Child of Venus

by Pamela Sargent

  “Dyami mentioned his early times in Turing before I left,” Mahala said. “He said they were the happiest times of his life.”

  “Maybe Sagan will be a place like that,” Risa said, “in which case anybody applying to go there now might have a chance at something different, a chance to learn from the Habbers. I often wish that I’d valued learning more when I was younger. And there would also be the work of establishing a new settlement. That’s something to look back on and to take pride in when you get to be my age.”

  Ah Lin nodded. “You’ve given me something to think about, Risa. Everybody says that you always seemed to have a sense about what was going on that might not be obvious to other people and that you knew how to take advantage of it.”

  Risa shook her head. “Those stories are exaggerated.”

  “You’re one of the most influential people in Oberg,” Ellie said.

  “That’s also an exaggeration. I’ve simply lived here longer than most people. When you’re around long enough, people often assign you more importance than you actually have.” Risa rested a hand on Mahala’s shoulder as she got to her feet. “I’ve said what I have to say. It’s time for me to go home.”

  Mahala looked up. “Should I—”

  “Stay here, child,” her grandmother interrupted, “and visit with your friends.”

  June 653

  From: Mahala Liangharad, Oberg

  To: Chike Enu-Barnes, Turing

  I’ve already sent a message to Solveig, but I wanted to tell you, too, before we talk about this.

  I’ve decided to apply to be one of the first to settle in Sagan. I have a feeling you’re thinking of doing the same thing. Part of it is that I’ve been living with my uncle long enough, and it’s time for me to start making my own life. Being here, seeing what’s happened to some of my childhood friends—there are a few, like Ah Lin Bergen, who decided to set up their own households or live with friends, but several of them are still members of their family’s households, and the ones who aren’t have bondmates and homes in Oberg. They’re doing just what they expected to do, and you get the feeling their children may do the same. A few have moved to settlements where there’s more space, but after a while, many of them may end up living in the same way they would have here, with their bondmates and their households and...

  Not that I’m holding myself above them. The fact is that I can understand it, staying with people who care about you and living that way, settling into the kind of life most people have here. That would be easier than wanting something else and not even being that sure of what it is that you want, the way it is with both of us.

  Anyway, I’ll be very surprised if Solveig doesn’t try to get on the first list for Sagan. They won’t need teachers yet, but she could do other kinds of work. Dyami and Amina and Tasida would miss us, but they would understand, especially since they did the same thing themselves when they were our age. Dyami was even encouraging me to consider moving to Sagan before I left to come here.

  What really surprised me is that my grandmother is suggesting that I do the same thing. Here I was, thinking that once I got here, Risa would start hinting that this was my home once and that living with Dyami was all very well but that maybe I should consider coming back to Oberg and she could always add another room if she had to, and instead she’s saying that Sagan may offer us a chance to learn and provide opportunities we might not otherwise have. I had just about made up my mind to try for the new settlement anyway, but having her encouragement along with Dyami’s doesn’t hurt.

  You’ll want to go there, too, I’m sure of it. You’d want to go even if I didn’t. I think I know you well enough to predict that. But I’ll tell you this now anyway.

  My grandmother sent a message to Benzi. She mentioned it to me. She told him that the old might be content to look back, but that young people should look forward, and that the young people here were meeting and talking and wondering if anything was going to come of this new era. I don’t think she expected a message, but she got one, and here it is in its entirety:

  Tell them that their patience will be rewarded, and that the stars will soon be within our reach.

  20

  The passenger cart carrying Mahala and Solveig emerged from the lighted tunnel that connected Turing’s north and south domes and continued along the wide main road. Mahala glanced at the forested area on her right The trees were still thick, but more houses stood on the land that had been cleared near the woods; a wide roadway for passenger carts now ran through the forest Turing was getting more crowded.

  Mahala had passed bom her written and medical simulation tests and had won her physician’s pin four months ago, just after returning from her visit to Oberg. She had been correct in thinking that this would give her a better chance at getting on the fist for Sagan; the new settlement needed physicians, since not many had applied to go there.

