Remembering Siri

I laughed and locked the wheel in. 'Nobody gets beyond a petroleum economy. Not while the petroleum's there. We don't burn it, if that's what you mean. But it's still essential for the production of plastics, synthetics, food base, and keroids. Two hundred billion people use a lot of plastic.'

'And Maui-Covenant has oil?'

'Oh, yes,' I said. There was no more laughter in me. 'There are billions of barrels reservoired under the Equatorial Shallows alone.'

'How will they get it, Merin? Platforms?'

'Yeah. Platforms. Submersibles. Sub-sea colonies with tailored workers brought in from Ouster or the Tau Ceti Cities.'

'And the motile isles?' asked Siri. 'They must return each year to the shallows to feed on the bluekelp there and to reproduce. What will become of the isles?'

I shrugged again. I had drunk too much coffee and il left a bitter taste in my mouth, 'I don't know,' I said. 'They haven't told the crew much. But back on our first trip out, Mike heard that they planned to develop as many of the isles as they can, so some will be protected.'

'Developed?' Siri's voice showed surprise for the first time. 'How can they develop the isles? Even the Founder's Families must ask permission of the Sea Folk to build our treehouse retreats there.'

I smiled at Siri's use of the local term for the dolphins. The Maui-Covenant colonists were such children when it came to their damned dolphins. 'The plans are all set,' I said. 'There are 128,573 motile isles big enough to build a dwelling on. Leases to those have long since been sold. The smaller isles will be broken up, I suppose. The Home Islands will be developed for recreation purposes.'

'Recreation purposes,' echoed Siri. 'How many people from the Hegemony will use the farcaster to come here… for recreation purposes?'

'At first, you mean?' I asked. 'Just a few thousand the first year. As long as the only door is on Island 241… the Trade Center… it will be limited. Perhaps 50,000 the second year when Firstsite gets its door. It'll be quite the luxury tour. Always is after a seed colony is first opened to the web.'

'And later?'

'After the five-year probation? There will be thousands of doors, of course. I would imagine that there will be twenty or thirty million new residents coming through during the first year of full citizenship.'

'Twenty or thirty million,' said Siri. The light from the compass stand illuminated her lined face from below. There was still a beauty there. But there was no anger or shock. I had expected both.

'But you'll be citizens then yourself,' I said. 'Free to step anywhere in the worldweb. There will be sixteen new worlds to choose from. Probably more by then.'

'Yes,' said Siri and set aside her empty mug. A fine rain streaked the glass around us. The crude radar screen set in its hand-carved frame showed the seas empty, the storm past. 'Is it true, Merin, that people in the Hegemony have their homes on a dozen worlds? One house, I mean, with windows facing out on a dozen skies?'

'Sure,' I said. 'But not many people. Only the rich can afford multi-world residences like that.'

Siri smiled and set her hand on my knee. The back of her hand was mottled and blue-veined. 'But you are very rich, are you not, Shipman?'

I looked away. 'Not yet I'm not.'

'Ah, but soon, Merin, soon. How long for you, my love? Less than two weeks here and then the voyage back to your Hegemony. Five months more of your time to bring the last components back, a few weeks to finish, and then you step home a rich man. Step two hundred empty light years home. What a strange thought… but where was I? That is how long? Less than a standard year.'

'Ten months,' I said. 'Three hundred and six standard days. Three hundred fourteen of yours. Nine hundred eighteen shifts.'

'And then your exile will be over.'

'Yes.'

'And you will be twenty-four years old and very rich.'

'Yes.'

'I'm tired, Merin. I want to sleep now.'

We programmed the tiller, set the collision alarm, and went below. The wind had risen some and the old vessel wallowed from wavecrest to trough with every swell. We undressed in the dim light of the swinging lamp. I was first in the bunk and under the covers. It was the first time Siri and I had shared a sleep period. Remembering our last Reunion and her shyness at the villa, I expected her to douse the light. Instead she stood a minute, nude in the chill air, thin arms calmly at her sides.

Time had claimed Siri but had not ravaged her. Gravity had done its inevitable work on her breasts and buttocks and she was much thinner. I stared at the gaunt outlines of ribs and breastbone and remembered the sixteen-year-old girl with baby fat and skin like warm velvet. In the cold light of the swinging lamp I stared at Siri's sagging flesh and remembered moonlight on budding breasts. Yet somehow, strangely, inexplicably, it was the same Siri who stood before me now.

'Move over, Merin.' She slipped into the bunk beside me. The sheets were cool against our skin, the rough blanket welcome. I turned off the light. The little ship swayed to the regular rhythm of the sea's breathing. I could hear the sympathetic creak of masts and rigging. In the morning we would be casting and pulling and mending but now there was time to sleep. I began to doze to the sound of waves against wood. 'Merin?'

'Yes?'

'What would happen if the Separatists attacked the Hegemony tourists or the new residents?'

'I thought the Separatists had all been carted off to the isles.'

'They have been. But what if they resisted?' 'The Hegemony would send in troops who could kick the shit out of the Separatists.'

'What if the farcaster itself were attacked… destroyed before it was operational?'

'Impossible.'

'Yes, I know, but what if it were?'

'Then the Los Angeles would return nine months later with Hegemony troops who would proceed to kick the shit out of the Separatists… and anyone else on Maui-Covenant who got in their way.'

'Nine months shiptime,' said Siri. 'Eleven years of our time.'

'But inevitable either way,' I said. 'Let's talk about something else.'

'All right,' said Siri but we did not speak. I listened to the creak and sigh of the ship. Siri had nestled in the hollow of my arm. Her head was on my shoulder and her breathing was so deep and regular that I thought her to be asleep. I was almost asleep myself when her warm hand slid up my leg and lightly cupped me. I startled even as I began to stir and stiffen. Siri whispered an answer to my unasked question. 'No, Merin, one is never really too old. At least not too old to want the warmth and closeness. You decide, my love. I will be content either way.' I decided. Towards the dawn we slept.

The tomb is empty.

'Donel, come in here!'

He bustled in, robes rustling in the hollow emptiness. The tomb is empty. There is no hibernation chamber I did not truly expect there to be one but neither is there sarcophagus nor coffin. A bright bulb illuminates the white interior. 'What the hell is this, Donel? I thought this was Siri's tomb.'

'It is, Father.'

'Where is she interred? Under the floor for Chrissake?'

Donel mops at his brow. I remember that it is his mother I am speaking of. I also remember that he has had almost two years to accustom himself to the idea of her death.

'No one told you?' he asks.

'Told me what?' The anger and confusion is already ebbing. 'I was rushed here from the dropship station and told that I was to visit Siri's tomb before the farcaster opening. What?'

'Mother was cremated as per her instructions. Her ashes were spread on the Great South Sea from the highest platform of the family isle.'