Embarkment 2577 Read Online Free PDF Page B

all about it if you ask.”
    A sip of tea gave me courage. “Ima was
here earlier, and said some strange things about him. She told me to find a man
who can give me a litter.”
    Anya laughed so hard I thought she would
fall over. “Ima isn’t human. Her culture lives for their children, and she
won’t rest until she has spliced the Captain’s DNA into something compatible
with her own.”
    Splicey-the-what-and-the-how? Probably
not important. Anya looked quite mischievous. “She and the Captain are very
happy together; they both fill a void in the other, but that doesn’t mean her
way of life is right for you.”
    “It’s just so difficult, you know. I’ve
never had to handle people who aren’t human. It’s hard enough with my own
species.”
    Smirking made her look exactly like a
photo I once saw of the rock star. It was eerie. “Well, yes, I can see that. You
still don’t remember anything of the time you spent with Adam? I doubt he
would have told you much about this century, but maybe something…?”
    “I still don’t even know how much time
I’m missing. It’s really frustrating. He knows so much more about me than I do
right now, and he’s sure not telling.”
    Anya laughed again, and lifted her long
black hair over to one side. How could a hologram interact with the world? How
could a hologram have tea ?
    “Not to return to Ima’s way of thinking,
but you do realize he’s very… fond of you, right?”
    Her light eyes scrutinized me, trying to
read me in ways I didn’t even know myself. “You’re confused because you can’t
remember, but your emotions are much more easily accessible than your memories.
It’s up to him what he wants to tell you or not, and Ima might have been out of
line, jumping to conclusions, but I would like you to give some thought to
this…”
    Her gaze was hypnotizing. I couldn’t
look away.
    “You jumped into harm’s way, to a
certain death, to save him. No matter how brave a person is, or how high her
ideals are, not many people would do that for someone who means nothing to them.”
    “It’s just really frustrating, you know.”
Everyone assumed so much, and I was clueless.
    She patted my hand. “It’ll come back to
you. Until then there’s no big hurry, is there? I don’t think anyone expects
anything from you besides getting strong again.”
    It made sense when put like that. “So,
how ‘bout you? Do you have a boyfriend? Eh, I mean, can you, eh, umm, I don’t
know what I mean.”
    Stupid, stupid, stupid. Asking a
hologram if she had a boyfriend. Now would be a good time to bang my head
against a wall or something.
    Anya leaned forward as if to confide
something a little forbidden. “I have a boyfriend. He’s a pirate, and our
Captain doesn’t care much for him, but we meet up whenever we can.”
    It was comical, and somehow just the way
it should be. “A pirate huh? Wherever did you meet him?”
    I pulled my feet up on the sofa. I was
making my first real friend in this weird place, and we had a girls’ gossip
night. All of a sudden, life was pretty good.
    Anya bit her cheek, looking both amused
and embarrassed. Most people probably took her for granted and never thought of
asking.
    “We met in a bar when I was on shore
leave. He sat by the counter, drinking, and when he saw me, he just swept me
into his arms and kissed me. I had never been kissed before, and I pushed him
away and slapped him. He was really drunk, and it was the first time I met a
drunken man, and he exclaimed I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen,
and by God he would kiss me again if it killed him.”
    I found her breathless way of telling
the story endearing. By the time she finished telling me how they hooked up, I
was giggling. “What’s his name? What does he look like?”
    She sat with her hands between her knees
like a little girl. “His name is John, and he looks like… He’s tall and strong,
and has rather long dark hair, and he usually doesn’t shave