Part 4 (1/2)

”It's because you're Pan, isn't it?”

”Theresa...”

”All right,” she said wistfully. ”Nothing adventurous for a Pan's lover.”

He frowned, then pulled her toward him and unsnapped her overalls. ”You'll make me do anything, won't you? Shameless,” he said into her ear.

”Somebody in this dyad has to be adventurous.”

He kissed her while mulling over that word, dyad. dyad. They certainly were that; he had not called their relations.h.i.+p such, reserving the word for what he and William had had, but what he felt for Theresa deserved it more. They certainly were that; he had not called their relations.h.i.+p such, reserving the word for what he and William had had, but what he felt for Theresa deserved it more.

”Wedding dress,” he said, holding her high to suckle.

”For all of us,” Theresa said, eyes closed, grinding her hips against his stomach. ”Lower me.”

”Not yet. Not until you say I'm adventurous.”

”You're adventurous.”

Martin heard something, a breath or a rustle of cloth, and turned to see Rosa coming back. Her quarters were somewhere near here; they were in her path. She looked both sad and embarra.s.sed, reversed, laddered back around the curve.

”Sorry,” Theresa called after her. ”It's your hall, too, Rosa.” But she was gone. Martin lowered Theresa and made a face. ”You were right,” Theresa said, chagrined. ”She's so shy...she didn't need to see us. But it's nothing to do with your being Pan.” She pulled up her overalls. ”Your quarters,” she said.

He lay beside Theresa in the darkness, awash in an abandonment he had not known in some time. He was free of care, loose in body luxury, all demands satisfied or put aside where they would not nag. Theresa lay still, breathing shallow, but she was not asleep. He heard her eyelids opening and closing. Long, languid blinks. Such sated animals. Such sated animals.

”Thank you,” he said.

She caressed his leg with hers. Then: ”You're so quiet. Where are you?”

”I'm home,” he said.

”Thinking about Earth?”

”No,” he said. ”I'm home. Here with you.”

And it was true. For the first time in thirteen years, here in the darkness, he felt at home. Home was a few minutes between extreme worries and challenges; home was a suspension outside any place or time.

”That's sweet,” Theresa said.

”I love you.”

”I love you, Martin. But I'm not home. Not yet.”

He pulled her to him. The moment was fleeting and he wanted to grab it but could not. Temporary, ineffable. Not home. No home.

Martin entered the nose dressed in exercise shorts, neck wrapped in a sweat towel. He had just worked out with Hans Eagle and Stephanie Wing Feather in the second homeball gym when Hakim signaled that they might have enough information to make the next decision.

The Dawn Treader's Dawn Treader's long nose extended a hundred meters from the first homeball, a slender needle only three meters wide at the point. Hakim Hadj and three of the search team-Li Mountain, Thomas Orchard, and Luis Estevez Saguaro-kept station in the tip of the nose, surrounded by projections. long nose extended a hundred meters from the first homeball, a slender needle only three meters wide at the point. Hakim Hadj and three of the search team-Li Mountain, Thomas Orchard, and Luis Estevez Saguaro-kept station in the tip of the nose, surrounded by projections.

Transparent to visible light, the tip of the nose revealed a superabundant darkness, like an unctuous dye that could stain their souls.

The remotes, four thousand tiny sensors, had departed from the third homeball two days before, returning their signals to the Dawn Treader Dawn Treader using the same point to point ”no-channel” transmission their weapons and craft would use when outside the s.h.i.+p. Within a distance of ten billion kilometers, information simply ”appeared” in a receiver, and could not be intercepted between; hence, no channel. The effective rate of transmission was almost instantaneous. The children called the no-channel transmissions ”noach.” using the same point to point ”no-channel” transmission their weapons and craft would use when outside the s.h.i.+p. Within a distance of ten billion kilometers, information simply ”appeared” in a receiver, and could not be intercepted between; hence, no channel. The effective rate of transmission was almost instantaneous. The children called the no-channel transmissions ”noach.”

Moms, s.h.i.+p's mind, and libraries were unresponsive to inquiries on the subject of noach; it was one of the tools bequeathed without explanation.

With the remotes, the ”eye” of the Dawn Treader Dawn Treader had expanded enormously, and was now nine billion kilometers in diameter, nearly two thirds as wide as the solar systems they studied. had expanded enormously, and was now nine billion kilometers in diameter, nearly two thirds as wide as the solar systems they studied.

Hakim pushed through the haze of projections and glided toward Martin. Li Mountain and Luis Estevez Saguaro watched, fidgeting with their wands, but controlling their enthusiasm enough to let Hakim take charge.

”It's even better,” Hakim said. ”It's very good indeed. We have resolution down to a thousand kilometers, and estimates of energy budgets. The nearest system is inhabited, but it's not consuming energy like a thriving high-tech civ should. Still, it's the most active, and it's where we might expect it to be. ”

Hakim's wand projected graphics and figures for Martin. a.s.say fit very closely indeed. ”We've been looking through the stellar envelopes and we've put together a picture of the birthing cloud in this region. Shock-wave pa.s.sage from a supernova initiated starbirth about nine billion years ago, and the supernova remnants seeded heavy elements along these gradients...” Hakim's finger traced a projected purple line through numbers describing metals densities, ”metals” meaning elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. He jabbed at a cl.u.s.tering of numbers. ”The b.u.t.tercup is right in this gradient, right in this magnetic pool, to receive the only dose of exactly these proportions.” Red numbers bunched within a dip in the galaxy's magnetic field, where gases might collect, waiting to be condensed into stars. ”No other star system within a hundred light years matches the b.u.t.tercup's a.s.say.”

