reason.

”I'd like to introduce you to Sareena,” Stanley said.

”Hello,” said Tyson. “You're Spanfell's daughter, correct?”

”That's right,” Sareena replied.

”He talks a lot about you.”

She smiled. “I'm sure he does.”

”Well I really ought to get back to work,” Tyson said. “I guess I'll see you later.”

”Actually, you probably won't,” Stanley said. “We're leaving for Earth in two days.”

”'We'?”

”Yeah, Sareena and I,” replied Stanley, placing a hand on her shoulder.

”All right then, I guess I should say, have a nice life–both of you.”

And they departed. Stanley looked over his shoulder once at Tyson and thought that he sensed something not quite right about the man, but he quickly forgot all about it as he walked out of the ship, his arm around Sareena's shoulders.

第6章

Spanfell saw his daughter coming closer. She was carrying boxes of luggage.

”You're here,” she said when she got to where he stood. “I didn't think you'd come.”

”I had to see you off,” he replied. “I couldn't just let you leave like this, without saying goodbye.”

”Well, I'm glad you came. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving you without letting you know.”

”Are you sure I can't talk you out of this?”

”No, you can't,” she said. “I've made up my mind. It's my decision.”

”You're coming back right?”

”Of course I am.”

”When?”

”I don't know. A couple weeks. Months maybe. It depends on how I like Earth. But I will come back. I promise you, I will return. You know I wouldn't leave you for good. I couldn't do that to you.”

He smiled at her, looked into her eyes. “Yeah, I know.”

But he actually didn't. He did not know if she was ever coming back. He had lived with her for long enough that he knew she could lie right to his face, and did often. He hoped to God that she would return, but her promise did not convince him of that.

”I've got to go check in my baggage now,” she said. “Be back in a second.” She hurried off, lugging her bags along with her.

A few seconds later, Stanley showed up. “You're here,” he said, looking a little nervous.

”Of course. I couldn't let you two leave without saying good-bye.”

”Does this mean you're okay with all this?”

”No, of course not. But at least I know you a little. I know you'll take good care of my daughter.” The two men stared at each other for a moment. “You will, won't you?” Spanfell added.

Stanley shook his head. “No, I won't,” he said. “I think she can take care of herself. You should be trusting in her, not me. She's old enough to make her own decisions.”

Spanfell considered that. He smiled. “Maybe I should try thinking that way.”

A couple minutes later, Sareena returned, empty handed. “Are you all ready to go?” she asked Stanley.

”Yes, I am,” he replied.

The three sat down on a nearby bench in the waiting room of the docking bay, and waited for the boarding call that would announce Sareena and Stanley's shuttle.

When the call finally came, neither Stanley or Sareena immediately got up to leave. After a few moments, Stanley stood and said, “I think I'll go find our seats. You can catch up with me.” He turned to Spanfell. “It's been nice knowing you,” he said, holding out his hand.

Spanfell took it. “You too.”

Stanley walked off, following the small crowd of people boarding the shuttle.

”I guess this is good-bye,” Spanfell said.

”Yeah, I suppose it is,” Sareena replied. “I'll be back before you know it.”

He hesitated in his response. “I know you will.”

”I'll miss you,” she said. “You'll call me right?”

He laughed. “Do you have any idea how expensive a call like that would be?”

”But you will won't you?”

”Of course I will.”

”All right then,” she said. “Good-bye”

”Bye.”

He watched her walk off, following the continuing crowd of people, heading towards the shuttle that would take her down to Earth and out of his life. After a while, he moved to a window to watch the departure. A long wait, and he finally heard the docking clamps disengage and he saw the little shuttle emerge from it's place in the side of the station. It moved quickly away and was soon out of sight.

Turning to leave, he noticed a tall, attractive, blond woman had been standing next to him, also watching the departure. He looked around. There was no one else in their immediate vicinity. What the hell, he thought.

He looked at her and said, “Somebody you know on the shuttle?”

She looked at him. “My parents. They were here visiting.”

”Did they like station life?”

She smiled. “They liked being able to jump higher than they could on Earth.”

