Meteor and Other Stories Page 3

  Duncan had not considered this question.

  ‘Oh, she’ll be OK, I expect,’ he replied. ‘These Martians are naturally dumb. They’ll sit for hours doing nothing. It’s a gift they’ve got.’

  ‘Well, it’ll be a very useful gift in this place,’ said the other man.

  While the two men were talking, the crew of the spaceship were completing their work. They loaded the metal-rich soil and checked all the equipment on the way-load station and in the house. They unloaded food, and air containers. They filled the water holders. At last they were satisfied that all the systems were working perfectly.

  Duncan watched the spaceship take off. She went straight up, with her jets pushing her gently. Then the main driving rockets began to throw out white flame. She suddenly went faster, and before long she was a tiny point of light disappearing into the distance.

  Inside his heated space-suit Duncan felt suddenly cold. Never before had he felt so much alone. The cruel, dead

  heights of the bare, sharp rocks of his moon rose above him. There was nothing like them on Earth or Mars. The black sky that was endless space stretched out around him. In it, his own sun, and numberless other suns, burned endlessly without reason or purpose. The unchanging millions of years, and millions of kilometres, stretched out before and behind him. His life, indeed all life, was like a tiny bit of dust dancing for a short moment in the light of the suns that lasted for ever. Never before had he been so much aware of the loneliness of space.

  ‘What does it all mean, anyhow?’ he asked himself. ‘Why is it here? Why are we here?’

  He shook his head, and turned his back on space. He moved towards the dome and went in.

  As the other man had told him, the job was easy. Occasionally Jupiter IV would inform him that a container was being sent to him. Otherwise, once he had packed away the articles the spaceship had left, or sent them off in containers to Jupiter IV, he had nothing to do.

  He invented a programme of work for himself, but as most of it consisted of unnecessary checking, he soon stopped doing it.

  There were times when Duncan wondered whether bringing Lellie with him had been a good idea. She certainly kept the house tidy, but her cooking was no better than his. And she was no fun as a companion. Her appearance began to put him in a bad temper … And so did the way she moved … And the silly way she talked in what she thought was English … And her silences when she didn’t talk … And that he would have been £2,310 richer without her.

  She made no effort to improve her appearance to suit his ideas. When he told her about the colour she used on her face, or the way she wore her hair, she seemed to agree, but did nothing to change it.

  One day, he showed her pictures of an Earth-woman, and told her to model her hair on the picture.

  ‘I know you can’t help being a stupid Martian,’ he said, ‘but you can at least rry to look like a real woman.’

  ‘Yith - OK,’ she said, sounding neither angry nor enthusiastic.

  ‘And stop talking like a baby,’ Duncan told her. it’s not “yith”, it’s “yes”. Y-E-S, yes. So say “yes”.’ ‘Yith,’ said Lellie.

  ‘No. Put your tongue further back, like this,’ Duncan said. He tried to teach her, but she could not make the V sound and Duncan began to get angry.

  ‘You’re doing it on purpose, and making a fool of me,’ he shouted. ‘Be careful! Now, say “yes”.’

  The girl hesitated, looking at his angry face. Then she tried again.

  ‘Yeth,’ she said.

  He hit her across the face, and she nearly fell. The magnetic plates on her shoes were pulled off the floor, and with no gravity to hold her, she sailed across the room and hit the opposite wall. Duncan went after her, caught her, put her down on to the floor, and held her by the collar. He shook her.

  ‘Try again,’ he ordered.

  She tried. At last she succeeded in saying ‘Yeths’. Duncan let her go.

  ‘You can do it when you try, you see,’ he said, deciding he had done enough for one day. ‘You need to be punished more often, then you’ll do as I ask.’

  She went out of the room, holding her bruised face.

