The elder looked thoughtful. "Hmm... Atkins... ?"
At that moment, both women raised their heads as if they had heard a trumpet sound. But there was no sound, all was still and quiet. What had caught and held their gaze was that one bright star, brighter than Venus, had risen above the mountains in the west.
The elder said in a voice of wonder: "That light... that light!"
The younger said: "It is my husband. He is coming for me."
"Then is that the Phoenix Exultant! So bright! I thought she was still at Jupiter, being refitted."
"Your rival for his affections. You forget how swiftly she flies. She was at Jupiter. Ten hours ago. Now she is in high Earth orbit, beginning her deceleration burn. Come with me! By the time we climb the mountain there, where Phaethon and I agreed to meet, the Phoenix will be overhead."
The elder drew back. "But surely it will be hours and hours, if the ship is only just now beginning to decelerate."
"At ninety gravities? Her engines are outshouting every bit of radio-noise in the area. Phaethon wants everyone to know his ship is coming here. She'll be above us when we get to the mountaintop, believe me. Are you coming? He'll want to say good-bye to you, I'm sure."
The elder shook her head sadly. "He said all his good-byes to me, when he cried above my coffin at the Eveningstar Mausoleum. I said mine to him, earlier, much earlier."
"When?"
"I saw him. He had turned his ship around and come back, abandoning everything. Abandoning his life's work. The first time, before Lakshmi. I looked out through the window and saw him coming up the stairs. If he had been fifteen minutes earlier, the coffin would not have been prepared, and I would not have been able to drown myself. But I was gone by the time he reached the top of the stair. He tried to drag me from the coffin. He was like a young god in his gold armor, and he threw the Constables aside like puppets. They had to call Atkins to stop him. Atkins had been waiting, watching, ever since the colonial warrior was incarnated, certain that they would someday fight. Atkins was naked and magnificent, and there was a twinkle in his eye when they closed to grapple each other."
"How do you know all this, if you were in the coffin?"
"I was dreaming true dreams. I saw everything that happened: I had all the pictures and sounds from the outside world sent into my sleeping brain. I knew. Of course I knew. Would I spare myself? I am not as cowardly or soft as you might think. After all, I was the model for you!"
"Then come!"
The elder Daphne turned away. "I can't face him. You must be my ambassador this one last time, and tell him how I wanted to return his love, but could not. The black and endless void that so allures him fills me but with terror; how could I leave the green, sweet Earth... for that? Tell him, if I were braver..."
"If you were braver, you would love him?"
"If I were braver, I'd be you."
There was no more said. The two women stood for a time, side by side, holding hands in front of the window, watching the rising star of-the Phoenix Exultant, and wondering at the brightness.
Daphne Tercius Eveningstar climbed the moutaintop alone. She had changed into her taller, stronger body, and now a tight black skin of nanomaterial hugged her curves, and streamlined strands of folded gold adamantium cupped her breasts, emphasized the slim-ness of her waist, the roundness Of her hips.
The sun, by this time, had risen in the east, and Daphne's gold boots flashed as she walked. She carried her helmet in the crook of her elbow. It was gold, built in the same Egyptian-looking design as Phaethon's.
The top of the mountain was flat, littered with gravel, and with a few thorny strands of grass. On a rock not far away sat a wrinkled old man. He was leaning on a long white staff, and his hair and beard were the color of snow.
The old man was staring at a plant that had taken root. It was less than nine inches tall, just a slender stalk, but it must have been made to bloom out of season, for one bud had unfolded and formed a silver leaf. The leaf shone like a tiny mirror, and the old man stared down at it, smiling in his beard.
He looked up. "The Golden Age is ended. We will have an age of iron next, an age of war and sorrow! How appropriately you are armored, then, my darling Mrs. Phaethon. You look like some delectable young Amazon! How could you afford armor like that?"
"I collected the fees during the Transcendence from everyone who came to consult with my daughter."
" 'Daughter'?" blinked the old man. "Daughter... ?"
"She is not yet legally of age, so the money came to me. And the Transcendence predicted, or decided, that Gannis would try to undo some of the harm he had done to his public image, and so, during the long months of Transcendence (even though it only seemed like a moment to us) he put this armor together for me, one atom at a time. When I say 'to us' I mean 'to those of us who were in the Transcendence,' that is. I don't recognize you."
He groaned and leaned on his stick and pushed himself to his feet. "You don't?!! My sweet young curvaceous little war goddess has forgotten me! And after all we meant to each other!"
She stepped back half a pace. "The Phoenix Exultant is coming." She pointed overhead. Where the clouds parted, a golden triangle hung in the sky, as the moon is sometimes visible by day. Even from orbit, the great ship was still a naked-eye object. "The landing craft will be touching down here. So clear off if you don't want to get hurt."
"I know all that. The landing craft fell out from port-side docking bay nineteen, about two hours ago. There were big dragon-signs painted on her keeclass="underline" Just Married, and tin cans on tethers floating aft. Anyway, the lander flew beneath the levitation array. Your husband left the lander there, and just jumped out of the air lock. He swan-dived into the atmosphere. Simply to show off how much re-entry heat his armor can shed, I suppose. Heh, heh! I expect him any minute."
"How do you know this?"
"I was watching it all from my grove. I told the leaves in a certain valley of mine to form a convex mirror, so I could take measurements of the Phoenix Exultant as she approached. Amazing what you can do with primitive tools and a little simple math! I also built a bridge across that little stream in front of your parent's house, out of planed wood and good old-fashioned molecular epoxy. Very refreshing to work with your hands!"
Daphne made the recognition gesture, but nothing happened. "Who the hell are you? The masquerade is over! Why isn't your name on file?"
"Oh, come on!" He looked sarcastically exasperated. "You are the mystery writer. It should be obvious who I am!"
"You are the one who started all this. Woke up Phaethon, I mean, and got him to turn off his sense-filter so that he saw Xenophon stalking after him. Phaethon found out that he had been redacted...." "Yes. Obviously. And ... ?" "You work for the Earthmind! She arranged this whole thing from start to finish so that everything would work out right!"
"Little girl, if you were not in a space-adapted body one hundred times stronger than I am right now, I would turn you over my knee and spank your pert little behind bright red."
"Okay. You don't sound like an Earthmind avatar. Are you Aurelian ... ? You did all this to make your party more dramatic ... ?" "You're guessing."
"You're an agent of the Silent Ones. You woke up Phaethon for Xenophon's sake, to get the Phoenix Exultant out of hock, so your people could grab it."
"Exactly right! And I've come here to surrender, but only if you make mad, passionate love to me, right now!" He threw his arms wide, as if to embrace her, capering from one foot to the other, hair flying wildly. She fended him off with her hand. "Okay, no. Do I get another guess?"