The Sunspacers Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page A

not. “It doesn’t seem possible that human beings could have done it all,” I said.
    “Well it wasn’t just given to us one Christmas.”
    “I know we built it,” I said stupidly. “Human beings, I mean.”
    He stopped and looked at me. We put down our bags. “You really want to know? All this happened because of a small group of people with pencils and paper—the theoretical physicists and chemists of the last five centuries. The engineers and builders applied their work, but it was all really finished a long time ago. We’re still catching up with the theoreticians.”
    “Well, sure, I know. But the builders still had to make it all real.”
    He shrugged and picked up his bag. “They’d have nothing to do without all the hard work being done for them. We’d still be riding horses.”
    I couldn’t get upset at what he was saying, not just then; he wanted to become a theoretical physicist, after all. I imagined a team of white horses pulling a giant wagon through space. The driver was cracking a whip and shouting at the stars. It didn’t bother me that he wasn’t wearing a spacesuit; neither were the horses.
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4
    Through The Sky
    The inscription on the giant block of stainless steel in the center of the terminal floor read:
    EQUATORIAL SPACEPORT 1
    OPENED FOR THE PEOPLE OF EARTH
2002
    THE STEEL IN THIS MEMORIAL WAS MANUFACTURED
OUT OF ORES MINED FROM THE FIRST ASTEROID
BROUGHT INTO EARTH ORBIT
2018
    “Ten minutes to boarding,” Morey said, sending another chill of expectation up my back. We were really going; it wasn’t just something we were talking about.
    I heard a muffled, crackling roar, and looked up in time to see a stubby orbiter rising on a red laser column. The beam tracked the ship, pumping energy into its engines. As the orbiter grew small and disappeared, I imagined its rising arc over the South Atlantic. The laser winked off as the craft attained enough speed to make orbit.
    “We can look around some,” Morey said in the sudden quiet.
    Human beings were aliens on the equator, I thought as we began to explore the interconnecting domes; the heat and humidity outside could kill.
    The first dome we entered was filled with recruiting booths. Flashing holo signs hurried us to join in the building of new worlds:
    FIND YOURSELF!
IN EXCITING WORK!
    Spacescapes revealed distant parts of the solar system. The 3-D images produced vivid afterimages in my visual field, I was beginning to dislike being seized by the throat to get my attention.
    “Now boarding!” a male voice boomed. “Shuttle 334 for Bernal One!”
    “Didn’t your folks want to come and see you off?” Morey asked as we waited on line.
    I shook my head and felt sorry for myself. “They didn’t even come to graduation.”
    “What? I thought they were there.”
    “I didn’t want to bring it up. It doesn’t matter.”
    “What happened?”
    “Nothing much. They had a fight and were out of town.”
    There were a few people our age on the line, and I wondered if they were also going away to school.
    “Parents think they’ll have you around forever,” Morey said as the line began to move forward. “Then they crack up when the time runs out and they realize they can’t make up for anything.”
    I took a deep breath. “It was more than that, Morey. They’re breaking up. Dad wanted the usual renewal and Mom just wouldn’t give him one. It’s their problem now.”
    “Well, it happens.” He glanced at me. “I’m sorry, Joe.”
    “Bernal One!” the same male voice announced. “Last call!”
    This was it. I was going out there, into the darkness of space, protected only by the shuttle.
    “Didn’t you have a bag?” Morey asked as the line moved through the tunnel.
    I looked around, not really caring. “Must have left it somewhere. They’ll send it home to my parents. I can do without that stuff.”
    “Got your wallet?” Morey asked, grinning.
    “Sure, right here.”
    “Credit