  Sometimes in the months that followed Duncan wondered whether he would complete his five-year appointment. Time went very slowly. He had never learned to enjoy reading; he soon became bored by the pop music records, and he did not know how to listen to the others. For long periods the radio reception was so bad that there was nothing to listen to. He taught himself chess from a book, and then taught Lellie. His idea was to practise on her and then to challenge the man on Jupiter IV. But once she had learned how to play, Lellie always beat him. He decided that he did not have the right kind of mind for the game. Instead, he taught her how to play a difficult game of cards. But he soon stopped playing that as well; Lellie almost always seemed to get the best cards.

  Duncan hated Jupiter IV/II and every minute he had to spend on it. He was angry with himself, and everything Lellie did annoyed him. He was especially annoyed by the fact that she seemed able to accept the problems of their life better than he could. She showed no anger or boredom. And all because she was a dumb Martian! It was unfair.

  ‘Can’t you make that silly face of yours mean something?’ he shouted at her. ‘Can’t you laugh or cry? Anyone could go mad looking at a face that never changes. I know you can’t help being dumb, but at least try to put some expression into your face. Come on, smile.’ Her mouth moved very slightly.

  ‘That’s not a smile. Look at this,’ he said, and forced his face into a huge smile.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘My face isn’t rubber like an Earth face.’

  ‘Rubber!’ he repeated, very angry, I’ll teach you not to speak like that, and I’ll teach you to smile.’

  He raised his hand.

  Lellie put her hands up to protect her face. ‘No!’ she protested. ‘No - no - no!’

  On the day that Duncan completed eight months at his way-load station, he received a message saying that a spaceship would be landing soon.

  The ship landed exactly on time. Duncan was excited to see other people, although the spaceship landed only for routine business. There was, however, one unusual happening.

  ‘We’ve brought a surprise for you,’ the Captain told Duncan. He turned to a man standing beside him and said:

  ‘This is Dr Winter. He’ll be staying with you for a time.’

  ‘How d’you do?’ said Alan Winter. ‘The Company has sent me to do some tests on the rocks. I’ll be here for about a year. I hope you don’t mind.’

  Duncan said the usual things - Alan was very welcome … it would be good to have some company … and so on. Then he took the other man on a tour of the station.

  Alan Winter was surprised when he saw Lellie; clearly nobody had told him about her. Duncan took no notice of her and went on talking, but Alan Winter interrupted him and said:

  ‘Won’t you introduce me to your wife?’

  Duncan did so, but he did not do it pleasantly. He did not like the way Alan had interrupted him, nor the way in which he greeted Lellie exactly as if she were an Earth-woman. He also realized that the bruises on Lellie’s face were not completely hidden by the colour she used. He began to dislike Winter, and to wonder whether he would cause trouble.

  Trouble came, but it was a matter of opinion who caused it.

  Three months later, the three of them were in the sitting-room together. Lellie was reading, and she looked up from her book to ask:

  ‘What is the Women’s Freedom Movement that you have on Earth?’

  Winter started to explain. He was only half-way through the first sentence when Duncan interrupted him:

  ‘Who gave you permission to give her ideas about things like that?’

  Alan looked at him in surprise. ‘That’s a very silly question,’ he said. ‘Why shouldn’t she have ideas? Why shouldn’t anyone have ideas?’

  ‘You know what I mean,’ said Duncan.

  I never understan
d people who can’t say what they mean,’ said Alan. ‘Try again.’

  ‘All right, then,’ said Duncan. ‘What I mean is this: you come here and start correcting my manners, and talking your clever university talk. You’re interfering with things that aren’t your business. And you started by treating her as if she was an intelligent Earth-woman.’

  ‘That’s exactly how I was trying to treat her,’ said Alan. ‘I’m glad you noticed.’

  ‘And do you think I don’t know why?’ asked Duncan.

  ‘I’m sure you don’t know why,’ Alan said. ‘Your mind only works in one way. You think I’m trying to steal your girl, and you dislike the idea of losing two thousand, three hundred and ten pounds. But you’re wrong. I’m not trying to steal her.’

