Resurgence

Louis disentangled himself and went through into the control cabin. Its door had been sacrificed on Marglot to the cause of reduced mass, but Atvar H’sial moved to stand at the entrance and prevent anyone else from entering.

“Louis, I feel that I will never understand humans.”

“Join the club.”

“First, consider the survival specialist, Sinara Bellstock. She could not wait to mate with you on several earlier occasions. But in the conference chamber, her chemical messengers gave off no trace of interest in you. Instead they revealed great interest in Ben Blesh.”

“You don’t need pheromones to read that. Sinara has found herself a new hero. Now she’s hot for Ben.” Louis sat down in the control chair and stared at the Bose coordinates. A few more minutes would do it. “An’ you know what? I’m relieved. You’ve no idea how rotten it makes me feel when somebody expects me to be a hero.”

“I am not surprised. It is a role for which by both temperament and history you are unsuited. However, the puzzle does not end with Sinara Bellstock. When humans are in an unwashed condition, their pheromonal products are particularly easy to read. Darya Lang was offering you her body in the corridor. True?”

“Some of her body. An’ I don’t think she was expectin’ it to happen right there in the corridor. But more or less.”

“And you were giving off conflicting signals. On the one hand, you sympathize with and desire her. On the other hand, you have absolutely no intention of returning to the Sagittarius Arm under any circumstances whatsoever.”

“So? Any trip to the Sag Arm might be six months away. Darya could be tomorrow night. You gonna give me a lecture on morals?”

“I would not dream of doing so. Were you to observe Cecropian mating habits they would, I suspect, render you nauseated.”

“Some human ones don’t make me feel any too good.” Louis had his eyes fixed on the countdown. Another minute and they would enter another Bose node. One more step on the long journey to the Orion Arm, and from this point on it ought to be plain sailing. The Have-It-All was doing no more than retracing its outward path. “So maybe Darya an’ me decide to play around on the way home. Don’t you agree I’ve earned it?”

“Indeed you have. However, I want to point out one more complication that does not seem to have occurred to you.”

“Go on. Screw things up for me when they’re goin’ great.”

“Darya Lang is from Sentinel Gate, and she will doubtless wish to return there. Waiting for you on Sentinel Gate is the faithful Glenna Omar. Do you not see what a difficult choice lies ahead of you?”

Twenty seconds to go to the Bose node. Louis stared around him at the ruined cabin. He could visualize the rest of the ship. Where once had been the most luxurious of beds there were now bare metal floors. The finest robochef in the Orion Arm floated somewhere in the sea of debris that had been Marglot. Showers, once able to provide subtle combinations of perfumed essences, offered at best a trickle of cold water. Whole closets, once filled with Glenna Omar’s lingerie and furs and gowns and shoes and jewelry, stood empty.

“Yeah.” Louis entered the final transfer sequence. “There’s a choice ahead. Only it’s not mine to make, an’ I doubt it’ll be all that difficult once she sees this ship. You don’t know Glenna as well as I do.”

Space around the Have-It-All flickered. The vessel, such as was left of it, entered the Bose node.

EPILOG

From notes dictated by Darya Lang just prior to the arrival of the Have-It-All at Upside Miranda Port:

This is a proposed addendum to the volume A SURFEIT OF NOTIONS: Theories of Builder origins, activities, nature, and artifacts. Begin.