It wasn't true, of course. It was that cough of Gilvey's. I didn't like
to think about Gilvey, or Sam or Chowderhead or Wally or the captain. I
didn't like to think about any of them. It made me shake.
You see, we couldn't kill each other. They wouldn't let us do that.
Before we took off, they did something to our minds to make sure. What
they did, it doesn't last forever. It lasts for two years and then it
wears off. That's long enough, you see, because that gets you to Mars
and back; and it's plenty long enough, in another way, because it's like
a strait-jacket.
You know how to make a baby cry? Hold his hands. It's the most basic
thing there is. What they did to us so we couldn't kill each other, it
was like being tied up, like having our hands held so we couldn't get
free. Well. But two years was long enough. Too long.
The bartender came over and said, "Pal, I'm sorry. See, I turned the
air-conditioning down. You all right? You look so--"