"Yes it is," said Rackham.
"Oh, from the vast medical research facilities of the International Fleet there comes a cure for a condition that is suffered by only one person on Earth?"
"Not at all," said Rackham. "The cure will have to come from others. What we offer you is the ability to wait until it's ready. We offer you a starship, and lightspeed, and an ansible so you can be told when to come home."
Precisely the "gift" they gave Rackham himself, when they thought they might need him to command all the fleets when they arrived at the various Bugger worlds. The chance of survival rang inside him like the tolling of a great bell. He couldn't help it. If there was anything that had ever driven him, it was that hunger to survive. But how could he trust them?
"And in return, what do you want from me?"
"Can't this be part of your retirement package from the fleet?"
Rackham was good at keeping a straight face, but Bean knew he couldn't be serious. "When I come back, there's going to be some poor young soldier I can train?"
"You're not a teacher," said Rackham.
"Neither were you."
Rackham shrugged. "So we become whatever we need to be. We're offering you life. We'll continue to fund research on your condition."
"What, using my children as your guinea pigs?"
"We'll try to find them, of course. We'll try to cure them."
"But they won't get their own starships?"
"Bean," said Rackham. "How many trillions of dollars do you think your genes are worth?"
"To me," said Bean, "They're worth more than all the money in the world."
"I don't think you could pay even the interest on that loan."
"So I don't have as high a credit rating as I hoped."
"Bean, take this offer seriously. While there's still time. Acceleration is hard on the heart. You have to go while you're still healthy enough to survive the voyage. As it is, we'll be cutting it rather fine, don't you think? A couple of years to accelerate, and at the end, a couple more to decelerate. Who gives you four years?"
"Nobody," said Bean. "And you're forgetting. I have to come home. That's four more years. It's already far too late."
Rackham smiled. "Don't you think we've taken that into account?"
"What, you've figured out a way to turn while traveling at lightspeed?"
"Even light bends."
"Light is a wave."
"So are you, when you're traveling that fast."
"Neither of us is a physicist."
"But the people who planned our new generation of messenger ship are," said Rackham.
"How can the I.F. afford to build new ships?" asked Bean. "Your funding comes from Earth and the emergency is over. The only reason the nations of Earth even pay your salaries and continue to supply you is because they're buying your neutrality."
Rackham smiled.
"Somebody's paying you to keep developing new ships," said Bean.
"Speculation is pointless."