“One…”

With his eyes closed, Norman thought, People always forget that they have power, anyway.

“Two…”Harry said.

And then Norman focused his mind. With a sudden intensity he saw the sphere again, shining like a star, perfect and polished, and he thought: I want to forget I ever saw the sphere.

And in his mind’s eye, the sphere vanished.

“Three,” Harry said.

“Three what?” Norman said. His eyes ached and burned. He rubbed them with his thumb and forefinger, then opened them. Beth and Harry were sitting around the table in the decompression chamber with him. They all looked tired and depressed. But that was to be expected, he thought, considering what they had all been through.

“Three what?” Norman said again.

“Oh,” Harry said, “I was just thinking out loud. Only three of us left.”

Beth sighed. Norman saw tears in her eyes. She fumbled in her pocket for a Kleenex, blew her nose.

“You can’t blame yourselves,” Norman said. “It was an accident. There was nothing we could do about it.”

“I know,” Harry said. “But those people suffocating, while we were in the submarine… I keep hearing the screams… God, I wish it had never happened.”

There was a silence. Beth blew her nose again.

Norman wished it had never happened, too. But wishing wasn’t going to make a difference now.

“We can’t change what happened,” Norman said. “We can only learn to accept it.”

“I know,” Beth said.

“I’ve had a lot of experience with accident trauma,” he said. “You simply have to keep telling yourself that you have no reason to be guilty. What happened happened-some people died, and you were spared. It isn’t anybody’s fault. It’s just one of those things. It was an accident.”

“I know that,” Harry said, “but I still feel bad.”

“Keep telling yourself it’s just one of those things,” Norman said. “Keep reminding yourself of that.” He got up from the table. They ought to eat, he thought. They ought to have food. “I’m going to ask for food.”

“I’m not hungry,” Beth said.

“I know that, but we should eat anyway.”

Norman walked to the porthole. The attentive Navy crew saw him at once, pressed the radio intercom. “Do anything for you, Dr. Johnson?”

“Yes,” Norman said. “We need some food.”

“Right away, sir.”

Norman saw the sympathy on the faces of the Navy crew. These senior men understood what a shock it must be for the three survivors.

“Dr. Johnson? Are your people ready to talk to somebody now?”

“Talk?”

“Yes, sir. The intelligence experts have been reviewing the videotapes from the submarine, and they have some questions for you.”

“What about?” Norman asked, without much interest. “Well, when you were transferred to the SDC, Dr. Adams mentioned something about a squid.”

“Did he?”

“Yes, sir. Only there doesn’t seem to be any squid recorded on the tapes.”

“I don’t remember any squid,” Norman said, puzzled. He turned to Harry. “Did you say something about a squid, Harry?”

Harry frowned. “A squid? I don’t think so.”

Norman turned back to the Navy man. “What do the videotapes show, exactly?”

“Well, the tapes go right up to the time when the air in the habitat… you know, the accident…”

“Yes,” Norman said. “I remember the accident.”

“From the tapes, we think we know what happened. Apparently there was a leak in the habitat wall, and the scrubber cylinders got wet. They became inoperable, and the ambient atmosphere went bad.”

“I see.”

“It must have happened very suddenly, sir.”

“Yes,” Johnson said. “Yes, it did.”

“So, are you ready to talk to someone now?”

“I think so. Yes.”

Norman turned away from the porthole. He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and felt a piece of paper. He pulled out a picture and stared at it curiously.

It was a photograph of a red Corvette. Norman wondered where the picture had come from. Probably a car that belonged to someone else, who had worn the jacket before Norman. Probably one of the Navy people who had died in the underwater disaster.

Norman shivered, crumpled the picture in his fist, and tossed it into the trash. He didn’t need any mementos. He remembered that disaster only too well. He knew he would never forget it for the rest of his life.

He glanced back at Beth and Harry. They both looked tired. Beth stared into space, preoccupied with her own thoughts. But her face was serene; despite the hardships of their time underwater, Norman thought she looked almost beautiful.

“You know, Beth,” he said, “you look lovely.”

Beth did not seem to hear, but then she turned toward him slowly. “Why, thank you, Norman,” she said.

And she smiled.