The Loranth (Star Sojourner Book 1) (25 page)

There were only seven customers in the spaceport, including Hallarin. He was still in uniform.

“I'm sorry about your wife,” I told him.

His eyes were red and puffy as he peered up from his magazine. He nodded and returned his attention to it. I saw a flat print of his wife laid across the open page. He realized I'd noticed, scowled and closed the magazine.

“Mister Rammis!” The tag behind the counter, a young Terran with a broad smile, came around it, his hand extended. “Mister Rammis, I'm honored to meet you, sir.”

We shook hands.

“You're not leaving Tartarus, are you?”

I nodded. “Call it Syl' Tyrria, OK? You think I could hitch a ride on an Earthbounder?”

“Of course, Mister Rammis, but…” He shrugged. “We hate to lose you, sir.”

“Thanks, but it's time to go home.”
Past time.

He went back around the counter and punched out a ticket. “Of course.”

I was embarrassed for Hallarin. Few Terrans had showed disappointment at his departure. I glanced at him and felt guilty without any cause. “Will you be gone long, sir?” the tag asked me and extended the ticket with a smile.

I took it and thanked him. “I will. You won't have to worry about return fare.”

Jack was watching the shuttle land through a window. Our ride to the orbiting star ship.

Hallarin carefully folded his magazine, stood up and tucked it under an arm. Jack went to him and extended his hand. “Good luck, Chief. Take care of yourself.”

Hallarin grunted and walked to the gate.

Jack turned to me. “You're so damned sure you're going to find what you're looking for back on Earth?”

“No, but it'll be nice to see blue sky again and real grass. Maybe do some fishing.”

“We got fish.”

“Oh, yeah.” I smirked and slung the backpack over my shoulder.

“You figure on moejoing the rest of your life,” he said, “'cause now you're a hero?”

“The real hero's Kris N',” I said and put a hand on his shoulder. “I'll send you a 'gram when I get to Earth. We'll keep in touch, buddy.”

“Sure.” I heard the sad note in his tone.

“Hey, I'll come back for a visit.” I grinned to cover the ache inside me. “Have to. I still owe you a drink.”

“Only drink you could ever afford was the chaser!”

“Say goodbye to Annie and the kids for me, OK?” I thought of little Jamie, the small casket at the funeral service, and bit my lip. “You're still a lucky tag.” I hugged him. “You know that, don't you?”

“I keep trying to remember it.” He gave me a long look, then nodded. “Stay out of scrabbler holes, Julie, an' don't get lost!”

I smiled, walked to the gate, then turned. I already missed him. I felt a nibble of fear at the prospect of being on my own, without Jack for backup. I would have to rely on the good memories to get me past this sense of desolation.

Memories… We shared so many there was nothing left to say.

“Take care of yourself, Jack.”

He nodded.

* * *

I sat across from Hallarin on the shuttle and we both stared silently through the port window. What is it about windows and partings and loneliness? The separation that allows you to see what you've lost even before you've lost it.

A shiver of power went through the ship's hull and it lifted. I watched framed Syl' Tyrria begin to shrink like a giant ball thrown slow motion into the always-night-sky of space.

“I don't need them,” Hallarin said gruffly. “I don't need any of them.”

The
No Smoking
sign was lit and he chewed a cold cigar.

“That's too bad. They needed you.”

Hallarin had made the quick necessary decision to recall Leone's departing ships when the plague hit, but the County Administrator, who should have taken charge, was brens pissed that the police chief went over his head on that one. Ego, ego, thy name is titles.

The
No Smoking
sign went out and he lit his cigar, hazing receding Syl' Tyrria through the window. Soon we'd be aboard a starship, moving between worlds. There is a temptation to continue moving, sans destination, to surrender to the melancholy of star roads where even the sense of self is lost and all that remains is the going. “…been tamed now,” Hallarin was saying. “They'll get some lily-toed Academy mudlumper to run the police force like a prussie. Probably spend their time airchewing about the bad old days when Bob Hallarin ran a Patton ship and kept everybody on double grav.”

“You could've stayed on the job,” I said. “Why'd you retire?”

“Because people don't change, Rammis. Life kicks them in the ass and the smart ones just get tougher. That's all.” He jabbed his cigar toward the window, which was full of stars now.

“They're not in the market for
tough
these days.” He reclined his chair, pulled a blanket from the wall compartment, covered himself and tucked the edges.

I wondered if that's what his wife used to do for him.

“They're in the market for degrees and diplomacy,” he continued his tirade, “and I ain't hot on soft shoes and smiles.” He gave me a twisted smile to prove it. “Now be quiet. I haven't slept in two days.”

“OK.”

“If Martha knew that, she'd come roaring back from the grave madder than a mud-dunked mumbler.”

He looked at his cigar, then ground it out vengefully. “Last time I burn my throat on native shit roll! Wake me up when we reach the docking 'llite.”

I sighed, closed my eyes and turned my thoughts to Earth.

Green Earth. The image of a great white slug rose up behind closed lids. I repressed it in favor of whatever my subconscious choose to substitute in disguised form.

Green banks of a lake. Bird chirps making delicate holes in the silence. Althea looks over my shoulder at the one fish in the pail of water and talks of steaks. Auburn hair brushes my neck.

“Al,” I whispered, then hoped Hallarin hadn't heard. How would she react when I showed up and knocked on her door?

Lisa…

Could I prove to my wife and daughter that this time, this time, I'd be the father and husband they needed? I stared at stars. Would they return to Syl' Tyrria with me so I could find and study that mammalian creature? Ah well, it didn't matter so much. If only she took me back. I sighed and Hallarin glanced up, then closed his eyes. If only she took me back.

Our lives are short, tags, and who knows where our kwaiis move on to next? And she didn't say she'd married the crote yet.

Did she?

End

• Sojourner to the Stars: The Jules Rammis series
  
• Book Two: Halcyon Nights
  
• Book Three: Spears of the Sun
  
• Book Four: Blood of Denebria
  
• Book Five: Satan's Forge
  
• Book Six: TangleRoot
  
• Kraken's Keep
  
• The Empty hands
  

• Snowflake's World: Book One - The Deadly Sulphur Mine
  
• Book Two - The Enchanted Portal at Haunted Lake
  
• Book Three - The Quest for New Eden
  

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The Loranth
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