The Old Man of the Stars by John Burke

people who had spread out across the universe.
    â€œAdmittedly,” he said frankly, “the results of that expansion have been terrible. We cannot be proud of what our race has done. But is that any excuse for giving up our quest and settling down to a placid life in these surroundings? We said we would make the journey to Earth. We accepted a challenge. Are you going to give up now? If comfort is going to come before the sense of adventure, the human race is certainly doomed—and despite everything bad that has happened, I believe the human race should still strive and take risks, and ask questions.”
    He tried to put across to them his own conviction of the cosmic importance of this return to Earth. It was difficult. To them it was only a name. They had not been the pioneers: they were not going home.
    But suddenly Eve jumped up and stood beside him. She cried: “What’s wrong with everybody? Are you all afraid to face what may be waiting on Earth? It’s not just laziness and the desire for comfort that’s keeping you here: it’s cowardice. I’ve never seen Earth, and I’ve never seen Elysium. I know which is the nearer now, and I want to get there. I don’t want to die of boredom. At least while we were in the ship we were travelling—we were going somewhere, and wondering what it would be like. If we settle down here there will be no wonder left. We’ll know everything that is ever likely to happen to us. I want to strike out into the unknown—to ask questions and find the answers, and still keep asking questions....”
    She lashed them with her youthful, impetuous fury. Matthew listened, his mind in a turmoil. At one moment he caught her mother’s eye. Alida was staring at him, something also like fear in her eyes; and then there was compassion and a strange resignation in the place of fear.
    The arguments were over. Some of the men and women would stay, but several of them, including Dr. Richard, would carry on to the end of the journey. And there were actually some volunteers from Platonia. Several of the young men and women, and one or two middle-aged people, joined the crew.
    There were enough of them to take the ship safely to Earth.
    Matthew caught Eve’s hand and held it. They both laughed wildly, foolishly.
    Alida came up to them. She said to Matthew: “I shall come, too. Clifford would have wanted it. My daughter is quite right, and I’m proud of her. I want to see this journey through to the end.”

CHAPTER SIX
    They were all five years older. Perhaps some of them regretted the decision they had taken. Perhaps they dreamed sometimes of the Platonian tranquillity just as, earlier, the original members of the crew had dreamed of Elysium. But they had come, and here they were in the spaceship as it spun down at last through the solar system that Matthew remembered.
    He was very silent. There was no exultation in his mind: only a numbness that made it impossible for him to describe his feelings, even to himself.
    The sun glowed in familiar skies. The pattern of stars was one that he remembered from a distant past that suddenly seemed very close.
    Eve stood by him in the control room. Every now and then she asked some question and he responded automatically. He did not let himself think of Eve too much. She was beautiful now, and he was afraid of her beauty. He wanted her as he had never wanted any woman before: but at the back of his mind was the knowledge that she would grow old while he stayed unnaturally young. For her sake he would not let her go through that experience.
    The ship quivered with the thrust of its retarding blasts. Slowly it entered Earth’s atmosphere.
    Now Matthew was to be put to the test. He sat rigid, afraid of what they would find. He had driven these people on: he had urged them to come with him, to keep travelling until they reached the home of their ancestors; and what would they find?
    It was as though