But Quantrell hung back. He stopped in his tracks, staring dangle-jawed
at the immense city facing them.
"There it is," he said quietly.
"Sure. Let's go, eh?" Alan felt a sudden burst of impatience and started
heading toward the approach to the bridge.
But after three or four paces he realized Quantrell was not with him. He
turned and saw the other spaceman still rooted to the ground, gazing up
at the vast Earther city as if in narcoshock.
"It's big," Quantrell murmured. "_Too_ big."
"_Kevin!_ What's wrong?"
"Leave him alone," Rat whispered. "I have a hunch he won't be going with
you."
Alan watched in astonishment as Quantrell took two steps hesitantly
backward away from the bridge, then a third. There was a strange, almost
thunderstruck expression on Kevin's face.
Then he broke out of it. He shook his head.
"We aren't really going across--huh, Donnell?" He gave a brittle little
laugh.
"Of course we are!" Alan looked around nervously, hoping no one from the
_Valhalla_ had spotted him in all this time. Puzzled at Quantrell's
sudden hesitation after his earlier cockiness, Alan took a couple of
shuffling steps toward the bridge, slowly, keeping his eyes on the other
starman.
"I can't go with you," Kevin finally managed to say. His face was
flushed and strained-looking. He was staring upward at the seemingly
topless towers of the city. "It's too big for me." He choked back a
half-whimper. "The trouble with me is--the--trouble--with--me--is----"
Quantrell lowered his head and met Alan's stare. "I'm afraid, Donnell.
Stinking sweaty afraid. The city's too big."
Red-faced, he turned and walked away, back up the street.
Alan silently watched him go.
"Imagine that. Afraid!"
"It's a big place," Rat warned. "Don't you feel the same way? Just a
little?"
"I feel perfectly calm," Alan said in utter sincerity. "I know why I'm
going over there, and I'm anxious to get moving. I'm not running away,
the way Steve was. I'm going to the Earther city to find my brother and
to find Cavour's drive, and to bring them both back here!"
"That's a tall order, Alan."
"I'll do it."
Alan reached the approach to the bridge in a few more brisk steps and
paused there. The noonday sun turned the long arch of the bridge into a
golden ribbon in the sky. A glowing sign indicated the pedestrian
walkway. Above that, shining teardrop autos whirred by, leaving faint
trails of exhaust. Alan followed the arrows and soon found himself on
the bridge, heading for the city.
He glanced back a last time. There was no sign of Kevin. The Starmen's
Enclave seemed utterly quiet, almost dead.
Then he turned and kept his gaze forward. The Earther city was waiting
for him.
_Chapter Five_
He reached the end of the walkway and paused, a little stunned, staring
at the incredible immensity of the city spread out before him.
"It's a big place," he said. "I've never been in a city this big."
"You were born here," Rat reminded him.
Alan laughed. "But I only stayed here a week or two at most. And that
was three hundred years ago. The city's probably twice as big now as it
was then. It----"
"Hey, you! Move on!" a harsh voice from behind snapped suddenly.
"What's that?"
Alan whirled and saw a tall, bored-looking man in a silver-gray uniform
with gleaming luminescent bands across the sleeves, standing on a raised
platform above the road.
"You can't just stand here and block the walkway," the tall man said.
His words were heavily accented, thickly guttural; Alan had a little
trouble understanding them. The ship's language never changed; that of
Earth kept constantly evolving. "Get back in the Enclave where you
belong, or get moving, but don't stand here or I'll punch your ticket
for you."