Starbridge Read Free Page B

pretty juvenile stunt. Dad didn't-think it was funny."
    "Maybe he didn't admit his amusement to you," Rob told her, "but he went around the lab chuckling every time he
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    thought about it. Life was grim around there, and your letters were the only things that weren't depressing. At least . . . until the Plague hit your school.
    Then it got rough, I know."
    "It was better for me than for the others," she said, not meeting his eyes. "At least I stayed healthy."
    "I don't know," he said grimly. "I think it's worse in some ways to be one of the ones who isn't sick. I remember that by the end of the epidemic, you wrote that you were pulling regular duty alongside the teachers and nurses."
    Mahree nodded, then changed the subject. "My dad talked about you in his letters," she said. "He said he couldn't have completed his research on the L-16 without you."
    "Bull. He'd have discovered it. Your father is a brilliant researcher, as well as an excellent physician."
    "He's a great father, too. Even during the worst of the first wave, he still found time to call me once a week; usually from the lab."
    "And now you're on your way to Earth for college?" Rob asked. "Where?"
    "The Sorbonne in Paris."
    He whistled admiringly. "Good school. What are you planning to major in?"
    Mahree frowned as she stroked the cat. "I don't know. I don't seem to have much aptitude for the things I'm interested in, and the things I'm good at, I don't care about doing. I've even considered medicine, but ..." She shrugged.
    "You ought to be sure before you spend four or five years of your life immersed in a subject," Rob warned. "It doesn't pay to pick something just because of your parents, because you want to make them proud, or admire the prestige and the money." He reached over to caress Sekhmet. Mahree saw that his hands were beautifully shaped--long-fingered and capable. His voice took on a bitter note. "I should know."
    "You?" Mahree was startled. "But you're a doctor. My dad says you're very good! Don't you like it?"
    He sighed. "Yes and no. The whole time I was growing up, it was all I could imagine doing ... my parents were so thrilled when I was accepted at Johns Hopkins, because that was where they both went ..."
    He took a sip of his coffee and made a face at the taste. "A lot of the time it's rewarding, but for some reason I've never
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    seemed to get everything I want out of it. I also got a Ph.D. in psychology, and sometimes I think that's more my line. But ..." He shrugged. "I don't know. I've always wanted to do something that would make a difference, that would be unique, that I could look back on at the end of my life and feel good about. Like your father, when he discovered the L-16 vaccine."
    "I know what you mean," Mahree said eagerly. "I want to accomplish something special, too." Then her shoulders slumped. "But ... I don't know what that 'something' is."
    Rob smiled wistfully, nodding. "I thought medicine would be my 'something special.' I thought that as a doctor I could really make a difference."
    "But you did! During the epidemic, you and the others saved lots of lives."
    "And lost nearly as many. Hundreds ... thousands of people died, and we were helpless to stop it." For a second the dark eyes in the unlined face were old, filled with pain. "I suppose I did make a difference, but ... every time I think about the people we saved, I remember all the ones we lost, so it doesn't feel right, if you can understand that." He sighed bitterly. "To me, it felt like failure." Rob shook his head, obviously frustrated. "I sound like some kind of glory hound, don't I? That's not the way I mean it."
    Mahree cocked her head at him, forgetting her shyness as she considered his words. "I understand. Like me, you want a challenge. Something big. But at the same time you're afraid that even if it came along, you couldn't handle it."
    His eyes met hers for a long moment, then he chuckled self-consciously.
    "For two people who supposedly have most of