Sarah followed her great-grandmother into the apartment, impressed with the size. “This looks bigger than our cottage.”
Marta grinned. “Probably is. I bought the one next door a decade ago and knocked the wall down. Your room is through there. Anything you need, let me know. I’ll get it delivered from the chandlery.”
Marta kicked off her shoes and checked the time. “We’ve got a couple of stans before we need to do anything. How are you holding up?”
Just then Sarah’s stomach grumbled so loud they both heard it.
“All right then. Snack time. Go throw your bag on a bed in there and come join me in the kitchen. I’ll see what I can rustle up.”
Sarah followed the pointing finger through a short hall into a suite with a conversational grouping on one end, a private bath, and a separate bedroom to the side. She put her bag on the floor, not wanting to make the bed cover dirty with whatever might be stuck on the bottom of her ratty valise. Following her great-grandmother’s lead, she toed off her shoes and took a quick survey of the room. It looked like a palace compared to her room in the cottage.
“I could get used to this,” she said and retraced her steps to find the kitchen.
Marta stood at an island counter in the middle of a compact galley. It was only slightly larger than the one Sarah was used to but the lighting made everything seem bright and airy. “This is nice,” she said, looking around at the appliances and fittings.
Marta looked up from a cutting board filled with fruits and cheeses. In the galley lights she seemed only slightly older than Sarah’s grandmother, but Sarah could see the family resemblance in her nose and eyes. “A little snack to tide us over until dinner. Lette will give you the tour. She’s a dear. She also loves to eat. I hope you’re not one of those picky eaters?”
Sarah laughed. “I’ve never been accused of that. Why?”
Marta shrugged. “Young women seem to go through phases. Your mother did. Always worried about her weight and whether this color made her look heavy or those slacks made her ass look big. Silly woman. She was always gorgeous. Even when she came back from the boat covered in oil-skins and fish guts.” She popped a small chunk of fruit into her mouth and closed her eyes, rolling the morsel around in her mouth. She waved Sarah over. “Come on, dearie. You must try these ... they’re fresh off the vine in hydroponics.”
They took turns picking morsels off the board.
Marta kept glancing sideways at Sarah.
“What is it?” Sarah asked. “Do I have something on my face?”
Marta smiled. “Yes, my dear. You are the charming reminder of my daughter when she was your age. She was boat-crazy in those days. Always prowling the docks, checking out the new hulls coming out. Every trip we made to Aram’s Inlet, I could always count on finding her in the hull shop talking to the workers printing up the new models.”
“She seems pretty sedate these days,” Sarah said, snagging another piece of the white cheese from the board. “Of course, I only see her a few times a year and for short periods at that.”
Marta nodded. “The curse of grandmothers since Seth begat Enos.”
“Who?”
Marta shook her head. “Old reference. Not important.” She took a bit of the orange melon and popped it into her mouth. “Your grandmother,” she said, talking around the food, “found a new calling.” She chewed a couple of times and swallowed. “Richard Krugg.”
“Grandfather?”
“Yeah. Him. Arrogant, self-righteous prig. Took his title as a gift from on high, even though he only inherited it from his father—a sheep farmer from up-country who survived getting gored by a goat and came out of it a changed man.”
“I don’t know him.”
Marta shook her head. “I’m not surprised.” She picked up a cube of cheese and stared at it, somewhat dreamily. “Lovely man, though. How he sired Richard is beyond me.” She tossed the cheese in the air and caught it with her mouth. She gave it two chews and swallowed.
“What did Grandfather do?” Sarah asked.
Marta picked up the next to the last bit of fruit and slid the board toward Sarah. “He made Rachel give up fishing.”
Sarah almost choked on the fruit. “He what?”
“He told her that he wouldn’t marry her unless she gave up fishing. He wouldn’t sit at home every day and wonder if she wasn’t coming back.”
Sarah slumped against the counter, emotional shocks echoing in her whole body. “How could he?”
Marta shrugged. “Rachel was not happy.”
Sarah glanced at Marta. “Doesn’t sound like you were either.”
Marta shrugged again. “It was her decision.”
“Obviously she went along with it.”
“Oh, yes. Clearly,” Marta said. “I never did learn what their deal was.”
“What do you mean?”
“I figure she got some concession out of him in return for picking him over boats.” Marta sighed. “She never told me. Eventually I stopped asking.”
“She seems content,” Sarah said, a kind of peace offering.
Marta smiled. “Your father came along and everything changed. Of course, then that fool Richard got hit by a boxfish and nearly died. Now he’s gallivanting all over the planet. She stays home and tends the company’s business. Damn good at it, too.”
“What would you have had her do?” Sarah said.
Marta smiled and grabbed a towel to wipe down the counter. “Just what she did. Not my place to tell her how to run her life. Once kids get to be a certain age, it’s really up to them. What will they reach for? How hard will they push? What will they settle for? As a mother, I always wanted what was best for her, but there comes a time in every parent’s life that they have to accept that their child is the one who has to decide what’s best for themselves.”
Sarah couldn’t help but needle a bit. “But you don’t like my grandfather.”
