Random Chance and the Paradise that is Earth (9 page)

He shrugged helplessly. “Baby …
I’m sorry. You can’t. But you
can
trust me. You
know
me. Do you think I’m capable of doing that to you?
Haven’t I earned a
little
trust?”

“The problem is …” she shook
her head doubtfully “… this takes a
lot
of trust, Rand.”

“Then let me earn it.” He kissed her. “I
love you, Findlay.”

She pulled back, shocked. “What did you
say?”

“Maybe I’m not thinkin’
straight,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I’m afraid I’ve freaked you
out and you’re going to show me the airlock now. Maybe it’s because
interplanetary space can be a pretty lonesome place, even with your
best friend—
friends
—aboard. Or maybe … maybe it’s because it’s real that I said
it. But there you go. I’m being as honest as I can with
you.”

Mia stared into his eyes for a long time.
His declaration warred with her mistrust, which was evident on her
face.

The taxi’s computer said, “Destination in
two minutes. Please gather your belongings. The item stored in the
trunk will be made available through the mail slot once the airlock
seal is confirmed. Thank you for using Vesta’s Besta’s Taxis.”

Chapter
Eight
Four Decent Human Beings
~~*~~

AT THE airlock she turned to face him. “I
need time to think.”

Random held the case with the console. He
glanced down at it, then into her eyes. He nodded.

She raised her hand to touch
his chest, but stopped it before it got there. She turned and
walked into
The Glowing
Girl
. The door slid closed behind
her.

Random sighed and went to the
airlock of
The Pompatus
.

“I’m sorry, Rand,” said Hewey. “She seems
pretty miffed.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Let me in.”

The door slid open. Random, shaking his
head, went in. He dropped the console on the captain’s chair and
walked to his room.

~~*~~

“She’s the only one I’ve trusted enough to
show her what I can do. And now I think I’ve really screwed the
pooch by doing so.”

He stood with his father at the Danwor
Lookout on Mons Olympus’ northeast slope. From here the checkered
pink-green farms of Koowing dotted the Cyani Sulce Plains, visible
even from here hundreds of kilometers away. They were protected by
biodomes and atmospheric shielding, but technology had advanced to
the point that one really had to look to see them.

His father chuckled mirthlessly and leaned
against the railing. “I hate to say this, son, but I’m probably not
the one you should be talking to about this.”

“Why not?”

His father chuckled again. “Two words: your
mother.”

“Why did you marry her?”

His dad shook his head. “The short answer is
I was young and stupid and blinded by hatred—what I once called
love.”

“The Oligarchy?”

“Ideology,” said Jameson Chance. “We
believed in the same things. She was a staffer for a senator from
Europa. I was fresh out of the Academy. We were both intent on
saving the solar system. We were going to put humanity back on the
track to greatness, or some such crap. I’m ashamed to say it to
you, son.”

“Then let’s forget about all that,” said
Random. “You aren’t the same person you were then. I’ve grown to
value your opinions. Jameson Samson Chance, hero: what are your
thoughts about Mia knowing my abilities, and what should I do about
it?”

His father motioned towards the distant
farmland. “Do you know how difficult it was to get anything to grow
on this world?”

Random shook his head.

“It was hell,” said Jameson. “Turned out
there was a tiny percentage of a toxic compound in Martian sand—it
wasn’t soil back then, but sand—that kept seeds from germinating.
Nanotech was just in its infancy. We’re talking a thousand or more
years ago. They tried everything, even leeching the sand to remove
the compound. Nothing worked. Crops grew stunted and weak, if at
all. People thought Mars would never get to the point where it
could sustain itself.

“But then something amazing happened. The
compound was suddenly gone—poof! And the crops … they went crazy.
You wouldn’t think that happened, would you? Mars produces most of
humanity’s food!”

“What happened?” asked Random.

“Those tiny bots they dumped in the sand
evolved,” said Jameson. “They took the compound out of the sand to
a far greater degree than leeching could. It knocked the scientific
community on their butts. Nothing like that had ever happened
outside a laboratory. And then boom!—there it was. Mind you, it
took fifty or sixty years, something like that, but it
happened.”

