I Speak for Earth Read Free Page B

imagination. The worry came later. It was just ridiculous that he should have been given this furlough for no other reason than that space was vacant on the shuttle ship. He’d signed on for a full twelve-month tour, and he was satisfied to look forward to his three months’ leave afterward. The dodge he’d worked out for hull-plate assembly—the one which, as Malik had said, had put his section fifteen days ahead of schedule on their job—was something anyone might have come up with; it was superior to welding or even to Johannsen-block mating, because it produced an intra-crystalline bond. But it was no more than a special application of the same principle that lifted the shuttle ships—polarization of gravity. You just polarized the molecular binding forces of the surface to be joined, brought them together under pressure so that as it were the crystals of the metal slid into and between one another, and then switched off the power so that they stayed interpenetrated. It was that simple.
    Or so Joe felt. Other people had smacked their foreheads and called him a genius. It made him uncomfortable to be called a genius; for his money, geniuses couldn’t really prove their claim to the title till they were at least forty, and he was only twenty-eight.
    So why had he been sent back to Earth?
    His reflection was cut short by Maggie’s entrance, looking like a pin-up come to life: her dark hair dusted with gold, her figure displayed to perfection by a red dress which was only by courtesy formal, and clung in some important places and fell in graceful folds in others, contriving to hint that these were still more interesting. Joe’s mind emptied at once of practically everything except her.
    He hauled himself to his feet—still finding it hard work,because his muscles were adjusted to free-fall movement after his months in orbit—and said delightedly, “Maggie, you look terrific.”
    She grinned impishly and came over for a kiss. “I know,” she said. “I thought you deserved it.”
    “I’m flattered.”
    She perched on the arm of his chair and put one delicately manicured finger on the dial of the liquor console. “Don’t hurry to finish your drink,” she said. “There’s time enough. What are you having?”
    “A Tom Collins.”
    “I’ll join you.” She dialed, picked up the glass when it was filled, and raised it to him. “To a long and happy acquaintance,” she said.
    “Agreed. I wish I knew how long. They didn’t set a limit to my furlough, and it’ll only be ten days or so at most, I imagine.” He dropped back into the chair.
    Maggie sipped her drink, and then set it down on her knee with a thoughtful look. “I’m awfully glad I met you, Joe,” she said. “I’ve often thought about your people up there in orbit, working on the starship. Like a kind of defiant gesture, isn’t it?”
    Joe blinked. “I’m not with you,” he said after a pause.
    “No?” She turned large, liquid eyes on him. “Oh, but surely! I mean, some people would just have chucked their hands in after Gyul Kodran’s ultimatum—”
    “Oh, do we have to talk about that?” Joe broke in. “I was hoping to get away from it! That’s about all we ever talk about, up there with
Old Stormalong
. Whether the Federationers can really keep their word, and how they’ll keep it, if our representative doesn’t pass their test.”
    “I’m sorry,” said Maggie. “But I’m afraid that’s about all anyone talks about down here nowadays. Haven’t you seen the papers, for example?”
    “I haven’t taken time to look at one since I landed yesterday.”
    “Well, practically every paper has a big red box on the top of page one now, with the number of days remaining before the Federation ship comes to take our representative. It’s about a hundred and forty-eight days now, I think. And there’s still no news. Nothing!”
    Joe sipped his drink. He said, “Well, one wouldn’t expect them to announce their decision in