Astronauts -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Space flight to the moon -- Fiction
"I don't either--yet." Dr. Valdez moved a step closer to the man in the
chair. "Rene. Rene Duport."
Without moving his head, Duport opened his eyes.
"Stand up."
Duport got up and stood looking at some point half way between the two
men. His eyes no longer glistened.
"It's as if something has gone out of him," the doctor said.
"Do you know who I am?" the pilot asked. Rene Duport turned his head
until the pupils of his eyes were pointed at the American's face. But
his eyes did not seem to focus on him. Rather they were focused at some
point far beyond him.
"Why did you jump?" the pilot said. Moving a step closer, he looked
into the blank, dull eyes, that continued looking through him, focused
on some strange horizon. The eyes no longer seemed blue, but light
grey. The pilot tried to remember where he had seen eyes like that
before. Then he remembered one day, years before, when he had looked
down into the open eyes of a dead man. He shuddered and turned away.
"If only he would talk," the doctor said.
The pilot had turned his back on Duport. "Why? If he could talk, what
would _you_ ask him?"
It was two or three minutes before the doctor answered.
"I would ask him what it feels like to be a star."
And as the two men walked away, Rene Duport remained standing where
they left him. He was watching. The pupils of his eyes never shifted,
but he was always watching. The Earth, a swollen balloon, floated
past his field of vision. Slowly his right arm rose until his arm was
horizontal from his shoulder. Then the corners of his mouth lifted in a
faint smile, as his fingers touched the Clouds of Magellan.
THE END
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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