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“ And what was in the box?” Victor said.
“How well do you do with symbolism and cosmic irony, old friend?”
“Thus far I’m doing well enough with lung and Freud,” Victor said. He could not help but
smile.
Talbot held tightly to the old technician’s hand as he said, “It was an old, rusted Howdy
Doody button.”
Victor turned around.
When he turned back, Talbot was grinning. “That’s not cosmic irony, Larry...it’s slapstick,”
Victor said. He was angry. It showed clearly.
Talbot said nothing, simply let him work it out.
Finally Victor said, “What the hell’s that supposed to signify, innocence?”
Talbot shrugged. “I suppose if I’d known, I wouldn’t have lost it in the first place. That’s
what it was, and that’s what it is. A little metal pinback about an inch and a half in diameter, with
that cockeyed face on it, the orange hair, the toothy grin, the pug nose, the freckles, all of it, just the
way he always was.” He fell silent, then after a moment added, “It seems right.”
“And now that you have it back, you don’t want to die?”
“I don’t need to die.”
“And you want me to freeze you.”
“Both of us. “
Victor stared at him with disbelief. “For God’s sake, Larry!”
Nadja stood quietly, as if she could not hear them.
“Victor, listen: Martha Nelson is in there. A wasted life. Nadja is out here. I don’t know why
or how or what did it...but...a wasted life. Another wasted life. I want you to create her mite, the
same way you created mine, and send her inside. He’s waiting for her, and he can make it right,
Victor. All right, at last. He can be with her as she regains the years that were stolen from her. He
can be--I can be--her father when she’s a baby, her playmate when she’s a child, her buddy when
she’s maturing, her boy friend when she’s a young girl, her suitor when she’s a young woman, her
lover, her husband, her companion as she grows old. Let her be all the women she was never
permitted to be, Victor. Don’t steal from her a second time. And when it’s over, it will start
again....”
“How, for Christ sake, how the hell how? Talk sense, Larry! What is all this metaphysical
crap?”
“I don’t know how; it just is! I’ve been there, Victor, I was there for months, maybe years,
and I never changed, never went to the wolf; there’s no Moon there...no night and no day, just
golden light and warmth, and I can try to make restitution. I can give back two lives. Please,
Victor!”
The physicist looked at him without speaking. Then he looked at the old woman. She smiled
up at him, and then, with arthritic fingers, removed her clothing.
When she came through the collapsed lumen, Talbot was waiting for her. She looked very
tired, and he knew she would have to rest before they attempted to cross the orange mountains. He
helped her down from the ceiling of the cave, and laid her down on soft, pale yellow moss he had
carried back from the islets of Langerhans during the long trek with Martha Nelson. Side-by-side,
the two old women lay on the moss, and Nadja fell asleep almost immediately. He stood over them,
looking at their faces.
They were identical.
Then he went out on the ledge and stood looking toward the spine of the orange mountains.
The skeleton held no fear for him now. He felt a sudden sharp chill in the air and knew Victor had
begun the cryonic preservation.
