Project One by E C Tubb

Author:E C Tubb [Tubb, E C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Venture Press
Published: 2016-12-08T07:00:00+00:00

RELUCTANT FARMER

It was going to be another restless night. Kenton could tell it from the way he had begun to twitch, the muscle high on one cheek, his legs, the nervous movement of his hands. Irritably he threw down his book and lit a cigarette, sucking the smoke deep into his lungs and letting it trickle from his nostrils.

It wasn’t new, this feeling. He had had it before and he knew exactly what to expect. Going to bed would be a waste of time; he would lie in the darkness and try for sleep only to find his mind more active than ever. He would lie for hours while his thoughts bubbled like the released gas in a bottle of mineral water. Then he would rise and smoke and maybe drink a little. He would take a shower and pace his rooms until, physically exhausted, he would fall into a parody of sleep only to wake depressed and emotionally unstable.

Knowing what caused the unrest didn’t cure it. If anything it only made it worse. Like it or not, he was stuck five hundred light years from Earth and, like it or not, here he had to stay until he did something about it. Doing something about it, however, wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Irritably he drew at the cigarette and scowled around his living quarters. They were comfortable enough, even he had to admit that, but they were poor compensation for the real thing. A row of well-read books, some magazines now long out of date and almost alien in the products they advertised. A video and music player, deep chairs, soft lighting, a radio, all the usual appurtenances of civilisation.

To Kenton they represented nothing better than the padding of his cell.

Impatiently he jerked to his feet and crossed the room towards the broad windows. His apartment was at the top of the tower as befitted the Controller and, from the windows, he could see most of the hydroponic farm below.

It was night but the two moons of Lubridgida had risen and, in their light, the glass roofs and concrete walls of the building shone like the waters of a frozen sea. Kenton stared down at them, the red tip of his cigarette reflected together with his own thin, almost aesthetic, features in the window before him.

He frowned as he saw a warm, yellow light shining from one of the buildings. Night work wasn’t unusual but it was odd to see lights in the tank buildings after dark. Irregular illumination was discouraged because of the upsetting of the plant-growth cycle. Most after-dark work was done in the sorting sheds and packaging and processing plants. His hand was touching the phone when it hummed its attention signal.

“Yes?”

“Is that you, Dan?” It was Jelkson, the botanist, and Kelton felt his irritation increase at the sound of the carefully educated voice.

“Speaking. What is it?”

“Sorry to have woken you, but we’ve run into a little trouble.”

“I wasn’t asleep. What’s wrong with number seven?”

“Number seven?” Jelkson’s voice held a momentary surprise.

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