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Star Mother · Astounding Sci-Fi Story Collection

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  Speaker 1: Star Mother. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Jan Morrison. Star
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  Speaker 1: Mother by Robert F. Young, A touching story of the
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  Speaker 1: most enduring love in all eternity. That night, her son
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  Speaker 1: was the first star. She stood motionless in the garden,
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  Speaker 1: one hand pressed against her heart, watching him rise above
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  Speaker 1: the fields where he had played as a boy, where
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  Speaker 1: he had worked as a young man. And she wondered
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  Speaker 1: whether he was thinking of those fields now, whether he
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  Speaker 1: was thinking of her, standing alone in the april night,
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  Speaker 1: with her memories, whether he was thinking of the verandied
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  Speaker 1: house behind her, with its empty rooms in silent halls,
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  Speaker 1: that once upon a time had been his birthplace. Higher still,
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  Speaker 1: and higher he rose in the southern sky, and then
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  Speaker 1: when he had reached his zenith, he dropped swiftly down
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  Speaker 1: past the dark edge of the earth and disappeared from sight.
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  Speaker 1: A boy grown up too soon, riding round and round
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  Speaker 1: the world on a celestial carousel, encased in an air
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  Speaker 1: tight metal capsule, in an air tight metal chariot. Why
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  Speaker 1: don't they leave the stars alone? She thought, why don't
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  Speaker 1: they leave the stars to God. The General's second telegram
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  Speaker 1: came early the next morning, Explorer twelve doing splendidly, Expect
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  Speaker 1: to bring your sun down some time tomorrow. She went
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  Speaker 1: about her work as usual, collecting the eggs and allocating
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  Speaker 1: them in their cardboard boxes, then setting off in the
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  Speaker 1: station wagon on her Tuesday morning run. She had expected
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  Speaker 1: a deluge of questions from her customers. She was not disappointed.
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  Speaker 1: Is Terry really way up there all alone? Martha? Aren't
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  Speaker 1: you scared? Martha? I do hope they can get him
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  Speaker 1: back down, all right, Martha, She supposed. It must have
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  Speaker 1: given them quite a turn to have their egg woman
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  Speaker 1: change into a star mother overnight. She hadn't expected the
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  Speaker 1: TV interview, though, and she would have avoided if it
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  Speaker 1: had been politely possible. But what could she do when
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  Speaker 1: the line of cars and trucks pulled into the drive
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  Speaker 1: and the technicians got out and started setting up their
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  Speaker 1: equipment in the back yard. What could she say? When
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  Speaker 1: the suave young man came up to her and said,
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  Speaker 1: we want you to know that we're all very proud
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  Speaker 1: of your boy up there, ma'am, and we hope you'll
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  Speaker 1: do us the honor of answering a few questions. Most
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  Speaker 1: of the questions concerned Terry, as was fitting from the
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  Speaker 1: way the suave young man asked them, though she got
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  Speaker 1: the impression that he was trying to prove that her
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  Speaker 1: son was just like any other average American boy, and
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  Speaker 1: such just didn't happen to be the case. But whenever
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  Speaker 1: she opened her mouth to mention, say how he had
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  Speaker 1: used to study till all hours of the night, or
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  Speaker 1: how difficult it had been for him to make friends
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  Speaker 1: because of his shyness, or the fact that he had
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  Speaker 1: never gone out for football, whenever she started to mention
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  Speaker 1: any of these things, the suave young man was in
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  Speaker 1: great haste to interrupt her and to twist her words
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  Speaker 1: by requestioning into a different meaning altogether till Terry's behavior
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  Speaker 1: pattern seemed to coincide with the behavior pattern which the
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  Speaker 1: suave young man apparently considered the norm, but which, if followed,
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  Speaker 1: Martha was sure would produce not young men bent on
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  Speaker 1: exploring space, but young men bent on exploring trivia. A
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  Speaker 1: few of the questions concerned herself. Was Terry her only child? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: what had happened to her husband? He was killed in
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  Speaker 1: the Korean War. What did she think of the new
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  Speaker 1: law granting Star Mother's top priority on any and all
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  Speaker 1: information relating to their sons. I think it's a fine law.
