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hull looked from outside, and what some of the remoter portions of the Ship
were like. He spoke impersonally, and rarely as if he himself had been there.
Fifty-two
The whole company was in a state of extreme excitement. About a month ago the
world of the Ship had been rocked by an explosion, thought to have taken place
a kilometer or two away along the hull, probably toward the aft. Whether a
hurling meteoric body had struck the hull, or there was some internal cause,
was unknown.
The rumor flew by that Mai and Olen were perhaps still alive, and somehow
responsible for the blast.
There was a sudden renewal of religious fervor. School was conducted in an
atmosphere of tension.
Fifty-three
There had been no more explosions, nor any further hints that the lost men had
survived. The crisis atmosphere was gone, and talk was again centered on the
hoped-for rejuvenation treat-ments.
Bart saw a proud display of implanted artificial teeth. The method didn't work
well in all cases yet but Solon was optimistic about improvements.
School went on. Today a team of instructors tried to teach him a little about
human language and its near-infinite variations, some of which they spoke, or
at least could read.
Fifty-four
Timber harvested from the enormous garden was being used to build a sort of
pavilion, a roof-less, high-walled structure which Bart was told would be used
as a kind of social center. He thought they built it just to be building
something.
Himyar was seeking treatment for arthritis, which had stiffened his fingers
and interfered considerably with his work.
Fifty-five
Fuad lay on a bed inside the finished pavilion, recuperating from what he said
had been a heart attack. Galina said the ECG showed that the worst was over.
Bart sat and talked for a while with Fuad, who was fatter even than last year
and didn't look good.
People were swinging woven racquets, worn with use, in a game they called
squash, played where the volleyball net had been three days ago.
Fifty-six
"What I preach to you, Bart," said Basil, taking a turn at being schoolmaster,
"what we have evolved here in our little world, is a complete synthesis of all
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mankind's old creeds and philosophies. I am really certain of this."
"How can you have a complete watchamacallit if they were always contradicting
each other, like you say?"
Basil had a long answer, but Bart found it not very satisfying.
A large part of the garden was now taken up by plants grown solely for use in
the rejuvenation experiments.
Bart heard at dinner that Chao was now suffering repeated bouts of mental
illness, and Galina had to keep her tranquilized and some-times confined to
her own room.
Fifty-seven
Politics had heated up suddenly. Edris, who had been acting president, had
been removed from office and, as some kind of compromise Trac was in. Bart
couldn't figure out what the dispute was about, except some of the people felt
themselves insulted by others.
At lunch Trac made a little speech about how she meant to get things moving
again, both on exploration of the Ship and the rejuvenation work, which
evidently had been allowed to lapse. She said also that expanded medical
facilities were needed, and the hospital should be enlarged.
Bart remembered the hospital as the pavilion or social center, but there were
two chronic invalids, Fuad and Chao, living in it now.
Fifty-eight
Kichiro and Himyar were pointed out to Bart as rejuvenation patients, perhaps
already on their way to growing younger, though Galina and Solon didn't want
to make any definite claims just yet.
"It's helped me a great deal, too," Trac said. Bart thought to himself how
much her face had wrinkled and bagged in the last few days.
Himyar had started working in a new electronic medium, less demanding on the
knuckles.
Basil was living apart now, giving much time to fasting and prayer.
Most of the women had taken to dyeing their hair, yellow and red being
favorite colors.
Fifty-nine
Great interest in chess had revived, and a huge birthday party was being
planned for next year.
Hair colors were still used, but had been toned down.
School went on, Bart arguing with his teachers that they should show him more
about the structure of the Ship than about things of old Earth that didn't
seem to him to have any bearing on his present situation. Galina still pushed
biology, but Bart could see that you'd have to study that for years to really
get anywhere. He didn't know how much time he had to study any-thing.
A couple of small riding carts had been built, powered by electric motors, and
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Bart had some fun riding them about. His elders got angry and yelled at him
when he drove too wildly.
The most popular physical game consisted of sliding plastic discs over a
pattern of numbered squares on the floor.
Sixty
When he woke up in his room a machine was standing beside him, waiting to give
him his monthly physical. His gains in weight and height were both greater
than at any time during the previous month. He counted a few more pubic hairs.
This morning the creamy drink was dropped from his solitary breakfast.
The birthday party had more and fancier decorations than before, but little
else was different, except that most of the people were content to just sit
around and eat and drink and talk. Fuad didn't eat or drink much-he'd lost a
lot of weight. But Chao, as the others said, was having a good day, and joined
in merrily.
All in all, the old people had a good time. They fussed over Bart quite a bit,
but he felt pretty much out of it. Not sad, really, but detached. School had
been recessed for the day, though he would have liked to learn more about the
Ship.
Sixty-one
Ranjan had suffered a stroke, and was lying paralyzed in the hospital, unable
to move anything on his right side. Everyone seemed angry at the Ship, for
what they described as cutting back more on its medical programs just as their
needs were rising. Part of the space it had formerly used to give them such
niggardly medical treatments as it provided had now been walled off. Something
else was going on in there, they said, and nodded angrily, though they didn't
know what was going on.
They questioned Bart, something like envy now mixed on their faces with the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]