«Oh, come on! You honestly think she's going to choose that boy-child over me?»
«She chose him before she was born.»
«This is your cards shit again, isn't it?»
«Far from it.» She walked round the desk and pointed up at the big family print. «Who is this?» A finger tapped impatiently on Vanstone.
He gave an exasperated sigh. Crazy bitch. Then he looked, really looked at the man's features. All the confidence, all the anger inside him started to chill. «It's . . . But it can't be.»
«Yes, it is,» she said wistfully. «It's Mullen. About ten years older than he is now.»
«What have you done? What is going on here?»
Tiarella grinned ruefully. «Small wonder he frightened the life out of me in that dinghy this morning.» She cocked her head to one side, looking up at Eason. «There's just one last thing to show you.»
He hadn't even known the house had a cellar. Tiarella took a torch to lead him down the slippery stone steps. There was a metal airlock door at the bottom. It was open, leading into a small decontamination chamber. The door at the far end was shut.
«This is Dad's old lab,» Tiarella said as she pumped the manual handle to open the inner door. «The electrics fused in a storm years ago, but it's all still functional, I think.»
Inside, Eason found a world completely removed from the rest of Charmaine. Benches of glassware glinted and sparkled as Tiarella swept the torch beam round. Dead electronic modules sprouted wires and optical fibres to mingle with the tubes, bulbs, and dishes. Autoclaves, freezers, synthesis extruders, and vats stood around the walls, along with cabinets he couldn't begin to understand. Two large computer terminals occupied the central desk, a high-resolution holographic projector on the ceiling above them.
«Most of Charmaine's foliage was spliced together in here,» Tiarella said. «And those pesky firedrakes.»
«Right.»
She came to a halt in front of a large stack of machinery. «What I'm trying to show you, Eason, is that Dad knew what he was doing. He took his master's degree at Kariwak University. Several bitek research labs offered him a position, but he came back here.»
«OK, I believe you. Nyewood was good.»
«Yes. So have you worked it out yet?»
«Tell me.»
«He cloned Vanstone for me. A parthenogenetic clone, identical to the original. There was enough of him left after the accident.»
«Oh Jesus wept. Rousseau said you gave one of your babies away. Twins! He said you had twins.» Then he realized.
«That's right. Dad cloned me as well. He engendered them in here.» She tapped the stack of machinery. «And I nurtured the pair of them in my womb. A second little me, a second little Vanstone, growing together even then. After they were born I kept Althaea here, and gave Mullen to the Church orphanage. He grew up in exactly the same environment as Vanstone did.»
«You really think she's going to fall in love with him, don't you?»
«She already has; she couldn't do anything else. The love between us is too strong, too beautiful. I couldn't let something that wonderful die, not when I had a chance to see it renewed.»
«You used me. You crazy bitch, you used me. You had a lover before Vanstone. That's why you let me come here; to make the conditions for Althaea as close as possible to your time.»
«Of course I did. As you used us to escape whatever it was you were fleeing. Althaea had to learn the difference between a meaningless sexual infatuation and the true love which only Mullen can provide.»
«Crazy bitch! You can't dictate her life like this.»
«But it's my life. And you know she doesn't belong to you. You saw the effect Mullen had on her, and her on him.» She smiled, distant with recollection. «Just like me and my Vanstone. He sneaked back to Charmaine from his parish, you know. Only he did it on a regular trader.»
«It's different this time,» he snarled. «This time, I'm here. She loves me, I know she does.»
Tiarella started to put her hand out towards him, then drew back. «Oh, Eason, I never meant for you to get hurt. What the hell is someone like you doing falling in love anyway?»
«Someone like me?»
«Yes. I thought you were perfect when you turned up at the harbour. A thug on the run; selfish and iron-hearted. Why couldn't you treat her the way you treated everyone else in your life?»
He glared at her, helpless against her sympathy, then ran from the laboratory.
