Tiarella started to put her hand out towards him, then drew back. «Oh, Eason, I never meant for you to get hurt. What the hell is someone like you doing falling in love anyway?»
«Someone like me?»
«Yes. I thought you were perfect when you turned up at the harbour. A thug on the run; selfish and iron- hearted. Why couldn't you treat her the way you treated everyone else in your life?»
He glared at her, helpless against her sympathy, then ran from the laboratory.
«Don't touch her!» Tiarella shouted after him. «I mean it. You leave her alone.»
• • •
Eason didn't need the warning. It was obvious within hours that he'd lost. Althaea and Mullen were so besotted with each other it was scary. The one person he'd ever loved was gloriously happy, and anything he did to stop that happiness would make her hate him for ever.
He didn't know whether to call it destiny or history.
They went to bed together on the second night, the two of them bounding up the stairs after supper. Althaea was in front, carefree and eager.
He watched them go, remembering that night after the funeral, the wretched difference. Tiarella was watching him, her face showing compassion.
«If it means anything, I am sorry,» she said.
«Right.» He rose and went out into the gloaming. Rousseau's stock of despicable home-brew was where he'd left it.
Althaea found him the next morning, sitting on the jetty, looking down at the water. A few scraps of the dinghy's timbers were still wedged between the coral spikes.
She settled down beside him, her face anxious. «Are you all right?»
«Sure. I'm just amazed Ross survived as long as he did. That stuff really is dangerous.»
«Eason. Mullen and I are going to get married.»
«Tough decision, was it?»
«Don't. Please.»
«OK. I'm happy for you.»
«No, you're not.»
«What the hell else can I say?»
She stared out across the ocean. «I'm almost frightened of myself, the way I'm behaving. I know how stupid this is, I've only known him for two days. But I feel it's right. Is it?»
«Know what I think?»
«Tell me.»
«I think that your body is the focus for your mind on this journey. It's guided you home through an awful lot of fog, and now it's time to make a safe landing.»
«Thank you, Eason.»
He put a finger under her chin, and turned her head to face him. «I want to know one thing. And I want you to be completely honest. Did you ever love me?»
«Of course I did.»
• • •
Tiarella gave him a quizzical glance as he came into the kitchen and flopped down at the table.
«You'll be happy to hear I'm leaving,» he announced.
Her blatant relief made him laugh bitterly.
«I'm not that heartless,» she protested.
«Oh, yes you are.»
»
«How very conscientious of you; but it's not that simple.»
«What do you mean?» The old suspicion resonated through the question.
«I've thought this through. Wherever I am, I will always think of Althaea. You know that. Which means you and I will always worry that I might come back. Because I know I'll never be able to trust myself, not completely. So what I propose is that I go somewhere that I can't come back from. I'll pay you to take me there, give Charmaine a proper contract to maintain the ride. God knows you can do with the money despite all those ridiculous ideals of yours; it'll be a nice dependable income for Althaea and Mullen to start with, too.»
«What are you talking about? Where do you want to go?»
«The future.»
• • •
The zero-tau field was nothing more than a grey eyeblink. An eyeblink that was giddily disorientating. The laboratory instantly changed to a dark, cool room with an uneven polyp ceiling.
Where Tiarella was leaning over him to switch on the pod a moment before, another figure now straightened up as her finger left the control panel. They looked at each other suspiciously. The girl was about twenty, undoubtedly related to Althaea. He could never mistake that fragile, narrow chin; her skin was ebony, though, with flaming red hair trimmed to a curly bob. Geneering trends had changed a lot, apparently.
«Hi,» he said.
She managed a strong echo of Althaea's shy grin. «I never quite believed it,» she said. «The man in the basement. You're a family legend. When we were little Dad told us you were like a sleeping knight ready to defend Charmaine from evil. Then after I grew up I just thought they were using the zero-tau pod to store botanical samples or something.»
«I'm afraid I'm not a knight, nothing like.» He swung his feet out of the pod, and stepped down. The floor was raw coral. Large cases and plastic boxes were stacked up all around. «Where am I?»
«The basement. Oh, I know what you're thinking. They dismantled the old lab fifty or sixty years ago. The family has membership in an agronomy consortium back on Kariwak. They provide upgrades for Charmaine's groves these days.» She gestured at the stairs.
«What's the date?»
«April nineteenth, 2549.»
«Jesus Christ, a hundred and two years. Is the Confederation still intact?»
«Oh yes.» She gave him an awkward grimace. «Mr Eason, Grandma's waiting.»
«Grandma?» he asked cautiously.
«Althaea.»
He stopped at the foot of the stairs. «That wasn't the deal.»
«I know. She says she'll understand if you want to jump back into the pod for another few days. She doesn't have long to live, Mr Eason.»
He nodded thoughtfully. «Always knew what she wanted, did Althaea. I never said no to her back then.»
The girl smiled, and they started up the stairs.
«So you're her granddaughter, are you?»
«Great-great-granddaughter, actually.»
«Ah.»
He recognized the layout of the house, but nothing more. It was full of rich furnishings and expensive artwork. Too grand for his taste.
Althaea was in the master bedroom. It was painful for him to look at her. Two minutes ago she'd been a radiant seventeen-year-old a week from her wedding day.
«Almost made a hundred and twenty,» she said from her bed. Her chuckle became a thin cough.
He bent over and kissed her. Small black plastic patches were clinging to the side of her wrinkled neck. He
