Divergence

dinosaurs that are currently taking up all the space in the large hold.”

“They’re not dinosaurs,” said Michel weakly. “They’re venumbs. Half plant and half Von Neumann Machine…”

“Hah. And what are we going to do with them? Like I said: we gave them Douglas and we got two venumbs and a warning.” She spoke in an affected, screechy voice. “Don’t eat the food on Earth! Don’t drink anything! The Watcher has drugged everything to keep the people there compliant!” She shook her head. “Like we were planning to go to Earth anyway. I don’t call that a good deal.”

Michel looked at the floor. He didn’t really have an answer to that. Saskia leaned in closer.

“You really need to think about our track record,” she said. “People are beginning to talk.”

“And then look what happened on Garvey’s World,” continued Miss Rose. Edward knew what was coming next.

“Leave him alone,” said Craig warningly.

Miss Rose took a sip of apple juice. “I wasn’t going to mention the dummy,” she replied. “I just wanted to point out that we gave a lot of n-strings away there, and what did we get in return? Some apple juice and an apple juice disposal unit.”

“I said, leave him alone,” repeated Craig in an icy tone.

“At least you got something out of the deal,” observed Miss Rose sagely. Craig leapt to his feet. “I’ve told you before, you vicious old hag…”

“Leave it, Craig,” said Armstrong easily, slowly rubbing carbon along the blade of his knife.

“Come on, let’s just calm down,” agreed Maurice.

“You need to do something here,” Saskia whispered loudly to Michel. “Stop them arguing amongst themselves.”

“What would you suggest he do, Saskia?” asked Joanne sweetly, as Michel’s eyes darted this way and that.

“People, people, let’s all calm down a little,” said the Stranger, spinning easily in space. “Not in front of the children.”

At that all eyes turned towards Jack and Emily, who were huddled by Donny’s legs, looking around the room with big eyes.

“Okay,” said Michel, and a gentle calm descended. “The Stranger is right. Donny, how much longer with the correlation?”

“Almost done,” he said, rubbing at his unshaven chin.

“Maurice,” said Miss Rose, “I’ve finished with my juice. Be a darling and take it for me, will you?”

“Of course, Miss Rose,” said Maurice, and Edward watched despondently as Maurice took the half-full glass to the little kitchen and poured it down the sink. He was sure that Miss Rose was laughing at him.

The Eva Rye turned off its motors. It would coast for the next hour or so, before turning and beginning the process of deceleration that would end in them matching courses with the Stranger. In the living area, the process of Fair Exchange was approaching completion. The crew watched the shrinking blue status bar at the base of the viewing field. Above it, the Stranger gradually gained resolution. More and more yellow letters came into view. Edward could read the sentence I never saw a purple cow.

“Twenty seconds,” announced Donny.

“Fingers crossed, Eddie,” said Craig.

“Fifteen seconds—”

“Waste of time if you ask me,” said Miss Rose.

“Ten seconds—”

“Now, are you sure you’ve done the right thing, Michel?” asked Saskia

“Five, four, three, two, one. Transaction complete.”