by Ben Bova
“I thought you had passed out again,” she said, her voice trembling slightly.
“No,” he said, reaching out to take her hand in his. He hesitated a moment, then decided he had to tell her. “Jo—you remember what we talked about that night at your villa in Naples? The alien inside my head?”
She nodded somberly.
“He really is there, Jo. Permanently. He’s within me. It didn’t matter that Ev destroyed his body. His mind, his memories, his soul—he’s part of me now.”
“In Naples,” she said, so low that he could barely hear her, “you were alive, and human. But…later, in that mountain base, with Temujin, and then in Moscow, and now here…”
She was fighting for self-control, Stoner saw. He said nothing.
“You were so distant, Keith. So cold and controlled. Like a machine. Like you had turned into an alien creature yourself. You frighten me, Keith! The things you’re able to do, the powers you have—they’re not human!”
“And yet you’re here, with me,” he replied softly. “Not because I’m controlling you, but because you want to be.”
“I love you, Keith,” she said, tears brimming over and spilling down her cheeks. “I’ve loved you all my life.”
“But you’re afraid of me.”
“I don’t know who you are! Or what you are.”
He smiled at her. “I’m human, Jo. Maybe more human than I’ve ever been.”
“But the alien?…”
“He’s there, inside my head. He’s become part of me.” His grin widened. “You’ll just have to accept the two of us, I guess. It’s a package deal: can’t have one without the other.”
She wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands, like a little girl.
“It’s been like a new life for me, Jo. I’ve seen the world for the first time, really, since you revived me. In a way, I was an alien, too. Now—with the help of my brother—I’ve become a full human being.”
Jo looked troubled, almost fearful.
“It’s true,” he insisted. “I understand things now that I never even thought about in my earlier life.”
“What kinds of things?”
He took in a deep breath, puffed it out. “This will sound corny, Jo, but I’ve learned that I really am my brother’s keeper. Each of us is. We’re interdependent. One human being living alone in the wilderness isn’t a noble savage, he’s a dead naked ape.”
“But what does that mean to me? Or to you?” she asked.
“We’ve got to work together. Each of us. All of us.”
“The way you were talking about to Baker? Setting up a new economic system?”
“That’s part of it,” Stoner said, pushing himself up into a sitting position, feeling the intensity of the need to convince her. “We’re at a pivotal point in human history….”
“And you think a few people like you and me can change the course that the whole human race takes?” Jo sounded utterly unconvinced.
“Yes!” he snapped. “The forces of history are massive, like a glacier moving down a mountainside. But they can be changed, shaped, directed by human effort, if that effort is applied intelligently at the pivotal points.”
“I wish I could believe that, Keith.”
“You’ve already seen it happening! Nillson concentrated the world’s major terrorist groups into one worldwide organization….”
“Because Archie Madigan manipulated him into it.”
“More than that, Jo. It was the right time for the terrorists to combine forces. The movement of history pushed them in that direction.”
“The movement of history?”
“Yes. And once they were concentrated it was easy to shatter their organization.”
“So now a thousand little terrorist groups will spring up again out of the ruins.”
“Not if they can’t get arms,” Stoner said. “Not if they can’t raise money. Not if the multinational corporations and the national governments and the Peacekeepers can work together to alleviate the causes of terrorism.”
Jo gave him a skeptical frown. “Keith, it’s a wonderful dream, but…”
“But we can make the dream come true.”
“How can you believe that?” she demanded. “The world is disintegrating. It’s falling down around our ears! So you stopped the war in Africa. For how long? Nations are breaking apart, the whole social order is unraveling.”
“Look deeper, Jo,” he urged. “Look behind the politics, find the underlying human emotions. Okay, national boundaries are changing. So what? What looks like fragmentation to you is actually homogenization at the economic and social levels.”
“Homogeni…What do you mean?”
Grinning, Stoner replied, “Farmers in Chad want to be as rich as farmers in Kansas. Uzbeks and Ulstermen want to be free of distant governments that make bad decisions for them. Every group of people in the world is trying to achieve what Western society already has: economic plenty and individual freedom.”
“Blue jeans and a sports car,” Jo muttered.
Stoner ignored her sarcasm. “At the economic, the industrial, the social level, they all want to be rich and free. That’s what’s causing all the turmoil around the world. Instead of fighting it, instead of trying to hold on to the status quo, we’ve got to help the peoples of the world to get rich, and free. Instead of clinging to yesterday, we’ve got to help build tomorrow.”
“Christ, you sound like a politician.”
“God forbid!”
“Well, you do,” Jo said. But she was smiling.
