THE WIND PEOPLE
BY MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
Inhabited only by whispering winds,
Robin's World was a paradise for the
wrong two people—Eve and her son....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1959.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
It had been a long layover for the Starholm's crew, hunting heavyelements for fuel—eight months, on an idyllic green paradise of aplanet; a soft, windy, whispering world, inhabited only by trees andwinds. But in the end it presented its own unique problem.
Specifically, it presented Captain Merrihew with the problem of Robin,male, father unknown, who had been born the day before, and a monthprematurely, to Dr. Helen Murray.
Merrihew found her lying abed in the laboratory shelter, pale and calm,with the child beside her.
The little shelter, constructed roughly of green planks, looked outon the clearing which the Starholm had used as a base of operationsduring the layover; a beautiful place at the bottom of a wide valley,in the curve of a broad, deep-flowing river. The crew, tired of beingshipbound, had built half a dozen such huts and shacks in these eightmonths.
Merrihew glared down at Helen. He snorted, "This is a fine situation.You, of all the people in the whole damned crew—the ship's doctor!It's—it's—" Inarticulate with rage, he fell back on a ridiculouslyinadequate phrase. "It's—criminal carelessness!"
"I know." Helen Murray, too young and far too lovely for a ship'sofficer on a ten-year cruise, still looked weak and white, and hervoice was a gentle shadow of its crisp self. "I'm afraid four years inspace made me careless."
Merrihew brooded, looking down at her. Something about ship-gravityconditions, while not affecting potency, made conception impossible; nochild had ever been conceived in space and none ever would. On planetlayovers, the effect wore off very slowly; only after three monthsaground had Dr. Murray started routine administration of anticeptin tothe twenty-two women of the crew, herself included. At that time shehad been still unaware that she herself was already carrying a child.
Outside, the leafy forest whispered and rustled, and Merrihew knewHelen had forgotten his existence again. The day-old child was tuckedup in one of her rolled coveralls at her side. To Merrihew, he lookedlike a skinned monkey, but Helen's eyes smoldered as her hands movedgently over the tiny round head.
He stood and listened to the winds and said at random, "These shackswill fall to pieces in another month. It doesn't matter, we'll havetaken off by then."
Dr. Chao Lin came into the shack, an angular woman of thirty-five. Shesaid, "Company, Helen? Well, it's about time. Here, let me take Robin."
Helen said in weak protest, "You're spoiling me, Lin."
"It will do you good," Chao Lin returned. Merrihew, in a sudden surgeof fury and frustration, exploded, "Damn it, Lin, you're making it allworse. He'll die when we go into overdrive, you know as well as I do!"
Helen sat up, clutching Robin protectively. "Are you proposing to drownhim like a kitten?"
"Helen, I'm not proposing anything. I'm stating a fact."
"But it's not a fact. He won't die in overdrive b