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  Speaker 1: It's too bad they couldn't have shown similar humanity toward
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  Speaker 1: the war mothers of World War II. It was late
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  Speaker 1: in the afternoon by the time the TV crew got
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  Speaker 1: everything repacked into their cars and trucks and made their departure.
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  Speaker 1: Martha fixed herself a light supper, then donned an old
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  Speaker 1: Slaye jacket of Terry's, and went out into the garden
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  Speaker 1: to wait for the sun to go down. According to
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  Speaker 1: the timetable the General had outlined in his first tell,
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  Speaker 1: Terry's first Tuesday night passage wasn't due to occur until
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  Speaker 1: nine o five, but it seemed only right that she
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  Speaker 1: should be outside when the stars started to come out.
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  Speaker 1: Presently they did, and she watched them wink on one
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  Speaker 1: by one in the deepening darkness of the sky. She'd
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  Speaker 1: never been much of a one for the stars most
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  Speaker 1: of her life. She'd been much too busy on Earth
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  Speaker 1: to bother with things celestial. She could remember when she
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  Speaker 1: was much younger and Bill was courting her, looking up
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  Speaker 1: at the moon sometimes, and once in a while when
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  Speaker 1: a star fell, making a wish. But this was different.
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  Speaker 1: It was different because now she had a personal interest
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  Speaker 1: in the sky, a new affinity with its myriad inhabitants.
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  Speaker 1: And how bright they became when you kept looking at them.
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  Speaker 1: They seemed to come alive, almost pulsing brilliantly down out
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  Speaker 1: of the blackness of the night. And there were different
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  Speaker 1: colors too, she noticed with a start. Some of them
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  Speaker 1: were blue, and some were red. Others were yellow, green, orange.
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  Speaker 1: It grew cold in the april garden, and she could
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  Speaker 1: see her breath. There was a strange crispness, a strange
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  Speaker 1: clarity about the night that she had never known before.
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  Speaker 1: She glanced at her watch, was astonished to see that
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  Speaker 1: the hands indicated two minutes after nine. Where had the
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  Speaker 1: time gone? Tremulously she faced the southern horizon and saw
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  Speaker 1: her terry appear in his shining chariot, riding up the
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  Speaker 1: star pebbled path of his orbit, a star in his
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  Speaker 1: own right, dropping swiftly now down, down and out of
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  Speaker 1: sight beyond the dark, wheeling mass of the Earth. She
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  Speaker 1: took a deep, proud breath, realized that she was wildly
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  Speaker 1: waving her hand and let it fall slowly to her side.
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  Speaker 1: Make a wish, she thought, like a little girl, and
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  Speaker 1: she wished him pleasant dreams and a safe return, and
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  Speaker 1: wrapped the wish in all her love and cast it starward.
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  Speaker 1: Some time tomorrow, the general's telegram had said. That meant
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  Speaker 1: some time to day. She rose with the sun and
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  Speaker 1: fed the chickens, fixed and ate her breakfast, collected the
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  Speaker 1: eggs and put them in their cardboard boxes, then started
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  Speaker 1: out on her Wednesday morning, Run my land, Martha. I
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  Speaker 1: don't see how you stand it with him way up there.
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  Speaker 1: Doesn't it get on your nerves? Yes, yes it does, Martha.
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  Speaker 1: When are they bringin him back down to day to day?
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  Speaker 1: It must be wonderful being a star, mother, Martha. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it is in a way wonderful and terrible. If only
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  Speaker 1: he can last it out for a few more hours,
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  Speaker 1: she thought, If only they can bring him down safe
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  Speaker 1: and sound, then the vigil will be over and some
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  Speaker 1: other mother can take over the awesome responsibility of having
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  Speaker 1: a son become a star. If only the General's third
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  Speaker 1: telegram arrived that afternoon, regret to inform you that meteorite
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  Speaker 1: impact on satellite hull severely damaged capsule detachment mechanism making
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  Speaker 1: ejection impossible. Will make every effort to find another means
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  Speaker 1: of accomplishing your son's return. Terry, see the little boy
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  Speaker 1: playing beneath the maple tree, moving his tiny cars up
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  Speaker 1: and down the tiny streets of his make believe village.
