Mr. Vaughn shook his head unhappily. "They don't do it that way."
"You told me yourself that weight was everything. You even got rid of your chess set."
"We could afford thirty pounds of chess sets, or china, or cheese, where we can't afford thirty pounds of dog."
"I don't see why not."
"Let me explain. Surely, it's weight; it's always weight in a space ship. But it isn't just my hundred and sixty pounds, or your hundred and twenty, not Charlie's hundred and ten. We're not dead weight; we have to eat and drink and breathe air and have room to move -- that last takes more weight because it takes more ship weight to hold a live person than it does for an equal weight in the cargo hold. For a human being there is a complicated formula -- hull weight equal to twice the passenger's weight, plus the number of days in space times four pounds. It takes a hundred and forty-six days to get to Venus -- so it means that the calculated weight for each of us amounts to six hundred and sixteen pounds before they even figure in our actual weights. But for a dog the rate is even higher -- five pounds per day instead of four."
"That seems unfair. Surely a little dog can't eat as much as a man? Why, Nixie's food costs hardly anything."
Her husband snorted. "Nixie eats his own rations and half of what goes on Charlie's plate. However, it's not only the fact that a dog does eat more for his weight, but also they don't reprocess waste with a dog, not even for hydroponics."
"Why not? Oh, I know what you mean. But it seems silly."
"The passengers wouldn't like it. Never mind; the rule is: five pounds per day for dogs. Do you know what that makes Nixie's fare? Over three thousand dollars!"
"My goodness!"
"My ticket comes to thirty-eight hundred dollars and some, you get by for thirty-four hundred, and Charlie's fare is thirty-three hundred -- yet that confounded mongrel dog, which we couldn't sell for his veterinary bills, would cost three thousand dollars. If we had that to spare -- which we haven't -- the humane thing would be to adopt some orphan, spend the money on him, and thereby give him a chance on an uncrowded planet...not waste it on a dog. Confound it! -- a year from now Charlie will have forgotten this dog."
"I wonder."
"He will. When I was a kid, Ihad to give up dogs -- more than once they died, or something. I got over it. Charlie has to make up his mind whether to give Nixie away...or have him put to sleep." He chewed his lip. "We'll get him a pup on Venus."
"It won't be Nixie."
"He can name it Nixie. He'll love it as much."
"But -- Charles, how is it there are dogs on Venus if it's so dreadfully expensive to get them there?"
"Eh? I think the first exploring parties used them to scout. In any case they're always shipping animals to Venus; our own ship is taking a load of milch cows."
"That must be terribly expensive."
"Yes and no. They ship them in sleep-freeze of course, and a lot of them never revive. But they cut their losses by butchering the dead ones and selling the meat at fancy prices to the colonists. Then the ones that live have calves and eventually it pays off." He stood up. "Nora, let's go to bed. It's sad -- but our boy is going to have to make a man's decision. Give the mutt away, or have him put to sleep."
"Yes, dear." She sighed. "I'm coming."
Nixie was in his usual place at breakfast -- lying beside Charlie's chair, accepting tidbits without calling attention to himself. He had learned long ago the rules of the dining room: no barking, no whining, no begging for food, no paws on laps, else the pets of his pet would make difficulties. Nixie was satisfied. He had learned as a puppy to take the world as it was, cheerful over its good points, patient with its minor shortcomings. Shoes were not to be chewed, people were not to be jumped on, most strangers must be allowed to approach the hOuse (subject, of course, to strict scrutiny and constant alertness) -- a few simple rules and everyone was happy. Live and let live.
He was aware that his boy was not happy even this beautiful morning. But he had explored this feeling carefully, touching his boy's mind with gentle care by means of his canine sense for feelings, and had decided, from his superior maturity, that the mood would wear off. Boys were sometimes sad and a wise dog was resigned to it.
Mr. Vaughn finished his coffee, put his napkin aside. "Well, young man?"