«Don't touch her!» Tiarella shouted after him. «I mean it. You leave her alone.»
Eason didn't need the warning. It was obvious within hours that he'd lost. Althaea and Mullen were so besotted with each other it was scary. The one person he'd ever loved was gloriously happy, and anything he did to stop that happiness would make her hate him for ever.
He didn't know whether to call it destiny or history.
They went to bed together on the second night, the two of them bounding up the stairs after supper. Althaea was in front, carefree and eager.
He watched them go, remembering that night after the funeral, the wretched difference. Tiarella was watching him, her face showing compassion.
«If it means anything, I am sorry,» she said.
«Right.» He rose and went out into the gloaming. Rousseau's stock of despicable home-brew was where he'd left it.
Althaea found him the next morning, sitting on the jetty, looking down at the water. A few scraps of the dinghy's timbers were still wedged between the coral spikes.
She settled down beside him, her face anxious. «Are you all right?»
«Sure. I'm just amazed Ross survived as long as he did. That stuff really is dangerous.»
«Eason. Mullen and I are going to get married.»
«Tough decision, was it?»
«Don't. Please.»
«OK. I'm happy for you.»
«No, you're not.»
«What the hell else can I say?»
She stared out across the ocean. «I'm almost frightened of myself, the way I'm behaving. I know how stupid this is, I've only known him for two days. But I feel it's right. Is it?»
«Know what I think?»
«Tell me.»
«I think that your body is the focus for your mind on this journey. It's guided you home through an awful lot of fog, and now it's time to make a safe landing.»
«Thank you, Eason.»
He put a finger under her chin, and turned her head to face him. «I want to know one thing. And I want you to be completely honest. Did you ever love me?»
«Of course I did.»
Tiarella gave him a quizzical glance as he came into the kitchen and flopped down at the table.
«You'll be happy to hear I'm leaving,» he announced.
Her blatant relief made him laugh bitterly.
«I'm not that heartless,» she protested.
«Oh, yes you are.»
»Orphée and I will take you wherever you want to go.»
«How very conscientious of you; but it's not that simple.»
«What do you mean?» The old suspicion resonated through the question.
«I've thought this through. Wherever I am, I will always think of Althaea. You know that. Which means you and I will always worry that I might come back. Because I know I'll never be able to trust myself, not completely. So what I propose is that I go somewhere that I can't come back from. I'll pay you to take me there, give Charmaine a proper contract to maintain the ride. God knows you can do with the money despite all those ridiculous ideals of yours; it'll be a nice dependable income for Althaea and Mullen to start with, too.»
«What are you talking about? Where do you want to go?»
«The future.»
The zero-tau field was nothing more than a grey eyeblink. An eyeblink that was giddily disorientating. The laboratory instantly changed to a dark, cool room with an uneven polyp ceiling.
Where Tiarella was
leaning over him to switch on the pod a moment before, another figure now straightened up as her finger left the control panel. They looked at each other suspiciously. The girl was about twenty, undoubtedly related to Althaea. He could never mistake that fragile, narrow chin; her skin was ebony, though, with flaming red hair trimmed to a curly bob. Geneering trends had changed a lot, apparently.
«Hi,» he said.
She managed a strong echo of Althaea's shy grin. «I never quite believed it,» she said. «The man in the basement. You're a family legend. When we were little Dad told us you were like a sleeping knight ready to defend Charmaine from evil. Then after I grew up I just thought they were using the zero-tau pod to store botanical samples or something.»
«I'm afraid I'm not a knight, nothing like.» He swung his feet out of the pod, and stepped down. The floor was raw coral. Large cases and plastic boxes were stacked up all around. «Where am I?»
«The basement. Oh, I know what you're thinking. They dismantled the old lab fifty or sixty years ago. The family has membership in an agronomy consortium back on Kariwak. They provide upgrades for Charmaine's groves these days.» She gestured at the stairs.
«What's the date?»
