Finches of Mars by Brian W. Aldiss Read Free Book Online

swept away both Bordeaux and Toulouse with a gesture of his hand. ‘We require those fine personalities here because we need hope in the world. Such personalities represent a saner future. No more missile systems but systems of civilised living. Such is my hope.’
    â€˜Hope? But it is hope that overcomes all difficulties and takes us to Mars. The colony has now been working for—what? Almost ten years. No living child born as yet, malheureusement, but … You are hoping against hope because you can see this world of ours, this worn old world, is still without sanity or balance, despite all the wise and well-intentioned personalities there have ever been, of both sexes, over the centuries.’
    Amboise sighed. ‘Yes, and also those millions who live quiet lives. Who perform minor good works for the unfortunate—the feeding of cripples, let’s say, the reading of stories to illiterates—in their squares and streets and possibly homes. But perhaps they did not disturb themselves with hope and had to live for the day.’
    â€˜That’s a waste of resources, sir. A vegetable existence. It’s better to be pessimistic, to worry about the world, to reach out for a new thing, a new chance, to be never satisfied.’ Mangalian paused, remembering. So he had let Rosemary go; she was now but a name. ‘I grew up among brothers and sisters. We were happy but mischievous. We regretted we lived confined to such a small island as San Salvador. Excellent swimmers, yes, but poor thinkers. Perhaps that may be what prompts me as an adult to regret we live on such a small planet.’
    â€˜â€¦ and Mars is even smaller,’ said Amboise, smiling falsely.
    â€˜You’ll find that its land area is the equal in extent to Earth’s.’
    With his hands in his pockets, Amboise strolled about in a circle, thinking, his shadow forming a confused pattern at his feet. The cat moved cautiously away from him. ‘We are not getting far, Mr Mangalian. Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” My hope is also for tomorrow, that you can retain your useful scheme of UU, but you do not send into exile people who are our “hope for tomorrow”.’
    Impatiently, Mangalian said, ‘There is a conflict of hope. You do not, I believe, hope at all. You fear. If I agree with that quote from what’s-his-name, I do truly hope for tomorrow, hope for, strive for, a new and better existence on our neighbouring world.’
    Amboise gave a strained laugh. ‘As a keen horseman, I have no wish to be ever on Mars. I understand that the planet suffers from permanent grass shortage.’
    Mangalian shrugged. ‘Maybe, in time, our descendants will discover existences far beyond the modest world of Mars. Human beings will always struggle for greater understanding. We know conditions will be harsh initially, but we shall triumph.’
    â€˜Conditions will not be harsh. They will be impossible.’
    â€˜You see, you have no hope! In any case, I cannot halt what already has momentum beyond my control. You should voice your fears elsewhere. Come to a UU meeting. I must go. I have another appointment.’
    He nodded curtly to the Professor of Medical Studies, rose, and walked out of the courtyard. The cat followed him as far as the gate.
    An armed guard, Yat, awaited him outside the premises. He cared for Mangalian as if he were his child.
    And Mangalian, when he was a small boy, long before he was big enough to think of chasing women, had certainly loved his father.
    San Salvador was not a large island. It grew sugar cane. Mangalian’s father had been a sharecropper—cast off by his employers without pension as was the custom at the age of sixty. He walked with the aid of a staff taller than himself, painted white. He walked slowly, so that his son could easily keep up with him.
    His father liked to stroll by the