"YOU'VE got a spy on your staff."
The party had ended hours earlier. The family guests had gone to bed in the far wing of the house, happy with champagne and a birthday dinner of grilled mahi-mahi and New Zealand lamb. The presents had all been opened to the "ooohs" and "aaahs" of the assembled partygoers, their torn wrappings had been dutifully collected by the household robots.
Now it was nearly and Jo and Stoner were undressing for bed
Jo nodded from the doorway of her closet. "More than one."
"You know who they are?" Stoner asked.
"Yes, certainly. One of them was here today."
"I sensed it--a feeling of danger."
She turned toward him with a weary smile "Corporate espionage is one of the facts of life in the business world, Keith."
"This was more than corporate espionage," he said. "I sensed real danger. Physical danger."
"I'm well protected," she said, walking naked across the plush carpet toward the bed. "Really, I'm more concerned that Kinll didn't show up. He said he would."
"Maybe I should call Moscow."
"I spoke to him yesterday He seemed fine "
"He would have come, or sent word if something had prevented him . ."
"You think he's ill?"
"He hasn't been well for a long time. He's an old man, Jo," said Stoner, stripping off his undershorts. He sat on the edge of their huge bed and reached for the phone terminal.
"He's not even eighty yet. That's not so terribly old. Not nowadays." But her face betrayed the same anxiety Stoner felt.
Stoner spoke Kinll Markov's name into the phone and its computer began searching for him Jo wrapped a glossy silk robe around herself and sat on the bench in front of her mirrored dresser
Within seconds the phone connected They saw a heavy set woman with a white nurse's cap sitting before a window lit by afternoon sunlight
Oh god, thought Jo Something's happened to Kir
Stoner spoke swiftly with the nurse in Russian, then dis connected "He's had a stroke I've got to go see him "
"I'll go with you "
"What about your staff meeting tomorrow?"
Jo made an impatient gesture "I can postpone it, or run it from the plane I'll decide on that tomorrow morning If KinlPs that sick I want to be there, too "
She pecked at the phone on her dresser and called the Van guard airport to make arrangements for a hypersonic jet in the morning
"Not a happy ending for your party," Jo said
Stoner sank back on the pillows "It was a good party, Jo Thanks With all the business pressures on you getting everybody here and making all the arrangements well, I appreciate it "
"My pleasure," she said, applying a brush vigorously to her thick dark hair The brush was backed with silver mined from an asteroid by Vanguard's space metals division
Still looking at him through the mirror she asked, "Do you think Kir is he "
"Will he die?" Stoner closed his eyes for a moment "The nurse said it was very serious He's in intensive care "
Jo sighed "Poor Kir "
"He's never been in very good physical shape "
"Still eighty years old "
"I know It doesn't seem so old, does it? Hell, I'm seventy-one, if you go by the calendar "
"Thank god the calendar doesn't matter for you"
God' Stoner asked himself His star brother said nothing
Jo silently brushed her hair, her eyes watching Stoner's naked body on the bed "You know, Claude said to me that you don't look any older now than you did fifteen years ago, when we first revived you "
"Yeah, he told me the same thing "
"Your beard doesn't have a single gray hair in it," Jo said
"Well, neither do you "
She turned on the bench to face him "Keith, I've been dyeing my hair for years' If I stopped, it would grow out as silver as Claude's "
"It might look good that way," he said
"Oh no' I'm not ready to be an old lady yet And I'm sure as hell not going to allow anybody at the office the slightest excuse to think I'm getting decrepit "
Putting the brush down, Jo stood up, slipped off her robe, and came to the bed
Stoner grinned at her "You sure as hell don't look decrepit to me "
For fifteen years he had seen her almost every day But now he looked more intently Now he realized with a pang of sudden fear that she was well into her middle years Jo was in the prime of health, her body taut and still totally desirable, not an ounce of fat to be seen, not a sag or a slump But as he slid his hands across her hips and pulled her to him he saw that there were lines in her face he had not bothered to notice before
"We're both getting older," he said softly
But she replied, "No, Keith I'm getting older, but you're not You don't seem to be aging at all "
"I could give you the same thing I've got," he said, in a whisper "Then you wouldn't age either "
Jo shook her head "And make me understand everybody so thoroughly that I couldn't hate them' Make me a saint, the way you are? A hell of a businesswoman I'd be, then"
"Jo
"I decided a long time ago, Keith," she said stubbornly "I'll stay just the way I am, aging and all I like my emotions I
need to be able to get angry enough to swat some sonofabitch who needs swatting"
Stoner knew it was hopeless to argue with her They had been through all this many times before But deep within him, he felt sad that Jo refused his star gift She's not ready for it yet, he told himself Someday, but not yet His star brother asked, If this woman who knows you so intimately refuses the gift, how can you expect the rest of the human race to accept it, when the time comes
Stoner had no answer
Markov was dying