«April nineteenth, 2549.»
«Jesus Christ, a hundred and two years. Is the Confederation still intact?»
«Oh yes.» She gave him an awkward grimace. «Mr Eason, Grandma's waiting.»
«Grandma?» he asked cautiously.
«Althaea.»
He stopped at the foot of the stairs. «That wasn't the deal.»
«I know. She says she'll understand if you want to jump back into the pod for another few days. She doesn't have long to live, Mr Eason.»
He nodded thoughtfully. «Always knew what she wanted, did Althaea. I never said no to her back then.»
The girl smiled, and they started up the stairs.
«So you're her granddaughter, are you?»
«Great-great-granddaughter, actually.»
«Ah.»
He recognized the layout of the house, but nothing more. It was full of rich furnishings and expensive artwork. Too grand for his taste.
Althaea was in the master bedroom. It was painful for him to look at her. Two minutes ago she'd been a radiant seventeen-year-old a week from her wedding day.
«Almost made a hundred and twenty,» she said from her bed. Her chuckle became a thin cough.
He bent over and kissed her. Small black plastic patches were clinging to the side of her wrinkled neck. He could see the outline of more beneath her shawl.
«Still want to fight dragons for me?» she asked.
«'Fraid not. I was rather impressed by that great-great-granddaughter of yours.»
She laughed and waved him into a seat beside the bed. «You haven't changed. Mind you, you haven't had the time.»
«How's Mullen?»
«Oh, him. Been gone five years, now.»
«I'm sorry.»
«We had a century together. That's why I wanted to see you again. I wanted to thank you.»
«What for?»
«For doing what you did. For leaving us alone.» She tilted her head towards the open window. «I loved him, you know. All the time he was alive, and even now, a whole century of love. It was an excellent life, Eason, truly excellent. Oh, I wasn't a saint; I had my share of fooling around when I was younger, so did he. But we stayed together for a hundred years. How about that?»
«I'm glad.»
«I lied to you about the children. Remember the day after you arrived I said I wanted ten.»
«I remember.»
«Course you do; it's only been two months for you. Well, I only had eight.»
«That's a shame.»
«Yes. But, ah, what they achieved. Take a look.» She flicked a pale finger at the window. «Go on.»
So he did. And there was his dream waiting outside. The neat ordered ranks of fruit trees stretching right round the island, a fleet of tractors buzzing down the grassy avenues, and Edenist-style servitor chimps scampering through the branches in search of the bright globes. The red-clay rooftops of a small fishing village; boats bobbing at their moorings along the seven jetties. People walking and cycling everywhere. Adults and children setting up tables and parasols in the garden ready for a party. And, as ever, the firedrakes, noisy flocks of them spiralling and wheeling overhead.
«That's all thanks to you,» she said. «I don't know what would have happened if you'd stayed around. I was so torn. I loved Mullen for a century, but I kept the guilt, too.»
«It's beautiful,» he said.
«You can stay if you want. I'd like you to enjoy it.»
«No. My time here is over.»
«Ha! That's Mother talking.»
«She told you?»
«Oh yes. Mind you, I never told Mullen. It was too weird.»
«She was right, though, wasn't she? You two were made for each other.»
«Yes, damn her, she was right. But that guilt always made me wonder.»
It was called the Torreya Memorial Clinic, a mansion sitting astride the foothills above Kariwak. Long since converted from a private residence, its main wings provided free health care for the city's poor. Of course, such charity was expensive, so the foundation which ran it also provided first-class treatment for those who could afford it. As well as standard medical facilities there was an excellent rejuvenation centre, and for those who wished to give their offspring the best start in life, a geneering department.
Eason waited for Dr Kengai to complete his credit checks, remembering the last time he was in an office, facing down agent Tenvis. The doctor had a much better view over Kariwak than the old Kulu Embassy provided. Although the city was much the same size as it had been a century ago, he was disappointed to see the number of skyscrapers that had sprung up. The sequoias were still there along the central boulevard, and prospering, tall green spires waving gently high above the clutter of white buildings.