Marta wrinkled her nose. “That’s too strong. I didn’t like the prat he was when they first started hanging out.” She rinsed off the board and knife, stowing them away. “Now? Half a century later? They’re still together. That says something. Might not be the relationship I’d want, but it’s not my relationship now, is it?” She smiled at Sarah. “She’s still my daughter. Your father is my grandson. Now you’re my lovely great-granddaughter come to spend a week on the orbital.” She sighed, a sappy smile curving her lips. “What’s better than that? Certainly better than complaining about things that never were or might have been.”
A yawn swept Sarah’s breath away before she could catch it. She covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t know what hit me.”
Marta smiled. “Time change. It’s afternoon here. What time is it in Cape Grace?”
Sarah shook her head. “Probably late. I’ve been traveling for—I don’t know how long.”
“Go take a nap. I’ll wake you in time to change for dinner.”
“If I sleep now, I won’t sleep tonight,” Sarah said.
Marta laughed. “Trust me, sweetie. Once Lette gets you back here, you’ll sleep again. I’ll probably have to wake you for lunch tomorrow.”
Another yawn started to build, but Sarah stifled it. “You win. Maybe I should.”
Marta nodded and gave her a quick hug. “I’m delighted you’ve come up to visit an old lady.”
“Thanks for having me,” Sarah said and made her way to the royal-sized bedroom down the hall.
She draped her blouse and jeans over the back of a chair before crawling under the covers. The bed itself felt heavenly. Cushiony but not too soft. The covers felt like nothing she’d ever touched before in her life. She settled onto the pillow and wondered if she could fall asleep so far from the ocean. She discovered a quiet whooshing sound that must have been part of the orbital. If she focused, it almost sounded like the low sound of a continuous wave breaking on the sand.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
St. Cloud Orbital: September 17, 2347<
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A VOICE CALLED HER from a peaceful dream. “Sarah?”
“Hmm?” she said, blinking and slowly coming back to life. She remembered where she was and lifted her head to look around.
Marta stood in the doorway of the bedroom wearing a terry cloth robe cinched around her waist, a smile on her lips, and some kind of white coating on her face. “You managed to get a nap, I see.”
Sarah felt muffled and off balance. “Yeah. I guess I needed it.”
Marta nodded. “Help yourself to the fresher. There’s a robe in the closet. I’ve got to go finish making myself beautiful.” She blew Sarah a kiss and disappeared back down the hall.
It took Sarah a couple of moments to recover enough to pull herself out of the bed. It was so warm and snuggly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Curiosity drove her out and she found the robe, a mate to the one her great-grandmother wore, in an upright wardrobe in the corner. She slipped it on over her underthings and started rummaging in her bag for something fresh to wear. The chrono on the wall said barely 1700. How long it could it possibly take to get ready to go out?
By 1730 she had her answer as she poked around the sitting room in her suite wondering what to do. From the sounds coming down the hall, her grandmother was still making herself beautiful. The suite, although well appointed, lacked any kind of personal touch. Why have a whole other apartment, if not to live in?
Eventually, she found the broad cabinet doors that opened onto the biggest entertainment unit she’d ever seen. A control wand rested just inside the cabinet and she keyed the power button to turn it on.
The screen came to life showing a scene of the planet below them. The terminator line appeared to be stalled with the rightmost arc of the planet gleaming with sunrise while over two-thirds of the planet lay in darkness. It took her a moment to remember that the orbital held a geosynchronous orbit over Starvey Bay. She tried to identify it on the coastline but couldn’t make out enough detail in the dark to be sure she saw even the large installations at Starvey, let alone the quiet village of Cape Grace.
A quiet murmur of longing worked through her chest. Home seemed so near, yet she knew it lay so far away. To be able to see where it must be, even if she couldn’t make out the details, made it all the more tantalizing. She pressed the power button and turned the unit off, closing the cabinet doors over the device, hiding it completely.
She was on the orbital now. Best she make good use of the time and not spend it mooning over the pointless view of a home she wasn’t even sure she could keep. She looked around the suite and wandered back into her grandmother’s main living area. She listened to see if she could hear this man-made world but all she heard was the quiet whoosh and the occasional click of an automated switch from somewhere in the kitchen.
What would it be like to live up here all the time? To never see the sun or feel the wind?
The murmur resurfaced with a vengeance, bringing a longing and a sadness that nearly brought her to tears.
What would she do to stay on St. Cloud?
“Sarah? You all right?” Her grandmother stood in the doorway leading into her sleeping quarters, still wearing the robe but with her hair done up in an elaborate coif and subtle makeup around her eyes and on her lips.
“Yes,” she said, shaking herself and afraid that she’d been staring too long. “Just wondering what it would be like to live up here all the time.”
Marta’s smile seemed to light up the room. “I love it, but it’s not for everybody. Any time you want to try it, you’re more than welcome to come and live here with me.”
Sarah swallowed and nodded. “Thank you, Grandmother. That’s very generous.”
Marta made a tut-tut sound. “Don’t be silly, sweetie. You’re family. What kind of great-grandmother would I be. I’ll warn you, it’s an acquired taste.”
