Humans Read Online Free PDF

slipped into the other universe. Still, Adikor was clearly delighted to see his woman and his child.
    Ponter’s woman-mate Klast was dead, but he’d expected his two daughters to come greet him. Granted, he’d seen them recently, too; indeed, Jasmel had been instrumental in recovering Ponter from the Gliksin world.
    Adikor looked at Ponter apologetically. Ponter knew that Adikor loved him deeply—and he showed that love twenty-five days out of each month. But this was the time for him to be with Lurt and Dab, and, well, he wanted to savor every beat of it. Ponter nodded, letting Adikor go, and Adikor headed off, one arm around Lurt’s waist, the other holding little Dab’s left hand.
    Other men were joining up with their women, and boys were going off with girls from the same generation. Yes, there’d certainly be much sex over the next four days, but there’d also be a lot of playing and fun and family outings and feasting.
    Ponter looked around. The crowd was dissipating. It was an unpleasantly warm day, and he sighed—but not just because of that.
    “I can call Jasmel, if you wish,” said Hak. Hak was Ponter’s Companion implant, embedded in the inside of his left forearm, just above the wrist. Like most Companions, it consisted of a high-contrast, matte-finish rectangular display screen about as long and wide as a finger, with six small control buds set beneath it, and a lens at one end. But unlike most Companions, which were pretty stupid, Hak was a sophisticated artificial intelligence, a product of Ponter’s colleague Kobast Gant.
    Hak hadn’t spoken aloud, although she could; Ponter thought of it as a she, since Kobast had programmed the device with the voice of Ponter’s late woman-mate. On days like today, though, that seemed a terrible mistake: it reminded him of how much he missed Klast. He’d have to speak to Kobast about getting a different voice.
    “No,” said Ponter, softly. “No, don’t call anyone. Jasmel has a young man, you know. He probably came in on an earlier hover-bus, and she’s off with him.”
    “You’re the boss,” said Hak.
    Ponter looked around. The buildings here in the Center were much like those out at the Rim. Most had main structures grown through arboriculture, tree trunks shaped around building forms that had subsequently been removed. Many had brick or wooden additions tacked on. All had solar-collecting arrays, either on their roofs or propped up on the ground adjacent to them. In some hostile climates, buildings had to be entirely manufactured, but Ponter always thought such structures were ugly. And yet the Gliksins seemed to make
all
their buildings that way, and to cram them together like herds of herbivorous animals.
    Speaking of animals, there would be a mammoth hunt this afternoon, providing fresh meat for tomorrow’s feast. Perhaps Ponter would join the hunting party. It had been a long time since he’d taken spear in hand and brought down prey in the old-fashioned way. At least it would give him—him, and the other men who had no one to spend time with—something to do.
    “Daddy!”
    Ponter turned around. Jasmel was running toward him, accompanied by her boyfriend, Tryon. Ponter felt a grin splitting his features. “Healthy day, sweetheart,” he said, as they came up to him. “Healthy day, Tryon.”
    Jasmel hugged her father. Tryon stood awkwardly at one side. When Jasmel released Ponter, Tryon said, “It’s good to see you, sir. I understand you’ve had quite an adventure.”
    “That I have,” said Ponter. He supposed he possessed the same ambivalence toward this young man that any father of a young woman had. Yes, Jasmel had said nothing but good about Tryon—he listened to her when she spoke, he was kind during sex, he was studying to be a leather worker and so was going to make a valuable contribution to society. Still, Jasmel was his daughter, and he wanted nothing but the best for her.
    “Sorry we were late,” said