“Listen, Jo. People want to make life better for themselves. But even more, they want to make life better for their children. That’s a basic human urge, to make life better for your kids. We’ve got to help them to win that struggle, Jo—without tearing down all the gains we’ve already made over the centuries.”
“You don’t really think you can….”
“We can do it,” he insisted. “You and me, Jo. And Kirill and Baker and a few billion others. Working together. Yes, we can do it.”
“You’re serious about this. You’re really going to try to save the world.”
He gestured up at the hologram of Earth on the ceiling. The planet seemed to float above them, a brilliantly beautiful sphere of blue, decked with streams of white clouds.
“It’s a world worth saving, Jo. We’ve got to try. Otherwise everything will disintegrate. It’ll all fall apart under the pressure of runaway population growth.”
Jo sighed deeply. “But for every one of us there’s an Everett, or a Madigan. Or worse.”
“It won’t be easy,” he admitted.
“It seems so hopeless.”
“No. It’s not. Never hopeless. As long as we live, as long as we can dream, we can hope. And work. We can heal their wounds, Jo. We can help them build a better world.”
Jo leaned her head against his bare shoulder. “So now you’re going out to save the world. I’ll lose you all over again.”
“Lose me?” He felt surprised, puzzled. “I thought you were going to work alongside me in this.”
Looking up at him, she said, “Keith, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about you, it’s that I can be right beside you and you’ll still be a million miles away.”
She seemed to hold her breath, waiting. For what? Stoner wondered. There was fear in her eyes. What could she be afraid of? What is she searching for?
In the sudden silence between them, the music flowed over Stoner, reached into him, drove along his nerves, lifted him with its exhilarating relentless power. He felt his alien brother’s confusion at the swirling turmoil building within him and laughed inwardly as he realized that he was feeling emotions, true emotions, pleasure and sorrow, joy at being alive, bitter regret at all the lost days, all the things he had been unable to do, all the pain he had seen or caused or failed to ease. His alien brother relaxed and began to sample complexities that he had never understood before.
Like ice breaking on a river th
at had been locked in winter, like snow packed deep on a meadow melting under the springtime sun, Stoner felt all the pent-up emotions within him suddenly released, thawed, freed from the iron control that had held them so rigidly. At last he and his alien brother were one, trusting each other, true brothers now, unafraid.
He gripped Jo tightly, held her closer than he had ever been able to before, felt the warmth of her body against his own.
“Jo…Jo…” His voice broke. His vision blurred as tears filled his eyes. “I love you, Jo. I really do. I know what it means now, I know what it is to love, and I love you, my dearest, dearest woman. I’ll love you forever.”
The fear and doubt in her eyes were washed away by fresh tears, and she clung to Stoner gladly, wildly happy at last.
They made love slowly, languidly, exploring each other’s bodies gently and patiently, unheeding of time, alone in their own secret universe where nothing else existed except the two of them and the rising heat of passion that grew fiercer and hotter until they felt like twin novas exploding into the star-filled night.
At last they lay side by side, their bodies covered only by a fine sheen of perspiration, the only light in the bedroom coming from the glorious shining sphere of the Earth revolving slowly in the overhead hologram.
Jo grinned at him knowingly. “You really are human, after all.”
“I told you, didn’t I?”
“Maybe just a little bit superhuman.”
He turned and traced a finger along her lovely cheek, her neck, her shoulder. She sighed and turned toward him. He kissed her lightly.
“Keith,” she whispered, her face growing somber. “I have a confession to make.”
“Is it something serious?”
“Very.”
“Then let it wait until later.”
“No, I’ve got to tell you now,” she insisted.
He propped himself up on one elbow. “Okay. What is it?”
“Those frozen embryos…”
“The ova that Nillson had fertilized?”
“They weren’t fertilized with Everett’s sperm,” Jo said.
Stoner looked down at her for a moment, then realized what she was trying to tell him. “My sperm? You took sperm from me?”
Jo nodded gravely. “While you were frozen.”
He lay there for a moment, head resting on his fist. Jo seemed perfectly calm, glad she had told him the truth and totally unrepentant.
Stoner broke into a low chuckle. “I should have guessed.” He flopped down onto his pillow and laughed. “Of course! That’s exactly what you’d do.”
“I wouldn’t bear his child,” Jo said. “I wouldn’t allow anyone else to bear his child.”
“But you’d have mine.”
“I want yours!”
“I’m glad you do.” He tried to be serious, failed, laughed again.
“I don’t see what’s so funny about it,” Jo complained.
“It’s the difference between men and women,” he said. “Men see sex as a goal. Getting laid is what they want, and that’s it. Women see sex as a means to some other goal: usually it’s having children.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
“Then why did you take the risk of crossing Nillson to substitute my sperm for his?”
“Because I wanted to,” Jo said with great finality, as though dismissing the subject.
