Time and Again

LII

The silvery ship roared down the launching ramp, slammed into the upcurve and hurled itself into the sky, a breath of fire that blazed against the blue.

"He doesn't know,” said Herkimer, "that we arranged it for him. He does not know we managed him to the last, that we sent Buster out many years ago to establish refuge for him, knowing that someday he might need that refuge."

"Herkimer," said Eva. "Herkimer…"

Her voice choked. "He asked me to go with him, Herkimer. He said he needed me. And I couldn't go. And I couldn't explain."

She kept her head tilted, watching the tiny pinpoint of fire that was fleeing spaceward.

"He had to keep on thinking," Eva said, "that there were some humans he had helped, that there were some humans who still believed in him."

Herkimer nodded. "It was the only thing to do, Eva. It was what you had to do. We took enough from him, enough of his humanity. We could not take it all."

She put her hands up to her face and huddled her shoulders and stood there, an android woman crying out her heart.