  Solveig, happily, would be going to Sagan with her. There would be work for her in the greenhouses and with the diggers and crawlers, on which she was already training. Chike would also be going. He had sent a message only a few hours ago informing her of that, followed by another saying that he had heard from their former schoolmate Stephan An-nasLeonards, and that Stephan would be meeting them in Sagan. Mahala, intrigued, had called up more records and had found out that all of the students who had been with her on Anwara had also been chosen for the settlement.

  “What are you brooding about?” Solveig asked.

  “Just that it seems quite a coincidence that everybody who came to Anwara with us is also going to Sagan.”

  “I thought so, too, but maybe it isn’t so strange. The Administrators would see that we were able to adapt to Anwara, so they might assume that all of us could adapt even more easily to living in a new settlement.”

  Mahala wondered if the Administrators had actually made the final decisions about who would go to Sagan. Their cyberminds would have eliminated the obviously unsuitable from the list, and the Administrators would also have conferred with Councilors in each of the surface settlements, but there had been rumors for some time that Habbers had also been consulted, perhaps as a bow to the announced new era of cooperation and friendship.

  The cart came to a stop; the four people sitting in front of them in the vehicle got out and walked toward the long metal wall of the refinery. On Mahala’s left, across from the refinery on the other side of the wide main road, a few people were taking an exercise break outside the large glassy dome of the ceramics plant. The cart rolled on toward the airship bay at the end of the road.

  A new wing had been added to the dormitory that housed the pilots who had to stay over in Turing. Mahala and Solveig had thought of sending Frania a message, but then had decided to come here to tell her their news. Frania, who had arrived in Turing after last light, had claimed in her message that she did not want to stay in her own house, since Ragnar would not be there and she did not want to disturb anyone using it as a temporary residence; it was easier for her to stay with the other pilots, since she would be leaving in two days anyway.

  The cart stopped near the entrance to the airship bay. Mahala followed Solveig out of the cart and toward the dormitory. The entrance opened as they approached; two young men in the blue coveralls of pilots came outside.

  “Looking for somebody?” the dark-haired young man asked.

  “Frania Milus,” Mahala replied.

  “I was Frani’s copilot on this run.” The man slapped his palm against the door, opening it for them.

  In the common room, several pilots in blue coveralls sat on the floor around one of the low tables, drinking tea or beer as they talked. Frania was there, murmuring to the female pilot next to her; everyone at the table suddenly laughed. Frania had cut her hair short since Mahala had last seen her; she sat on a cushion, legs folded, looking happier and more confident than she ever had before.

  She looked up; her smile widened. “Mahala,” she said. “Solveig. I didn’t expect you t
o come all the way over here just to walk me to the house for dinner.” Before Mahala could reply, Frania was asking them to sit down and introducing the other pilots at the table. She seemed more at ease with these people than she ever had in Ragnar’s presence.

  “We have some good news,” Mahala said at last. “Solveig and I are going to be moving to Sagan.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Frania said. Her companions were soon talking about the new settlement. One young woman whose name Mahala had already forgotten told them that she was scheduled to ferry a few people to Sagan from the Islands; a brown-haired young man, flirting with Solveig, went to fetch her and Mahala two glasses of ale.

  The pilots talked of their recent runs and the plans they had made for their brief time off in Turing. Mahala drank her ale, content to listen to them. Frania, usually so quiet, had as much to say as any of her companions.

  After a while, the others drifted outside or off to rooms to rest. “We should probably go,” Frania said.

  “It’s early yet,” Solveig replied.

  “I know, but we might as well take our time.”

  “We can take the long way around through the west dome and stop at your house,” Mahala added.

  Frania’s smile faded. “Other people are living there now,” she said.

  “They wouldn’t mind if you stopped by. After all, it’s still your house.”