“So what you’re saying is to give Mia time.
Stop trying so hard. Give her some space. Let her evolve. Is that
it?”

“To be truthful, son, I don’t know what the
hell I’m saying. But what you said there: that sounds pretty good.
Give that a try.”

Random smiled.

~~*~~

“I think he’s right, Rand,” said Hewey.
“Give her some time. I was going to suggest that you install the
hardware, get me and Cubey downloaded into it, then fly off for a
bit. Our fuel cells are no more than a day from being fully
charged. We could jet on outta here, and maybe return in a week or
month or something like that, see how she’s doin’.”

“Where would we go?”

“Hell, I dunno,” said Hewey, chuckling.
“Ceres? Isn’t it a week or so away? Don’t you got some friends
there?”

Random nodded. “More like acquaintances.
Tiny Joey’s there. And so is Mike from school. At least the last
time we waved he was. But that was what?—an Earth-year ago?”

“More like two,” said Hewey. “I’ve still got
the wave.”

“I suppose we could putts around the caves
…”

“Here?”

Random nodded. “We’ve never taken the time
to look at ‘em. Some are supposed to be spectacular. Doesn’t one
even have a bed and breakfast, something like that?”

“Several do. Vesta City is the only city,
but there are a few caves where what you might call townships have
formed. We should check ‘em out.”

“A damn shame,” murmured Random.

“What is?”

“A bed and breakfast? Some
spectacular cave? Isn’t that what
couples
do?”

“I’m sorry, Rand. I was just tryin’ to help
…”

“I’m not angry with you, Hewey. Sorry for
snapping.”

“No apology needed, Honchorito. I’d be
frustrated too.”

“How is Cubey?”

“You certainly have a way with him,” laughed
Hewey. “He’s fine. An update from Phobos arrived; I thought that
would’ve pulled him out of his Deep Thoughts time, but the update
integrated and nothin’ happened. I guess the notion of
exterminating humanity isn’t such a black and white one as we might
think. I’ll be very interested in hearing what he has to say.”

“That makes two of us,” said Random.

~~*~~

He buzzed Mia the next morning.

“Do you still want me to install the
console?”

She gave a hesitant nod, then a weak and
short-lived smile.

“I’ll be over in twenty,” he said, and
clicked off.

~~*~~

She greeted him at the airlock. She went to
give him a kiss, but he walked past her. Tony, Sileen, and Chandra
were all seated at the table having breakfast. They offered to feed
him.

“Got work to do,” he said, holding up the
console. “Thanks anyway.”

They must have sensed his
dogged demeanor, because they nodded uncomfortably and went back to
eating. He marched down the corridor to
The Girl
’s operations room. The door
swished open.

He expected Mia to follow, but she didn’t.
Half an hour later he was too involved with aligning the console to
the old mainframe’s core to notice her absence. Eventually he heard
footsteps, which stopped outside the door, which he’d kept open. It
had to be her.

“How’s it coming?” she asked.

“Just aligning the core backups now,” he
answered. “Maybe another hour of work. The data transfer should
take another half hour; after that the nanopacks can be unlocked
and initialized. Hewey and Cubey can be downloaded after that.”

“Rand … I don’t know if I want this console
or not.”

He pushed himself out from under the
mainframe’s large cabinet and sat up.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said,
staring up at her. “I told you that. This console will keep you and
the gang much safer. That’s my only concern. Let me do that much,
all right? Please?”

Tears filled her eyes. She nodded quickly
and left.

He thought of going after her, but decided
against it. Frustration ate into him, disrupting the pleasant
digestion of his oatmeal. He sat next to the console for a long
time, then shook his head to clear it. “Hewey, I need some help
with this alignment.”

“Gotcha,” said Hewey. “Getting
those two cores lined up might take a little work.
The Glowing Girl
’s
mainframe is damn old, Rand.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Some advice?”

“Hit me.”

“Let’s get that console goin’, and then you
and me and Cubey … let’s get goin’, too.”

