Clive had been busy grinding some nuts into a sort of flour and when he
noticed Rosemary wiping her eyes, he rose and came over to where I'd
been weaving while I talked to her.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
I decided to break the news by easy stages. "Supposing we had a way to
get off this planet. To go to the earth, or III Arcturus, or somewhere
we could live like human beings again. Wouldn't you want to go?"
Clive laughed. "I've never had so much fun in my life," he said. "Here
I'm everything I wanted to be. I've got a nice political boss, and I'm
the chief executive of a whole planet. I'm also the Supreme Court and
one third of the voters. I've got more wealth than a nabob, and no
pressing appointments with people I don't like."
Rosemary looked up at him.
"You like me?"
"Certainly," Clive said. "Woman has always been the dominant sex--the
stronger sex if you like. On earth she invented the idea that man
was the Big Shot, but that was to keep men from being discontented.
Equality of the sexes always has been a myth, but I didn't realize it
until civilization was reduced to its simplest form."
"What about you, Dave?" Rosemary asked.
"Personally, I like life on easier terms," I said. "Not that it isn't
pleasant here, but we have to work so hard. And we've been lucky not
to have had any real sickness, except for the time Clive ate a clam
and that wasn't serious. But sooner or later we're going to need the
science of medicine. And if we don't need that, we're going to have to
have something else that civilization has and we haven't. Furthermore,
man is a gregarious animal. He may kid himself about how nice it would
be to live on a desert island, but no matter how anti-social he is, he
doesn't feel right without others around him. Even if it's only to be
disagreeable with them."
"Isn't civilization a lot like the gold and precious stones in the
temple?" asked Clive. "The stuff is no good unless we need it."
"But it's wrong to have useful things and not use them," I said. "It's
miserly."
"Okay," said Clive. "But we have no other choice."
"But we have," Rosemary broke in. "I just told Dave that I have a
spaceship. You can go away if you wish, or stay. It's up to you. I
didn't tell you before, because I hadn't made up my own mind. Now I
have."
"It's my mind that has to be made up," I said. "I'm the only one of
us who can pilot a spaceship. No matter what you want to do, I've got
quite a say in the matter."
* * * * *
Clive sat down on the ground beside me. "So you're the most important
one. You're the king for a day. If we want to go back to civilization,
you're the only one who can take us."
"Right," I said. "When we landed, you were top man because you were
a big wheel. Right away Rosemary took the sceptre because she was a
woman, and women are scarce. Now I'm President of Everything."
"It's a democracy," said Rosemary. "We'll vote on it."
"In view of the importance of the occasion, we should have a debate
first," said Clive.
"You first, Dave," said Rosemary.
"Okay," I said. "We've shared everything and since you've both probably
guessed it anyhow, I'll admit that I'm in love with Rosemary. She
hasn't given me the chance to tell her alone, so I'll tell the world.
Here I've got a 50-50 chance of getting her, maybe better, because
I'm nearer her own age. But away from here the odds go down. I'll go
if Rosemary goes, and if she'll have me. Otherwise, we'll stay. Maybe
Clive and I will have to fight for you, Rosemary."
"You next, Clive," said Rosemary.
"If Rosemary goes with you, Dave," said Clive, "we'll fight. We're
about evenly matched. Perhaps you're a little younger, but I'm still in
my prime and I've got experience. If Rosemary stays with me, and lets
you go away, there'll be no fight. In either event, it looks like I'm
stuck here, because I can't imagine you taking Rosemary and I back to
civilization if you lost her."