  Something flickered in Frania’s eyes. “It’s Ragnar’s house,” she said softly. “That’s how I’ve always thought of it, as Ragnar’s house.” She got to her feet in one swift movement. “Let’s go.”

  They left the dormitory. Frania was silent until they came to the main road. They kept to the side of the road, moving at a slow but steady pace.

  “I am happy about your news,” Frania said at last. “I may see you in Sagan before long. I’ve asked for duty ferrying people and supplies there.”

  “I thought you were scheduled for more of the shuttle routes,” Solveig said. Piloting shuttles meant more opportunities to be with Ragnar on the southern Bat, even for brief visits.

  “I was. I can ask for a change. Most of the younger pilots prefer shuttle duty. It keeps our skills honed, and it means more time on the Islands between trips. They won’t have any problem finding someone to replace me.” Frania’s voice sounded brittle. “I might even decide to move to Sagan myself if they’ll let me.”

  “Is Ragnar thinking of living there?” Solveig asked.

  “Ragnar has another year on Bat duty,” Frania said, “and then he gets some time off, and then he can either go back to the work he had before or sign up for another tour on a Bat.”

  “He wouldn’t do that again,” Solveig said. “He couldn’t.”

  “You haven’t talked to him lately,” Frania said. “You see, he has this idea. If he can earn enough credit to fulfill more of his responsibility to the Project, he can take longer periods of time off, and that means he’ll have more time for his designs and his sculptures. He can do a little work, greenhouse duty and whatever else, just so everyone will know he’s still a functioning member of the community, but most of the time, he wants to do as he likes. He’s not talking about a month or two off—he’s thinking of years.”

  “He can’t,” Solveig said.

  “That’s what I told him. I didn’t want him going to a Bat in the first place. I did everything I could to talk him out of it—I even threatened to go to the Turing Council and ask for permission to break our bond early.”

  “That’s a pretty strong threat,” Mahala said. It was not unknown for bondmates to ask to have their bond severed officially, but the usual practice was to make any necessary arrangements privately and then live apart, as if only temporarily separating. Anyone who could not keep a pledge was considered untrustworthy by others, and perhaps less likely to keep other promises.

  “It was also a pointless threat.” Frania picked up her pace, as if suddenly wanting to get to their destination as quickly as possible. “Ragnar pointed out that if I had wanted to put a clause in our agreement about not volunteering for Bat duty for the duration of our bond, I should have said so before we made our pledge.”

  “But that’s ridiculous,” Mahala said. “Nobody’s going to ask for a promise that might keep a partner from—”

  “I know. I did what anybody else would have done. What I didn’t expect is that he’d come up with the idea of volunteering again and putting in even more—”

  Frania stopped suddenly. Mahala and Solveig stood with her at the side of the road as a passenger cart rolled past them.

  “It isn’t working,” Frania continued. “It isn’t working out at all.” Her head was bowed, her shoulders slumped. The confidence she had shown among her fellow pilots was gone; she was again the shy, uncertain child she once had been. “I thought that I could live like this, but I can’t.”

  “Ragnar must love you,” Solveig said. It was the kind of remark Mahala would expect Solveig to make about her brother, useless and possibly untruthful as it was.

  Frania’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know if he loves me or not. That isn’t why he wanted a bond anyway. He wanted someone to hang on to, somebody to keep him from being completely alone, but he still made sure he picked somebody who would have to go off and leave him by himself most of the time.”

  Mahala felt sympathy for Frania, but her pity for Ragnar was mixed with fury at him for causing her friend pain. “How can he treat you this way?” she asked.

  “Oh, Mahala—I knew what he was like. I saw what our life together was probably going to be like, and then I told myself that maybe I was wrong, that maybe he would change.”

  “So what are you going to do?” Solveig asked. “Break your bond? That might be easier to do here than in some of the other settlements—people here are a little more understanding of such things.”

  “No,” Frania said, “I won’t do that.”

