He waved frantically, running forward, leaving his gun, his supplies,
everything behind. "You _see_ that, Iorr, Tylle! You savages, you
monsters, I beat you! I _won_! They're coming to rescue me now! I've
won, damn you."
He laughed harshly at the rocks and the sky and the backs of his hands.
The rocket landed. Leonard Sale stood swaying, waiting for the door to
lid open.
"Goodbye, Iorr, goodbye, Tylle!" he shouted in triumph, grinning, eyes
hot.
_Eeeeee_, sang a diminishing roar in time.
_Ahhhhhh_, voices faded.
The rocket flipped wide its air-lock. Two men jumped out.
"Sale?" they called. "We're Ship ACDN13. Intercepted your SOS and
decided to pick you up ourselves. The Marsport ship won't get through
until day after tomorrow. We want a spot of rest ourselves. Thought
it'd be good to spend the night here, pick you up, and go on."
"No," said Sale, face melting with terror. "No spend night--"
He couldn't talk. He fell to the ground.
"Quick," said a voice, in the bleary vortex over him. "Give him a shot
of food liquid, another of sedative. He needs sustenance and rest."
"No rest!" screamed Sale.
"Delirious," said one man softly.
"No sleep!" screamed Sale.
"There, there," said the man gently. A needle poked into Sale's arm.
Sale thrashed. "No sleep, go!" he mouthed horribly. "Oh, go!"
"Delirious," said one man. "Shock."
"No _sedative_!" screamed Sale.
The sedative flowed into him.
_Eeeeeeeeeeee_, sang the ancient winds.
_Ahhhhhhhhhhhh_, sang the ancient seas.
"No sedative, no sleep, please, don't, don't, _don't_!" screamed Sale,
trying to get up. "You don't--understand!"
"Take it easy, old man, you're safe among us now, nothing to worry
about," said the rescuer above him.
Leonard Sale slept. The two men stood over him.
As they watched, Sale's features changed violently. He groaned and
cried and snarled in his sleep. His face was riven with emotion. It was
the face of a saint, a sinner, a fiend, a monster, a darkness, a light,
one, many, an army, a vacuum, all, all!
He writhed in his sleep.
_Eeeeeeeeee!_ the sound burst from his mouth. _Ahhhhhhhhhhh!_ he
screamed.
"What's wrong with him?" asked one of the two rescuers.
"I don't know. More sedative?"
"More sedative. Nerves. He needs more sleep."
They stuck the needle in his arm. Sale writhed and spat and moaned.
Then, suddenly, he was dead.
He lay there, the two men over him. "What a shame," said one of them.
"Can you figure that?"
"Shock. Poor guy. What a pity." They covered his face. "Did you ever
see a face like that?"
"Totally insane."
"Loneliness. Shock."
"Yes. Lord, what an expression. I hope never to see a face like _that_
again."
"What a shame, waiting for us, and we arrive, and he dies anyway."
They glanced around. "What shall we do? Shall we spend the night?"
"Yes. It's good to be out of the ship."
"We'll bury him first, of course."
"Naturally."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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