Voyage To Eternity

by Robert Sheckley

  CHAPTER V

  The trouble with the Stalintrek, Sophia thought, was that it tookmonths to get absolutely nowhere. There had been the painful pressure,the loss of consciousness, the confinement in this tight little worldof dormitories and gleaming metal walls, the uncanny feeling of noweight, the ability--boring after a while, but interesting atfirst--to float about in air almost at will.

  Then, how many months of sameness? Sophia had lost all track of timethrough _ennui_. But for the first brief period of adjustment on thepart of her fellows to the fact that although she was a woman andshared their man's life she was still to be inviolate, the routine hadbeen anything but exciting. The period of adjustment had had itsadventures, its uncertainties, its challenge, and to Sophia it hadbeen stimulating. Why was it, she wondered, that the men who carriedtheir sex with strength and dignity, the hard-muscled men who couldhave their way with her if they resorted to force were the men who didnot violate her privacy, while the weaklings, the softer, smaller men,or the average men whom Sophia considered her physical equals were theones who gave her trouble?

  She had always accepted her beauty, the obvious attraction men foundin her, with an objective unconcern. She had been endowed with sexappeal; there was not much room in her life to exploit it, even hadshe wanted to. Now, now when she wanted anything but that, it gave hertrouble.

  Her room was shared, of necessity, with three men. Tall, ganglingBoris gave her no trouble, turned his back when she undressed for theevening, even though she was careful to slip under the covers first.Ivan, the second man, was short, thin, stooped. Often she found himlooking at her with what might have been more than a healthy interest,but aside from that he kept his peace. Besides, Ivan had spent twoyears in secondary school (as much as Sophia) and she enjoyedconversing with him.

  The third man, Georgi, was the troublemaker. Georgi was one of thoseplump young men with red cheeks, big, eager eyes, a voice somewhat toohigh. He was an avid talker, a boaster and a boor. In the beginning heshowered attentions on Sophia. He insisted on drawing her wash-basinat night, escorted her to breakfast every morning, told her inconfidence of the conquests he had made over beautiful women (but notas beautiful as you, Sophia). He soon began to take liberties. Hewould sit--timorously at first, but with growing boldness--on thecorner of her bed, talking with her at night after the others hadretired, Ivan with his snores, Boris with his strong, deep breathing.And night after night, plump Georgi grew bolder.

  He would reach out and touch Sophia, he would insist on tucking her inat night (let me be your big brother), he would awaken her in themorning with his hand heavy on her shoulder. Finally, one night atbedtime, she heard him conversing in low whispers with Ivan and Boris.She could not hear the words, but Boris looked at her with what shethought was surprise, Ivan nodded in an understanding way, and both ofthem left the room.

  Sophia frowned. "What did you tell them, Georgi?"

  "That we wanted to be alone one evening, of course."

  "I never gave you any indication--"

  "I could see it in your eyes, in the way you looked at me."

  "Well, you had better call them back inside and go to bed."

  Georgi shook his head, approached her.

  "Georgi! Call them back or I will."

  "No, you won't." Georgi followed her as she retreated into a corner ofthe room. When she reached the wall and could retreat no further, heplaced his thick hands on her shoulders, drew her to him slowly. "Youwill call no one," he rasped.

  * * * * *

  She ducked under his arms, eluded him, was on the point of running tothe door, throwing it open and shouting, when she reconsidered. If shedid, she would be asking for quarter, gaining a temporary reprieve,inviting the same sort of thing all over again.

  She crossed to the bed and sat down. "Come here, Georgi."

  "Ah." He came to her.

  She watched him warily, a soft flabby man not quite so tall as shewas, but who nevertheless out-weighed her by thirty or forty pounds.In his eagerness, he walked too fast, lost his footing and floatedgently to the ceiling. Smiling as demurely as she could, Sophiareached up, circled his ankle with her hand.

  "I never could get used to this weightlessness," Georgi admitted. "Benice and pull me down."