“We need to download you and Cubey
first.”

“Nah. Let’s scratch that. She’s
already freaked out about your superpowers. Cubey n’ me will do
nothin’ but remind her of ‘em. Plus, she may not trust us. Strike
that. She
won’t
trust us given her current state of mind.”

“I really screwed up, didn’t I?”

“You screwed up tryin’ to keep her safe. If
you’re gonna screw up, do it tryin’ to help. That’s how I look at
it. That console all by itself will provide her systems with a
mighty nice upgrade and will keep her much more secure. Those bugs
will probably even try reinforcin’ her hull and other vitals. You
may have screwed up, El Capitan, but you did it with love. Let it
go at that, and let’s skedaddle. Whaddya say?”

“I say you’re a damn good
friend,” said Random, smiling sadly. He pushed himself back
under
The Girl
’s
ancient mainframe cabinet. “Let’s finish this job and
jettison.”

He sang:

Leaves are fallin’ all around; it’s time I
was on my way.
Thanks to you, I’m much obliged for such a pleasant stay.
But now it’s time for me to go,
The autumn moon lights my way.

~~*~~

He didn’t see her on the way out. He asked
Tony, who scrunched his face. “She took a taxi to Vesta City.
Sorry, Random.”

Random went to go, but Tony stopped him.
“Listen. I know her. Whatever trouble happened between you two,
she’ll drop it. Just give her a little time.”

Random nodded.

“For what it’s worth, thank you
for upgrading
The Girl
. We all love this ship, and we really appreciate that you do,
too.”

Random nodded again and stepped into the
airlock. When it finished cycling, he said, “How are the fuel
cells, Hewey?”

“Charged like a buckin’ bronco on
caffeinated alfalfa. Where we off to?”

“The nicest bed and breakfast in the nicest
cave right here. I deserve to pamper myself a little.”

“I got just the place.”

“Show me after my shower. Cycle up the ship,
please.”

“I’m on it, Captain.”

~~*~~

The cave’s name was Ratinorm and was located
on the other side of Vesta. It was called a “country tube,” so
named because settlers had sealed off the entrance against space
and filled the vacuum with atmosphere and “sunshine” (two long
fusion-enhanced window projectors on opposite sides), then
terraforming it.

It was enormous. Its mouth was
over three kilometers wide and twelve deep. Most of the cave’s
inner volume was
g
-free, meaning that if you wanted to, you could strap on a
quick-pack and float away. Photos displayed a prismatic destination
rich with farmland, meadows, ponds, winding creeks, and tall stands
of trees. Random had scanned SolarWeb brochures and was impressed
with the reviews visitors posted.

The Pompatus of Love
docked at one of Ratinorm’s airlocks not far from
the mouth. He took a lift to the inner entrance, which was very
rustic, like the entrance to a country lane.

He looked up. To his left and up was a
tremendous hole of space-blackness. The dome that kept the vacuum
of space out couldn’t be seen from here. The effect was terrifying
and gave him vertigo, so he forced himself to look away. At his
feet began a well-groomed lane that led into the cave. It wound
through short scrubland, then along large mixed groves of pine,
elm, and cottonwood, then up to the cave’s top near a projector.
The bed and breakfast was a nice house at the road’s end. Its
rooftop was just visible from here. It looked like an upside-down
farmhouse.

An older man approached. “Mr. Chance?”

Random nodded. The man extended his hand,
and Random took it. “Ian Polkin. I’m the owner of the Annie Laril
B&B. Good to meet you. If you’ll follow me, the carriage is
this way.”

“Carriage?” said Hewey in his ear.

Random followed. Indeed, around a small
stand of birch was an open carriage: a replica of an early
twentieth century one, drawn by a horse. A real horse!

He couldn’t suppress the chuckle. Ian Polkin
stopped and glanced at him. “Surprised?”

“More like astounded,” said
Random. He thought of Mia, and how much she would’ve loved seeing
this, and felt his heart sag. He boarded the carriage as Hewey
yelled in his ear,
“Yeeee
haaaaw!”