There was nothing in Turing for us, nothing inside any of the domes where our people had once lived. The life of Venus was outside those domes now, growing and evolving, a living Cytherian biosphere. Like the pyramids of ancient Earth, once meant to be gateways to another life, the domes of Venus had fulfilled their purpose.
We flew south, over the green plateau of Lakshmi and the sheer cliffsides of the Himalayan Maxwell massif, then over another green plain, and found ourselves above the greenish-blue expanse of a Venusian ocean. Soon we were passing over Venus’s other great continent, the equatorial landmass formed from Aphrodite Terra. The jumbled ridges of the west had sprouted trees with wide fronds; a jungle of green plants and colorful flowers had come to Aphrodite. On the plateaus we had known as Ovda and Thetis, the land resembled large flat tiles of green, and I spied a moss-covered slope that might once have been an Island dome. Our craft dropped down as we soared over the chasm of Diana, a deep scar on the land over three kilometers deep with a great river running through it; we followed that crevasse east to a region marked by recent lava flows and dominated by the giant shield volcano of Maat Mons. The temperature, according to our instruments, was much warmer here than in the highlands of Ishtar, as warm as the tropical areas of Earth.
This continent, with its rugged and widely varying terrain, would be hard to settle. I supposed that we would come to live on Ishtar first, as had the first settlers here, before exploring Aphrodite.
As our craft lifted, I caught a glimpse of a large tawny-furred animal slinking under a leaf that resembled a fern and then saw a tiny winged creature land on a leafy tree limb. I thought of the birds and cats and small apes and other animals that had once lived on the Islands and wondered if I had seen their descendants, or if these were life-forms made for and adapted to this planet. Had they been left here to evolve without interference, or put here as companions for any future human settlers? That was yet another question that might never be answered.
We flew north once more, toward Ishtar, and landed southwest of the Maxwell Mountains, on another green plain that stretched toward the greenish-blue sea. The mountain ridge loomed in the northeast, the rocky cliffsides so steep that they might have been part of a wall.
Another shuttlecraft was on the plain, near a gentle slope that led down to the sea; that craft sat on its runners atop the flat surface of a faceted white boulder that glittered like a diamond. Carbon oxides, I thought, some of the residue of terraforming; more of the giant gems jutted from the land along the shore. Five figures in silver suits stood next to the diamond boulder. One of them turned, saw us, and lifted a hand.
I recognized the black mustache of Suleiman Khan and waved to him. He waved back and quickly began to climb toward us. “We’ve picked up some readings from the ocean,” he said as he came to my side. “There’s life there, Mahala, some algae, something very like plankton, a few creatures that resemble large hydras, even a few relatives of crustaceans.”
“Nothing on the land here, though,” another man’s voice said, “except of course the grasses and mosses. There’s nothing that resembles animal life.”
“Maybe not here,” Ragnar said, “but we still have some exploration to do. We saw signs of animal life on Aphrodite Terra, and I suspect we’ll find something here.”
“Yes,” Suleiman said, “God willing, perhaps we will. I didn’t think this would actually happen, that we would stand here and breathe the air of Venus. I did not think—” He paused. “I have come home at last.” He looked happy in his tears.
Angharad stood with Jori, looking out at the sea as the wind rose. It wrinkled the vast blue-green ocean, making whitecaps on the water. The gray clouds were growing thicker again; soon the sun was hidden behind them.
“A storm is coming,” Benzi said. Ah Lin and Tomas had already retreated inside our craft. “We should leave.”
“We’ll come back.” I gazed at my daughter and Jori, thinking of the life they might make for themselves here. We would have to plan environments in which to house ourselves, tend this biosphere, see that Venus never reverted to the hot and hellish and poisonous world it had once been.
I must have smiled then. “Mahala, what are you thinking about?” Ragnar asked.
I was thinking: All of the efforts of the Project, all of the paths we had taken in our lives, the long voyage of the Seeker—all of it had been to bring us back here, to ensure that this small human strain would survive on the world that so many of our ancestors had labored to create. My bond with Iris and Risa and all of those who had come before me had been strengthened and renewed. The instincts that had given me my daughter, that had given me that genetic tie to the past, had also given birth to this world.
The wind rose over the gray ocean, then died as the dark clouds fled from the sun. The storm would not come right away, not yet. I slipped my hand into Ragnar’s and went with him to stand next to Angharad. We watched the sea become blue-green again, in the light of the sun glistening and dancing on the waves.
About the Author
Pamela Sargent sold her first published story during her senior year in college at the State University of New York at Bing-hamton, where she earned a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy and also studied ancient history and Greek. She is the author of several highly praised novels, among them Cloned Lives (1976), The Sudden Star (1979), The Golden Space (1982), The Alien Upstairs (1983), and Alien Child (1988). Her novel Venus of Dreams (1986) was selected by The Easton Press for its “Masterpieces of Science Fiction” series; Gregory Benford described it as “a sensitive portrait of people caught up in a vast project. It tells us much about how people react to technology’s relentless hand, and does so deftly. A new high point in humanistic science fiction.” Venus of Shadows (1988), the sequel, was called “a masterly piece of world-building” by James Morrow and “alive with humanity, moving, and memorable” by Locus. The Shore of Women (1986), one of Sargent’s best-known books, was praised as “a compelling and emotionally involving novel” by Publishers Weekly, Gerald Jonas of the New York Times said: “I applaud Ms. Sargent’s ambition and admire the way she has unflinchingly pursued the logic of her vision.” The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre’s best writers.”
Sargent is also the author of Earthseed (1983), chosen as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and two collections of short fiction, Starshadows (1977) and The Best of Pamela Sargent (1987). Her novels Watchstar (1980), Eye of the Comet (1984), and Homesmind (1984) comprise a trilogy. She has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award. Her work has been translated into French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Polish, and Serbo-Croatian.
Ruler of the Sky (1993), Sargent’s epic historical novel about Genghis Khan, published in the United States by Crown Publishers and in Britain by Chatto 8c Windus, tells the Mongol conqueror’s story largely from the points-of-view of women. Gary Jennings, bestselling author of the historical novels Aztec and The Journeyer, said about Ruler of the Sky. “This formidably researched and exquisitely written novel is surely destined to be known hereafter as the definitive history of the life and times and conquests of Genghis, mightiest of Khans.” Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of Reindeer Moon and The Hidden Life of Dogs, commented: “Scholarly without ever seeming pedantic, the book is fascinating from cover to cover and does admirable justice to a man who might very well be called history’s single most important character.”
Sargent is also an editor and anthologist. In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s, and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace & Company/Harvest Books
in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” With artist Ron Miller, she collaborated on Firebrands: The Heroines of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1998), published by Thunder’s Mouth Press in the U.S. and Collins & Brown/Paper Tiger in the U.K.
Her novel Climb the Wind: A Novel of Another America was published by HarperPrism in January of 1999 and was a finalist for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. Gahan Wilson, writing in Realms of Fantasy, calls this book “a most enjoyable and entertaining new alternate history adventure … which brings a new dimension to the form,” while Science Fiction Chronicle describes it as “a first class work from a first class writer.” Child of Venus, the third novel in Sargent’s Venus trilogy, is appearing from Eos simultaneously with reissues of Venus of Dreams and Venus of Shadows, the first two novels in this trilogy, in both print-on-demand trade paperbacks and downloadable editions in electronic formats from the electronic publisher e-reads.com.
Pamela Sargent lives in upstate New York. Her World Wide Web site is located at:
http://www.engel-cox.org/sargent/index.html
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2001 by Pamela Sargent
ISBN 978-1-4804-9747-4
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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Child of Venus Page 53