Martin felt numb, not yet realizing with all of his faculties how significant this was.

”Time for another gathering,” he said thoughtfully. ”I'll report to the moms,” Hakim said.

They had never before seen more than three moms together, although they had suspected there could be many more. Several times the children had kept track of their whereabouts in the Dawn Treader Dawn Treader and tried to count them, as a kind of game, but they could never be and tried to count them, as a kind of game, but they could never be sure sure how many there were. Now, all eighty-two children-Lost Boys and Wendys-gathered in the schoolroom to make the final decision, and there were six identical moms, all with the same patient, neutral voices. how many there were. Now, all eighty-two children-Lost Boys and Wendys-gathered in the schoolroom to make the final decision, and there were six identical moms, all with the same patient, neutral voices.

More than anything that had happened before, this gave Martin chills. He had personally estimated there were no more than four moms in the entire s.h.i.+p. It seemed likely to him now that the Dawn Treader Dawn Treader could manufacture the robots at will; but that meant the s.h.i.+p itself was a kind of giant mom. could manufacture the robots at will; but that meant the s.h.i.+p itself was a kind of giant mom.

Putting six into the schoolroom was a symbolic action, surely...And it communicated to Martin, at least, with full force.

Four moms hovered at the periphery of the schoolroom, silent and unmoving, like sentinels. Two moms floated in the center of the schoolroom, beside the star sphere. They waited patiently until the children were quiet, which took less than a minute. Martin saw Ariel enter with William and Erin just as the first mom began to speak.

The mom at stage left advanced and said, ”The information on the candidate stellar group has increased. If the s.h.i.+p alters its course now, and begins deceleration, you are less than three months from this system, s.h.i.+p's time. Deceleration will use most of our reserves, and we will need to refuel within one of the stellar systems, the b.u.t.tercup or the Cornflower. There are unlikely to be sufficient volatiles available in the Firestorm system.”

A diagram of their orbital path and velocities spread before the children. Deceleration for three tendays at one g, s.h.i.+p's reference, which would drop their speed to about ninety percent c and increase their tau tau considerably, bringing them into a position to enter the b.u.t.tercup system. Then deceleration of two g's for twenty-three days. They would enter the system at just over three fourths the speed of light, crossing the system's diameter of eleven point two billion kilometers in just under fourteen hours. considerably, bringing them into a position to enter the b.u.t.tercup system. Then deceleration of two g's for twenty-three days. They would enter the system at just over three fourths the speed of light, crossing the system's diameter of eleven point two billion kilometers in just under fourteen hours.

Martin noted that their trajectory would take them through the dark haloes of pre-birth material, through the plane of the ecliptic, and then under the b.u.t.tercup's south pole, considerably below the plane of the ecliptic. They would pa.s.s within two hundred million kilometers of one rocky world, and a hundred million kilometers of the second, directly between them, when both were nearly aligned on one side of the system.

”The remotes have given your search team more information. You will now be provided with the expanded figures to make your next decision.”

Ariel watched Martin from across the room. Her expression said nothing, but he could feel her disapproval.

Hakim Hadj pushed forward from the search team. ”The information is wonderful...Very provocative.” He raised his wand, and the wand of each sang in tune, and projected images into their eyes.

They saw: That the two yellow stars had altered stellar envelopes-that the streams of particles flowing outward from the stars' surfaces were being gathered and twisted like hair in braids, forming streamers above and below the poles. The magnetic fields of the stars were being altered to control their surface activity, and to allow fine tuning of their radiation output. None of the planets were swept by particle storms any more, nor were they subjected to the vagaries of stellar interiors. This helped explain the altered stellar signature-spectrum versus size and brightness-that had first pointed to the presence of an advanced civilization.

Other details could be discerned around the nearest yellow star, the b.u.t.tercup: altered planetary orbits, with a single gas giant world pushed in closer to the b.u.t.tercup, perhaps to allow easier mining of volatiles. The gas giants were even more depleted of volatiles than they had first estimated; refueling would be difficult around this star.

Between the b.u.t.tercup's outermost rocky world and the nearest depleted gas giant orbited a million-kilometer-thick halo of flimsy structures largely made of silicates. One or more rocky worlds, or perhaps an entire asteroid belt, might have been sacrificed to make the halo; what purpose it served could not be known yet. Hakim speculated they might have been enormous mirrors to refocus energy on the inner planets, or perhaps to deflect radiation from the red giant in its more violent phase.

The farther yellow star showed no high-tech activity. ”Someone might be hiding,” Hakim said, ”but we have no way of knowing that.”

He saved the most impressive displays for last.

”Some of the information we're about to show you was gathered by the Benefactors long before Earth was destroyed,” Hakim said. ”Several thousand years ago...The moms have given this to us.”

In simulation, they saw dim flares around the two yellow stars, as viewed from hundreds or even thousands of light years away: the expenditure of vast energies necessary to move the planets and alter the stars. The flares had lasted only for a matter of decades-a mere instant on the time-scale of the galaxy, but obviously, eager eyes and ears had caught the flicker.