He walked slowly, conscious of the lighted walls of the corridor, the flexing of his calves, and the movement of his arms. There was no reason to hurry. For now, he would devote his energies to recovery.
He looked forward to the world he would see when he returned to Earth. Yet, at the same time he remembered, dimly, feelings of apprehension and despair. He forgot his feet for a moment and stumbled slightly.
The woman named Kira caught his arm. “All right?” she asked. Her face seemed to dissolve and he found himself in front of a glass surface. His daughter was in his arms. “My little Kira,” he whispered to the infant; then he once again became conscious of the reporters standing on the other side of the glass. He held Kira more closely, as if to protect her. Again he wondered if he was right, if his children would love him or hate him, how the world would treat the little girl who was now clutching a piece of his lab coat in her hand. A hand held his arm tightly and he shook his head, startled. The image was gone, the memories again fading. The woman named Kira was guiding him down the hall.
They entered a hospital corridor. Two technicians seemed to rush past him and a nurse was hurrying into one of the rooms at his right. He saw what was almost a blur of human activity; a doctor lumbering by with a patient, an attendant darting past him with a tray, a nurse spinning around on her heel as a doctor called to her. Around him was the chatter of voices, incomplete phrases, and speedily spoken directions, people pressed by time.
He moved toward his room carefully. The interface of past and future came to rest inside his mind, a million twisted pathways behind him, an indeterminate and misty road ahead. The time of transformation was not yet past.
About the Author
PAMELA SARGENT received her B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from the State University of New York at Binghampton. She is the author of more than twenty stories which have appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Universe, New Worlds, Eros in Orbit, Wandering Stars, Two Views of Wonder, Fellowship of Stars, and other magazines and anthologies. She is also the editor of numerous anthologies, including Women of Wonder, Bio-Futures, More Women of Wonder, and the New Women of Wonder. She lives in upstate New York.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1976 by Pamela Sargent
ISBN 978-1-4976-1086-6
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About the Author