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发信人: by (春天的小懒虫), 信区: SFworld
标  题: 2010 (50)
发信站: 哈工大紫丁香 (Wed Oct  6 15:26:29 1999), 转信

                        PART VII
                    LUCIFER RISING

                               50
                      Farewell to Jupiter

It  was  not  easy to compose the message, especially after the
one he had just sent to his lawyer. Floyd felt like a hypocrite;
but  he  knew  it  had to be done to minimize the pain that was
inevitable on both sides.
  He  was  sad,  but  no  longer  disconsolate.  Because  he was
coming  back  to  Earth  in an aura of successful achievement -
even  if not  precisely  heroism  -  he would be bargaining from
a  position  of  strength.  No  one - no one - would be able to
take Chris away from him.
  '...  My  dear  Caroline  [it  was  no  longer  `My  dearest
...'],  I  am  on  my  way home. By the time you get this, I'll
already  be  in  hibernation.  Only a few hours from now, as it
will  seem  to  me,  I'll  open my eyes - and there will be the
beautiful blue Earth hanging in space beside me.
  `Yes,  I  know it  will  still  be many months for you, and I'm
sorry.  But  we  knew  that's the way it would be before I left;
as  it  is, I'm getting back weeks ahead of schedule because of
the change in the mission plan.
  `I   hope  we  can  work  something  out.  The  main  question
is:  What's  best  for  Chris?  Whatever  our  own feelings, we
must  put  him first. I know I'm willing to do so, and I'm sure
you are.'
  Floyd  switched  off  the  recorder.  Should  he  say  what he
had  intended:  `A  boy needs his father?' No - it would not be
tactful,   and   might   only   make   matters  worse.  Caroline
might  wen  retort  that  between  birth  and four years old it
was  the  mother  who  mattered  most  to a child-and if he had
believed otherwise. he should have stayed on Earth.
  '... Now about the house. I'm glad the Regents have
taken that attitude, which will make it much easier for both
of us. I know we both loved the place, but it will be too big
now and will bring back too many memories. For the time
being, I'll probably get an apartment in Hilo: I hope I can
find some permanent place as quickly as possible.
  `That's one thing I can promise everyone - I won't leave
Earth again. I've had enough of space travelling for one
lifetime. Oh, perhaps the Moon, if I really have to - but of
course that's just a weekend excursion.
  `And talking of moons, we've just passed the orbit of
Sinope, so we're now leaving the Jovian system. Jupiter is
more than twenty million kilometres away, and is barely
larger than our own Moon.
  `Yet even from this distance, you can tell that something
terrible has happened to the planet. Its beautiful orange
colour has vanished; it's a kind of sickly grey, only a fraction
of its former brilliance. No wonder it's only a faint star now
in the sky of Earth.
  `But nothing else has happened, and we're well past the
deadline. Could the whole thing have been a false alarm or a
kind of cosmic practical joke? I doubt if we'll ever know.
Anyway, it's brought us home ahead of schedule, and I'm
grateful for that.
  `Goodbye for the present, Caroline - and thank you for
everything. I hope we can still be friends. And my dearest
love, as ever, to Chris.'
  When he had finished, Floyd sat quietly for a while in the
tiny cubicle he would not need much longer. He was just
about to carry the audio chip up to the bridge for trans-
mission, when Chandra came drifting in.
  Floyd had been agreeably surprised by the way in which
the scientist had accepted his increasing separation from
Hal. They were still in touch for several hours every day,
exchanging data on Jupiter and monitoring conditions
aboard  Discovery.  Though  no  one  had  expected  any  great
display  of  emotion,  Chandra  seemed  to  be taking his loss
with   remarkable   fortitude.  Nikolai  Ternovsky,  his  only
confidant,  had  been  able to give Floyd a plausible explana-
tion of his behaviour.
  'Chandra's  got  a  new  interest,  Woody.  Remember  -  he's
in  a  business  where  if something works, it's obsolete. He's
learned  a  lot  in  the last few months. Can't you guess what
he's doing now?'
  `Frankly, no. You tell me.'
  `He's busy designing HAL 10,000.'
  Floyd's jaw  dropped.  `So  that  explains  those log messages
to   Urbana  that  Sasha's  been  grumbling  about.  Well,  he
won't be blocking the circuits much longer.'
  Floyd   recalled   the  conversation  when  Chandra  entered;
he knew better than to ask the scientist if it was true, for it
was  really  none  of  his  business.  Yet  there  was another
matter about which he was still curious.
  `Chandra,'  he  said,  `I  don't  believe I ever thanked you
properly  for  the  job  you  did  at the flyby, when you per-
suaded Hal to cooperate. For a while, I was really afraid he'd
give  us  trouble.  But you were confident all along - and you
were right. Still, didn't you have any qualms?'
  'Not at all, Dr Floyd.'
  `Why  not?  He  must  have felt threatened by the situation-
and you know what happened last time.'
  `There  was  a  big  difference. If I may say so, perhaps the
successful  outcome  this  time  had  something to do with our
national characteristics. '
  `I don't understand.'
  `Put  it  this  way,  Dr  Floyd.  Bowman  tried to use force
against  Hal.  I  didn't.  In  my  language  we  have a word -
ahimsa.  It's  usually translated as "non-violence", though it
has more positive implications. I was careful to use ahimsa in
my dealings with Hal.'
  `Very commendable, I'm sure. But there are times when
something more energetic is needed, regrettable though the
necessity may be.' Floyd paused, wrestling with tempta-
tion. Chandra's holier-than-thou attitude was a little tire-
some. It wouldn't do any harm, now, to tell him some of
the facts of life.
  `I'm glad it's worked out this way. But it might not have
done so, and I had to prepare for every eventuality. Ahimsa,
or whatever you call it, is all very well; I don't mind admit-
ting I had a back-up to your philosophy. If Hal had been-
well, stubborn, I could have dealt with him.'
  Floyd had once seen Chandra crying; now he saw him
laughing, and that was an equally disconcerting phe-
nomenon.
  `Really, Dr Floyd! I'm sorry you give me such low marks
for intelligence. It was obvious from the beginning that
you'd install a power cut-out somewhere. I disconnected it'
months ago.'
  Whether the flabbergasted Floyd could think of a suitable
answer would never be known. He was still giving a very
creditable imitation of a gaffed fish when up on the flight
deck Sasha cried out: `Captain! All hands! Get to the moni-
tors! BOZHE MOI! LOOK AT THAT!'

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