Kordov shrugged, “Who knows? No man has yet pioneered into the galaxy. It may be for generations.”
Santee rolled his discarded clothing into a ball and waited stoically for Kordov to give him the shots. Then with a wave of one big fist he climbed into the coffin and lay down. Kordov made adjustments at either end. Icy air welled up in a freezing puff. Santee’s eyes closed as the First Scientist moved the lid into place before setting the three dials on the side Their pointers swung until the needles came to rest at the far end. Kordov pushed the box back onto the rack.
“Now for you,” he turned to Dard.
The top box lowered itself on two long arms from the top of the other rack. Dard discarded his last piece of clothing with a vast reluctance. Sure, he could understand the theory of this-what his brother had worked out for them. But the reality-to be frozen within a box-to go sightlessly, helplessly into the void-perhaps never to awake! “With his teeth set hard he fought back the panic those thoughts churned up in him. And he was fighting so hard that the prick of the first injection came as a shock. He started, only to have Kordov’s hand close as a vise upon his upper arm and hold him steady for the second.
“That’s all—in with you now, son. See you in another world.”
Kordov was laughing, but Dard’s weak answering smile as he settled himself in the coffin had no humor in it. Because Kordov could be so very right. The cover was going on, he had an insane desire to scream out that he wasn’t going to be shut in this way-that he wanted out, not only of the box, but of the whole crazy venture. But the lid was on now. It was cold—so cold—dark-cold. This was space as man had always believed it would be—cold and dark-eternal cold and dark—without end.
Book Two
ASTRA
1. AWAKENING
IT WAS WARM and there was a light, striking redly through Dard’s closed eyelids. The warmth was good, but he wanted to twist his head away from the demands of that light. To move— but movement required an effort he had not yet the strength to make. It would be better to slip back into the pleasant darkness—to sleep…