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It was part of a promotional advertisement of a world called Rythar, "the jewel of the Sirian Solar System." The description made it obvious that Rythar was the green paradise where Mryna lived the place she had been taught to call Earth. And the pamphlet had been addressed to "Earthmen everywhere." Mryna made her second find when she was fifteen, a textbook in astronomy.
She had something else to say to the people of Rythar now: not that the gods were men, but that men were mad. Believe in the taboos; send up the sacrificial ores. It was a small price to pay to keep that madness away from Rythar. And Mryna knew she could not go back. With the Wheel gone, she could never return to Rythar; the auto-pickup was carrying her inexorably toward Earth.
Rythar, according to the film, was one of a score of colonies established by Earth. It was unbelievably rich in deposits of uranium. That, Mryna surmised, was the name of the sacrificial ore they sent up in the god-cars. The atmosphere and gravity of Rythar duplicated that of Earth; Rythar should have become the largest colony in the system.
At the same time the armed man fired. The discharge missed her and washed against the transmission machinery. Blue fire exploded from the room. The three men screamed in agony. Concussion threw Mryna helplessly toward the rim again. And the Guardian Wheel was plunged into darkness. Mryna's head swam; her shoulder seethed with pain where she had banged into the wall.
All the kids went through the ruins from time to time. They had worked out a sort of charm that made it all right. They ran past the burned out shells of the old houses and they kept their eyes shaded to ward off the Sickness. But even at fourteen Mryna had outgrown charms and she didn't believe in the Sickness.
"I'm ready," Mryna said steadily. "Send up your warships and destroy me." She waited. Less than ten minutes were left. Her shuttle began to move more slowly. She was no more than a mile above Earth. She saw the soaring cities and the white highways twisting through green fields. Seven minutes left. Where were the warships? She looked anxiously through the viewport and the sky was empty.
An incidental by-product of the Guardian Wheel is the hospital facility, where advanced cases of certain cancers and lung diseases have been cured in a reduced gravity or by exposure to cosmic radiation." Mryna shut off the projection. The words made sense, but the results did not. And she knew precisely why Earth had failed. When they matured in those three words she had her answer.
Five freshly laundered uniforms, identical to the one she had lost in the antiseptic wash, hung on a rack behind the door. Mryna stripped off the makeshift she was wearing and put on one of the uniforms; she found boots under the desk. When she was dressed, she stood admiring herself in the polished surface of the metal door. She was a handsome woman, and she was very conscious of that.
Tell your children the truth when they ask for it. Tell us, please. We can adjust to it. We're just as human as you are." Mryna drew a long breath. Her lips were trembling. Did this man understand what she had tried to say? She would never know. If she failed, Earth in spite of its generosity and its courage would one day be destroyed by children bred on too many delusions.
Mryna pulled away, drawing her shoulders back proudly. Why should she feel afraid? She stood a head taller than this dried up stranger; she knew the Earthwoman's strength would be no match for hers. "My name is Mryna Brill," she said quietly. "I came up in a god-car from Rythar." "Rythar?" The woman's mouth fell open. She whispered the word as if it were profanity.
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