Tau Zero

by Poul Anderson

perceived,

sardonicism.

trews

constable.”

worrywart.”

Lindgren

(Charles Jan Reymont. Citizenship status, Interplanetarian. Thirty-four years old. Born in the Antarctic, but

Millesgården vanished in swift-deepening darkness aft. Lights along the channel, and from the inner city beyond,

“Don’t call us rulers,” she begged. “We aren’t. That’s what the whole idea was behind the Covenant. After the nuclear war

I’d say. In my own case, I ought to be grateful, since you allow me to be essentially a stateless person, which I think

they would shine unmercifully sharp and many.

In, oh, Birger Jarl’s Tower, the Riddarholm

Reymont conducted Lindgren to a table in a candlelit room which they had to

The meal that followed was lengthy even

—of a house near Drottningholm, whose park and gardens were almost her own;

—in a good world, its people, their doings,

it would be a joy to believe in some kind of religion, since that would perfect the world by giving it ultimate purpose, but in the absence of convincing proof she could still do her best to help supply

Reymont poured the last coffee for her.

furlough.”

liaisons.

“No, I suspect that’s what draws me.” Her palm curved around his mouth and slid down his cheek. “I want to know you. You are more a man than any I’ve met before.”

fittings.

Thus Leonora Christine, seventh and youngest of her class.

and the Magellanic Clouds were not vague shimmers but roiling and glowing; and the Andromeda galaxy gleamed

compassion. He floated alone by his command seat, one of three clustered around a control and communications console at the middle of the circular room.

(He was born three years before the first manned expedition departed for Alpha Centauri.

but because of the time dilation, they had experienced just eleven, including the six spent at the goal planets.

Telander

“Reymont? Our constable?” Telander studied her fluttering lashes. “I know he’s skilled in free fall, and he’ll come on the first ferry, but is he that good?”

The ferry made rendezvous and docked.

Her robots—sensor-computer-effector units—directing

For scientists, English and Russian remained the chief international tongues.

“You needn’t bother with me,” Williams answered. “I can get around weightless okay.”

Williams resecured himself. His motions were needlessly energetic, his lips clamped tight

intercom

Hands eagerly turned cranks on the spaceward

Chi-Yuen fumbled with her buckles.

Reymont and Chi-Yuen took one of these to get from the center-of-mass

At the speed they acquired, centrifugal

“About many things. We are leaving more than most of us have yet understood, Charles Reymont. It is a kind of death—followed by resurrection, perhaps, but nonetheless a death.”

their

Yet persons intelligent and sensitive enough to adventure out here would have gone crazy in a “functional” environment.

the plants of the hydroponic section and the colloids of the Darrell balancer.

gaiety

“Nobody. Don’t fret. Everyone aboard has a full program of work lined up, whether it be theoretical research or writing the Great Space Age Novel or teaching Greek in exchange for tensor calculus.”

“Elof Nilsson.” She lifted a hand. “No, don’t say it. He’s not exactly Adonis. His manners aren’t always the sweetest. But he’s got a wonderful mind, the best in the ship, I suspect.

“He’s pretty lonely too.”

I’m not convinced modern man knows everything about the universe.”

She smiled and slapped the hardness of his thigh. “Right now, though, silly, we’re supposed to be off duty. What about that swim?”

“You’re a wonderful lover, Carl,” she murmured. “I’ve never had a better.” “I’m fond of you too,” he said.