  "I will be nice. I will teach you a lesson."

  He weighed exactly nothing. It was as simple as stretching. Sophiamerely extended her arm upwards and Georgi's head hit the ceilingwith a loud _thunk_. Georgi groaned. Sophia repeated the procedure,lowering her arm a foot--and Georgi with it--then raising it andbouncing his head off the ceiling.

  "I don't understand," Georgi whined, trying to break free but onlysucceeding in thrashing his chubby arms foolishly.

  "You haven't mastered weightlessness," Sophia smiled up at him. "Ihave. I said I would teach you a lesson. First make sure you have thestrength of a man if you would play a man's game."

  Still smiling, Sophia commenced spinning the hand which held Georgi'sankle. Arms and free leg flailing air helplessly, Georgi began tospin.

  "Put me down!" he whined, a boy now, not even pretending to be a man.When Sophia shoved out gently and let his ankle go he did a neat flipin air and hung suspended, upside down, his feet near the ceiling, hishead on a level with Sophia's shoulders. He cried.

  She slapped his upside down face, carefully and without excitement,reddening the cheeks. "I was--only joking," he slobbered. "Call backour friends."

  Sophia found one of the hard, air-tight metal flasks they used fordrinking in weightlessness. With one hand she opened the lid, with theother she grasped Georgi's shoulder and spun him in air, still upsidedown. She squirted the water in his face, and because he was upsidedown and yelling it made him choke and cough. When the container wasempty she lowered Georgi gently to the floor.

  Minutes later, she opened the door, summoned Boris and Ivan, who cameinto the room self-consciously. What they found was a thoroughlybeaten Georgi sobbing on the floor. After that, Sophia had no trouble.Week after week of boredom followed and she almost wished Georgi orsomeone else would _look_ for trouble ... even if it were somethingshe could not handle, for although she was stronger than average andmore beautiful, she was still a woman first, and she knew if the rightman....

  * * * * *

  "Did you know that radio communication is maintained between Earth andMars?" the Alaric Arkalion on Mars asked Temple.

  "Why, no. I never thought about it."

  "It is, and I am in some difficulty."

  "What's the matter?" Temple had grown to like Arkalion, despite theman's peculiarities. He had given up trying to figure him out,feeling that the only way he'd get anywhere was with Arkalion'sco-operation.

  "It's a long story which I'm afraid you would not altogetherunderstand. The authorities on Earth don't think I belong here on theNowhere Journey."

  "Is that so? A mistake, huh? I sure am glad for you, Alaric."

  "That's not the difficulty. It seems that there is the matter ofimpersonation, of violating some of the clauses in Public Law 1182.You're glad for me. I'm likely to go to prison."

  "If it's that serious, how come they told you?"

  "They didn't. But I--managed to find out. I won't go into details,Kit, but obviously, if I managed to embark for Nowhere when I didn'thave to, then I wanted to go. Right?"

  "I--uh, guess so. But why--?"

  "That isn't the point. I _still_ want to go. Not to Mars, but toNowhere. I still can, despite what has happened, but I need help."

  Temple said, "Anything I can do, I'll be glad to," and meant it. Forone thing, he liked Arkalion. For another, Arkalion seemed to knowmore, much more than he would ever say--unless Temple could win hisconfidence. For a third, Temple was growing sick and tired of Marswith its drab ochre sameness (when he got to the surface, which wasrarely), with its dank underground city, with its meaninglessattention to meaningless detail. Either way, he figured there was noreturning to Earth. If No
where meant adventure, as he suspected itmight, it would be preferable. Mars might have been the other end ofthe galaxy for all its nearness to Earth, anyway.

  "There is a great deal you can do. But you'll have to come with me."

  "Where?" Temple demanded.

  "Where you will go eventually. To Nowhere."

  "Fine." And Temple smiled. "Why not now as well as later?"

  "I'll be frank with you. If you go now, you go untrained. You may needyour training. Undoubtedly, you will."

