Galactic flight—his first wild guess had been right.
“A star ship here!” In spite of himself Dard knew a small thrill far inside his starved body. Men had landed on Mars and Venus back in the days before the Burn and the Purge, discovering conditions on both planets which made them almost impossible for human life without a vast expenditure which Terra was not willing to make. And, of course, Pax had forbidden all space flight as part of the program for stamping out scientific experimentation. Rut a star ship—to break the bounds of Sol’s system and go out to find another sun, other planets. It sounded like a very wild dream but he could not doubt the sincerity of the man who had just voiced it.
“But what did Lars have to do with this?” he wondered aloud. Lars’ field had been chemistry, not astronomy or the mechanics of space flight. Dard doubted whether his brother could have told one constellation from another.
“He had a very important part. We’ve just been waiting around for you to wake up to get the report of his findings.”
“But I thought you got the full story out of me while I was unconscious.”
“What you personally did in the past few days, yes. But you do carry a message from Lars, don’t you?” For the first time some of the dark man’s lightheadedness vanished.
Dard smoothed the blanket and then plucked at it with nervous fingers. “I don’t know—I hope so—”
His companion ran his hands across his tight cap of hair.
“Suppose we have Tas in. He’s only been waiting for you to come around.” He crossed the room and pushed a wall button.
“By the way,” he said over his shoulder, “I’m forgetting introductions. I’m Simba Kimber, Pilot-astrogator Simba Kimber,” he repeated that title as if it meant a great deal to him. “And Tas is First Scientist Tas Kordov, biological division. Our organization here is made up of survivors from half a dozen Free Scientist teams as well as quite a few just plain outlaws who are not Pax-minded. Oh, come in, Tas.”