Unearthly Neighbors Read Online Free

you back on Earth in about three years if all goes well. We can stall things that long, I think. We want to get going as soon as we can—I don’t have to tell you that if word of this leaks out there’ll be the devil to pay.”
    “Pardon my ignorance, but why?”
    Mark Heidelman smiled. “You don’t know much about politics, Monte. This would be the news sensation of all time. Once the people got wind of it, every government that could throw a spaceship together would start a race for that planet. Any chance of a genuine scientific expedition would go out the window. Those people out there would be tried and convicted a million times over on tri-di-—either as subhuman savages or as dangerous monsters. There might be a blowup—you never know what’s going to happen when people start getting excited. We can’t afford that. We’ve got to have accurate information before this thing breaks.”
    “What happens after you get your accurate information, if you get it?”
    “That depends on what you find out, doesn’t it? After all, those people may be dangerous. We’ve picked you for the job because we think you’re hard-headed enough to stick to the facts.”
    “It’s a fantastic responsibility, you know.”
    “I told you that you were headed for some ulcers. They’re part of the job when you work with the U.N. It isn’t all cocktails and suave diplomacy, you know.” Quite suddenly, Heidelman looked very tired.
    Watching him, Monte had a flash of insight into the problems that faced the man. This Sirius business, crucial as it was, was only one of a vast series of interlocking and never-ending crises. It must have taken a ton of paperwork before the job could even have been offered to him, and at the same time there was the question of what to do about Brazil’s insistence on testing atomic weapons, and the border squabble between France and Germany, and the population explosions in China and India…
    Louise buzzed for another round of drinks and adroitly turned the conversation into quieter channels. She asked Mark about his football-playing days at Notre Dame, and Heidelman responded gratefully by rattling on for fifteen minutes about the virtues of the good old single wing.
    Monte discovered that Mark shared his passion for trout fishing, and they solemnly swore that they would try Beaver Creek together when Monte got back from Sirius Nine.
    By the time Heidelman reluctantly took his leave at two o’clock in the morning, they were all good friends—and that helps a lot in any enterprise.
    While the robot clicked and buzzed around cleaning up the room, Monte began to prowl around aimlessly, too keyed-up to sleep. He felt like a stranger in his own living room. He looked at the familiar books that lined the walls, studied the old early-period Tom Lea paintings he was so fond of, and tramped down the corners of the bright Navaho rugs scattered over the red tiles of the floor. This was his home. Only a few short hours ago his life had been comfortable, his future pleasant and predictable. And now, with the suddenness that was one of life’s most characteristic calling cards, it was all new and strange…
    Louise gently took his arm. “Let’s go look at it,” she said softly.
    At first, he didn’t understand her. Then he snapped his fingers.
    Side by side, they walked over to the picture window and pulled back the drapes.
     
    They looked out into a wintry blaze of stars beyond the black silhouettes of the Colorado mountains. Monte felt a brief, involuntary shiver run through his wife’s body.
    “There it is,” he said, pointing. “Funny—I even remember the name of the constellation: Canis Majoris.”
    “I wonder what constellation we’re in,” Louise said.
    “I never thought it would happen, really. After those completely alien things uncovered by the Centaurus and Procyon expeditions, the human critter seemed like a very unlikely accident. I was reading an article just the other