Divergence

” she said. Maurice’s console chimed. “The Exchange is completed,” he said. Then he gave a laugh. “And you’re not going to believe this, but this time we’re actually going to be paid! They’re going to pay us for taking Constantine on board!”

“What?” asked Saskia, brimming with hope.

Maurice made to speak and then he stopped himself.

Seated there at a glass table at the bottom of a huge blue ice bubble, sharing breakfast with the old, the handicapped, and a robot, Maurice raised a finger and tapped the side of his nose. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

“Where is Constantine?” Edward asked impatiently. He stood at the foot of the lowered entrance ramp of the Eva Rye , dancing with impatience.

“I don’t know,” Maurice said. “Kevin! Can you see him?”

Kevin, the voice of the Bailero, spoke from Maurice’s console.

“He is two hundred meters distant from my hull now. I will put a light over his entrance.”

A yellow spotlight shone down from somewhere, illuminating a patch of frost about thirty meters away from the foot of the ramp.

Maurice and Edward watched it expectantly. Constantine had literally jumped from the hatch of the Uninvited in the direction of the Bailero —they had all watched him do so. They had seen him sailing through space, a black pressurized bag slung over his shoulder.

“Here he comes,” said Kevin.

The spotlight strengthened in intensity, and then Constantine rose up into the interior of the Bailero, arms outstretched. The robot must have had some sort of independent motor source, Maurice realized, for it changed direction in flight and then quickly dropped back down to the frost-patterned floor. Briskly, it walked towards them. It paused just at the foot of the ramp.

Maurice gave Edward a nudge, and the young man extended his hand.

“Welcome aboard.”

“Glad to be on board,” said Constantine.

Edward led the way up the ramp of the Eva Rye, past the entrance to the little hold and along the corridor towards the conference room.

Judy and Saskia met them there.

“I’m Constantine Storey,” the robot said. “Thank you for taking me on board.”

“I’m Saskia. This is Judy.”

The robot was fiddling with the seal of the black pressure bag. “I have your payment here,” he said. They all crowded a little closer as the robot struggled with the seal. His right hand was badly deformed, Maurice noticed; the three scars on his right-hand side were repeated on his lower arm. Maurice wondered what had happened to him.

Eventually, the robot worked the seal open. He reached into the bag, feeling about for something. Whatever it was seemed to be moving.

“What is it?” asked Edward. “What have you got in there?”

“Something that the FE software thought you needed,” said Constantine. “I can sort of see why. We’re almost at Earth now.”

“Good,” Judy said with quiet resignation. “I feel like I’ve been traveling there for the past ten years.”

“Oh?” Constantine said. “I have been doing so for over a hundred. Ah, got it!”

At last he had what he was searching for. But now something was climbing out of the bag by itself: dark brown and tan, first a paw emerged and waved itself in the air. The robot withdrew his hand fully, holding a furry bundle of white, brown, and tan.

“It’s a kitten!” Saskia squealed excitedly.