To Worlds Unknown, page 13
He saw Dominov wilting at the controls. Apparently even they had become hot in the murderous heat for his hands were wrapped in rags. One of the crewmen, his face a hideous orange from what was happening outside, poured a little water on them.
Rex managed to drag himself to his window, and, flopping into his seat, looked out. He saw that both planet and its satellite were on fire. The orange flames were reflected inside the ship, which must itself, seen front outside, have looked like an orange floating in space. The two bodies were not yet actually touching, but they were very close, with the moon just above its parent. Parvo appeared about the size of a football, and its moon perhaps no larger than a tennis ball, which obviously meant that the ship was now far away from them. But still not out of danger. Breathless, Rex watched, mentally counting the minutes, each one of which increased their chances of escape.
Inside the ship some of the Parvoans were now sit up; others still lay flat. Toby was on his knees among them doing what he could with restoratives from his medicine cabinet.
Rex turned back to the window just in time to see the end, and the picture was photographed on his brain for ever. Suddenly the moon seemed to collapse, and the result was as if a cauldron of white-hot metal had been overturned on the world below it. There was no sound, the ship was too far off for that. All that could now be seen was a pure white light that seemed to fill the Universe. While it still persisted an invisible hand was thrust against the ship, causing it to spin sickeningly. It was, Rex guessed, the blast of the explosion. Quite slowly the glare began to subside, shrinking towards its centre.
"I think we've done it," said Tiger at Rex's elbow.
"I'm beginning to feel a bit sick," returned Rex, in a hollow voice.
Tiger pointed out of the window. "Look!"
Rex saw what he meant. Where Parvo and its moon had been was now an area of whirling sparks, some of them flying off at a tangent. As a shooting star will sometimes appear to move slowly, an illusion caused by distance, so with the sparks.
"Meteors," said Vargo, who had joined them. "Don't touch the side of the ship."
"Why not ?" asked Rex.
"It's rather hot. But that won't last long."
"Do you think we're safe now?"
"Yes. The only risk now is of a meteor overtaking us, but the chance of that is small."
"There are a lot of meteors, some of them look big ones.”
“They have a lot of space to fill."
"Thank goodness for that."
As a matter of detail a meteor, a very large one, did overtake them, but luckily not exactly on their line of flight. From his window Rex watched the fireball go past them. He wondered vaguely where it would end up. What a strange thing it would be, he pondered, if it ended its career on Earth. But that was something he would never know.
Toby joined them. "That was a pretty close squeak," he announced, cheerfully. "We were only just in time."
"How are the people we picked up ?"
"They're all right. Or they soon will be. Some of them are suffering from shock."
"That doesn't surprise me," said Tiger, grimly.
"I'm feeling a bit that way myself," asserted Rex. "I don't think men were ever intended to see such things."
"If that were so we wouldn't have seen them," Toby pointed out.
"And what good has it done us to see them?" asked Rex, bitterly. "I shall never feel the same again. I feel sort of—old."
"You're lucky, my lad, to be feeling anything," rejoined Toby.
"Do you know where Dominov is making for — Romunda, or this planet New Parvo ?"
"He says Romunda."
"With all these people breathing shall we have enough air to last out?"
"Dominov thinks we should just do it. If there's any risk of our running short he's going to park these people on one of the safe planets he knows."
"And leave them there for good?"
"Oh no. Only while he goes on to Romunda to top up his tanks."
"It will be interesting to see some more of their wonders on Romunda," said the Professor, coming over.
"Not for me," answered Rex. "I've had enough wonders. All I want to do now is go home and forget this ever happened."
"Tut-tut, my boy. You can't really mean that," chided the Professor. "It will be a long while before any boys on Earth see what you have seen."
"They're lucky," replied Rex, in a melancholy voice.
