“He points,” said Nova. Li Wing raised her eyebrows at her daughter. “He points, and what he points at becomes famous,” she said.
“I work for Publitex,” I said, and felt like a liar. What I really wanted to say was
“That sounds like interesting work,” Mrs. Sunstrum said, as though she meant it.
“It got me here,” I said. I started to go on, but Sunstrum came over and sat down.
“Nova tells me you two slept together on the way out,” he said conversationally.
I looked at him and suddenly I was just a little tired of being examined, being tested, being the one who had to prove himself. “Yes, that’s right,” I said. “I love her.”
Sunstrum waved his hand, the one with the glass. “A lot of people love Nova.”
“I’m not a lot of people.”
“Just who are you, Mr. Braddock?”
I turned my head and looked at Nova, who was sitting tensely, trying to look calm, as if we were not talking about her. “I’m her lover.”
“Are you certain there are not legions of those?” Mrs. Sunstrum asked quietly.
“Yes.” My eyes locked to hers and bit by bit the ice melted.
“You killed a man over her,” Sunstrum said.
I did not look at him as I said, “You would have done the same.”
“Perhaps.” I felt, rather than saw him look at Li Wing. “I have killed. When men need killing they must be killed and no halfway measures. But they need not always be killed.”
I did not answer. I was somewhere in those dark eyes.
“Why do you want our daughter?” asked Li Wing.
“Why did Sven Sunstrum want you?”
She hesitated, then said, “First . . . for the sex. Then for love.”
I did not answer. Nova rose from her seat and took a deep breath, her eyes never leaving me. “We are going to bed,” she announced. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I heard Sunstrum rumble.
“Goodnight, dear,” Li Wing said.
I may have said something and I may not have said something. I had said words. Now I would speak with all of me. She took my hand and we went out and down a corridor and into a bedroom. It was not until morning that I discovered it was the bed she had been conceived in. 8
Nova swung lithely up into the sandcat cabin, and waved down to the others. I took Sunstrum’s hand and I kissed Li Wing on the cheek.
“Oh, come on, Diego, we’ll be back in a couple of days!”
I climbed into the cabin and sealed the door. Nova thumbed the cat into a throaty roar and started off with a fast left-hand turn and a racing run for the crater rim. I grabbed a stanchion and tumbled into a bucket seat and belted down.
She was laughing and the long black hair tumbled over the collar of her warmsuit and I loved her very much.
We stopped only once, at a place along the Athena where there was a little waist-high waterfall and enough air to go without masks. We made love on a warm rock and splashed briefly in the icy water and she was beautiful and golden-brown, all soft flesh and falling hair and sudden mouth.
