Starship Coda Read Online Free PDF Page B

it.”
    She tipped her head to one side in an oh-so-innocent gesture. “And how was that, David?”
    “Mind your own business!” I cried out, batting aside another dragon-fly, the gesture sublimating the urge I had to slap Sally’s face.
    “No…I think you should tell me. Because, if you don’t, then I assume that I am right, that you never did get over it.”
    I relaxed, then, surprising myself. I leaned against the tree, folded my arms and smiled. I shook my head. “You’re not going to get me like that, Sally. I don’t have to tell you a damned thing, and you can think what the hell you like. It doesn’t bother me any more what you think about me. I know how I overcame the guilt, and that’s all that matters to me.”
    She remained smiling at me, and an onlooker would have seen a little girl beaming up at someone old enough to be her grandfather…
    “I have another theory,” she said in a quiet, menacing voice, which turned my heart to ice. “Would you like to hear it, David?”
    “I suspect you’re going to tell me, whether I want to hear it or not.”
    She jumped from the rock, stood upright, pert, and said, “I think you didn’t hesitate through fear all those years ago, David, as you claimed you did—to me and to the accident investigators. I think you—maybe subconsciously— wanted Carrie to die.”
    I stared at her, barely controlling myself. “That’s sick ,” I said.
    “You wanted to be rid of Carrie, and me, and one way of doing that was to do nothing when your daughter was pitched into the sea…You foresaw being liberated, being able to leave Earth, to come to somewhere like Chalcedony and lead a carefree life.”
    “What rubbish!” I cried, shaking with rage.
    “But what I’d like to know, David,” she said, leaning forward, “is how you could live with the guilt?”
    I rushed forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, shook her until her head jogged back and forth, and I knew I was in danger of doing her real harm. Then I pushed her away, and she staggered back against the rock and sat down suddenly.
    She looked up at me, smiling, and said, “So, David, how do you bear the guilt?”
    “I told you what happened many years ago,” I said, determined not to break down. “As the ship went down and Carrie was pitched into the sea, I hesitated. I had no subconscious desire to be without Carrie, or you—I loved you both, damn it. I loved her! But…but I was frozen by fear, unable to…For just a few seconds…But by the time I did dive in, it was too late.”
    “And, years later, here at Magenta Bay…?”
    I sobbed. “There was a storm, a summer storm. Maddie thought that the alien had killed Matt, and she…she flung herself into the sea.”
    I heard a sound beyond Sally. I looked up. Matt pushed through a stand of palm, followed by Hannah and Maddie. “You don’t have to tell her anything, David,” Matt said.
    I stared, uncomprehending, as Hannah crossed to where the little girl stood, open-mouthed. She took the girl firmly by the upper arm and said, “You’re coming with us.”
    I stared at Matt. “What…”
    He crossed to me, put an arm around my shoulders and led me back towards the Mantis . I was shaking and close to tears.
    Another surprise was awaiting me on the lawn before my starship. Hawk—who I thought was on Earth—was kneeling on the lawn with a pistol drawn, and he was directing the weapon at the lower back of Gideon Antrobus who lay face down on the grass.
    “One wrong move,” Hawk said, “and I’ll take great pleasure in freezing your kidneys—and I’m told the pain is exquisite.”
    Sally, still in Hannah’s grip, struggled futilely until my wife shook her into immobility.
    I stared at Matt. “What’s going on…?”
    But Matt just turned and hurried across the lawn to his studio.
    Then I saw Hawk’s roadster drawn up in the driveway. Kee was in the back seat, her fingers to her lips as she stared across at the tableau on the lawn. Beside her