“Everything is on schedule,” Boss said. “It will not be long before your world comes into your field of view again, as we round the satellite. I am monitoring the telemetry, and everything is within designated parameters.”
“What are you going to tell your children about this joyride?” Libby asked, and then sighed, leaning her head against Liam’s shoulder and closing her eyes.
“We came seeking our ancestors,” Boss said. “We have no ‘children’.”
“But you have a next generation.”
“There is always a next generation,” Boss confirmed.
“So how do you procreate?”
“We re — design, improve, develop,” Boss said.
“All logic and no play,” Andie Mae purred. “It’s all work. Doesn’t sound like here’s anything at all enjoyable about it.”
“Not a romantic bone in his body,” Libby murmured, her eyes still closed.
Boss tilted his head a little, considering. “I understand. I believe we are fully capable of operating under the parameters which you are describing. Older models may have to be physically modified to fulfill certain kinds of programming requirements, but more advanced ones, such as myself, are able to adapt to requirements. I am able to morph my form into any shape, tool, or appendage necessary for the performance of a specified function.”
“A little like replicators,” Xander said faintly. “Just pony up what’s needed…”
Andie Mae appeared to have been taking large gulps from her bizarre drink without anyone noticing, because her glass was suddenly half empty and she was thoughtfully twirling the cocktail umbrella between thumb and forefinger of her left hand. If a living human male had been the subject of the speculative, heavy — lidded, smoky gaze she now bent on Boss, that male would probably have frozen on the spot like a rabbit who dared to lock eyes with a hawk. But Boss returned the gaze without flinching.
“So what you’re saying is, you’re fully functional…?”
“Indeed,” Boss agreed. “In every necessary way.”
“Okay, then. Why not find out? Moonlight becomes you, it turns out…” Andie Mae glanced around, and held out her half — finished drink to Sam, who took it reflexively. “Tower 1, Room 701,” Andie Mae said to Boss. “Be there in five minutes. We can… discuss matters further.” She glanced around at the riveted group who was watching proceedings with close attention, and actually winked at Xander as she turned to leave. “Oh, and I aim to misbehave….”
And then she was gone.
“Excuse me,” Boss said politely, after a moment, and turned to follow.
Sam glared at the drink he held in his hand, and put it down on an occasional table as though it had bitten him.
“What was in that?” he said. “Is she serious? Did someone put something in that drink?”
“It’s tonight,” said, of all people, Marius, and it was so unexpected coming from him that Sam actually turned to stare. “I mean, tonight… is a once in a lifetime…. I’m not saying I would… I’m just saying… it’s tonight. They could have served nothing but water at that bar and everyone would still be tipsy with tonight.”
“We’ll make a writer of the boy yet,” Sam muttered. “Xander — seriously, though — is there something…?”
But Xander had a strange small half smile on his face. “It’s partly tonight. It’s partly the whole thing. It’s the weight of it, the expectations — and all the things she herself arranged that never happened and then this all happened instead — and Al never did turn up — ”
“But should we have…” Liam began.
Xander shook his head. “She’s a big girl,” he said. “Somehow it only seems fitting, in the end, that the Steel Magnolia goes off into the moonlight with a Silver Metal Lover. But I still feel… as though I should follow and find out… if everything…excuse me. I’ll find Simon and have a chat.”
He parked his weird cocktail beside Andie Mae’s on the table and then he too was gone.
“Well,” Sam said, draining the rest of his Scotch, “who else wants an Irish coffee? I’m told this place keeps a special Bushmills bottle in the back, and I think tonight is the night to crack that open. Call it an Earthrise Good Morning Wake Up Call Coffee. If we’re to believe the management, we’re soon going to be homeward bound. And I’ve never felt more eager to raise a glass of something to good old Earth.”
SUNDAY
Sunday morning came down on everyone like a steel door slamming.
The euphoria of visiting the Moon, the endorphins stirred into life by being one of the chosen few humans to receive the sudden and inexplicable gift of looking upon the far side of the Earth’s faithful satellite, had all subsided; the parties had gamely gone on all night, but even the most gung — ho of the party goers wilted in the face of the fact that it was now over, over and done with, and the Moon was inexorably behind them and shrinking every moment. The sight of the approaching blue globe of the mother planet had served as a galvanizer for a little while, when it was first sighted in the blackness of space, glowing and solitary in the night — but it was still far away, too far away to anticipate arrival, and besides nobody really wanted to think about the logistics of that arrival too closely.
Or perhaps at all. There were simply too many unknowns. All the questions thathad been deferred while they basked in the reflected glory of the Moon’s white light had not gone away, they had just donned a mask of gaiety and partied with the rest of them during the night, but now, as those who had finally fallen into exhausted slumber were starting to wake and wonder, the masks were off and the questions stood stark… and just as unanswerable.
Liam, Andie Mae’s erstwhile right — hand man, made his way down to the Con Ops Room just after 9:30 AM, The few worker bees who were present, looking wan and spent, barely managed more than a nod of acknowledgment.
Simon, the con security chief, had looked up at Liam’s entrance, but did not get up from his chair in front of a monitor showing some of the hallways covered by the con’s strategically deployed cameras.
“You look like hell,” Liam said by way of greeting, taking in the huge dark rings under Simon’s eyes. “Did you go on a bender?”
“Thanks,” Simon said dryly. “No party for the wicked, alas. I was here most of the night, or doing duty in the hospital wing up in Tower 3, or prowling the halls in search of potential problems. I had a few hours’ catnap on Friday night but I haven’t slept since then. I’d like to see you look any better under the circumstances.”
“Did you get to see it? Any of it?”
Simon’s face broke into a tired grin. “Oh, hell, yeah. Made sure of that. You?”
“Libby took me up to the party at Callahan’s,” Liam said. “I had the best seat in the house.”
“Libby asked you…?” Simon began, belatedly putting Liam back into the world order and remembering that he wasn’t a part of the inner circle any longer. “And Andie Mae didn’t…? And where is Libby this morning, anyway? Haven’t seen her… For that matter, where is anybody…?”
“Libby’s still asleep,” Liam said. “She was a little too out of it last night to actually remember what her room number was, so I took her back to mine.” He caught Simon’s look and glared at him. “Nothing happened. The woman was in her cups and there are rules about that. She got the bed, I made do with the armchair, which was very uncomfortable, and then the floor for a little while. She was still sleeping when I left. I figured I might concoct a hangover cure because she’s sure as hell going to need one when she finally comes back to the world of the living…”