Stoner tried a slightly different tack. “Look at An Linh. When you thought she was trying to invade your territory, you were determined to get rid of her.”
“That’s natural enough.”
“Of course it is. And although she was willing to use sex as a means of attracting Nillson’s attention, she really was in love with Baker.”
“I don’t understand what she sees in him.”
“The same thing you see in me, Jo,” he answered. “A father for the children she’s going to create.”
Jo frowned but said nothing.
“When she thought Baker was dead, she turned her sights on me. Nothing calculated about it. Nothing devious or Machiavellian. She was just seeking a father for the babies inside her, the same way the female of any species seeks out a mate.”
Jo’s frown deepened. “Is that what the alien’s taught you? That human women are nothing more than baby machines?”
His grin returned.
“If that’s what you think,” Jo said, “then you men are nothing more than brainless sperm carriers.”
He moved over toward her. “Oh, you’re a lot more than a baby machine, Jo. Human beings are much more complex than that. But making babies is fundamental. It’s more important than anything else we do.”
She smiled up at him and twined her arms around his neck. “I thought you just wanted to get laid.”
“Of course I do. That’s all men want, didn’t you know that?”
“Like nightingales singing or bullfrogs croaking,” Jo said, teasing him. “That’s what you told me, remember?”
“That’s right. Everything men do, from graffiti on cave walls to exploring new worlds in space—it’s all done to attract women.”
“Okay, so you’ve got my attention.”
He laughed and took her in his arms once more.
Later, as they lay in each other’s arms, flesh against warm flesh in the shadows of the darkened bedroom, Jo teased, “I’ll keep the frozen eggs as a backup.”
“Do you think we’ll need them?”
“Hardly.”
He gazed up at the blue-and-white globe in the hologram projection. “It’s a good world, Jo. Well worth saving.”
But she reached toward the headboard and turned a dial. The picture shifted. The Earth slid away to reveal a field of stars glittering in the infinite expanse of the universe.
“I wonder which star he came from,” Jo whispered in the darkness.
“You can’t see it in this view,” Stoner said.
She turned her head sharply. “You mean you know?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Is it close to us?…I mean…”
He laughed. “It’s more than ten thousand light-years away.”
Jo looked back at the stars, pinpoints of light against the blackness.
“To think he came all that way. All that time.”
Stoner felt himself smiling inwardly. Distance means nothing. Time means nothing. The universe is vast, but it can be spanned by intelligence.
“And he just stumbled blindly here,” Jo murmured. “Just happened to find Earth, out of all the billions of worlds….”
“Not blindly,” Stoner said. It was such a low whisper that she almost missed it.
“What did you say?”
“It wasn’t blind chance that brought the starship to Earth.”
Even in the darkness he could sense the thrill of excitement that raced through her. “But you said…I mean, when Ev asked you if the alien had brought a message, you told him…”
He smiled gently at her. “Do you think I’d trust a madman with the message from the stars?”
“You mean there is a message?”
“Of course.”
“What is it?” Jo’s voice was high with anticipation.
Stoner saw the world that his brother had left behind, the beauty and harmony of it.
“It’s a very simple message, Jo. So simple that someone like Nillson or Madigan would never have believed it.”
“Tell me!”
He smiled and kissed her and said, “The message is this: We are not alone. There are other intelligences among the stars, but they are very far apart, spread very thinly. The universe welcomes us, Jo. We can spread through a million star systems, if we want to. If we don’t destroy ourselves here on Earth.”
“The universe welcomes us,” she whispered back.
He nodded. “How would you like to find the world where my brother came from?”
He could barely make out the features of her face, but he hea
rd her breath catch.
“Could we?” Jo gasped. “I mean, do you think…?”
“I know the way there, Jo. We’ve got a lifetime of work to accomplish here on Earth first, but we’ve also got several lifetimes after that, ahead of us.”
“I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid,” Jo said.
Smiling, Stoner replied, “You will be. We’ll sail out to the stars together, Jo. The universe welcomes us.”
She was trembling with joy.
“When?” she asked. “How soon can we…”
Stoner took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “There’s so much to do here on Earth first, Jo. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick.”
“But someday?…”
“Yes,” he said. “Someday we’ll seek out my brother’s homeworld and meet his people.”
“Someday,” she whispered, like a promise to herself.
Stoner nodded. “We’ll do it together, Jo. But for now—I think I can use a little nap.”
And for the first time since his reawakening, he closed his eyes in sleep.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
VOYAGERS II: THE ALIEN WITHIN
Copyright © 1986 by Ben Bova
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
49 West 24 Street
New York, NY 10010
ISBN: 978-0-8125-1337-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80-2836