Spanfell laughed. “That's always the first thing everyone notices about this place.”

She nodded. “That's probably true,” she said and turned back to look out the window.

”So are you married?”

She looked back at him and cocked her head, looking a little stunned. “What?”

He gave her an inquisitive look.

Laughing, she looked down at the floor, then back up at him. “No, I'm not,” she replied.

”So are you free for dinner tonight?”

She put her hand to her face. “I don't believe this,” she said. “You're trying to pick me up.”

”I'm making the attempt,” Spanfell replied.

She shook her head. “No, I don't have any plans for dinner.”

”Would you like to eat with me tonight?”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure. I'd love to.”

”I'm Spanfell.”

”Kelsey,” she said.

They turned for a moment, and looked out the window again. “So who was it that you knew on that shuttle?” Kelsey asked.

”My daughter.”

”She going on vacation?”

”She's going home,” he said.

______   ______   ______

The box he chose was a large gray plastic container about the length of a long coffin, but nearly three times as wide as an average coffin. That would provide him with enough room to move around comfortably. Tyson knew he would need to spend at least two and a half weeks in that box.

It was his last day of work. He got his final paycheck transferred to his account and said a few good-byes to his coworkers and went out, looking as though he was leaving the ship, but as soon as no one was looking, he turned back and headed quickly but quietly down the halls toward the food storage area. No one saw him.

He reached the door to the storage area. His anxiety rose as he placed his hand on the security panel. The door slid open and Tyson was relieved that they had not yet taken away his access.

The narrow aisleway was lined on either side with myriad forms of containers, stacked high to the ceiling which was nearly ten meters to the top. Creeping slowly, he found the section that held his selected container. There was a small ladder just to the right of the stack of coffin sized boxes. He began climbing it. His, was the third from the top. He thought now that perhaps he should have chosen the one at the very top, since he wanted to be as far away from anyone that might pass by as possible, but it was too late now. The top container was already stuffed full of–Tyson believed–crackers.

           Opening the door on the side of the container, Tyson peered inside. His stash of stuff was still there. His blanket and pillow; reading material and flashlight; scale, and of course, his three week supply of food and water. He crawled in and closed the door behind him.

Darkness.

He picked up his flashlight and flipped it on. The light illuminated his surroundings very well. He read the little readout on the side of the flashlight. It had three hundred hours worth of battery left. 完美。 Tyson did some calculation in his head and decided that he should keep the light turned off approximately half of the time, in order to conserve the energy and make it last for the duration of the time he would be in here. He didn't think the light would cause him any sort of problem since the hall outside was always brightly lit. It wouldn't tip anybody off to his presence.

Tyson sat cross legged in the middle of his new home, and set the scale he had brought, down on the floor. He weighed the first of the three novels he had brought along and recorded it's weight on the inside of it's front cover. He did this for the next two, concentrating hard, so he could get an exact reading, and recorded their weight on the inside covers. The only way he would be able to tell when the ship had left the station was when the gravity changed. It would probably be too slight for him to notice himself, without the aid of equipment. When the gravity changed, he knew it would be less than forty hours before they were completely out of the solar system and heading at full speed, towards the unknown destination.

It had been nearly three days since he had slept, not because of his anxiety about attempting something like this but because he hadn't allowed himself to sleep. He wanted to be able to rest as much as possible while in the crate. Adjusting his position, he laid his head on his pillow, wrapped the blanket around him, switched off the light and fell instantly into a deep sleep.

第7章

The gravity had changed nearly two days ago. It was time to leave the crate. Taking a deep breath, Tyson kicked open the door, and crawled out. He grasped hold of the ladder to his left and climbed down.

It was like coming out of a cocoon. He was changed somehow, different, metamorphosized. He was starting a new life. Everything looked different to him for some reason even though nothing had actually changed. But in fact it had changed. The ship was no longer docked at Austin Station but was now traveling at some unimaginable speed towards some unimaginable destination. He looked around at his new surroundings and thought, I've made it. I finally escaped. Once and for all.

Tyson quickly left the storeroom, anxious to look over the ship.

