Nemesis by Isaac Asimov Read Free Book Online Page B

Earth are starving. We’re always collecting food shipments to send to Earth.”
    “
Some
people go hungry. It’s not universal.”
    “Well, you certainly can’t expect Marlene to live under such conditions.”
    “Billions of children do.”
    “And mine won’t be one of them,” said Insigna fiercely.
    All her hopes lay in Marlene now. She was going on ten months of age, had two small teeth in the upper gum, two in the lower, could shamble about holding onto the rods of her playpen, and looked at the world with those wondering intelligent eyes.
    Fisher was still clearly fond of his unpretty daughter; more fond than ever, in fact. When he wasn’t dandling her, he was staring at her and remarking fondly on her beautiful eyes. He stressed her one lovely feature and it seemed to make up to him for everything else that was lacking.
    Surely Fisher would not go back to Earth if it meant leaving Marlene forever. Insigna, somehow, lacked any confidence that he would choose her, the woman he hadloved and married, over Earth, but surely Marlene would be the sticking point.
    Surely?
9.
    The day after the vote, Eugenia Insigna found Fisher white with rage. He said, or choked out, “It was a fixed vote.”
    She said, “Sh! You’ll wake the baby.”
    And for a moment, he grimaced and visibly held his breath.
    Insigna relaxed just a bit and said in a small voice, “There’s no question that the people want to go.”
    “Did
you
vote to go?”
    She considered. There was no use trying to placate him by lying. She had made her feelings obvious enough. She said, “I did.”
    He said, “Pitt ordered you to, I suppose.”
    That caught her by surprise. “No! I’m capable of making my own decisions.”
    “But you and he—” He let it trail off.
    She felt her blood pressure rise suddenly. “What do you mean?” she said, angry now in her turn. Was he going to accuse her of infidelity?
    “That—that politician. He’s heading for Commissioner at any price. Everyone knows that. And you’re planning to rise with him. Political loyalty will get you someplace, too, won’t it?”
    “Where will it get me? There’s no place I want to get. I’m an astronomer, not a politician.”
    “You’ve been promoted, haven’t you? You’ve been pushed over the head of older, more experienced people.”
    “Through hard work, I like to think.” (How was she going to defend herself now, without being able to tell him the truth?)
    “I’m sure you do like to think that. But it was through Pitt.”
    Insigna drew a deep breath. “Where is this leading us?”
    “Listen!” His voice was low, as it had been since she had reminded him that Marlene was sleeping. “I cannotbelieve that a whole Settlement of people are going to risk traveling with hyper-assistance. How do you know what will happen? How do you know it will work? It could kill us all.”
    “The Far Probe worked well.”
    “Were there living things on this Far Probe? If not, how do you know how living things will react to hyper-assistance? What do you know about hyper-assistance?”
    “Not a thing.”
    “Why not? You’re working right there in the laboratory. You’re not working on the farms, as I am.”
    (He
is
jealous, thought Insigna.) Aloud, she said, “When you say
the
laboratory, you seem to imply we’re all piled together in one room. I told you. I’m an astronomer and I know nothing about hyper-assistance.”
    “You mean that Pitt never tells you anything about it?”
    “About hyper-assistance? He doesn’t know himself.”
    “Are you telling me no one knows?”
    “Of course I’m not telling you that. The hyperspatialists know. Come on, Crile. Those who are supposed to know, know. Others don’t.”
    “To all except the specialist few, it’s a secret, then.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Then you don’t really know that hyper-assistance is safe. Only the hyperspatialists know. How do you suppose they know?”
    “I assume they’ve