Homesick
By LYN VENABLE
Illustrated by EMSH
Frankston pushed listlesslyat a red checker withhis right forefinger. Heknew the move would cost hima man, but he lacked enough interestin the game to plot out asafe move. His opponent, James,jumped the red disk with a blackking and removed it from theboard. Gregory, across the room,flicked rapidly through the pagesof a magazine, too rapidly to bereading anything, or even lookingat the pictures. Ross layquietly on his bunk, staring outof the viewport.
The four were strangely alikein appearance, nearly the sameage, the age where gray hairsfinally outnumber black, or baldnesstakes over. The age when theexpanding waistline has begun tosag tiredly, when robust middleage begins the slow acceleratingdecline toward senility.
A strange group to find aboarda spaceship, but then The Columbuswas a very strange ship.Bolted to its outer hull, just underthe viewports, were woodenboxes full of red geraniums, andivy wound tenuous green frondsover the gleaming hull that hadwithstood the bombardment ofpinpoint meteors and turnedaway the deadly power of nakedcosmic rays.
Frankston glanced at his wristchrono.It was one minute to six.
"In about a minute," hethought, "Ross will say somethingabout going out to waterhis geraniums." The wristchronoticked fifty-nine times.
"I think I'll go out and watermy geraniums," said Ross.
No one glanced up. ThenGregory threw his magazineon the floor. Ross got up andwalked, limping slightly, to awall locker. He pulled out theheavy, ungainly spacesuit andthe big metal bulb of a headpiece.He carried them to hisbunk and laid them carefullydown.
"Will somebody please help meon with my suit?" he asked.
For one more long moment, noone moved. Then James got upand began to help Ross fit hislegs into the suit. Ross had arthritis,not badly, but enough sothat he needed a little help climbinginto a spacesuit.
James pulled the heavy foldsof the suit up around Ross's bodyand held it while Ross extendedhis arms into the sleeve sections.His hands, in the heavy gauntlets,were too unwieldy to do the frontfastenings, and he stood silentlywhile James did it for him.
Ross lifted the helmet, staringat it as a cripple might regard awheelchair which he loathed butwas wholly dependent upon.Then he fitted the helmet overhis head and James fastened itdown and lifted the oxygen tankto his back.
"Ready?" asked James.
The bulbous headpiece inclinedin a nod. James walked to a paneland threw a switch marked INNERLOCK. A round aperture slid silentlyopen. Ross stepped throughit and the door shut behind himas James threw the switch backto its original position. Oppositethe switch marked OUTER LOCK asignal glowed redly and Jamesthrew another switch. A momentlater the signal flickered out.
Frankston, with a violent gesture,swept the checker boardclean. Red and black men clatteredto the floor, rolling andspinning. Nobody picked themup.
"What does he do it for?" demandedFrankston in a tightvoice. "What does he get out ofthose stinking geraniums he can'ttouch or smell?"
"Shut up," said Gregory.
James looked up