Dawn For A Distant Earth, page 33
If he stayed, the Service and Imperial hatred would focus on Recorps. At least, it might, and that he could not risk.
"Hope is so fragile, and for now, the dozers will help ..."
He picked up both packets off the console, then slashed a line across one, the one with the new symbol at the top, and, placed his signature across the bottom of the second.
Two kit bags-all that he intended to take-stood by the portal.
His fingers found their way to the console, which lit and focused on nothing as he tapped out the codes he wanted.
The commander's face snapped into view.
"Captain."
"Just Commander Gerswin, Lerwin." He paused. "It's all yours. Your command will take effect immediately, and you'll have to work out the reorganization plan to get the best out of what you have. You know who they are."
The other nodded, his hawk-green eyes never leaving Gerswin's.
"Don't say I understand, but if that's it, that's it."
"Some day, it will become more clear. Lived with it so long I never bothered to explain. Little late now."
Neither said anything as the moments stretched out.
"You're the captain now. Make sure you are."
"And you?"
"Just say that I had no choice. They know whose idea it was. For me to stay would cost everyone too much. So I have no choice. Besides, my work's not done."
"No choice. That's the best way to put it. Keep them on edge against the Empire, and they'll need that to begin with."
The senior commander agreed, but did not nod this time.
"You're the captain," he repeated. "Whatever you think best."
"Now?" asked the new captain.
Even through the screen, Gerswin could see the incipient signs of age, the faint lines around the eyes, the heavier muscles. Lerwin would outlive the Imperials, had already outlived some before showing any age, but he would not see the rebirth for which he worked. Even Corwin might not see that, assuming Corwin followed in his parent's footsteps.
Corwin . . . Gerswin scarcely knew the child, and had seldom even seen his sister Ellia. With the growth of the children, while she did her job well, Kiedra had turned her personal side inward to Lerwin and Corwin and Ellia. Like all devilkids, reflected Gerswin sadly.
"Now?" asked Lerwin again.
"Shortly. I leave on the next shuttle." Gerswin frowned. "Afraid I left you in the lurch. My file keys are on the commandant's console. Everything's there. Try and do a better job for your successor, Lei-win."
"You did fine. Captain."
"Thanks, but we know better. I'll be down in ten plus."
Gerswin tapped the console once, and the image of the commander who would be listed as the first Commandant of Recorps faded from the screen.
Gerswin was ready to go, but he stood shifting his weight from one foot to the other, waiting. Lerwin needed the time to round up the remaining devilkids. They all needed to see him enter the shuttle, needed to see the departure, to understand that he could no longer stand behind them.
Lerwin needed the visual image of his departure also. While there was no ritual such as a change of command, because the old Command had been abolished, and the new one was not in place, they all needed some sort of ceremony to mark the end of the old era and the beginning of the new.
The senior commander, his short and curly blond hair untouched with silver, his 'hawk-yellow eyes as fierce as ever, his face unlined, smiled at the blank wall. The sole imprint of the years had been the slight sharpening of his features-that, and the hint of blackness that lingered behind his eyes .like a reminder of eternity itself.
He picked up the kit bags himself, though he could have had them carried to the shuttle, and tabbed the portal. As it irised open, he stepped through into the main corridor and the omnipresent but faint scent of ozone.
He half-shook his head. Someday, sometime, the closed buildings would not be necessary. Nor the fortress-like or half-buried construction. Already, the new town construction was halfway there, though the residents were far hardier stock than the average Imperial. The landspouts were less frequent in the reclaimed areas around the base. Elsewhere, they raged scarcely abated, and those "elsewhere lands" comprised the majority of the globe.
Gerswin's steps did not resemble those of a senior commander with more than eighty years' service. Quick and light, his feet, even at a walk, scarcely seemed to touch the pale and milky gray of the plastone floor tiles.
He slowed as he approached the last turn in the corridor before the Operations center.
Had Lerwin had enough time?
He shrugged. If necessary, he could prolong good-bys and remarks until they all straggled in.
The portal stood open. Inside the center, the entry console was vacant. Only a single technician manned the duty console, and the corridor leading down to the departure portals was also vacant. So was the tunnel to the hangar-bunker that served the shuttle.
The shuttle from the Relyea was grounded in beta two, and Gerswin picked up his pace as he entered the sloping tunnel. After about fifty meters the tunnel slope flattened before beginning the gradual ascent toward the hangar-bunker.
As he stepped through the last portal into the hangar, he straightened.
"Ten'stet!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The ceremonial volley of the ancient long guns caught him off guard as it continued.
All eight of the remaining devilkids, four on a side, in full-dress Service uniform, stood at attention. They formed an honor guard between him and the open port of the waiting shuttle.
Behind them, also in full dress, was Lerwin, and it had been Lerwin's voice that had given the commands.
Gerswin stood, waiting.
"Captain," began the new commandant, "there will be a commandant of Recorps here on Old Earth who will succeed you. And he will have a successor, as will his or her successor. But there is only one Captain, and there will be only one Captain from Old Earth. Either here, or out among the Imperial stars."
"Ten'stet!" another voice barked.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Any words. Captain?" . Gerswin swallowed. Hard. Waited.
Finally, he cleared his throat.
"You all understand. Remember what we did. More important, remember why. Time will make it easy to forget. I'll be back, one way or another, but it may be a long cold trip. It's all in your hands, and you have a big job. The biggest ever tackled." He paused. "We know it can be done. I did what I could, but the biggest part is up to you, and I know you're up to it. You can do it. You just have to forget the past and get on with it."
He turned to Lerwin and saluted.
"Your command. Commander. Your command. Permission to depart?"
"Your command, Captain. Always your command. We may hold it for you, but it will always be yours. Good luck . . . from all of us . . . for all of us."
Lerwin returned the salute.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Gerswin waited until the last volley died away before bending to retrieve the two kit bags. He lifted them and marched through the eight devilkids and across the plastarmac toward the shuttle.
Once inside the lock, he set down the bags, turned and gave a last salute before the shuttle ports closed.
A long trip so far . . . and a longer one that was just beginning.
L.E. Modesitt Jr., Dawn For A Distant Earth
