For a long moment, Halfrich did not respond. Then he turned and walked,
plodding with head down, not looking up once at the flaring sky.
* * * * *
In the little ship, he sat later with Kellard. He had not spoken yet,
and Morgenson and the others, bewildered and awed, had still not dared
ask questions. Finally Halfrich looked at Kellard, pain still in his
eyes.
"I was thinking," he said. "I was remembering my little boy, years ago.
He had just learned to walk, and he started out the door, eager to
explore the whole town. He stubbed his toe, and he sat down and cried."
"You tried to spare me this," said Halfrich after a little while.
"Thanks for that, Kellard. It didn't work, but thanks anyway."
Kellard said, "Look, no one else knows. No one else is ever likely to
know. The only place where the men of matter and the children of stars
could meet is a place like Sunside, and how many such meetings would
ever by chance happen? We don't have to tell everyone, to take the
heart and eagerness out of them by letting them know they'll always be
second-best in space."
Halfrich thought about that. And then he shook his head. "No. We've
stubbed our toe. We've learned we're not and never will be the sole
inheritors of the universe. All right, we'll accept the fact and go on.
The planets will be ours, just the same. And someday--" He paused, then
said, "--someday, maybe, the sons of the planets and the children of
stars will take hands, know each other. No, Kellard. We'll tell them."