you have to
sleep at the foot of the bed.’
‘Okay,’ Ella replied in a tiny
voice.
‘Good grief! You really did think I’d gone for good. Where did you think I was going
to go? I can’t get home without the Hyde.’
‘But… This is your home.
Earth. The real one. You were born here.’
‘Aneka Jansen was born here. I was born on a planet in the Negral system which doesn’t
even exist anymore. My home is on New Earth, with you.’
‘Thank you.’ Tiny voice again,
but there was no point in saying anything else; Ella was sobbing
quietly into Aneka’s shoulder. There really was nothing else to
say.
Part Two: Home Is Where the Heart
Is
Prime City,
Old Earth, 19.10.526 FSC, 9 th September 3186.
‘We have received an acknowledgement
message from Harriamon,’ Harper said. ‘It appears that our tachyon
transceiver system works according to your specifications.’
Aneka gave him a smile, which he
seemed rather pleased by. ‘Was there any doubt it would? Aggy gave
you the specs, I had every confidence in your ability to build the
thing.’ He had come up to Yrimtan’s rooms to tell her the news
since Ella and Gillian were there. So was Bashford having finally
got over his own addiction, more or less.
‘What did the message actually
say?’ Bashford asked.
‘Basically,’ Harper said, ‘“We
have received your message and are forwarding the contents to New
Earth.” As I said, an acknowledgement of receipt. There was a
message following it, somewhat larger and encrypted. That was
addressed to Doctor Gilroy.’ He produced a small memory stick and
handed it to her. ‘I took the liberty of transferring it to
this.’
‘Oh… Thank you, Councillor,’
Gillian replied, taking the stick and frowning at it.
‘Ten credits says it’s from
Ape,’ Aneka said.
‘Probably,’ Gillian agreed.
‘I believe you are all scheduled
to travel to the Eastern City today,’ Harper said.
‘We’re leaving in… just over an
hour,’ Aneka replied.
Harper nodded. ‘It’s not a long
trip, about forty minutes. One of the Councillors will be waiting
to receive you, Wei Lin.’
‘Is that a Chinese name?’ Ella
asked.
‘I believe so.’
‘Huh.’ Ella looked at Aneka. ‘It
does have a sound like Rimmic.’
High-speed Train Between Prime and
Eastern Cities.
There were no windows on the train, but
from what Aneka understood, the view was not exactly spectacular.
They were rocketing down an evacuated, nanofibre reinforced
Plascrete tunnel. There were no lights out there and it was all
pretty boring. The VIP carriage on the train was, however, very
comfortable and came with computer terminals and workstations, and
big, comfortable chairs if you just wanted to sit and chat.
Gillian used the time to view
the message she had received from Harriamon. Bashford sat in his
chair, near Gillian, but not watching what she was doing. He was
being very attentive having been left with a lot of guilt over the
way he had behaved immediately after Yrimtan had thrown him in with
Gillian. Gillian had tried saying she forgave him, she had tried
talking to him about it, and now she was hoping he would just get
over it.
Ella was also over her addiction
to the neurostim effect; Aneka was thankful for that. However, the
girl had been left with a higher libido than ever, which Aneka was
hoping would wear off eventually. As it was, Ella was disappointed
that there was not a little more privacy since she would have liked
to have had sex on a supersonic, underground train.
‘Well,’ Gillian said as she
emerged from the headset she had been using, ‘it was from Ape.’ Ape
Gibbons was her ex-partner, the father of her son, David, who
everyone called Monkey for obvious reasons. Ape was the captain of
a battleship and they had last seen him in Harriamon’s orbital
naval base. ‘Basically there was an “I’m glad you’re alive” message
which I’m to pass on to David. There was also a message for all of
us regarding re-entering
sleep at the foot of the bed.’
‘Okay,’ Ella replied in a tiny
voice.
‘Good grief! You really did think I’d gone for good. Where did you think I was going
to go? I can’t get home without the Hyde.’
‘But… This is your home.
Earth. The real one. You were born here.’
‘Aneka Jansen was born here. I was born on a planet in the Negral system which doesn’t
even exist anymore. My home is on New Earth, with you.’
‘Thank you.’ Tiny voice again,
but there was no point in saying anything else; Ella was sobbing
quietly into Aneka’s shoulder. There really was nothing else to
say.
Part Two: Home Is Where the Heart
Is
Prime City,
Old Earth, 19.10.526 FSC, 9 th September 3186.
‘We have received an acknowledgement
message from Harriamon,’ Harper said. ‘It appears that our tachyon
transceiver system works according to your specifications.’
Aneka gave him a smile, which he
seemed rather pleased by. ‘Was there any doubt it would? Aggy gave
you the specs, I had every confidence in your ability to build the
thing.’ He had come up to Yrimtan’s rooms to tell her the news
since Ella and Gillian were there. So was Bashford having finally
got over his own addiction, more or less.
‘What did the message actually
say?’ Bashford asked.
‘Basically,’ Harper said, ‘“We
have received your message and are forwarding the contents to New
Earth.” As I said, an acknowledgement of receipt. There was a
message following it, somewhat larger and encrypted. That was
addressed to Doctor Gilroy.’ He produced a small memory stick and
handed it to her. ‘I took the liberty of transferring it to
this.’
‘Oh… Thank you, Councillor,’
Gillian replied, taking the stick and frowning at it.
‘Ten credits says it’s from
Ape,’ Aneka said.
‘Probably,’ Gillian agreed.
‘I believe you are all scheduled
to travel to the Eastern City today,’ Harper said.
‘We’re leaving in… just over an
hour,’ Aneka replied.
Harper nodded. ‘It’s not a long
trip, about forty minutes. One of the Councillors will be waiting
to receive you, Wei Lin.’
‘Is that a Chinese name?’ Ella
asked.
‘I believe so.’
‘Huh.’ Ella looked at Aneka. ‘It
does have a sound like Rimmic.’
High-speed Train Between Prime and
Eastern Cities.
There were no windows on the train, but
from what Aneka understood, the view was not exactly spectacular.
They were rocketing down an evacuated, nanofibre reinforced
Plascrete tunnel. There were no lights out there and it was all
pretty boring. The VIP carriage on the train was, however, very
comfortable and came with computer terminals and workstations, and
big, comfortable chairs if you just wanted to sit and chat.
Gillian used the time to view
the message she had received from Harriamon. Bashford sat in his
chair, near Gillian, but not watching what she was doing. He was
being very attentive having been left with a lot of guilt over the
way he had behaved immediately after Yrimtan had thrown him in with
Gillian. Gillian had tried saying she forgave him, she had tried
talking to him about it, and now she was hoping he would just get
over it.
Ella was also over her addiction
to the neurostim effect; Aneka was thankful for that. However, the
girl had been left with a higher libido than ever, which Aneka was
hoping would wear off eventually. As it was, Ella was disappointed
that there was not a little more privacy since she would have liked
to have had sex on a supersonic, underground train.
‘Well,’ Gillian said as she
emerged from the headset she had been using, ‘it was from Ape.’ Ape
Gibbons was her ex-partner, the father of her son, David, who
everyone called Monkey for obvious reasons. Ape was the captain of
a battleship and they had last seen him in Harriamon’s orbital
naval base. ‘Basically there was an “I’m glad you’re alive” message
which I’m to pass on to David. There was also a message for all of
us regarding re-entering
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