Alien Upstairs (20 page)

"I returned to Phobos, exhausted. Raf was delighted. We opened a bottle of wine—the machines here can give you almost anything; Raf programmed them well—and we toasted everything—you two, old friends of mine, I can't even remember it all. I was sure I'd have a hangover, since I've never been much of a drinker, but I awoke with a clear head. One of our fringe benefits, I guess.

"I found Raf in the Pathway chamber. He was staring at the disks, and seemed to be daydreaming. He'd often gone there, so I thought nothing of it. I came up to him and stood with him. He fiddled with that bracelet of his, then turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. He smiled. He didn't say anything.

"Then he turned from me and ran. I saw him leap onto one of the disks. His arms were out, his face turned up. Then he vanished. I felt a coldness afterward, a presence in the room, and then it was gone. I knew we wouldn't see him again.

"I'm alone. There's a lot to learn, and it'll be a long time before I can come to Earth. I can't chance it until I have more experience."

The console was silent. Then the distant voice spoke again.

"It's up to us. We are the observers now."

The wind was howling outside. Sarah drew the curtains shut. For a moment, she thought she felt the cold air on her face. The wind shrieked.

She climbed into bed and pulled up the comforter. Gerard was with her, on his side of the bed, unmoving, but she felt alone. She wondered how he would change. She thought of Mr. Epstein, alone on Phobos.

She did not move. Her arms lay stiffly at her sides. The room was very dark. She was in a black tunnel that went up past the night sky and into space. She shivered.

Gerard's warm fingers touched her arm, then took her hand, pressing it against his palm.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

 

Pamela Sargent has been termed “one of the leaders in a new generation of SF novelists” by writer Gregory Benford. Her first novel,
Cloned Lives,
was called “solidly realistic, humane and well proportioned” by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Library Journal
said of her second novel:
"The Sudden Star
effectively portrays a spiritually bankrupt world ... a powerful, frightening book.” About her third novel,
Watchstar,
Sonya Dorman wrote: “It's good to read a story in which the heroine has a spiritual life as well as an emotional one, and is a person of intellectual courage.” On her fourth novel, Algis Budrys, writing in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,
commented:
"The Golden Space
is a major intellectual achievement of SF literature. It will not be possible for any honest story of immortality hereafter to ignore it; it is a landmark.” Ms. Sargent has also published a collection of short stories,
Starshadows,
and has edited the anthologies
Bio-Futures, Women of Wonder, More Women of Wonder,
and
The New Women of Wonder. The Alien Upstairs
is her fifth novel. She lives in upstate New York.