The Russian was in a private room in the best hospital in Moscow, surrounded by the most advanced medical technology and human care that it was possible to give Still he was dying
It was a small room, dark and cool with the blinds drawn over the only window Utterly quiet except for the faint humming of the electronic monitors Their screens showed the ragged glowing lines of an old man's struggling heartbeat, respiration rate, brain wave activity There were no wires attached to Markov's body, but he was held in the grip of the medical sensors as firmly as a fly enmeshed in a spider's web
"He looks so feeble" Jo whispered
She sat on the only chair in the narrow room, neither noticing nor caring that her long suede coat dragged on the scuffed floor tiles Stoner stood beside her, an obvious American in his denim jacket and )eans
Markov's ragged white beard was nothing but a wisp now His cheeks were sunken, the skin of his face looked brittle, spiderwebbed with wrinkles and the fine red network of capillaries His large dark eyes, which could flash from somber to hopelessly romantic in an instant, were closed Even his eyebrows are snow-white, Stoner realized And his hair is almost entirely gone
Stoner remembered awakening from a sleep of eighteen years in a room such as this But his body had been young and
strong Markov's body, beneath the thin sheet covering him, was frail and pitifully thin
Stoner stood by the bedside, feeling totally helpless, watching his old friend slowly slip away, sensing the growing weariness of his heart, the fragility of blood vessels stiff and clogged with age, the desperate panic of electricity flickering through his damaged brain
If only
Stoner choked off that line of thought There's no point to it I'm standing here in the middle of all the marvels that modern human beings can create, watching my friend die, as helpless as a Neanderthal in an Ice Age cave
Jo sat by the bed, holding Markov's hand For years the Russian had harmlessly pursued her with beautifully romantic speeches that hid the bashfulness of an overgrown boy They had become friends, rather than lovers, and now Jo wept as she felt the old man's fingers growing cold
Markov's eyes opened slowly He tried to smile, but the stroke that had paralyzed half his body turned the effort into a grisly rictus He tried to speak, but all that came out was a tortured groan
Jo pressed his dying hand to her cheek and sobbed openly
Stoner did not touch the Russian physically Instead he reached into Markov's mind
--I'm here, old friend
--Keith? It is you?
--Yes
--I knew you would come to see me off
--I'd rather be a million miles away, and have you healthy
--But we are here
Stoner nodded uneasily He felt the pain that racked his old friend's body, the terror of imminent death that flooded his mind
--Keith, is there an afterlife'
The question surprised Stoner --I don't know I don't think so
--Maria is waiting for me, angry that I've taken so long to join her.
--You haven't lost your sense of humor.
--Only my life.
--Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?
--A new body, perhaps?
--We could have you frozen. Jo's corporation has the facilities and . . .
--No. No freezing for me. It is time for me to leave, dear friend. Time to let go.
--But . . .
--No hope of resurrection. This old wreck of a body would not survive the freezing process. I looked into that more than a year ago.
--Oh. I see.
--My will. You ... I named you executor. You don't mind?
--No. Of course not. I'll take care of everything.
--No one has ever come out of freezing. Only you. Of all the bodies frozen, only you have been revived.
--That is true.
--Why? What happened on that alien ship? What did they do to you?
Stoner closed his eyes and bowed his head. Markov's pulse was weakening, his heart was failing rapidly. In another few seconds the monitors would start to wail and a frantic team of nurses and doctors would burst into the room and try to keep him alive for a few agonized hours longer.
With one part of his mind Stoner kept the monitors from showing Markov's worsening condition. They hummed to themselves and repeated the measurements that they had made a few seconds earlier, despite the Russian's rapidly deteriorating condition.
As he did so, Stoner gave Markov a mental image of what had happened on the alien starship. No other person on Earth knew about it, except Jo. And Markov would take the story to the grave with him.
The starship was a sarcophagus. It bore the dead body of an
alien who had chosen to be set adrift on the sea of space in the chance that his craft might one day reach a world that harbored intelligent life. His message was simply: You are not alone. There are other intelligences among the vast desert of stars. Take my body, study it, learn from it. Study my ship and learn from it, also.
And there was more. Far more.
The alien was roughly human in shape: two arms with four-fingered hands, although its four short legs ended in soft hoofs. Head and face only slightly different from ours. But the alien was not alone.
Within its body dwelled tens of billions of incredibly tiny objects. Machines. Each of them less than a millionth of a millimeter in size. Specialized machines that coursed through the alien's bloodstream and permeated every part of his body. Machines to repair organic damage. Machines to protect against invading viruses and cancerous growths. Machines that could make more of themselves. Machines that could think, when linked with an intelligent brain.