  "You know a lot more than you want to talk about, don't you?"

  "Frankly, yes.... I am sorry, Kit."

  "That's all right. You have your reasons. I guess if I go with youI'll find out soon enough, anyway."

  Arkalion grinned. "You have guessed correctly. I am going to Nowhere,before they return me to Earth for prosecution under Public Law 1182.I cannot go alone, for it takes at least two to operate ... well,you'll see."

  "Count me in," said Temple.

  "Remember, you may one day wish you had remained on Mars for yourtraining."

  "I'll take my chances. Mars is driving me crazy. All I do is think ofEarth and Stephanie."

  "Then come."

  "Where are we going?"

  "A long, long way off. It is unthinkably remote, this place calledNowhere."

  Temple felt suddenly like a kid playing hookey from school. "Lead on,"he said, almost jauntily. He knew he was leaving Stephanie stillfurther behind, but had he been in prison on the next street to hers,he might as well have been a million miles away.

  As for Arkalion--the thought suddenly struck Temple--Arkalion wasn'tnecessarily leaving his world further behind. Perhaps Arkalion wasgoing home....

  * * * * *

  Stephanie picked up the phone eagerly. In the weeks since her firstmeeting with Mrs. Draper of the C.E.L., the older woman had been afountain of information and of hope for her. Stephanie for her parthad taken over Mrs. Draper's job in her own section of Center City:she was busy contacting the two hundred mothers and fifty sweetheartsof the Nowhere Journey which had taken Kit from her. And now Mrs.Draper had called with information.

  "We've successfully combined forces with some of the less militantelements in both houses of Congress," Mrs. Draper told her over thephone. "Do you realize, my dear, this marks the first time the C.E.L.has managed to put something constructive through Congress? Until nowwe've been content merely to block legislation, such as an increase inthe Nowhere contingent from...."

  "Yes, Mrs. Draper. I know all that. But what about this constructivething you've done."

  "Well, my dear, don't count your chickens. But we _have_ passed thebill, and we expect the President won't veto it. You see, thePresident has two nephews who...."

  "I know. I know. What bill did you pass?"

  "Unfortunately, it's somewhat vague. Ultimately, the NowhereCommission must do the deciding, but it does pave the way."

  "For what, Mrs. Draper?"

  "Hold onto your hat, my dear. The bill authorizes the Nowhere Commissionto make as much of a study as it can of conditions--wherever our boys aresent."

  "Oh." Stephanie was disappointed. "That won't get them back to us."

  "No. You're right, it won't get them back to us. That isn't the ideaat all, for there is more than one way to skin a cat, my dear. TheNowhere Commission will be studying conditions--"

  "How can they? I thought everything was so hush-hush, not evenCongress knew anything about it."

  "That was the first big hurdle we have apparently overcome. Anyway,they will be studying conditions with a view of determining if onegirl--just one, mind you--can embark on the Nowhere Journey as a pilotstudy and--"

  "But I thought they could make the journey only once everyseven-hundred-eighty days."

  "Get Congress aroused and you can move mountains. It seems the expenseentailed in a trip at any but those times is generally prohibitive,but when something special comes up--"

  "It can be done! Mrs. Draper, how I love to talk with you!"

  "See? There you go, my dear, counting your chickens. One girl will besent, if the study indicates she can take it. _One_ girl, Stephanie, andonly after a study. She'd merely be a pilot case. But afterwards.... Ah,afterwards.... Perhaps someday soon qualified women will be able to jointheir men in Nowhere."

  "Mrs. Draper, I love you."

  "Naturally, you will tell all this to prospective C.E.L. members. Nowwe have something concrete to work with."

  "I know. And I will, I will, Mrs. Draper. By the way, how are theygoing to pick the girl, the one girl?"

  "Don't count your chickens, for Heaven's sake! They haven't evenstudied the situation yet. Well, I'll call you, my dear."

  Stephanie hung up, dressed, went about her canvassing. She thoughthappy thoughts all week.

