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do the neces- sary research to save at least a small portion of their race!
"We could reach your world in a couple days if only Raspa would allow me
the anti-matter to do it," An'na complained as we stood side by side watching
the stars. I smiled again to myself. Anti-matter was expensive stuff,
difficult to make, dangerous to store, and burning up large qualities of it
just to "go a bit faster" didn't make any sense to the First Princess of the
Lorr.* * The Lorr have naturally longer life spans than humans, some living as
long as three hundred years where humans seldom live past a hundred and fifty
at the very best. (Lorraine)
"I'm content with our speed," I assured her, happy to travel in a state
where I might enjoy seeing the stars and exploring the ship, the Lorr having
originally brought me to Mars in a state of near suspended animation, which is
the way they use to travel be- tween the worlds. Relying on their computers
for the safe opera- tion of their ships while traversing the void between the
worlds.
"Why did Humanity hate us so?" An'na asked. I had read the histories of
the events that led up to The War. Millions of the lovely women of Mars had
died along with the Lorr when Earth re- directed that gigantic comet so that
it would strike Mars. Janet Rogers had given Men the "unity" necessary to meet
the Lorr on an even footing, but Mankind saw only the "monster", not the
intel- ligence, and could think of nothing but destruction. Even now it is
commonly accepted as truth that the world government of that time did the
right thing, their only failure having been that the comet didn't destroy all
the Lorr as was hoped! Not that educat- ed people like Darlanis actually
believed such, but I do suspect that the majority of the people living under
her rule would feel that killing off all the Lorr would be a very excellent
idea yet!
"Man has a history going back into the Old Stone Age of hat- ing
anything that is 'different'," I answered, slipping my arm around her, my body
still a bit sore in places from what Sisa had done to me with her clawed
limbs. With a good sword in my hand I would not be afraid to face a Lorr, but
in a hand to claw fight, no human ever would stand a chance. It would be like
fighting a dire wolf or some other wild animal that now roams the Earth.
"But we are just as `human' as you are!" An'na protested, turning,
looking me directly in the eye, "And your world killed `us' just as they
killed the Lorr!" I did not really have an an- swer for her. I still don't. I
suppose the best answer would be the one they used during the Vietnam War when
it was necessary to destroy villages in order to "save" them from the enemy.
Raspa blames Janet Rogers for designing such a "dangerous" civilization as she
did, although I don't think it was her fault that certain people within her
government took it upon themselves to rid the solar system of the Lorr. One
thinks of "wheels within wheels". Of similar incidents in the 20th Century
where one part of the government acted against the wishes of another branch of
the same government. The actual command of the expedition to the comet having
been under the control of the World Defense Council, who no doubt was
responsible for what happened. Janet Rogers tended to be a bit too trusting at
times, and doubtlessly she was here.* * Just exactly "who" was responsible has
never been determined, although it is commonly thought now to have been the
"fault" of Domino Tremaine, who was Janet Rogers' "successor" at the time.
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"This is 2565, not 2047," I answered. "It is up to us now to bury the
past and see that it stays properly buried." That was the best answer that I
could give her. I think that perhaps someday Man and the Lorr will seek the
stars together. The Star- fire was proof of that. Its drive and rocket power
spoke of Lorr technology, but its crew and builders the lovely women of Mars.
I did however wonder why it was so heavily armed, the Starfire also being the
greatest engine of destruction that the Lorr had ever built! An'na having
smiled and said to me that it was best to "be prepared". But for what? A
couple dozen Mars women armed with blaster rifles could have routed one of
Darlanis' Legions. And the Tarls of Talon and their lovely riders certainly
didn't justify such an awesome engine of destruction like this? Were there
other forms of alien "life" out there threatening us? Some "threat from the
stars" that the Lorr now defended Earth from? I wondered if all the "flying
saucers" that men had seen were Lorr?
There had been nothing in the Lorr's own data banks to indi- cate
anything such, but I knew that such data might not be acces- sible to just
anyone, and it would have been easy enough to con- ceal such information from
me. Why did the Lorr maintain such a military presence around the Earth? Why
did they respond so swiftly whenever a "Gateway" opened up? Why wouldn't An'na
an- swer my questions? Why did she just smile and change the sub- ject? What
were the Lorr afraid of? What threat did they face?
*****************************************************************
Earth grew larger ahead of us, the Moon a gleaming crescent moving away
to the right, my own world a great blue-green ball clouded ball much like the
photographs I have seen back in the 20th Century before Sharon and I were
transported into this, the 26th Century. It gave me a strange feeling, as if
it had been just all a dream. A dream from which I would soon wake to see Jack
there at the breakfast table opposite me, his nose stuck in the morning paper.
There had been little left of our marriage at the end. I understand that he
died in a car crash that night, his blood alcohol far over the legal limit,
never knowing that both Sharon and I had disappeared into time never to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]