At first, nobody he met seemed to pay much attention to him. They treated him as if he was just a part of the crew. Some gave friendly little nods or smiles. Tyson was beginning to think, after a while, that he would simply be able to blend in and nobody would ever find out that he wasn't supposed to be here.

Eventually he found himself entering one of the ships gardens. Somebody approached him. A large, clean shaven man. “Hello,” the man said, giving Tyson an odd sort of confused look. “Who would you be?” he asked.

”My name is Tyson.”

”Tyson? I don't remember anyone by that name on the crew roster. In fact, have I ever seen you before?”

Tyson shrugged.

”Who are you.”

”I told you.”

”What's your job here?”

”Don't have one.”

”You don't have one? You have to have one. Everyone has to have a job here.”

”I was loading some crates before.”

”You're not part of the crew, are you?”

”Nope.”

”Who are you?”

”I told you. Who are you?”

”I'm the captain. You're a stowaway, aren't you?”

”Yup.”

”Oh my God. Do you have any idea what you have done to yourself?”

”Pretty good idea,” Tyson replied.

”Why the hell would you want to stow away on this ship? What kind of an idiot are you?”

”An idiot who wanted to leave the world behind.”

”Yeah, well I guess you've certainly done that now haven't you? Didn't you think of all you're leaving behind. You're never going home, do you realize that?”

”What never? Twelve years isn't so long.”

”Twelve years?” the captain said.

”Twelve years till we come back home.”

”Who told you that?”

Tyson paused for a moment. “Stanley Peterman.”

The captain looked surprised. “You know Stanley?”

”Yes.”

”What exactly did he tell you about this trip?”

”He said it was going to take approximately twelve years. His trip took seven. This trip is going a little farther, so it's going to take twelve.”

”Wrong.”

”What?” Tyson replied.

”You're friend, Stan, was mistaken.”

”What?”

”You're not going home.”

”What?”

”This journey isn't twelve years long. It's as long as we make it. Our destination in unknown. We will go until we find an inhabitable planet somewhere out there, then we will stop. We won't be going back. Not ever. And we can't turn back just for you.”

Oh, my God, Tyson thought. What have I gotten myself into?

”It looks like you just made a life changing decision, there buddy.”

”It was kind of a snap decision, I guess,” said Tyson.

”A snap decision can still change your life forever.”

”I know all about that,” Tyson said.

The captain smiled and shook his head. “Come on,” he said. “I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. They're going to have to meet you sooner or later.”

______   ______   ______

The glass door slid quietly open. Sareena pushed her walker in front of her, out onto the porch of Stanley's house. The cold suddenly hit her and a shiver ran down through her body. That was something she would have to get used to. On Earth, the temperature is not always perfect. She ignored the chill and stepped outside. She let the door close automatically behind her.

Staring up at the night sky, she saw the stars. They were much dimmer here, than they had been when she looked at them from Austin Station. It was the atmosphere between her and them that was making them appear less bright. She thought about that. But there was nothing solid between her and the stars. There was no glass window separating them. 没有。 She felt as if she could reach out and touch one of them. Nothing would stop her.

She wondered if one of those tiny sparkles was actually the world she had left behind. Can you see the habitat worlds from the planet's surface? She liked to believe that you could. She liked to think that she could still look up at the night sky and see Austin Station there, somewhere.

She wasn't going home. She knew that now. How could she? She was happier now, than she had ever been in her life. Heavier–much, much heavier–so heavy, in fact, that she could barely stand straight without the help of her walker. But she knew that would pass. In a few months she would grow strong and be able to walk erect without any help at all.

Glancing at Stanley who was sound asleep in the bed, she thought about the life she had left behind. She thought about school, about her father, about what it had been like to wander aimlessly around the station. That world was gone, now. She missed it, but she knew that what lay ahead for her, here, would be much greater. Everything on this world was totally new, unexplored. There were myriad things to do, things to experience.

It had been a rash, snap decision to leave the station, but she knew it had been the right one. It was a decision made in an instant, but one that would affect her life more than any other decision she had ever made.

Quietly, she turned and walked back inside the house.

This was her home now.