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Homesick, by Lyn Venable
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homesick, by Lyn Venable 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: Homesick
Author: Lyn Venable
Illustrator: Ed Emshwiller
Release Date: August 3, 2009 [EBook #29599]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration]
Homesick
By LYN VENABLE
Illustrated by EMSH
What thrill is there in going out among the stars if coming back means bitter loneliness?
Frankston pushed listlessly at a red checker with his right forefinger. He knew the move would cost him a man, but he lacked enough interest in the game to plot out a safe move. His opponent, James, jumped the red disk with a black king and removed it from the board. Gregory, across the room, flicked rapidly through the pages of a magazine, too rapidly to be reading anything, or even looking at the pictures. Ross lay quietly on his bunk, staring out of the viewport.
The four were strangely alike in appearance, nearly the same age, the age where gray hairs finally outnumber black, or baldness takes over. The age when the expanding waistline has begun to sag tiredly, when robust middle age begins the slow accelerating decline toward senility.
A strange group to find aboard a spaceship, but then