  They continued along the road, Mahala and Solveig on either side of Frania. “What’s the point of an open break anyway?” Frania went on. “That would only make things worse for him, for both of us. We don’t see each other that much, and whether I spend my time off here or in a new settlement doesn’t really matter. If he wants to be alone, he can come back here, but maybe he’ll want to stay with me in Sagan if I’m there. And maybe he’ll decide later that being in Sagan is more interesting than signing up for another stretch on a Bat.” Frania put a hand on Mahak’s arm. “It’ll be different there, won’t it? A new start for the new era—that’s what some are calling it. Maybe that’s what Ragnar needs.”

  Frania left long after last light, in better spirits and with some of the assurance that she had displayed among her fellow pilots restored. She would come back tomorrow, to share another meal and to have more time with her aunt Amina.

  “You needn’t come in early tomorrow,” Tasida said to Mahala after Frania was gone. “We don’t have anything scheduled after first light except analyzing medscans.”

  “That’s why I should be there,” Mahala said. “We should discuss who’s going to replace me.”

  Tasida shrugged. “We’ll have plenty of time for that. It’ll probably be Haroun—he’ll be expecting me to take him on, now that you’re leaving, and he did very well as an apprentice.”

  Chike had sent a message, saying that he would be working a late shift tonight. “I’ll go meet Chike at first light,” Mahala said, “and then join you after that.”

  Tasida glanced at Amina. “It’s good that you’ll both be going to Sagan,” the physician said. Tasida and Amina would not say so outright, but they obviously expected her and Chike to make a pledge before too much longer.

  Solveig yawned. Dyami stood up. “Time to get some sleep,” he said, and then his eyes narrowed. “It seems we have visitors.”

  Mahala turned toward the glassy walls at the front of the common room. The soft glow of a light wand held by a slender shadowy form moved through the darkness, trailed by another indistinct shadow. “Fra
ni’s back,” Mahala said, recognizing the blue of a pilot’s coverall in the light, “and somebody’s with her.”

  Dyami went to the door as it opened. Frania came inside, saying, “We met each other a little way from the bridge, so I thought I might as well walk back with him, and—”

  “Balin,” Dyami said as the Habber emerged from the darkness.

  “I should have sent a message,” Balin said, “but I’ve only been on Island Two for three days, and I didn’t want to tell you anything until—”

  “—and maybe you simply wanted to surprise me,” Dyami said softly.

  “That, too.”

  The two men gazed at each other in silence, and then their arms were around each other. Amina glanced at Tasida, then beckoned to Mahala and Solveig.

  “Come on,” Amina whispered as she led them all to the door; Frania followed them outside.

  “Frani,” Amina said then, “I’ll walk back to the dormitory with you and ask if your comrades can spare me a bed. I’ve got a day-long shift at the refinery, starting early, so I won’t be there long.” She turned toward Mahala. “And maybe you two won’t mind sleeping at the office with Tasida tonight.”

  “Of course not,” Mahala said.

  “Let them have at least a bit of time to themselves.” Amina looked back at the house. “Dyami’s missed him so much. He got past the worst of it, but I wondered if he would ever get completely past it, and now—” She sighed. “I hope it isn’t just for a little while, before Balin leaves again.”

  “Now that I know I’ll be leaving in a month,” Mahala said, “I’m beginning to miss Turing already.”

  “You’re not sorry you agreed to go to Sagan,” Chike said.

  “No, I’m not.”

  She sat with him on a slope overlooking the north dome’s lake. Frania had left Turing; she had not wanted to visit her house herself, but had asked Mahala and Chike to check on it for her. The three young women living there were keeping the place neat and had acquired three cats of their own, who kept the house free of mice and the other small creatures that had established small colonies in all of the settlements despite the best efforts of the settlers. Two of them had asked about the figurines Ragnar had carved in wood or cast in metal that sat on the shelves of one common room wall, wanting to know if they were for sale. Mahala would send a message to Frania about that and let her handle any arrangements.