Harry Harrison & Brian W. Aldiss (ed) by Best SF 1967

Author:Best SF 1967
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-06-12T12:57:13+00:00

“The environment, ” I said slowly. “The horrifying, indifferent environment, and the loneliness. When you’re alone in a crowd, you’re really alone. And then you become afraid. Finally, all you want to do is get away from, that crowd. “

“But walking Outside was suicide. “

I shrugged. “They didn’t know it. They had lost touch with reality by then. As for Outside, it’s not always world without end sometimes it’s more like a little black room with lights studding the walls. It’s as real one way as the other. ” I sat there quietly for a moment, my cigar slowly turning to ash in the tray, unnoticed. “I can understand why the crew of the John B. walked out. The poor bastards wanted to get away from the ship, away from one another. ” I could feel myself start to break then. “The opposite of love isn’t hate, ” I said slowly. “It’s indifference. Ask any kid. “

Callahan stood up and said, “I’ll make recommendations and send them back to the Board. Probably urge that they make the ships less foolproof. They may lose some ships that way; but in the long run, I think it will be better. ” He stood up and handed me the manifest receipt. “We need leaders here, you know. That’s one category we’re always short of. “

“It’s a difficult one to train for and ship, ” I said.

“We’ve never asked them to ship us any, ” Callahan said quietly. “They sort of develop along the way. ” I had my hand on the doorknob when he suddenly said, “We need a good man at the port here. After you’ve looked around a bit, come on back. “

I saluted and turned and walked out into the bright sunlight. Three blocks from the spaceport, the Rod and Pile nestled beneath some of Xerxes’ tall, palmlike trees, set well back from the boulevard.

They had rounded up a dozen girls and everybody cheered when I walked in. Jimenez was the first to buy me a drink; his glasses were clean and his beard was trimmed and he had clothes on and I damn near didn’t recognize him. He called me a dirty gringo, smiled when he said it, then bought another drink, downed it and did a magnificent fall off his stool. Hulsman was next, the all-American-boy grin having suffered a sea change into a happy, drunken smile, and then Ball was buying and slapping me on the back and even Reynolds, scrubbed and pink in a spotless uniform, broke down and bought a round. We drank and sang and made passes at the girls and dates for later and roared with laughter at anecdotes that had been anything but funny at the time. We made arrangements to have a reunion every year and I wondered to myself what lies we would be telling one another after we had spread across the continents of Xerxes and had wives and kids and the Cassiopeia was almost forgotten and the’s^ars only something to look at at night and feel romantic^about.

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