Intermission Time

After a moment he raised his hands wearily and picked up the music where he had stopped. He went on with a tale of awesome creation. He told of being alive and aware of space and time and planets and suns and of cold and of darkness. He told what it was like to be lonely and what it was like to be glad.

When he finished, he heard no sound at all from the other side of the room. Then there was an abrupt rustling beside him and the figure of Papa Sosnic was sitting beside him on the piano seat.

“It will do, Johnny,” he whispered. “I think it will go very well at our concert. I will schedule it, if I may.”

John shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s pretty bad, isn't it?”

“It’s what’s in your heart, Johnny; and the heart of a man is never bad.”

John got up suddenly and stood at the window, watching the mock twilight, with his back to Papa Sosnic. “Good or bad, I can’t do any more like that. It has kept me from going crazy the last month, but I won’t be here lor the Fall concert.”

“Where will you be? Are you going to Lora?”

“Can I trust you? Will you help me?”

“Of course. If it is to see Lora, there is nothing in the world too much to ask. Music is a trifle; Human Developments Project is a puff in the wind compared with the affairs of a man in love. What is it you plan, Johnny?”

“I’m going back to Earth. I’ve got it figured out how to get back on the ship next time it’s in dock. I know it well enough so that I can stow away during the trip. They’ll never find me until it’s too late to turn back anyway.

“I’ve watched the schedule of busses to the terminal. I can get through the gates during the night opening, and I ought to be able to make it on foot to the space port in a day at most. But there is one thing I'll need and that is your help in making an alibi for the following days here, until the ship is well on its way.”

Papa Sosnic nodded. “Of course; I could say that you had gone into the forest to live alone in one of the huts to do some work. That is common, and would not be noticed — if I could keep Doris from guessing. You will not tell her?”

“No. I’ll count on you to keep her from knowing. She seems so busy, anyway, that I don’t think she’ll notice.”

“And what will you do when you are on Earth?” said Papa Sosnic. “How will that put you closer to Lora?”

“I'll tell them what Human Developments Project is like. I'll tell them of the imprisonment and slavery of those who do not bow to the whims of the Project's managers. I'll tell the whole world a story it cannot ignore.”

“Slavery?” Papa Sosnic turned his hands upward in a gesture of inquiry. “I see no slavery here. Earth was never so good as this.”

“It’s slavery when you can’t do as you wish — but there’s no use arguing that term. I’ll tell them what I know!”

“Yes,” sighed Papa Sosnic. “You’ll tell them; you’ll spend months and years hammering on official doors with wild accusations that will never get you a hearing. Your life and energy will dwindle away. You will be upon Earth, and Lora wîll be here. Perhaps when you are both dried husks, with youth and beauty gone, they will let you see each other again. Perhaps.”

John slumped before the shattering logic of the old man. “And so you would have me become a savage, too, and have Lora and I regard each other daily with increasing bitterness while we fight the jungle merely to stay alive.”

“There is one other answer,” said Papa Sosnic, slowly. “I have not suggested it because it is such a slim hope. But I would have you try it before taking this wild, stowaway flight to Earth.”

“What is it?” demanded John.

“Was Lora tested for the various Colony qualifications?”

“I don’t know. She said she volunteered as a Control.”

“Then it might just be possible that she could pass the tests for Alpha Colony. If she could, it would be permissible for her to re-apply and she would probably be admitted — if she could pass.”

“She would never do it. For some crazy reason, she hates the thought of the experimental Colonies. The only answer for us is something in between. And the only place to find it is on Earth.”

“She has been in the jungle for a month now. Perhaps she has changed her mind; perhaps it is not so romantic as she thought.”

John turned sharply, decision in his voice. “What can I do?”

“She could be brought here for a period of visiting, and she could be given the examination. It’s worth trying.”

“Yes — yes, it’s worth trying.”

John approached Dr. Warnock early the next morning. He laid before the director the entire story, holding back only his own desperate plan to return to Earth — which he still intended to keep as a final resort.

When he was through, Warnock glanced up and smiled crookedly. “And Papa Sosnic told you this would be possible, this bringing Lora here to visit and inspect Alpha Colony to see if she liked it well enough to stay?”

“Provided she could pass the tests. And I’m sure she can do that!”

“I sometimes wonder who runs this colony — me or Papa Sosnic,” said Warnock.