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  Speaker 1: The little boy, his fuzz of hair gold in the sunlight,
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  Speaker 1: his cherub cheeks pink in the summer wind. Terry up
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  Speaker 1: the lane, the blue denimed young man walks, swinging his
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  Speaker 1: thin tanned arms, his long legs, making near grown up
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  Speaker 1: strides over the sun seared grass. The sky blue and
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  Speaker 1: bright behind him, the song of Secata rising and falling
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  Speaker 1: in the hazy September air. Terry probably won't get a
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  Speaker 1: chance to write you again before take off. But don't worry, Ma.
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  Speaker 1: The Explorer twelve is the greatest bird they ever built.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing short of a direct meteorite hit can hurt it,
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  Speaker 1: and the odds are a million to one. Why don't
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  Speaker 1: they leave the stars alone? Why don't they leave the
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  Speaker 1: stars to God? The afternoon shadows lengthened on the lawn,
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  Speaker 1: and the sun grew red and swollen over the western hills.
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  Speaker 1: Martha fixed supper, tried to eat and couldn't. After a while,
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  Speaker 1: when the light began to fade, she slipped into Terry's
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  Speaker 1: jacket and went outside. Slowly, the sky darkened and the
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  Speaker 1: stars began to appear. At length, her star appeared, but
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  Speaker 1: its swift passage blurred before her eyes. Tires crunched on
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  Speaker 1: the gravel then, and headlights washed the darkness from the drive.
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  Speaker 1: A car door slammed. Martha did not move. Please God,
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  Speaker 1: she thought, let it be Terry, even though she knew
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  Speaker 1: that it couldn't possibly be Terry. Footsteps sounded behind her, paused,
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  Speaker 1: some one coughed softly. She turned. Then good evening, ma'am.
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  Speaker 1: She saw the circlet of stars on the gray epaulet.
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  Speaker 1: She saw the stern, handsome face. She saw the dark,
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  Speaker 1: tired eyes, and she knew even before he spoke again,
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  Speaker 1: she knew the same meteorite that damaged the ejection mechanism
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  Speaker 1: man it penetrated the capsule too. We didn't find out
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  Speaker 1: till just a while ago, but there was nothing we
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  Speaker 1: could have done anyway. Are you all right, ma'am? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I'm all right. I wanted to express my regrets personally.
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  Speaker 1: I know how you must feel it's all right. We will,
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  Speaker 1: of course make every effort to bring back his remains
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  Speaker 1: so that he can have a fitting burial on earth. No,
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  Speaker 1: she said, I beg your pardon, ma'am. She raised her
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  Speaker 1: eyes to the patch of sky where her sun had
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  Speaker 1: passed in his shining metal sarcophagus. Sirius blossomed there, blue,
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  Speaker 1: white and beautiful. She raised her eyes still higher and
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  Speaker 1: beheld the vast partera of Orion, with its central motif
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  Speaker 1: of vivid forget me nots, its far flung blooms of
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  Speaker 1: bethel Goose, and rigel of Bellatrix and Saif. And higher yet,
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  Speaker 1: and there flamed the exquisite flower beds of Taurus and Gemini.
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  Speaker 1: There burgeoned the riotous wealth of the Crab. There lay
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  Speaker 1: the pulsing petals of the Pliades, And down the elliptic
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  Speaker 1: garden path, wafted by a stellar breeze, drifted the ochre
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  Speaker 1: rows of Mars. No, she said again, the General had
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  Speaker 1: raised his eyes too. Now slowly he lowered them. I
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  Speaker 1: think I understand, ma'am, and I'm glad that's the way
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  Speaker 1: you want it. Stars are beautiful to night, aren't they
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  Speaker 1: more beautiful than they've ever been, she said. After the
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  Speaker 1: General had gone, she looked up once more at the
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  Speaker 1: vast and variegated garden of the Sky where her son
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  Speaker 1: lay buried. Then she turned and walked slowly back to
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  Speaker 1: the memoried house. The End of Star Mother by Robert F.
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  Speaker 1: Young