Sarah nodded and felt the frown growing on her brow. “I can see that. I have a question, though.”
“What’s that, sweetie?”
“There’s a whooshing sound. I can’t place it. I assume it’s normal but what is it?”
Marta stood very still in the door frame and tilted her head just a few degrees to the side. “That?” she said, holding her hand up as if to point to something where nothing actually was.
Sarah heard the sound. “Yes. It’s a really low background noise.”
Marta pointed to a grill set high in one wall. “Is it coming from there?”
Sarah crossed to stand under the grill and turned her head to and fro to get a sense of the direction. “Yes. I think so.”
“Air conditioning. The orbital has to keep the air circulating all the time. There’s an intake behind that chair.” She pointed to a large comfy-looking armchair set in the corner.
Sarah peaked behind it and saw the grill. “Ah. I see it.”
“Fresh air blows in up there. The heavier, cooler, staler air gets returned down there,” Marta said. “It’s like the orbital’s lungs.”
Sarah nodded. “Makes sense. Thanks. I thought I was going crazy hearing the surf from way up here.”
Marta grinned. “You’re so used to hearing it, your mind is probably supplying the sound.”
A chime sounded—a single pong.
“That’s the door. Should be Lette. You want to get it?”
Sarah nodded and Marta headed back down the hall.
When Sarah opened the door, Lette breezed in. “You ready?”
Sarah shrugged. “I guess. I don’t really know what to expect.”
Lette gave her outfit an up-and-down look. “Hmm. All right. We can work with this. What do you want to see?”
“Where do the big ships dock?”
Lette grinned. “Come on. There’s a gallery that runs all the way around the orbital. We can go see who’s in.”
“See who’s in?”
“Yeah. We can look out and see what ships are docked. It’s fun to see all the different ships snugged into the side of the orbital. Come on.”
Sarah nodded. “One sec.” She walked back to the passageway leading to her grandmother’s space. “Gram, we’re leaving!”
Her grandmother’s voice floated down the hall from somewhere back there. “Have fun, girls. Oh, take the key card on the counter so you can get back in.”
Sarah spotted a flat plastic card on the clean counter. “Thanks, Gram. Have fun.”
A throaty laugh came as answer.
Sarah glanced at Lette who wore an amused expression, her lips twisted to the side and mischief dancing in her eyes.
“Great-grandma not exactly what you expected?” she asked.
Sarah shook her head. “I didn’t really know what to expect.” She grabbed the card and thrust it into her hip pocket. “I guess I’m ready.”
Lette stopped right outside the door. “You have a peda?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s make sure you can find your way home. Open it up and let’s get you connected.”
Sarah pulled the device from her pocket and Lette walked her through the simple process of linking into the station network. Once she completed the connection, an app on the device showed her where she was on a schematic diagram of the orbital.
“Use this button to mark this spot in the station as home,” Lette said.
Sarah pressed the button and a gold ring surrounded the tiny blip that marked where they were.
“Now whenever you need to get home, you can use this home key to get directions from where you are back to this point. You shouldn’t need it because you and I are going to be really close friends for the next few stans, but in case the unforgivable happens and I lose you, at least you can get home.”
Sarah nodded. “Got it.”
“Perfect.” Lette grinned. “Let’s go see some big ships.”
They traveled through the corridors to a promenade around the core and went along it until they reached a lift. “It’s a big ring. There are lifts on four sides. Just keep walking and you’ll hit one. We’re on Four D
eck now. We’re going down to Two Deck.”
The lift opened to a large car that already had a half dozen people in it. They shuffled to the side to let the two women enter and the door slinked shut behind them. Two decks later, nobody had spoken and Sarah followed Lette out into another promenade. This one had subdued lighting and big windows looking out.
Lette trotted across to the nearest and peered through the glass. She waved Sarah over. “Come see.”
Sarah stood beside Lette and almost gasped. A huge ship seemed to be parked right under her feet. She looked out along the length of the hull and saw a white light shining in the distance. She felt like a flea must feel on the back of a dog. “What is that?” Her voice barely broke a whisper.
“That, my lovely landrat, is a multi-freight hauler. It carries seventy-two cargo containers along the central spine. Right under us here is the bow. It’s docked in the ring on the deck below. Way out there under that light is the engineering section.”
“That’s amazing,” Sarah said, staring out into the gloom trying to make sense of what she was looking at.
“Look down there,” Lette pointed down close into the orbital. See that little boxlike thing?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the bridge. If you’re here when they get pulled out, you can look right in and see the crew.”
Sarah let the words wash over her. She had nothing for them to latch onto but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Lette grabbed her arm and dragged her a few meters along the promenade. “Come on. Let’s see who else is here.”
About a third of the way around, they stepped into full sunlight, thanks to the angle of the system primary and its relationship to the planet below. Sarah went to the windows and stared out at the scene spread out before her.
Ships. Huge ships. Some round. Some almost square. A few that were egg-shaped. They looked like toys gleaming in the unfiltered light of the star at the center of their system. The ships’ shapes and colors looked almost fake—too bright, too sharp. Small craft seemed to swarm just beyond the sterns of the behemoths.
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