53

Nora Xanthan and Ned Bronsky sat on the carpet in the Sloan City library with their backs against adjacent bookcases.

"What time is it?" Nora said.

"It's a quarter after four," Ned said.

Nora gave a respectful whistle. "I guess I'd better think about going home pretty soon," she said.

"Aww," said Ned.

Nora smiled.

"At least have another Yoo Hoo."

"Er, okay, just one more." Ned unscrewed the metal cap from the yellow bottle. "What are you reading now?"

"'Does A Bee Care?'"

"Oh, who's it by?"

"It's by Asimov."

"Is it science fiction?"

"More or less. Basically, there is this engineer called Dr. Hammer working at something like a Cape Canaveral. He's working on a space flight but he's stuck on these certain design problems he can't work out.

"So he's working late one night and he walks outside and sees this guy called Kane, who is like a janitor."

Ned nodded.

"Kane is not supposed to be on the base at this hour. Dr. Hammer goes up to Kane and puts his hand on his shoulder and says something like, 'Kane! What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here this late, it's after hours, what are you doing?'

"Kane is friendly and doesn't really get the idea that he's breaking the rules. He says, 'Hi, Dr. Hammer. I was just looking at the stars.'

"So basically, when Dr. Hammer puts his hand on Kane's shoulder, something happens in Dr. Hammer's mind. He hadn't been concentrating on the flight, not since he walked outside, but certain kinds of math, certain kinds of engineering hurdles, he can visualize them in a new way.'"

Ned listened patiently and nodded.

"Dr. Hammer basically gets distracted and forgets all about Kane, or just lets him go, because he's too busy rushing back inside to take down his notes before the insight disappears. Whatever it is Kane made him realize, it lets them do something on the flight which they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

"Mm hmm?" said Ned.

"So the days go by and one day this fat old manager bursts into Hammer's office. 'I demand you fire Kane!' he says. 'He's lazy. He never does any work. He just hangs around.'

"'Leave him alone, Lengyel,' Hammer says. 'He's lucky. He's my luck.' Lengyel defers to Hammer, because Hammer is this whiz kid of the flight and Lengyel is superstitious and doesn't want to jinx it. So he leaves Kane alone from then on."

"So Lengyel is like Hammer's boss?" Ned asked.

"Yeah. He might be a peer, like another engineer. They're working on similar stuff."

"So why is Hammer stuck hiring and firing janitors?"

"Umm," Nora said. "That's a good question, but that's how it is in the original. Shhh!" she smiled. "Just let me finish. I'm almost done."

"Okay," Ned said, smiling. He drank his Yoo Hoo and listened.

"So the day of the launch comes. Hammer is hanging around, tense about a million details. He doesn't want anything to go wrong. When it's only a few hours until liftoff, he thinks he can see a person wandering around by the rocket.

"'No one's supposed to be down there!' he cries. Hammer himself has lots of, um, security clearances, so he tears through the various gates and comes to the launchpad and he sees ..."

"Kane," Ned said.

"Right! Kane! Again Hammer is like, 'What are you doing out here, Kane?'

"And Kane goes, 'I don't know, Dr. Hammer, I mean, I just feel like I have to be here. I'm supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be up there.' Kane is gesturing up into the rocket. Hammer protests that it's an unmanned flight but Kane, he isn't belligerent or aggressive at all, it's such a foregone conclusion to him that he's going, that he doesn't bother to even argue with Hammer, or even to discuss it with him. Hammer is beginning to feel like there is something fishy going on, or that there's some connection between Kane and the rocket and the strange flashes of insight that Hammer gets whenever Kane is around.

"So Hammer says to Kane, 'What are you? Who are you?'"

"And Kane says, 'I don't know, Doc. All I know is, I've waited eight thousand long years for this moment."

"Hammer is incredulous. 'Kane,' he says, 'Do you mean to say that all mankind's advancement in technology was just a stepping stone to put you into space?"

"Kane doesn't say yea or nay. He just climbs the ladder. Hammer doesn't try to stop him. He backs off. And Kane is gone."

"Interesting," Bronsky said.

"It's one of my favorites," Nora said. "Every time we haul ourselves up into this library, I read that story again, first, before I go on to something else."

"Every day, huh?"

Nora nodded.

"What is it about that story that you like so much?"

Nora herself was peering dreamily out the open skylight to the stars. She didn't answer. Ned put his Yoo Hoo on the counter. He put his arm around Nora, and they both looked at the stars.