He meant it, for at that moment he had a great longing to see again the world he knew. Never had home seemed such a desirable place. Earth might be a humble world compared with some he had seen, but it had much to recommend it; the green fields and woods, the quiet rivers, the sleepy hamlets, the songs of the birds. . . . In space he had gained much knowledge, but it seemed suddenly to him that knowledge was not everything. There were other things just as important, if not more so.
Weak from reaction he swallowed a few sustaining tablets from the ship's emergency store and after that slept most of the way home.
They managed to reach Romunda after all, without making an interim landing, and there, on the astradrome, they found assembled a great fleet of ships, most of which had been engaged in the evacuation operation. Gator was there with the Tavona, and Rex was delighted to see again his old shipmates, safe and sound.
After a meal and a short rest at the guest-house the question arose what to do next. The Professor was anxious to stay a little while longer on Romunda and perhaps call at Terromagna with Multova on the way home. But Rex had been serious when he said he had had enough. He was for going straight home without any delays. A short argument ended in a compromise, and the fact that Vargo wanted to go home, and that Gator and Borron were leaving almost at once, may have had something to do with it.
Briefly, the decision reached was this. Rex would go direct to Mino with the Tavona and wait there for the others to join him. This they would do when they had seen all that those two great worlds Romunda and Terromagna, had to show them.
And so it fell out that the next morning Rex said goodbye to Dominov and Multova, and having thanked them for their generous hospitality went to the Tavona with his old friends and was soon on his way to his own Solar System. He felt more at home when he could once more see Earth in the distance, with its moon in its proper place. As he told Vargo, after having seen what he had seen it was a relief to know they were still there. Even from Mino he felt as a traveller on Earth may feel after a long absence when he once more sees the white cliffs of Dover.
He spent ten very pleasant days on the comfortable little planetoid, most of the time with his girl friend Morino, Borron's daughter. They had some fun wing-flying, a sport at which Morino was an expert, and sometimes with others had a game of football which had become a popular pastime. The ball he had presented to the boys on a previous occasion was getting badly worn, so he promised to bring a new one next time he came to see them. One day he made a trip in the Tavona to Mars, the ship having to go there to take some stores.
It was all very gay, and he had so far settled down that he was almost sorry to see a Terromagnian ship come in bringing his father and the rest of the party.
That marked almost the end of the expedition, for with the Tavona in demand for other services Gator said that unless they wished to stay on Mino for a long time he would have to take them home right away.
So, with mixed feelings, for when it came to parting Rex was always sorry to say good-bye, farewells were said, and the Tavona took off for its comparatively short run to Earth. Vargo accompanied his friends, primarily—or so he said—to collect a few packets of tea, the refreshing beverage unique to Earth, for which he had developed a taste.
With a peculiar tugging at the heartstrings Rex watched his home planet, with its old familiar outlines, coming closer, one hemisphere in the bright light of day, the other sombre under the curtain of night. Rather than risk being seen the Tavona waited for a while, just inside the atmosphere, until darkness embraced the Scottish Highlands, before putting down its feet in the heather near Glensalich Castle, the Professor's home, in its lonely glen.
As they walked down the hill Rex drew deep breaths of the sweet fresh air. Even with his eyes shut he would have known he was back home. Every planet had its particular smells and Earth was unmistakable. He could have sung with elation, for homecomings are always a happy event, and, as he had discovered, from the greater the distance the greater the joy.
Vargo, Gator and Borron, declined the Professor's invitation to stay for a few days, saying that if the ship were seen it might lead to a difficult situation for everyone. Which of course was true. So after a quick pot of tea in the hall, with a few spare packets of the dry leaf in their pockets they trudged back to where the ship stood waiting in the moonlight.
Rex went with them to the top of the hill and saw them off on the return journey to their own world. Then, deep in thought, feeling suddenly very tired and subdued by what he had seen, he walked back slowly to the house and a prosaic meal of cold roast beef and potatoes.
He was glad to be home.
THE END
Captain W.E Johns, To Worlds Unknown