«Your financial status appears quite impeccable, Mr Eason,» Dr Kengai said happily.
Eason grinned back with equal sincerity. «Thank you. And you'll have no trouble providing the service I want?»
«A parthenogenetic clone is a relatively straightforward procedure. It poses no difficulty.»
«Good.» He unclipped the silver chain around his neck, and handed over the locket. «Is there sufficient genetic material here?»
Dr Kengai removed the tuft of gold-auburn hair it contained. «You could reproduce several million of her from this.» He teased a single strand loose, and returned the locket.
«I only want one,» Eason said.
«I understand you don't intend to raise the girl yourself?»
«That is correct. I'm going to be away travelling again for a few more years, my ride isn't quite finished.»
«Unfortunately, we do have to reassure ourselves that the child will have a viable home to go to once she is removed from the exowomb. The clinic is not in the business of producing orphans.»
«Don't worry. My lawyer is currently seeking a suitable set of foster parents. A trust fund will pay for her to be brought up out in the archipelago for seventeen years.»
«Then what will happen to her?»
«I'll come back, and she'll marry me. That's when she loves me, you see.»
Timeline
2550 - Mars declared habitable by terraforming office.
2580 - Dorado asteroids discovered around Tunja, claimed by both Garissa and Omuta.
2581 - Omutan mercenary fleet drops twelve antimatter planet-busters on Garissa, planet rendered uninhabitable. Confederation imposes thirty-year sanction against Omuta, prohibiting any interstellar trade or transport. Blockade enforced by Confederation Navy.
2582 - Colony established on Lalonde.
Sonora Asteroid, 2586
Escape Route
Marcus Calvert glanced at the figures displayed on the account block, and tried not to make his relief too obvious. The young waitr
ess wasn't so diplomatic when she read the amount he'd shunted over from his Jovian Bank credit disk and saw he hadn't included a tip. She turned briskly and headed back to the Lomaz bar, heels clicking their disapproval on the metal decking.
It was one of life's more embarrassing ironies that the owner of a multi-million fuseodollar starship didn't actually have any spare cash. Marcus raised his beer bottle ruefully to his two crew-members sitting at the table with him. «Cheers.»
Bottle necks were clinked together.
Marcus took a long drink, and tried not to grimace at the taste. Cheap beer was the same the Confederation over. He was quite an expert on the subject now.
Roman Zucker, the Lady Macbeth 's fusion engineer, shot a mournful look at the row of elegant bottles arranged behind the bar. The Lomaz had an impressive selection of expensive imported beers and spirits. «I've tasted worse.»
«You'll taste a lot better once we get our cargo charter,» said Katherine Maddox, the ship's node specialist. «Any idea what it is, Captain?»
«The agent didn't say; apart from confirming it's private, not corporate.»
«They don't want us for combat, do they?» Katherine asked. There was a hint of rebellion in her voice. She was in her late forties, and like the Calverts her family had geneered their offspring to withstand both free fall and high acceleration. The dominant modifications had given her thicker skin, tougher bones, and harder internal membranes; she was never sick or giddy in free fall, nor did her face bloat up. Such changes were a formula for blunt features, and Katherine was no exception.
«If they do, we're not taking it,» Marcus assured her.
Katherine exchanged an unsettled glance with Roman, and slumped back in her chair.
The combat option was one Marcus had considered regrettably possible. Lady Macbeth was combat-capable, and Sonora asteroid belonged to a Lagrange-point cluster with a strong autonomy movement. An unfortunate combination. But having passed his sixty-seventh birthday two months ago he sincerely hoped those kind of flights were behind him. His present crew deserved better, too. He owed them ten weeks' back pay, and not one of them had pressed him for it yet. They had faith in him to deliver. He was determined not to let them down.
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