  * * * * *

  "Shh! Quiet," cautioned Arkalion, leading the way down a flight ofheavy-duty plastic stairs.

  "How do you know your way around here so well?"

  "I said quiet."

  It was not so much, Temple realized, that Arkalion was really afraidof making noise. Rather, he did not want to answer questions.

  Temple smiled in the semi-darkness, heard the steady drip-drip-drip ofwater off somewhere to his left. Eons before the coming of man on thisstopover point to Nowhere, the Martian waters had retreated from theplanet's ancient surface and seeped underground to carve, slow drop bydrop, the caverns which honey-combed the planet. "You know your wayaround so well, I'd swear you were a Martian."

  Arkalion's soft laugh carried far. "I said there was to be no noise.Please! As for the Martians, the only Martians are here all aroundyou, the men of Earth. Ahh, here we are."

  At the bottom of the flight of stairs Temple could see a door,metallic, giving the impression of strength without great weight.Arkalion paused a moment, did something with a series of levers, shookhis head impatiently, started all over again.

  "What's that for?" Temple wanted to know.

  "What do you think? It is a combination lock, with five millionpossible combinations. Do you want to be here for all of eternity?"

  "No."

  "Then quiet."

  Vaguely, Temple wondered why the door wasn't guarded.

  "With a lock like this," Arkalion explained, as if he had readTemple's thought, "they need no other precaution. It is assumed thatonly authorized personnel know the combination."

  Then had Arkalion come this way before? It seemed the only possibleassumption. But when? And how? "Here we are," said Arkalion.

  The door swung in toward them.

  Temple strode forward, found himself in a great bare hall,surprisingly well-lighted. After the dimness of the caverns, hehardly could see.

  "Don't stand there scowling and fussing with your eyes. There is oneadditional precaution--an alarm at Central Headquarters. We have aboutfive minutes, no more."

  * * * * *

  At one end of the bare hall stood what to Temple looked for all theworld like an old-fashioned telephone booth, except that its wallswere completely opaque. On the wall adjacent to it was a single leverwith two positions marked "hold" and "transport". The lever stoodfirmly in the "hold" position.

  "You sure you want to come?" Arkalion demanded.

  "Yes, I told you that."

  "Good. I have no time to explain. I will enter the conveyor."

  "Conveyor?"

  "This booth. You will wait until the door is shut, then pull the leverdown. That is all there is to it, but, as you can see, it is a two-manoperation."

  "But how do I--"

  "Haste, haste! There are similar controls at the other end. You pullthe lever, wait two minutes, enter the conveyor yourself. I will fetchyou--if you are sure."

  "I'm sure, dammit!"

  "Remember, you go without training, without the opportunity everyoneelse has."

  "You already told me that. Mars is half-way to eternity. Mars islimbo
. If I can't go back to Earth I want to go--well, to Nowhere.There are too many ghosts here, too many memories with nothing to do."

  Arkalion shrugged, entered the booth. "Pull the lever," he said, andshut the door.

  Temple reached up, grasped the lever firmly in his hand, yanked it. Itslid smoothly to the position marked "transport." Temple heardnothing, saw nothing, began to think the device, whatever it was, didnot work. Did Arkalion somehow get _moved_ inside the booth?

  Temple thought he heard footfalls on the stairs outside. Soon,faintly, he could hear voices. Someone banged on the door to the hall.Licking dry lips, Temple opened the booth, peered inside.

  Empty.

  The voices clamored, fists pounded on the door. Something clicked.Tumblers fell. The door to the great, bright hall sprung outward.Someone rushed in at Temple, who met him savagely with a short,chopping blow to his jaw. The man, temporarily blinded by the dazzlinglight, stumbled back in the path of his fellows.

  Temple darted into the booth, the conveyor, and slammed it shut.

  Fingers clawed on the outside.

  A sound almost too intense to be heard rang in Temple's ears. He lostconsciousness instantly.