Clarke, Arthur C - SSC 04 Read Free Page A

helpfully, ‘I believe that “Sir” is quite sufficient. But there’s no
need to worry if you forget: it’s been a long time since anyone went to the
Tower. Besides, this Henry isn’t as tough a proposition as the one who had all
the wives.’
     
                ‘From all accounts,’ added Mitchell,
‘he’s a very pleasant young man. Quite intelligent, too. He’s often been known
to ask people technical questions that they couldn’t answer.’
     
                Captain Saunders ignored the
implications of this remark, beyond resolving that if Prince Henry wanted to
know how a field Compensation Drive Generator worked, then Mitchell could do
the explaining. He got gingerly to his feet – they’d been operating on half a
gravity during flight, and now they were on Earth, he felt like a ton of bricks
– and started to make his way along the corridors that led to the lower air
lock. With an oily purring, the great curving door side-stepped out of his way.
Adjusting his smile, he walked out to meet the television cameras and the heir
to the British throne.
     
                The man who would, presumably, one
day be Henry IX of England was still in his early twenties. He was
slightly below average height, and had fine-drawn, regular features that really
lived up to all the genealogical clichés. Captain Saunders, who came from
Dallas and had no intention of being impressed by any prince, found himself
unexpectedly moved by the wide, sad eyes. They were eyes that had seen too many
receptions and parades, that had had to watch countless totally uninteresting
things, that had never been allowed to stray far from the carefully planned
official routes. Looking at that proud but weary face, Captain Saunders
glimpsed for the first time the ultimate loneliness of royalty. All his dislike
of that institution became suddenly trivial against its real defect: what was
wrong with the Crown was the unfairness of inflicting such a burden on any
human being….
     
                The passageways of the Centaurus were too narrow to allow for
general sight-seeing, and it was soon clear that it suited Prince Henry very
well to leave his entourage behind. Once they had begun moving through the
ship, Saunders lost all his stiffness and reserve, and within a few minutes was
treating the prince exactly like any other visitor. He did not realise that one
of the earliest lessons royalty has to learn is that of putting people at their
ease.
     
                ‘You know, Captain,’ said the prince
wistfully, ‘this is a big day for us. I’ve always hoped that one day it would
be possible for spaceships to operate from England . But it still seems strange to have a port
of our own here, after all these years. Tell me – did you ever have much to do
with rockets?’
     
                ‘Well, I had some training on them,
but they were already on the way out before I graduated. I was lucky: some
older men had to go back to school and start all over again – or else abandon
space completely if they couldn’t convert to the new ships.’
     
                ‘It made as much difference as
that?’
     
                ‘Oh yes – when the rocket went, it
was as big as the change from sail to steam. That’s an analogy you’ll often
hear, by the way. There was a glamour about the old rockets, just as there was
about the old windjammers, which these modern ships haven’t got. When the Centaurus takes off, she goes up as
quietly as a balloon – and as slowly, if she wants to. But a rocket blastoff
shook the ground for miles, and you’d be deaf for days if you were too near the
launching apron. Still, you know all that from the old news recordings.’
     
                The prince smiled.
     
                ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ve often run
through them at the Palace. I think I’ve watched every incident in all the
pioneering expeditions. I