as you were. More keen, I bet. Is it all right for me to say that?”
“Of course it is. I’m, well, I guess I feel honored. I mean, that you would choose me to be the first. Why me?”
“You’re a very attractive man. You seemed interested in me.”
“I was. I am.”
“I’ve been thinking about you ever since you greeted us as we came aboard. This seemed appropriate. You are, after all, the first mate.”
He laughed at her weak joke, but he still looked upset. “Why now, after so many years?”
“You mean that I’m an antique?”
“Not at all. You are young and beautiful.”
“Thank you. I’ll accept that, even if I don’t quite believe it. You ask, why now? It’s all part of a feeling I’ve had ever since we lifted off from Earth. I’ve been exhilarated and excited, full of the conviction that everything was new and different and wonderful.”
“No thanks to me. Next time, Jan, it will be better. I swear it. I was just too excited tonight.” He frowned. “I hope there will be a next time.”
“There had better be. Unless you are the original Achilles’ heel. Paul, stop worrying. Tonight was just fine, and everything I’ve ever heard or read about this says it just gets better.” She snuggled close to him. “I’m not asking for an instant repeat performance, so you can go to sleep if you want to. But I would like to be held, and maybe talk a bit if you feel up to it. I want to ask you a question.”
“Sure.” He pulled her head onto his shoulder and put his lips to her ear. He whispered, “Ask me anything.”
“Do you pick out a different passenger on each trip?”
He started and pulled away. “Now Jan, that’s really an unfair question. When I said, ask me anything—”
“You don’t understand, Paul. I’m hoping that the answer is yes.”
“Why? What difference does it make?”
“I’ll rephrase the question, so it doesn’t make you sound like a libertine. Have you had experiences in the past with other women passengers?”
He hesitated. “Yes, I have. But I still don’t know why you ask. There’s no chance at all of disease.”
“That thought never entered my head.” Jan nuzzled his neck. “I just like to feel that my needs are being attended to by someone with experience and expertise. I’m well aware that I don’t have those myself. I wondered if you would notice when we began to make love.”
“I had no idea. Everything seemed perfectly normal.”
“Except for that first minute.”
“I thought that was more me than you. People are different. There’s always an adjustment to get the geometry right.”
“The geometry feels just fine.” Jan relaxed against his body. The sleeping bag provided warm intimacy. He had more chest hair than she expected, and she liked the soft tickle of it against her breasts. He also smelled different, a sexual odor which came as an unexpected pleasure. She closed her eyes in contented silence. Maybe she was all set to fall asleep herself, for certainly when he spoke his voice seemed to come from far away.
“I don’t want to spoil the mood, because this is really pleasant. But I did have something else that I wanted to talk to you about. It may sound pretty ridiculous.”
Jan said lazily, “You said, ask me anything. So I’ll say, tell me anything.”
“It’s about Sebastian.”
It was Jan’s turn to stiffen. “What about him?”
“I know that you’ve looked after him almost all his life, and you care for him very much.”
“Like a brother. There has never been one shred of sexual feeling between us.”
“Once I had time to see you interact, I never thought there had been. You don’t look at each other that way. And I understand that Dr. Bloom may be the person who has the most contact with him from now on. But because you’ve been so close for so long, you ought to hear this.”
“Has Sebastian done something?”
“He has done nothing wrong. He spends lots of time wandering around the ship, staring at things and not saying anything.”
“That’s harmless enough.”
“I think so, too. But it has made a few people uneasy, and they are reacting. There’s been a rumor going around that he’s a Jonah. Do you know what a Jonah is for ships in space?”
“I imagine that it’s the same as it is for ships on the seas of Earth. Someone who brings bad luck.”
“That’s what they’re saying. Sebastian Birch will bring bad luck to the Achilles.”
“I never heard such nonsense. Sebastian wouldn’t harm anyone or anything.”
“I believe you, Jan. But I want you to know the wild talk that’s been going around some of the crew and passengers, so you won’t get a nasty surprise. It’s nothing more than dumb superstition, but they say that with Sebastian Birch on board this ship will never make it to Ganymede. Somewhere along the way, no one knows how or where, the presence of Sebastian will lead the Achilles to disaster.”
16
The model… a worrying new insight, burning to be tested.
A meeting with Prosper and Lena Ligon… top priority, they insist it can’t be put off even for a day.
Kate Lonaker… cold as Charon, unsympathetic to any attempt at reconciliation, refusing to talk.
Travel notification… a trip to the Saturn system, with no explanation.
Alex was going mad. He had never felt himself under such multiple pressures. Somehow he had to impose logic and a set of priorities.
Prosper Ligon and his mother first. Alex composed the shortest message he could imagine: Meet four o’clock at Ligon HQ, Notify if not acceptable.
Next he checked the travel authorization. As soon as he saw the origin: Ligon Industries, he put the worry to the back of his mind. He would find out what it was about soon enough.
Now for the tough one. He called Kate.
She answered at once, as though she had been sitting waiting by her communications terminal.
“Yes?”
“I’m going to run the model again. I have a new idea, and to test it I’m going to DP Central. I would very much appreciate your assistance and insights.”
“Very well. I will meet you there.”
Still cold, still aloof. What was wrong with the woman? Would he make a big deal of it, if Kate had gone off and screwed somebody and she didn’t even remember who?
Alex decided. Yes, he would mind. He would be totally pissed. He owed Kate a big apology, if only she would endure his company long enough to listen.
He hurried along to DP Central, where they would enjoy access to the highest computational priority and the best displays, courtesy of Magrit Knudsen. Somehow, Kate was there ahead of him.
“Kate, I just want to say—”
“I’m ready for work when you are. You tell me you have a new idea. What is it?”
So much for apologies. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. He hadn’t exactly scorned her, but that logic wouldn’t get him far. To work.
“I’ve reviewed the old results over and over. I’m still convinced that the model is basically correct.”
“So you mean, a hundred years from now there will be no humans left, anywhere. Right. That’s very reassuring.”
“I don’t believe that result. I think that the problem lies in the Seine.”
“Two weeks ago you told me that the Seine would solve all our problems.”
“All our computational problems. We have ample computing capacity for the first time ever, but the Seine is
