What more could any woman ask for?
As a precaution, we kept all mirrors and things of a similar nature out of reach. We did this automatically. Floramel and I just exchanged glances, and we hid things, and we didn’t even talk about it.
At around dawn on the second morning, however, Etta caught on.
She’d taken a walk down to the lake. Every inhabited valley on Dust World was really a volcanic crater, and they all had lakes in the middle of them. She’d walked down to that lake, and she’d taken a good look at herself.
Snorting awake, I found my own combat knife was in my face. What’s more, it was shaking a little.
Etta’s grip was firm, but she was quivering. Her eyes were wild.
“What did you do, Daddy?” she demanded. “What did you do?”
“Hey, baby-doll! Good to see you all cleaned up and healthy. Did you sleep well?”
She pointed over her shoulder. She pointed outside the cavern, toward the lake.
“I saw myself. I’m not me. My face is wrong, I’m short—I’m not even as strong as I should be… and I’m… I’m kind of girly-looking.”
I grinned for all I was worth. “That’s right. There have been lots of improvements. Isn’t it wonderful?”
The knife edged up against my chin. A trickle of blood sprouted there.
“You should be careful with that thing. Someone might get hurt.”
She released an angry grunt, and she turned away. I sat up and gently plucked the knife from her fingers. She let me do it, and I breathed easier.
Squatting down on the dusty, carven rocks, she began to cry. That wasn’t like Etta. She almost never cried. Not even when she broke her bones.
“Look,” I said, sitting down next to her. “You’re alive. You’re in a slightly different body, sure—but you’re alive. You still have all your memories—don’t you?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, good. You were permed, honey. I had to move Heaven and Earth to get you back. You should be thankful.”
“I am. I’m just upset.”
I patted her lightly, and she let me. After another ten minutes, she was calm again—but she wasn’t entirely happy.
After that rough wake-up, we ate breakfast. I chatted and laughed—but it was all an act. Etta moped and wouldn’t meet anyone’s eye.
Something like an hour later, I heard some squawking going on in the chambers. I trotted inside the cool gloom and looked around. The Investigator was nowhere to be seen, but Floramel and Etta were in the revival chamber with the turd-tanks.
Etta had a scalpel under Floramel’s chin. Neither of these two ladies looked happy.
“You’re being irrational and disrespectful,” Floramel told the girl.
“And you’re going to be dead if you don’t tell me.”
“Ladies! Ladies!” I said, clapping my big hands so booming reports bounced off all the rocks around us. “Come on, let’s be happy on this joyous day.”
They didn’t even look at me.
“Talk,” Etta said. “Talk, or I’ll cut you.”
“I have nothing to say.”
Etta jabbed her then. Right in the chest with the scalpel.
“Oh… shit,” I said, and I raced over to them. I reached to disarm Etta, but she almost evaded me. She kicked out at my ankles, and it hurt bad—but I didn’t go down.
“I’m disgusted,” she said as I stood over her. “I should have been able to put you down, Dad.”
“Maybe.” The truth was I’d taught her quite a bit of self-defense over the years. The old Etta—the one with the bigger arms, would have definitely put the hurt on more than this one could. “You can get stronger. It’s just a matter of working out and stuff.”
Etta sat on the ground and rocked herself. “Who am I?” she asked. “Ask her, Dad. Make her tell you. Who’s genetic material is in my flesh now?”
“Uh…”
“It better not be hers. You hear me, Floramel? If you always wanted a baby, or had some other sick dream, you’re going to be sorry!”
“Honey,” I said, “calm down. Floramel didn’t inject her DNA into your cells. Did you, girl?”
Floramel was looking kind of guilty. Uh-oh.
“Tell me you didn’t do that, woman,” I said sternly. “I need to you to tell me that right now.”
Floramel shook her head. “No. It wasn’t mine.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, but Etta still wasn’t happy. She launched herself at Floramel. “Who then, you skinny bitch? Who?”
My daughter was losing it. I had to grab her and pull her off. She shook in my hands, and I don’t mind saying that my privates were crawling in fear.
But she didn’t attack me. All her sudden rage and hate was focused on Floramel.
“We didn’t use Floramel’s DNA,” said another voice.
We all turned toward the entrance. There, in the midst of the archway, the Investigator’s figure stood tall. He walked in calmly, and he looked at each of us in turn. “We had to take drastic action. There were missing parts to the strands—some of the genes wouldn’t transcribe. We took all we could from a human female standard—but I don’t have a full library, you see.”
“Who am I, then?” Etta cried. “Who?”
“Someone once came here from Earth. She had a fine mind, and she lived here for a long time. I calculated that her genetics would make a good contribution to the family tree. In the end—I made a choice. Only time will tell if it was a good one or not.”
“Grandfather,” Etta pleaded. “Just give me a name.”
“Natasha,” he said at last. “Natasha Elkin. She is now your third parent.”
-61-
Now that the old man had said it, I could see it in Etta’s face. My girl was part
