Ben Bova - End of Exile

In three more hours they would all be awake and clustered here at the bridge while the rocket engines roared briefly to life. A few seconds to thrust, that was all that was needed for this first course correction. A quick burn that would swerve them away from Baryta’s glaring hot grasp.

The difference between life and death.

She won’t come to see it happen, he knew. She’ll stay in her little shrine and wail for me to come to her.

He paced the length of the bridge once. Then twice. Abruptly he strode to the hatch and pushed it open. For the first time in many months, he went back to the living area.

It seemed strange to be walking down the old corridor again. His home, for most of life. But now it looked old, worn, and tired, somehow different than Linc remembered it. The walls were stained and discolored. The floor was scuffed and dull.

He passed the big double doors of the farm section. How many lifetimes ago had he repaired the pump that Peta had damaged? How much had happened since then!

Linc found himself slowing down as he neared Magda’s door. He glanced up and saw a long-dead TV camera’s eye staring blindly out of the ceiling. I could fly that and watch the corridor from the bridge, he thought idly.

He finally got to her door, hesitated, then tapped on it lightly.

“Come in Linc,” came Magda’s muffled voice.

The room was the same. The walls glowed dimly. The strange sky shapes shone across the ceiling. Magda sat on the bunk, her face deep in shadow, as Linc stepped in and let the door slide shut behind him.

“How did you know it was me?” he asked. She pushed her hair back away from her face with a graceful hand.

“I’m the priestess. I can see things that other people can’t see.”

He didn’t answer.

“Besides,” she said, “who else would it be? I knew you’d come sooner or later. And probably while everyone else was asleep.”

H e crossed the tiny room in three strides and sat on the floor, at her feet.

“You don’t sleep?” he asked.

“Not very much, anymore.”

From this close he could see, despite the room’s dimness, that her face was even more gaunt and hollowed than his own.

“I’ve got the ship running smoothly now,” Linc said.

She looked down at him and let one hand rest on his shoulder. “Yes, I know.” Her hand felt cold through the thin fabric of his shirt. She seemed tense, almost afraid.

“We’ll be able to make it to the new world.”

“Perhaps.”

“You could help us—”

“I have helped you,” Magda said.

Linc stared up at her. “You have? How? By meditating? A few hours with a screwdriver would have been more help.”

“Don’t joke about serious things,” Magda said softly. “I’ve helped you by staying here and fasting, concentrating, meditating—and by preventing Monel from stopping your work.”

“Monel couldn’t—”

“Monel tried to rouse all the people against you,” Magda said. “But Slav and his farmers refused to follow him. Thanks to the priestess.”

Linc didn’t understand. “What? Are you saying…?”

It was difficult to see her face in the shadows. Magda seemed to be staring off somewhere in the darkness. “Ever since you went to the Ghost Place,” she explained, “Monel has tried everyday to make me say that you are evil, and you must be stopped. I have not said it. Slav asked me for guidance, and I told him that he should not fear you, or the Ghost Place.”

“But you told me—” Linc didn’t bother finishing the sentence. None of it made any sense to him.

Magda went on, “You are such children, all of you. You each want to be the mighty leader, the one who gives orders, who decides what must be done. You know you’re right. Monel knows you’re wrong. At least Slav doesn’t pretend to know everything, he asks the priestess for guidance.”

Shaking his head, Linc asked, “I thought you believed—”

Her hand tightened on his shoulder. “The priestess is always in command. Monel thinks he’s the leader; he’s a fool. You think you can save us all from death; you’re a fool, too. I am the leader here, and all of you do as I wish. I am letting you try to fix the machines because you might be right about them. I am letting Monel think he’s giving orders to everyone because then I can make him give the orders that I want him to give.

“When you tried to overthrow everything we have believed all our lives, even the power of the priestess, I used Monel to balance your new power. When Monel wanted to stop your work in the Ghost Place and have you cast out, I used Slav to balance him. You men do all the struggling and I remain the priestess, the real leader, the one who brings Jerlet’s wisdom into the lives of the people.”

Linc felt stunned. “You’ve been playing us against each other?”

Magda’s voice smiled. “Of course. I’ve been directing all of you ever since I became priestess. Before that time, even when we were children, I could make any one of you do almost anything I wanted to.”

“But you didn’t want me to fix the machines in the bridge.”

“True. I was afraid for you. And afraid that if you succeeded, it would ruin my power and the people’s belief in Jerlet. But when I realized that I couldn’t stop you, I decided it was foolish to resist. This way, you counterbalance Monel’s power. And Slav and his farmers have become a third power, in between the two of you.”

Sagging against the edge of the bunk, Linc said, “I just can’t believe it. You can’t play with people’s lives like that. No one can. You just think—”

“Why do you think you came here tonight?” Magda asked.

“Why do I think…? I came here because we’re going to light off the rockets tomorrow for the first course change, and I’d like you to be there.”

“No, that’s not why you came.” And her hand gripped his shoulder hard. “Linc, I summoned you. I called you. That’s why I knew who it was when you knocked.”

He puffed out a disgusted breath of air.

“I know you don’t believe me.” Magda’s voice was so quiet that he could barely hear her. “But you might at least ask why I called you.”

“All right: why?”

“Because I have a terrible fear. Your rockets are not going to work tomorrow. We’re all going to plunge into the yellow star and be burned… or… something terrible is going to happen.”

“Don’t be silly.” But her hand was a claw biting into his shoulder now. “Magda, everything’s checked out. The computer—”

“Don’t tell me what machines say!” she snapped. “I know something is wrong. And I need you to help me find out exactly what it is.”

“Need me?”

She nodded and closed her eyes. “I have to touch you, feel your vibrations, to find out what’s wrong.”

He stared up at her. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

But she was no longer listening to him. Her fingers were digging deeply into his shoulder. Her eyes glittered, but she was staring at empty shadows. Her entire body was shaking spasmodically.

Magda’s mouth worked, tried to form words, but no sounds came out. Despite himself, Linc felt drawn into her spell. “What is it? What do you see?”

She didn’t answer.

He waited. The minutes stretched tautly. Still she seemed possessed by something invisible.

Then she sagged and nearly collapsed against him. Linc got to his knees and held her.

“Magda, what is it? What’s wrong?”

She was cold with sweat. “I…trouble—” she gasped weakly. “Trouble with the engines—”

“What kind of trouble? What will go wrong?”

“I don’t know… couldn’t see.”