Zinnia

"Why in hell would she marry you?"

"She says she's in love with me," Nick said.

"I was afraid of that. But it doesn't make any difference. She would never marry someone who wasn't a good match. And she's unmatchable."

"I'm in love with her."

"I think we're talking lust here, not love. And maybe you like the fact that she can handle your talent, too." Clementine snorted. "Easy to see how a matrix could mistake that for love."

"I know the difference now," Nick said steadily. "There's nothing like looking into the face of chaos to help a matrix make a few obvious connections."

"Think so?" Clementine looked distinctly skeptical. "There's still the other problem. You and she are hardly likely to get matched. Especially given the fact that Zinnia's registration isn't even active."

"Don't worry about it. I've got a plan."

The ringing of the phone awakened Zinnia. She opened her eyes and glanced at the bedside clock. Nearly four in the afternoon. She had been dozing most of the day since she had returned from the hospital that morning. The long night had exhausted her physical as well as psychic energy, but she sensed that she was recovering swiftly.

She listened while the answering machine picked up the call.

"Zinnia? This is your Aunt Willy. I have been trying to reach you all day. Why didn 't you tell me that Mr. Chastain was a member of the Founders' Club? You never mentioned that you were going to the annual charity ball. By the way, I wonder if Mr. Chastain ought to consider a lawsuit against that dreadful tabloid and Rexford Eaton, too. Give me a call as soon as you get in."

Zinnia heard the new note of respect in her aunt's voice. So it was Mr. Chastain now, was it? Maybe Nick was right. Maybe one could buy respectability. A single photo of him inside the Founders' Club, even though it showed him stretched out on the lobby floor, and Aunt Willy was starting to think he had possibilities.

Zinnia got off the bed and headed for the shower. The phone rang again just as she was about to step into the bathroom. She paused on the threshold to listen.

"Zin? It's me, Leo. I just got back from the hospital. Nick is chomping at the bit. The doctor says she wants to keep him for another day or two for observation, but I have a hunch he's going to check himself out soon. I called to see how you're doing. Guess you're still asleep."

Zinnia hurried across the room and scooped up the phone. "Hi, Leo. I'm awake. Just about to take a shower."

"Feeling better? I was worried about you last night. You looked as if you'd been dragged through a Western Islands jungle after you finished focusing for Nick."

"Nothing like having a younger brother when you want to know the truth. I'm recovering fast. Almost back to normal. How's Nick?"

"Like I said, getting ready to check himself put in spite of the doctor's orders. Clementine was visiting with him when I got there."

"Uh-oh."

"I think they'd had what might be called a heated discussion about you just before I arrived. But they looked like they'd called a truce when I walked into the room."

"A truce?"

"I heard Nick say something about having a plan."

Zinnia winced. "Not a good sign."

"Zin? Level with me. What's happening between you and Chastain?"

"I don't know."

"You're in love with him, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Leo was silent for a moment. "Think he's in love with you?"

Zinnia clutched her robe tightly and sank down into a chair. "The last thing he said to me before the crazy-fog got him was that he loved me. But I'm sure he only said it because he thought he was going insane. He was facing what, for him, was the ultimate horror. I was the last human being he saw before he walked into chaos."

"In other words, you think the drama of the situation had a profoundly motivational impact on his decision to declare his love," Leo said dryly. "The final farewell before the great battle, et cetera, et cetera."

"I think we can assume that, yes." Zinnia reached for a tissue to blot the sudden dampness from her eyes. "Perfectly understandable."

"It's also perfectly understandable that he might actually be in love with you."

"I don't fit the profile of the woman he intends to marry. And he's not exactly my ideal mate, either. It's one thing to have an affair with a matrix, but what intelligent woman would marry one?"

There was a short loud pause on the other end of the line. "An affair?"

"That's all it can ever be."

"Do yourself a favor, Zin. Don't make any snap decisions here, okay? You've been through a lot during the past twenty-four hours. Give yourself some time to calm down and regain your sense of balance."

She sniffed into the tissue. "Okay."

"Take care. I'll check back with you later."

"Thanks, Leo." Zinnia put down the phone. For a long time she gazed morosely at the Early Exploration Period seascape on the wall.

After a while she crumpled the tissue, tossed it aside, and got up to take her shower.

She did not hear the phone ring a third time because of the noise of the pulsing water and the closed door. But when she walked out of the bath half an hour later the answering machine was in the midst of recording another call.

"Mm Spring? Newton DeForest here. Say, I did some checking in those old files. The ones I have stored down in the family crypt. I was surprised to find that I did have some information on the financial aspects of the Third Expedition. Not much, but if you would like to take a look at it- "

Zinnia snatched up the receiver. "Hello? Professor DeForest? Hang on." She punched buttons madly until the answering machine clicked off. "Sorry about that. What were you saying?"

"I have a brief note taken from an old interview with a New Portland University clerk here. For some reason, I jotted down the fact that a company by the name of Fire and Ice Pharmaceuticals had expressed an interest in underwriting the Chastain expedition. The firm went out of business years ago, however. Is this the sort of thing you were looking for?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, indeed."

"I may have a few more bits and pieces here somewhere. Not a lot, but you're welcome to what little there is."

Zinnia glanced at the clock. Five-fifteen. "Would you mind very much if I pick it up this evening?"

"I'll be waiting for you, Miss Spring. If I don't answer the door, come on around the back. I'll be in the garden. I like to use these long summer days to get in a little extra pruning. My dear little blood-creepers grow so quickly."

Chapter 22

Nick looked up from his notes when he sensed the hulking figure in the doorway of the hospital room. "Come on in, Feather. It's safe. Zinnia went home to get some sleep."

"Too bad." Feather ambled into the room. "I was going to make my report to her."

"What report?"

"She didn't like me being here in the same room with you last night so she ordered me to go make myself useful." Feather's shaved head gleamed in the glow of the overhead light. He came to a halt beside the bed. "She sent me off to find the twin-snakes that jumped you in the garage."

Nick had a vague memory of an argument that had been waged across his bed sometime during the night. "Any luck?"

"Yeah. Kind of interesting. One turned up in the morgue."

"Don't look at me. I didn't put him there. The last thing I remember, he was on the floor of the garage but he was still breathing."

"He was still breathing when he and his pal got away during the confusion before the cops arrived, too," Feather said. "But he had a real unfortunate accident later. They found him in an alley in Founders' Square about five this morning."

"What happened?"

"Someone stuck his own knife in his chest. The official verdict is that he was just a dealer who got into a quarrel with one of his crazy-fog clients."