An age-old urge rose in her. She had shied away from marriage because
of fear and distaste. Too many of her friends she had seen in mental
agony because of mutant offspring. Now she was presented with at least
an opportunity of a life that would be normal. What had she on Earth
Two but unpleasant memories for all of her life?
Perhaps it seems a sudden change. Yet a mind suddenly shown a way
toward happiness will often swing as swift as a pendulum from one
attitude to the opposite. Perhaps the only reason that Virginia had
not followed many of Earth Two's people into the madness of fear was
because she had been born to the insoluble threat of the Alamogordo
Blow-up and had never been forced to change from freedom to fear.
Many another on Earth Two had seen the eternal flame and had gone mad,
knowing its threat. Virginia, born after it started, had never known
anything else. So now Virginia viewed a world built like her own, but
one devoid of fear and populated heavily with healthy, happy people.
Why go back? Why change this? She could blend very well with this
environment. Her woman's instinct told her that she could and by very
little trying.
There was but one great fear. This man who walked beside her knew the
facts of Earth Two. He also stood to learn about her. It presented
her with a quandary. To make her future secure he must be placed in a
position never to learn the truth. On the other hand she needed his
aid to forestall the invasion from Earth Two if she were to enjoy the
future of Earth One as she now saw it.
Virginia wondered whether she could work with Ed Bronson long enough to
give him the particulars of the space-resonant techniques--and still
keep him in the dark regarding her own part in it. Once the threat of
invasion was gone there was no doubt in Virginia's mind that she could
lose herself here on Earth One.
In fact, the proper thing to do was just that--tell him the truth and
she would be forever suspect.
* * * * *
Then there was the other problem. She was supposed to have an
apartment, a house or something equipped with a basement in which to
work. He'd be wanting to see that sooner or later. How to forestall him
on that required thinking.
Once he knew that it required the presence of the proper elements in
the space-resonant series to effect the transfer of material, he would
demand the opportunity of sealing up her bit of the stuff in order to
forestall the invasion of the vanguard from Earth Two.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account