It was like shouting down a well.
"Pickard!"
"Leave him alone," said Simmons.
"We can't go on without him."
"What'll we do, carry him?" Simmons spat. "He's no good to us or himself. You know what he'll do? He'll just stand here and drown."
"What?"
"You ought to know that by now. Don't you know the story? He'll just stand here with his head up and let the rain come in his nostrils and his mouth. He'll breathe the water."
"No."
"That's how they found General Mendt that time. Sitting on a rock with his head back, breathing the rain. His lungs were full of water."
The lieutenant turned the light back to the unblinking face. Pickard's nostrils gave off a tiny whispering wet sound.
"Pickard!" The lieutenant slapped the face.
"He can't even feel you," said Simmons. "A few days in this rain and you don't have any face or any legs or hands."
The lieutenant looked at his own hand in horror. He could no longer feel it.
"But we can't leave Pickard here."
"I'll show you what we can do." Simmons fired his gun.
Pickard fell into the raining earth.
Simmons said, "Don't move, Lieutenant. I've got my gun ready for you too. Think it over; he would only have stood or sat there and drowned. It's quicker this way."
The lieutenant blinked at the body. "But you killed him."
"Yes, because he'd have killed us by being a burden. You saw his face. Insane."
After a moment the lieutenant nodded.
They walked off into the rain.
It was dark and their hand lamps threw a beam that pierced the rain for only a few feet. After a half hour they had to stop and sit through the rest of the night, aching with hunger, waiting for the dawn to come; when it did come it was gray and continually raining as before, and they began to walk again.
"We've miscalculated," said Simmons.
"No. Another hour."
"Speak louder. I can't hear you." Simmons stopped and smiled. He touched his ears. "My ears. They've gone out on me. All the rain pouring finally numbed me right down to the bone."
"Can't you hear anything?" said the lieutenant.
"What?" Simmons' eyes were puzzled.
"Nothing. Come on."
"I think I'll wait here. You go on ahead."
"You can't do that."