  ‘She’s not my girl; she’s my wife,’ Duncan said. ‘She may be only a dumb Martian, but she’s my legal wife. And she does what I tell her to do.’

  ‘She may be your wife,’ Alan answered. ‘But she is certainly not dumb. Look how quickly she learned to read as soon as I gave her some lessons. I think you’d be dumb in a language that you only knew a few words of, and that you couldn’t read.’

  It wasn’t your business to teach her,’ said Duncan. ‘She didn’t need to read. She was OK the way she was.’

  ‘You mean she was easier to control while she knew nothing about our world and about a person’s freedom,’ said Alan. ‘Well, now she can read, she’ll discover the truth.’

  ‘And you hope the way you treat her will make her think you’re a better man than I am?’ said Duncan, in a angry voice.

  I treat her the same as I treat any woman anywhere,’ Alan answered. ‘But if she does think I’m a better man than you, then I agree with her. I’d be sorry if I wasn’t.’

  I’ll show you who’s the better man,’ Duncan shouted.

  ‘You don’t need to,’ said Alan calmly, I know that only useless people are sent on jobs like this. I know you’re a bully, too. Do you think I’ve not noticed the bruises where you’ve hit Lellie? Do you think I’ve enjoyed hearing you insulting and bullying a girl who can’t defend herself? You’ve deliberately chosen not to teach her anything. She’s ten times more intelligent than you are, and it would be very obvious if she’d been taught anything. You make me sick!’

  On Earth, Duncan would have hit Alan long before he had finished his speech. However, he was wise enough to remember something he had learned long ago. Fights in space made an angry man look stupid as he floated harmlessly around after throwing himself into the first attack.

  Time went by and somehow the two men managed to avoid open quarrels. Each day, Alan continued with his work, going out to examine the rocks in the small rocket-car he had brought with him. In his spare time he continued to teach Lellie. He did this not only as a way of occupying himself, but also because he felt it ought to be done. Duncan could see that Alan was already Lellie’s hero, and that she liked being treated like an Earth-woman. Duncan was sure that one day the two of them would decide that they wanted to spend all their time together. When that time came, he would be in their way. They would remove him. Prevention is better than cure, Duncan thought. He knew exactly how to stop such a situation developing.

  One day Alan took off on a routine flight to the other side of IV/II to collect some rocks. He never came back. That was all.

  Duncan could not tell what Lellie thought about it; but something seemed to happen to her.

  For several days she spent almost all her time looking out of the window. She was not waiting, or hoping, for Alan’s return. She knew as well as Duncan that after thirty-six hours had passed, there was no possibility that Alan was still alive. She said nothing. Her face looked as it always looked - slightly surprised. Only her eyes showed any difference: they looked a little less active, as if she had withdrawn even further into herself.

  Duncan could not tell whether she guessed or knew the truth. Although he did not admit it to himself, he was nervous of her. He had realized how many ways there were for even a stupid person to arrange a fatal accident. For his own safety he began to fit new air containers to his space-suit every time he went out. He carefully checked that each one was full, and that the air in it was pure. He used a piece of rock to make sure that the outer door of the airlock did not shut completely when he went out. He watched carefully to see that his food and hers came out of the same pot.

  After they were sure Alan was gone, she never mentioned his name again. After a week her mood changed, and she stopped looking out of the window hour after hour. Instead she began to read. She read endlessly, and she read everything that she could find to read.

  Duncan could not understand her interest in reading, and he did not like it. But he decided not to interfere for the moment as he supposed that the reading would stop her thinking about other things.

  Gradually he began to feel less nervous. The crisis was passed. Either she had not guessed, or, if she had, she had decided to do nothing about it. But she continued to do an enormous amount of reading, even though Duncan reminded her several times that he had paid the large sum of £2,310 for her as a companion.