Each of them as small as a virus, they served as an intelligent symbiote to the alien, protecting it against disease and injury, enhancing its mind.
When the alien chose to die, the machines acquiesced. They would not control the will of their host. But they did suggest the sarcophagus to be sent out among the stars. And they helped direct its design so that it would not merely drift aimlessly, but would purposefully seek out worlds that might harbor life and intelligence.
--I have a star brother inside me. During the years that I remained frozen on the alien's spacecraft, before the craft was recaptured and brought into Earth orbit, the ship's automated systems transferred those billions of nanometer devices to my body.
--That is why . . . that is why . . .
--That is why I survived freezing. They repaired the ruptures in my cells while I was being thawed. That is why I can
do the things I can do That is why I haven't aged in the past fifteen years
--I understand now I understand
A feeling almost of guilt coursed through Stoner His star brother understood and did not interfere
--Kir if I had known, if I had any inkling that this would happen
--How could you? It hit me like an automobile crash
--But I could've transferred some of the devices to you All it would have taken would have been a simple blood exchange They reproduce in microseconds They might have repaired your body, made you young and strong again
--No My time has come
--It still might not be too late Let me try
--No Let me die now
--You're only saying that because of the pain and the fear Your body is tired of fighting, your brain is soaked with the chemicals of exhaustion We might be able to reverse all that, if you'll let us try
Stoner sensed shock, outright terror surging through his friend's mind
--Kir, we can save you Let us try
--To be invaded by alien--things, To become something not human' No, never I can't I can't
--But, Kir
--You can stand it, Keith, being not human But I never I could never stand it
Stoner sensed his friend shuddering You don't understand, he pleaded with the Russian It's not being inhuman It's being more than human, Kir More than human The next step in our evolution
But it was too late Stoner felt the Russian's life ebb away, like a candle blown out by a dark wind For a long moment he simply stood by the bed, staring at the unseeing eyes of his old friend He killed himself, Stoner realized He let himself die rather than accept the help I was offering
Then a surge of blackest grief and guilt overwhelmed him
No I killed him I tried to force him to accept something he wasn't prepared to deal with He allowed himself to die rather than facing it I killed him I killed my best friend
He slumped down on the bed, startling Jo, who was still holding Markov's hand
"He's dead," Stoner said woodenly The monitors suddenly began wailing an electronic dirge
By the time the emergency team burst in and pushed them out into the hallway, Stoner's star brother had calmed the flow of hormones raging through his bloodstream We are still howling apes, aren't we' he asked himself bitterly First the glands, then the brain His sense of guilt abated, the pain in his guts eased But still he knew that Kirill Markov, professor of linguistics, first secretary of the Soviet National Academy of Sciences, a man who had worked with Stoner all those years ago when the alien spacecraft had first been detected, his dearest friend--Kirill could not accept the idea of sharing his body with alien symbiotes
As they walked sadly down the hospital corridor, Stoner said to his wife, "Jo, I was too optimistic a couple of nights ago I don't think the human race will ever be ready to accept partnership with an alien presence "
ISTANBUL
"COME to prayer Come to prayer " The muezzin's call was an amplified recording that reverberated through the scorching hot morning like a brass gong
Noura Anadolu sipped coffee on the balcony of the apartment she shared with three other stewardesses and watched the ferries trudging slowly, patiently across the Golden Horn Sun-
light glittered off the oily water beneath a molten sky Noura felt almost glad that she had to go to the airport in another hour and work the Vienna-Frankfurt-Stockholm flight Stockholm could be fun, the Swedes appreciated a woman with dark hair and exotic eyes Besides, it would be much more comfortable than this wretched heat and humidity
Two days ago she had been in Bangkok Yesterday it was Calcutta Nothing but blazing heat and unrelenting, sodden humidity that made the very air feel like a stifling towel wrapped around your face
Even in nothing but her sheerest robe Noura felt as if the heat was cooking her, boiling the juices inside her It would be better inside, where it was air conditioned Her mother still believed that air conditioning was bad for your health, that it made you weak and gave you the chills But then her mother still walked barefoot to the market each day and refused to allow a modern freezer and microwave into her house The only electrical convenience she put up with was the TV set that was on twenty-four hours a day Her mother even slept in front of it
Noura was alone in the apartment this morning, the other stewardesses were all working, so she could take her time in the bathroom with a long cooling shower
But as she began to put on her deep maroon uniform, her stomach cramped painfully Surprised, she sat on the bed Another sharp burning pain made her gasp For several minutes she sat there waiting for the pain to go away It did not It grew worse Overpowering Noura reached for the telephone, half fainting from the pain
By the time the paramedic team got to her apartment she was already dead, her once-beautiful face twisted into a grotesque mask of agony The police arrived at about the same moment, she had been screaming so loudly that the neighbors had called them