The Answer
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The Answer - H. Beam Piper
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Answer, by Henry Beam Piper
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Answer
Author: Henry Beam Piper
Release Date: May 8, 2006 [EBook #18342]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANSWER ***
Produced by Greg Weeks, Geetu Melwani, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's notes.
This etext was produced from Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, December, 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the copyright on this publication was renewed.
A number of typographical errors found in the original text have been corrected in this version. A list of these errors is found at the end of this book.
The Answer
by
H. Beam Piper
For a moment, after the screen door snapped and wakened him, Lee Richardson sat breathless and motionless, his eyes still closed, trying desperately to cling to the dream and print it upon his conscious memory before it faded.
Are you there, Lee?
he heard Alexis Pitov's voice.
Yes, I'm here. What time is it?
he asked, and then added, I fell asleep. I was dreaming.
It was all right; he was going to be able to remember. He could still see the slim woman with the graying blonde hair, playing with the little dachshund among the new-fallen leaves on the lawn. He was glad they'd both been in this dream together; these dream-glimpses were all he'd had for the last fifteen years, and they were too precious to lose. He opened his eyes. The Russian was sitting just outside the light from the open door of the bungalow, lighting a cigarette. For a moment, he could see the blocky, high-cheeked face, now pouched and wrinkled, and then the flame went out and there was only the red coal glowing in the darkness. He closed his eyes again, and the dream picture came back to him, the woman catching the little dog and raising her head as though to speak to him.
Plenty of time, yet.
Pitov was speaking German instead of