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EXILE
BY H. B. FYFE
ILLUSTRATED BY EMSH
The Dome of Eyes made it almost impossible for Terrans to reach the world of Tepokt. For those who did land there, there was no returning--only the bitterness of respect--and justice!
The Tepoktan student, whose blue robe in George Kinton's opinion clashedwith the dull purple of his scales, twiddled a three-clawed hand forattention. Kinton nodded to him from his place on the dais before thegroup.
"Then you can give us no precise count of the stars in the galaxy,George?"
Kinton smiled wrily, and ran a wrinkled hand through his graying hair.In the clicking Tepoktan speech, his name came out more like "Chortch."
Questions like this had been put to him often during the ten years sincehis rocket had hurtled through the meteorite belt and down to thesurface of Tepokt, leaving him the only survivor. Barred off as theywere from venturing into space, the highly civilized Tepoktansconstantly displayed the curiosity of dreamers in matters related to theuniverse. Because of the veil of meteorites and satellite fragmentswhirling about their planet, their astronomers had acquired torturousskills but only scraps of real knowledge.
"As I believe I mentioned in some of my recorded lectures," Kintonanswered in their language, "the number is actually as vast as it seemsto those of you peering through the Dome of Eyes. The scientists of myrace have not yet encountered any beings capable of estimating thetotal."
He leaned back and scanned the faces of his interviewers, faces thatwould have been oddly humanoid were it not for the elongated snouts andpointed, sharp-toothed jaws. The average Tepoktan was slightly underKinton's height of five-feet-ten, with a long, supple trunk. Under therobes their scholars affected, the shortness of their two bowed legs wasnot obvious; but the sight of the short, thick arms carried high beforetheir chests still left Kinton with a feeling of misproportion.
He should be used to it after ten years, he thought, but even the redsor purples of the scales or the big teeth seemed more natural.
"I sympathize with your curiosity," he added. "It is a marvel that yourscientists have managed to measure the distances of so many stars."
He could tell that they were pleased by his admiration, and wondered yetagain why any little show of approval by him was so eagerly received.Even though he was the first stellar visitor in their recorded history,Kinton remained conscious of the fact that in many fields he was unableto offer the Tepoktans any new ideas. In one or two ways, he believed,no Terran could teach their experts anything.
"Then will you tell us, George, more about the problems of your firstspace explorers?" came another question.
* * * * *
Before Kinton had formed his answer, the golden curtains at the rear ofthe austerely simple chamber parted. Klaft, the Tepoktan serving thecurrent year as Kinton's chief aide, hurried toward the dais. Thetwenty-odd members of the group fell silent on their polished stonebenches, turning their pointed visages to follow Klaft's progress.
The aide reached Kinton and bent to hiss and cluck into the latter's earin what he presumably considered an undertone. The Terran laboriouslyspelled out the message inscribed on the limp, satiny paper held beforehis eyes. Then he rose and took one step toward the waiting group.
"I regret I shall have to conclude this discussion," he announced. "Iam informed that another ship from space has reached the surface ofTepokt. My presence is requested in case the crew are of my own planet."
Klaft excitedly skipped down to lead the way up the aisle, but Kintonhesitated. Those in the audience were scholars or officials to whomattendance at one of Kinton's limited number of personal lectures wasawarded as an honor.
They would hardly learn anything from him directly that was notavailable in recordings made over the course of years. The Tepoktanscientists, historians, and philosophers had respectfully but eagerlygathered every crumb of information Kinton knowingly had to offer--andsome he thought he had forgotten. Still ... he sensed the disappointmentat his announcement.
"I shall arrange for you to await my return here in town," Kinton said,and there were murmurs of pleasure.
Later, aboard the jet helicopter that was basically like those Kintonremembered using on Terra twenty light years away, he shook his head atKlaft's respectful protest.
"But George! It was enough that they were present when you received thenews. They can talk about that the rest of their lives! You must notwaste your strength on these people who come out of curiosity."
Kinton smiled at his aide's earnest concern. Then he turned to look outthe window as he recalled the shadow that underlay such remonstrances.He estimated that he was about forty-eight now, as nearly as he couldtell from the somewhat longer revolutions of Tepokt. The time would comewhen he would age and die. Whose wishes would then prevail?
Maybe he was wrong, he thought. Maybe he shouldn't stand in the way oftheir biologists and surgeons. But he'd rather be buried, even if thatleft them with only what he could tell them about the human body.
* * * * *
To help himself forget the rather preoccupied manner in which some ofthe Tepoktan scientists occasionally eyed him, he peered down at the bigdam of the hydro-electric project being completed to Kinton's design.Power from this would soon light the town built to house the staff ofscientists, students, and workers assigned to the institute organizedabout the person of Kinton.
Now, there was an example of their willingness to repay him for whateverhelp he had been, he reflected. They hadn't needed that for themselves.
In some ways, compared to those of Terra, the industries of Tepokt wereunderdeveloped. In the first place, the population was smaller and haddifferent standards of luxury. In the second, a certain lack of driveresulted from the inability to break out into interplanetary space.Kinton had been inexplicably lucky to have reached the surface even ina battered hulk. The shell of meteorites was at least a hundred milesthick and constantly shifting.
"We do not know if they have always been meteorites," the Tepoktans hadtold Kinton, "or whether part of them come from a destroyed satellite;but our observers have proved mathematically that no direct path throughthem may be predicted more than a very short while in advance."
Kinton turned away from the window as he caught the glint of Tepokt'ssun upon the hull of the spaceship they had also built for him. Perhaps... would it be fair to encourage the newcomer to attempt the barrier?
For ten years, Kinton had failed to work up any strong desire to try it.The Tepoktans called the ever-shifting lights the Dome of Eyes, aftera myth in which each tiny satellite bright enough to be visible wassupposed to watch over a single individual on the surface. Like theirbrothers on Terra, the native astronomers could trace their science backto a form of astrology; and Kinton often told them jokingly that he feltno urge to risk a physical encounter with his own personal Eye.
* * * * *
The helicopter started to descend, and Kinton remembered that the citynamed in his message was only about twenty miles from his home. Thebrief twilight of Tepokt was passing by the time he set foot on thelanding field, and he paused to look up.
The brighter stars visible from this part of the planet twinkled back athim, and he knew that each was being scrutinized by some amateur orprofessional astronomer. Before an hour had elapsed, most of them wouldbe obscured by the tiny moonlets, some of which could already be seen.These could easily be mistaken for stars or the other five planets ofthe system, but in a short while the tinier ones in groups would causea
celestial haze resembling a miniature Milky Way.
Klaft, who had descended first, leaving the pilot to bring up the rear,noticed Kinton's pause.
"Glory glitters till it is known for a curse," he remarked, quoting aTepoktan proverb often applied by the disgruntled scientists to the Domeof Eyes.
Kinton observed, however, that his aide also stared upward for a longmoment. The Tepoktans loved speculating about the unsolvable. They hadeven founded clubs to argue whether two satellites had been destroyed oronly one.
Half a dozen officials hastened up to escort the party to the vehicleawaiting Kinton. Klaft succeeded in quieting the lesser members of thedelegation so that Kinton was able to learn a few facts about the newarrival. The crash had been several hundred miles away, but someone hadthought of the hospital in this city which was known to have a doctorrating as an expert in human physiology. The survivor--only one occupantof the wreck, alive