The Ashes of Worlds

“You have made me very curious.”

“Good.”

DD followed Orli out of her apartment, still chattering. “I can experience curiosity, you know. My programming is very sophisticated.”

“I’m aware of that. You can experience lots of things that surprise me.”

Mr. Steinman had shaved, showered, put on clean clothes, and combed his wet gray hair behind his ears. He could have used a haircut, Orli thought, but she was pleased that he had taken the trouble to make himself presentable. He realized this was very important to her — and to DD. Mr. Steinman was even wearing cologne. Lots of it.

“Everything’s set,” he said. “Ready to go?”

“You look as excited as I am.”

The older man flushed. “Just doing it as a favor for you, kid.”

“Where are we going?” DD pressed.

“It’s a surprise,” the two of them answered in unison.

“Whom will we meet?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Will you answerany of my questions?”

“No.”

“Then shall I stop asking?”

“Yes.” The Friendly compy was as antsy as a child about to open a birthday present.

As they traveled across the city, Orli at last relented and offered a hint. “I did some research. You already know I couldn’t find my mother, but I did find someone — someone for you.”

“I do not want anyone else, Orli Covitz. Margaret Colicos told the two of us to stay together.”

“This is different. You’ll understand soon enough.”

They arrived at a modest house with beautiful flower boxes out front. Orli smiled at the brown shutters and shingle roof, the pale yellow siding, the welcoming walk that led up to a front door surrounded by potted plants.

DD kept up with Orli’s eager step as they passed blue-chip juniper shrubs on the way to the front door. Mr. Steinman followed a few steps behind them. As soon as Orli knocked, the door opened, and a striking old woman in a loose green dress answered it. She wore her pewter hair neatly pinned back, and a delicate gold bracelet encircled her left wrist. To Orli’s eyes, she seemed about the same age as Mr. Steinman.

After a second of awkward silence, the old woman asked in a breathy voice, “Is that DD? Is that really DD?”

The compy stepped forward. “Yes, I am DD. I am pleased to meet you.”

Orli thought she would burst with excitement. “DD, don’t you remember Dahlia Sweeney?”

“Dahlia? My first master?” The compy was actually taken aback.

The woman laughed. “That was fifty years ago. But I grew up and gave you to my own daughter. and she grew up, but decided not to have a family.”

“You’re so much older now.”

“Yes, that happens over time. Are you glad to see me?”

DD chattered, his voice filled with delighted exuberance. “This is absolutely wonderful.”

“Yes, it is.” Dahlia opened the door wide. “Please come in. We have so much to catch up on. I’m going to cry, I’m sure of it.”

Inside the house, Orli could smell cookies.

They spent hours that day just talking, and Orli realized how lonely the old woman must be. DD regaled her with his adventures over the years, and Dahlia gave him the story of her life since her daughter Marianna had sold him. Then Mr. Steinman talked of his own exploits, modestly downplaying his heroics. He seemed almost shy, for a change, and he covered it by showing excessive interest in her backyard garden.

They returned the next day for dinner. Then the day after that. There wasn’t a single time that Dahlia didn’t have tears in her eyes when they left.

Finally, on their next visit, the old woman primly sat down on the sofa. Instead of tea, she had made lemonade. “What I’m about to propose is the best solution. We’re all orphans and loose ends. Orli, it sounds to me like you’ve been bounced around from place to place and are just looking for a home.”

Orli forced a smile. “Well, it’s not through lack of trying that I haven’t settled down.”

“Then I suggest you and DD stay here with me. I have plenty of spare rooms, and I could certainly use the company — as well as some help in the garden and a few odds and ends.”

“I can offer my assistance,” DD volunteered.

Orli, who felt no attachment to her little apartment, didn’t hesitate for a moment before agreeing.

“The invitation extends to you, too, Mr. Steinman,” Dahlia said. “If you would be interested.”

“Call me Hud, please — especially if I’ll be settling down here.” The old man couldn’t stop grinning.

“I am very happy about this,” the Friendly compy said.

Orli realized that was exactly the way she felt, too. At last.

170

Patrick Fitzpatrick III

Staring out at the gauzy pastel clouds of Golgen, Patrick no longer felt any threat inside the gas giant. The yawning gulf of emptiness did not make him dizzy, as if he were about to fall (having walked the gangplank, after all). Even the odd smell of chemicals from the upwelling gases didn’t bother him.

“I could almost get to like this place,” he said.

“Then should we keep your grandmother’s mansion on Earth as a vacation home?” Zhett said. “Although compared to this sky” — she spread her arms wide — “even that big old house would seem cramped.”

“I’m perfectly content to be wherever you are,” Patrick said with a mixture of teasing and sincerity, so that she couldn’t tell whether he was being corny or genuinely romantic.

Spiderlike cargo escorts took off from the skymine’s lower decks, circled around the attendant satellite platforms, and ascended to the more rarefied atmosphere until they reached orbit and streaked away with their full canisters of ekti. Production had gone into overdrive. The Ildiran Empire and the Confederation fleet were insatiable customers for stardrive fuel.

Del Kellum joined them, putting his hands on his hips. “Every time I see one of those ships fly off, I can’t help but think of all the profits coming back to clan Kellum.”

Patrick stared upward, blinking into the bright light. “Every time I see one of those ships fly off, I’m just glad nobody’s shooting at it, and that we don’t have to worry about the hydrogues, the faeros, the Klikiss, the robots, or the EDF.”

Zhett’s father turned to her, looking stern. “Now, don’t go expecting your husband to have a free ride around here, my sweet. He’s got to pull his own weight, do as much work as I do — ”

“Better yet, Dad, I’ll make sure he does as much work asI do.” She slipped her arm around Patrick’s waist, knowing that he already put in long days at the facility. “I promised to make him spend at least two hours with me every day in the command center so I can explain how things work on a big skymine. We’ll make him into an adequate administrator sooner or later.”