The Companions by Sheri S. Tepper

elderly people who have to live somewhere, and even at the price of space travel, it’s much less expensive to send them back to Earth than to support them on the outlying planets.”
    â€œBut why do we let them?” I asked. I really didn’t know why, and it had always bothered me.
    â€œThe law was pushed through Worldkeeper Council the same way it’s kept on the books today: Any councilor who votes for it gets lots and lots of campaign money from the outer worlds, along with the guarantee of a luxury retirement on an uncrowded planet.” He frowned, fiddling with his fork. “My family knows a great many of them, the retired ones. They have mansions, and private lakes, and acres of grass and trees…”
    I felt a sudden pang, nostalgia for some time or place I had never actually been. “I want to go off world,” I cried.
    I didn’t realize my voice had risen until I saw people at nearby tables turning to look at me. I flushed, ducking my head, terribly embarrassed. One simply does not speak loudly in public places.
    Witt said, “Really, Jewel. Don’t shout about it. If you really want to go off world, you probably can. Find out what professions are being solicited and learn one.”
    â€œI’ve done that. They want sewage system managers and city planners and warehouse operators. They want all kinds of engineers.”
    â€œThey don’t use any salespeople or expediters?”
    â€œOh, of course, they do. It’s just that the jobs they’re recruiting for aren’t the least bit exciting.”
    He sat back in his chair, twirling the stem of his wineglass slowly left and right, watching the light gather and spin in the pool of dark liquid. “I want to get away from here. I’ve wanted nothing else for as long as I can remember, but for the next couple of years, I’ll be finishing my business coursewith all those damned ET contract studies. Dame Cecelia insists on that.”
    I chased the last bit of something delicious to the edge of my plate and captured it with a bit of chewy bread that was nothing like Worldkeeper bread. “I’ve never asked you, Witt, but I’ve always been curious. What’re those titles your parents use? The Dame and Sir thing?”
    His raised his eyebrows. “Hereditary titles from way, way back. Ten or fifteen generations, at least. Before space exploration. Even before pod transport, or aircars. The family was British…”
    â€œBritish?”
    â€œSome islands off Euro-sector, West. They don’t exist as a residential place anymore. All noncrop lands in what used to be Britain and the former Scandinavian countries are covered with algae and desalinization plants because they have long coastlines.”
    I was still thinking about his parents. “I’ve met your sister, Myra. How come you’ve never let me meet Dame and Sir?”
    His mouth tightened “Jewel, you wouldn’t…enjoy meeting my mother. My father is at least polite to people he…well, people he doesn’t know, but there’s no way you can meet him without meeting her. She thinks that Dame stuff sets her above the rest of the world. What actually sets her anywhere is the Hargess-Hessing money. She’s from the Hargess side; she and my father are cousins, sort of, and she believes the family is…well, aristocratic.”
    â€œYou mean I’m not their class of people.” I was absurdly wounded by this. I had always thought of myself as of quite a good class of people. Certainly his friend Shiela had thought so.
    â€œNo, you’re not,” he replied. “Nobody is. The Hessing-Hargess are…completely in a class by themselves, them and their cousins and aunts and uncles and so forth. Anyhow, the Dame expects me to take over the Hargess-Hessing empire eventually, when Sir Dahlish and his brothers are ready to give it up. None of the brothers has any children to