seemingly solid, yet stirring,
as if a gritty gas had been trapped between two panes of glass. Starlight twinkled through. Such majestic beauty seemed to
deny their terrible reason for returning.
Iasius
’s affinity touched their minds. Feel no sorrow, the bitek starship said silently. I do not. What is, is. You have helped to fill my life. For that I thank you.
Alone in her cabin, Captain Athene felt her mental tears become real. She was as tall as any woman of the hundred families,
whose geneticists had concentrated on enhancing sturdiness so their descendants could comfortably spend a lifetime coping
with the arduous conditions of spaceflight. Her carefully formatted evolution had given her a long, handsome face, now heavily
wrinkled, and rich auburn hair which had lost its youthful sheen to a lustrous silver. In her immaculate ocean-blue ship-tunic
she projected a regal quality of assurance, which always elicited total confidence from her crews. But now her composure had
vanished, expressive violet eyes reflecting the utter anguish welling up inside.
No, Athene, please don’t.
I can’t help it, her mind cried back. It’s so unfair. We should go together, we should be allowed.
There was an eldritch caress down her spine, more tender than any human lover could ever bestow. She had felt that same touch
on every day of all her hundred and eight years. Her only true love. None of her three husbands received as much emotional
devotion as
Iasius
, nor, she admitted with something approaching sacrilege, had her eight children, and three of them she had carried in her
own womb. But other Edenists understood and sympathized; with their communal affinity there was no hiding emotions or truth.
The birthbond between the voidhawks and their captains was strong enough to survive anything the universe could possibly throw
at them. Except death, the most private section of her mind whispered.
It is my time,
Iasius
said simply. There was an overtone of contentment within the silent voice. If the voidhawk had had lungs, Athene thought
it would have sighed at that moment.
I know, she said wistfully. It had been increasingly obvious during the last few weeks. The once omnipotent energy patterning cells
were now struggling to open a wormhole interstice. Where over half a century ago there had been a feeling that a single swallow
manoeuvre could span the galaxy, the pair of them now experienced a muted sense of relief if a planned fifteen light-year
swallow was accomplished only a light-month short of the required coordinate. Damn the geneticists. Is parity so much to ask for? she demanded.
One day perhaps they will make ship and captain live as long as each other. But this which we have now, I feel a rightness
to it. Someone has to mother our children. You will be as good a mother as you have been a captain. I know this.
The sudden burst of self-satisfied conviction in the mental voice made her grin. Sticky lashes batted some of the moisture
away. Raising ten children at my age. Goodness!
You will do well. They will prosper. I am happy.
I love you,
Iasius
. If I was allowed to have my life again, I would never change a second of it.
I would.
You would? she asked, startled.
Yes. I would spend one day as a human. To see what it was like.
Believe me, both the pleasures and the pain are greatly exaggerated.
Iasius
chuckled. Optically sensitive cells protruding like blisters from its hull located the Romulus habitat, and the starship
felt for its mass with a tiny ripple in the spacial distortion field its energy patterning cells were generating. The habitat’s
solidity registered in its consciousness, a substantial mote orbiting the outside edge of the F-ring. Substantial but hollow,
a bitek polyp cylinder forty-five kilometres long, ten wide; it was one of the two original voidhawk bases germinated by the
hundred families back in 2225. There were two hundred and sixty-eight similar
as if a gritty gas had been trapped between two panes of glass. Starlight twinkled through. Such majestic beauty seemed to
deny their terrible reason for returning.
Iasius
’s affinity touched their minds. Feel no sorrow, the bitek starship said silently. I do not. What is, is. You have helped to fill my life. For that I thank you.
Alone in her cabin, Captain Athene felt her mental tears become real. She was as tall as any woman of the hundred families,
whose geneticists had concentrated on enhancing sturdiness so their descendants could comfortably spend a lifetime coping
with the arduous conditions of spaceflight. Her carefully formatted evolution had given her a long, handsome face, now heavily
wrinkled, and rich auburn hair which had lost its youthful sheen to a lustrous silver. In her immaculate ocean-blue ship-tunic
she projected a regal quality of assurance, which always elicited total confidence from her crews. But now her composure had
vanished, expressive violet eyes reflecting the utter anguish welling up inside.
No, Athene, please don’t.
I can’t help it, her mind cried back. It’s so unfair. We should go together, we should be allowed.
There was an eldritch caress down her spine, more tender than any human lover could ever bestow. She had felt that same touch
on every day of all her hundred and eight years. Her only true love. None of her three husbands received as much emotional
devotion as
Iasius
, nor, she admitted with something approaching sacrilege, had her eight children, and three of them she had carried in her
own womb. But other Edenists understood and sympathized; with their communal affinity there was no hiding emotions or truth.
The birthbond between the voidhawks and their captains was strong enough to survive anything the universe could possibly throw
at them. Except death, the most private section of her mind whispered.
It is my time,
Iasius
said simply. There was an overtone of contentment within the silent voice. If the voidhawk had had lungs, Athene thought
it would have sighed at that moment.
I know, she said wistfully. It had been increasingly obvious during the last few weeks. The once omnipotent energy patterning cells
were now struggling to open a wormhole interstice. Where over half a century ago there had been a feeling that a single swallow
manoeuvre could span the galaxy, the pair of them now experienced a muted sense of relief if a planned fifteen light-year
swallow was accomplished only a light-month short of the required coordinate. Damn the geneticists. Is parity so much to ask for? she demanded.
One day perhaps they will make ship and captain live as long as each other. But this which we have now, I feel a rightness
to it. Someone has to mother our children. You will be as good a mother as you have been a captain. I know this.
The sudden burst of self-satisfied conviction in the mental voice made her grin. Sticky lashes batted some of the moisture
away. Raising ten children at my age. Goodness!
You will do well. They will prosper. I am happy.
I love you,
Iasius
. If I was allowed to have my life again, I would never change a second of it.
I would.
You would? she asked, startled.
Yes. I would spend one day as a human. To see what it was like.
Believe me, both the pleasures and the pain are greatly exaggerated.
Iasius
chuckled. Optically sensitive cells protruding like blisters from its hull located the Romulus habitat, and the starship
felt for its mass with a tiny ripple in the spacial distortion field its energy patterning cells were generating. The habitat’s
solidity registered in its consciousness, a substantial mote orbiting the outside edge of the F-ring. Substantial but hollow,
a bitek polyp cylinder forty-five kilometres long, ten wide; it was one of the two original voidhawk bases germinated by the
hundred families back in 2225. There were two hundred and sixty-eight similar
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