When the rescue ship arrived it would find nothing. Sale would be
hidden somewhere by a triumphant army in his head. Hidden in some
cleft of rock, placed there like a nest for Iorr to lie upon in evil
occupation.
The thought of it almost broke him in half.
Twenty years of insanity. Twenty years of torture, doing what you don't
want to do. Twenty years of wars raging and being split apart, twenty
years of nausea and trembling.
His head sank down between his knees. His eyes snapped and cracked and
made soft noises. His eardrum popped tiredly.
_Sleep, sleep_, sang soft sea voices.
I'll--I'll make a proposition with you, listen, thought Leonard Sale.
You, Iorr, you, too, Tylle! Iorr, you can occupy me on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. Tylle, you can take me over on Sundays,
Tuesdays and Saturdays. Thursday is maid's night out. Okay?
_Eeeeeeeeeeeeee_, sang the sea tides, seething in his brain.
_Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_, sang the distant voices softly, soft.
What'll you say, is it a _bargain_, Iorr, Tylle?
_No_, said a voice.
_No_, said another.
Greedy, both of you, greedy! complained Sale. A pox on both your houses!
He slept.
* * * * *
He _was_ Iorr, jeweled rings on his hands. He arose beside his rocket
and held out his fingers, commanding blind armies. He was Iorr, ancient
ruler of jeweled warriors.
He _was_ Tylle, lover of women, killer of dogs!
With some hidden bit of awareness, his hand crept to the holster at his
hip. The sleeping hand withdrew the gun there. The hand lifted, the gun
pointed.
The armies of Tylle and Iorr gave battle.
The gun exploded.
The bullet tore across Sale's forehead, wakening him.
He stayed awake for another six hours, getting over his latest siege.
He knew it to be hopeless now. He washed and bandaged the wound he had
given himself. He wished he had aimed straighter and it was all over.
He watched the sky. Two more days. Two more. Come on, ship, come on. He
was heavy with sleeplessness.
No use. At the end of six hours he was raving badly. He took the gun
up and put it down and took it up again, put it against his head,
tightened his hand on the trigger, changed his mind, looked at the sky
again.
Night settled. He tried to read, threw the book away. He tore it up and
burned it, just to have something to do.
So tired. In another hour, he decided. If nothing happens, I'll kill
myself. This is for certain now. I'll _do_ it, this time.
He got the gun ready and laid it on the ground next to himself.
He was very calm now, though tired. It would be over and done. He would
be dead.
He watched the minute hand of his watch. One minute, five minutes,
twenty-five minutes.
The flame appeared on the sky.
It was so unbelievable he started to cry. "A rocket," he said, standing
up. "A rocket!" he cried, rubbing his eyes. He ran forward.
The flame brightened, grew, came down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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