  When the next spaceship landed, Duncan watched her anxiously in case she had been waiting to tell the crew of her suspicions. But she did not refer in any way to the matter, and her opportunity went with the spaceship. Duncan was greatly relieved and told himself that he had been right - she was only a dumb Martian. Like a child, she had simply forgotten what had happened to Alan Winter.

  However, as the months went by, he was forced to admit that she was not dumb. She was learning from books things that he did not know himself. He did not enjoy being asked questions he could not answer, especially when a dumb Martian asked the questions. He often told her that books contained a great deal of nonsense, which was not connected with the real world. He gave examples from his own life; in fact, he found that he was teaching her.

  She learned quickly, and he began to show her how the way-load station worked. She soon knew as much about it as he did himself. He had never intended to teach her, but it did occupy the time, and he was much less bored than he had been in the early days. Besides, he suddenly realized that the more she knew, the more valuable she was. When he took Lellie back to Mars, he would recover more of the £2,310 than he had expected. He started to teach her how to account for money, and how to keep financial records. She might make a very good secretary for someone.

  And he had always thought education was a waste of time. It was very strange!

  The months passed faster and faster as the years went by. He began to feel very comfortable thinking of the money increasing in the bank at home. It seemed a surprisingly short time before he was saying, ‘The spaceship after next will take me home.’ Soon the day came when he watched the next spaceship take off. As it went up into the black sky, he was able to tell himself: ‘That’s the last time I shall watch a ship leave this horrible place. When the next ship takes off, I shall be on board. And then - well, then things will happen …!’

  He stood watching the ship until it disappeared. Then he turned back to the airlock - and found the door shut …

  Once Lellie had seemed to forget about Alan Winter, Duncan had stopped using a rock to prevent the door closing. Instead, he always left it partially open when he went out, and it stayed open until he returned. There was no wind and nothing else on IV/II to make it shut. He took hold of the handle on the door, and pushed. It did not move.

  Duncan swore at it. He went to the front of the dome so that he could look in through the window. Lellie was sitting in a chair and looking straight in front of her. The inner door of the airlock was standing open, so of course the outer door could not be moved. The safety equipment would not allow both doors to be open at the same time.

  Duncan knocked on the thick glass of the window. He forgot for a moment that the glass of the double window was too thick to let the sound through. But his movements caught Lellie’s eye, and she looked up. She turned her head and
stared at him. She did not move. Duncan stared back at her. She had removed from her lips, cheeks and eyebrows all the colour he had made her wear to look like an Earth-woman.

  Her eyes looked back at him, as hard as stones in that face fixed in its expression of slight surprise. Suddenly Duncan realized what was happening, and he felt as if he had received a physical shock.

  He tried to pretend to himself and to her that he had not understood. He made signs to her to close the inner door of the airlock. She continued to stare at him without moving. Then he noticed that she was holding a book in her hand. He recognized the book. It was not one of the Company books belonging to the house library; it was a book of poems with a blue cover. It had once belonged to Alan Winter.

  Duncan felt a sudden fear in his heart. He looked down at the row of dials on his chest, and then sighed with relief. She had not interfered with his air system. He had enough air for about thirty hours. He moved away from the window, and began to think hard.

  How clever and cruel she had been! She had let him think she had forgotten all about Winter’s death. She had let him enjoy his thoughts of going home. And now, when it was nearly time to leave, she had begun to operate her plan.

  Thirty hours! Plenty of time. And even if he did not succeed in entering the house in the next twenty hours, he would have time to send himself off to the nearest moon in one of the container rockets.

  Even if Lellie later told the company about the Winter business, she couldn’t prove anything. However, they might have their suspicions about him. It would be best to kill her here and now.

  He went over to the small building where the electrical equipment was. He switched off the electricity that was heating the dome. The house would take a long time to lose all its heat, but it would not be long before the temperature inside would begin to fall noticeably. The small electric batteries she had in the house would not help her, even if she thought of using them.