Human-alien encounters -- Fiction; Science fiction; Space travelers -- Fiction
But here he was bitter again. Deluging himself with waves of self-pity.
The fault was not entirely with Earth and the way of life on Earth. He
was equally to blame. He was a throw-back. A throw-back to the days
when men pushed back new frontiers, blazed new trails for civilization
to follow. When brawn had been the equal, if not the superior of
brains. But this was a new world. It was built for the many, not
the few. Simply because there was a few thousand of misfits among a
population of millions was no creditable reason for revamping an entire
way of life to the satisfaction of a minor group of disgruntled men.
No, progress was relentless, inevitable. The old must bow before the
new, and the world must fight on toward its distant dream of tomorrow.
Funny how a man could become so completely lost. But he had plenty of
time to look for the right avenue back to his world. Plenty of time,
patience, fuel and food. And he would find it--though it take him the
rest of his life.
So Michel Drawers roared away from a tiny, lonely little rock in
a strange distant universe, and, with his seemingly inexhaustible
patience explored the sky ways for the section of the milky way in
which his solar system might be located.
And as the months passed his homesickness grew and grew and reached
unbearable proportions. A subconscious chant repeated itself and
reiterated in pounding rhythms within his brain. He must find a way
back, a way back, a way back, a way back, a way back. God! he couldn't
stand this any longer. Where was the way back? Merciful heavens, how
much more of this torture could he endure without going mad? And the
distant pin-points of light mocked him with cold ferocity. Gloated with
aloof disdain. Laughed at his fruitless efforts to escape their mighty
trap.
But the soul of the frontiersman, the conqueror, burnt on. Michel
Drawers did not go mad. He simply went on and on and on. Searching,
seeking the way back.
Then, when it seemed that interminable eons had fled past he was
awakened from a sleeping period by the piercing, raucous scream of
the Roxitometer, pleading to him to arise and investigate its latest
discoveries before they flashed past and it was too late.
In a mad lunge he pulled the space bar all the way back. The forward
tubes blasted violently--the ship drew to a theoretical stop. Poised
motionless amidst the splendor of a trillion stars.
Working frantically Michel Drawers made the proper connections. He
might find a valuable deposit of Roxite yet. Perhaps there would be
something to take back to Earth after all. Perhaps all was not yet
hopeless. He might still be rich when he got back--if he got back.
The powerful little rockets streamed blazing glory again and the little
silvery projectile was drawn by the magic of the Roxitometer, down the
path of Roxite radiations to some still unknown world from where it
emanated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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