Charlie did not answer. Nixie felt the sadness in Charlie change suddenly to a feeling more aggressive and much stronger but no better. He pricked up his ears and waited.
"Chuck," his father said, "last night I gave you a choice. Have you made up your mind?"
"Yes, Dad." Charlie's voice was very low.
"Eh? Then tell me."
Charlie looked at the tablecloth. "You and Mother go to Venus. Nixie and I are staying here."
Nixie could feel anger welling up in the man...felt him control it. "You're figuring on running away again?"
"No, sir," Charlie answered stubbornly. "You can sign me over to the state school."
"Charlie!" It was Charlie's mother who spoke. Nixie tried to sort out the rush of emotions impinging on him.
"Yes," his father said at last, "I could use your passage money to pay the state for your first three years or so, and agree to pay your support until you are eighteen. But I shan't."
"Huh? Why not, Dad?"
"Because, old-fashioned as it sounds, I am head of this family. I am responsible for it -- and not just food, shelter, and clothing, but its total welfare. Until you are old enough to take care of yourself I mean to keep an eye on you. One of the prerogatives which go with my responsibility is deciding where the family shall live. I have a better job offered me on Venus than I could ever hope for here, so I'm going to Venus -- and my family goes with me." He drummed on the table, hesitated. "I think your chances are better on a pioneer planet, too -- but, when you are of age, if you think otherwise, I'll pay your fare back to Earth. But you go with us. Understand?"
Charlie nodded, his face glum.
"Very well. I'm amazed that you apparently care more for that dog than you do for your mother -- and myself. But -- "
"It isn't that, Dad. Nixie needs -- "
"Quiet. I don't suppose you realize it, but I tried to figure this out -- I'm not taking your dog away from you out of meanness. If I could afford it, I'd buy the hound a ticket. But something your mother said last night brought up a third possibility."
Charlie looked up suddenly, and so did Nixie; wondering why the surge of hope in his boy.
"I can't buy Nixie a ticket...but it's possible to ship him as freight."
"Huh? Why, sure, Dad! Oh, I know he'd have to be caged up -- but I'd go down and feed him every day and pet him and tell him it was all right and -- "
"Slow down! I don't mean that. All I can afford is to have him shipped the way animals are always shipped in space ships...in sleep-freeze."
Charlie's mouth hung open. He managed to say, "But that's -- "
"That's dangerous. As near as I remember, it's about fifty-fifty whether he wakes up at the other end. But if you want to risk it -- well, perhaps it's better than giving him away to strangers, and I'm sure you would prefer it to taking him down to the vet's and having him put to sleep."
Charlie did not answer. Nixie felt such a storm of conflicting emotions in Charlie that the dog violated dining room rules; he raised up and licked the boy's hand.
Charlie grabbed the dog's ear. "All right, Dad," he said gruffly. "We'll risk it -- if that's the only way Nixie and I can still be partners."
Nixie did not enjoy the last few days before lcaving; they held too many changes. Any proper dog likes excitement, but home is for peace and quiet. Things should be orderly there -- food and water always in the same place, newspapers to fetch at certain hours, milkmen to supervise at regular times, furniture all in its proper place. But during that week all was change -- nothing on time, nothing in order. Strange men came into the house (always a matter for suspicion), and he, Nixie, was not even allowed to protest, much less give them the what-for they had coming.
He was assured by Charlie and Mrs. Vaughn that it was "all right" and he had to accept it, even though it obviously was not all right. His knowledge of English was accurate for a few dozen words but there was no way to explain to him that almost everything owned by the Vaughn family was being sold, or thrown away...nor would it have reassured him. Some things in life were permanent; he had never doubted that the Vaughn home was first among these certainties
By the night before they left, the rooms were bare except for beds. Nixie trotted around the house, sniffing places where familiar objects had been, asking his nose to tell him that his eyes deceived him, whining at the results. Even more upsetting than physical change was emotional change, a heady and not entirely happy excitement which he could feel in all three of his people.