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discussion and was looking at him dangerously.
We re going on with the class now, Pal Sorricaine said loudly. Anybody has
anything to say on any other subject, we can take that up after the lesson.
Now! Are there any questions about stellar evolution?
Viktor walked his father back to their home helped him, actually, because the
old man s artificial leg was giving him trouble again, and besides he had
disappeared into the dome for a moment by himself before he was willing to
leave. Viktor didn t have to ask his father the reason.
He could smell it on the old man s breath.
Dad? Viktor offered, halfway down. I m sorry if I messed up your class.
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His father gave him a discouraged look. That s all right, he panted gruffly.
Ouch! He stopped to rub his thigh, then put a hand on Viktor s shoulder and
limped on. It s not you, he said. It s that Tiss Khadek mostly. She keeps
trying to get the whole bunch fired up about her pet Nergal. He winced.
Would you mind if we didn t talk right now? This is hard work
Of course, Dad, Viktor said, but not happily. It was difficult, looking at
this shrunken old man, to remember the strong man with the laughing blue eyes
who had tossed him in his arms on
New Mayflower.
When at last they got to his parents home, Pal Sorricaine sank wearily into a
chair.
Viktor was shocked to see even more weariness on his mother s face.
Nevertheless she greeted him joyously put up her face to be kissed, told him
he looked as though he wasn t eating enough, and winked that there was a
surprise waiting for him. He didn t have to guess at the surprise. He knew his
mother would have seen the ship in dock and would long since have baked a cake
for his birthday.
But she was beginning to look tired and, well, almost old.
When he said something she said firmly it was just that she d had a hard day.
The two new children drained a lot of her energy, coupled with the demands of
her job it was a busy time for agronomists, she told him.
Agronomists? Viktor repeated, startled. I thought that was just your, you
know, kind of hobby.
It started out that way, Vik, she sighed. But I ve switched over. I did
have undergraduate courses, you know, and well, feeding people seemed more
important than building more machines. And now, with new cultivars to clone
and test every time someone starts planning to plant a new microenvironment,
they need all the help they can get.
And then she helps me, too, his father put in, looking slightly recovered.
Viktor blinked. Teaching your course? he guessed, incredulous.
No, of course not teaching my course. Except in a way, maybe I mean, she s
been helping to download the data banks from
Ark and
Mayflower.
We ve set up new storage by the power plants and the freezers, so in case
anything happens to those ships
Nothing can happen to the ships, Viktor said, shocked.
Something might, his father said firmly. Then we d be screwed for fair. Do
you know how long it would take to get everything retransmitted from Earth?
But we ve already got most of the astrophysical files duplicated here, he
finished, looking pleased for the first time. That was a big job. Do you
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know, I think that calls for a drink.
And they had one . . . except that his father had two. And Viktor began to
understand what put those worry lines on his mother s face. It wasn t just
hard work. What was aging her was worry about her husband.
Viktor was glad enough for the little birthday party and the company of young
Edwina and the two brats, but he was even more glad when he got away.
When he got back to the top of the hill it was dusk, and the dancing had
already begun.
Viktor searched the dancers. They were in a double circle of couples, men and
women singing softly to themselves in Spanish as the three-piece
fiddle-guitar-and-drum band played something with a Mexican lilt. It was a
corrido, and Viktor saw Reesa in the inner circle, holding right hands at
shoulder height with hell, yes! He scowled. It was Billy Stockbridge again.
But Reesa was not the only young woman among the dancers. When the next tune
started
Viktor grabbed a pretty young tractor driver and whirled her through a square
dance. And then he was caught up in the fun of the dancing itself. He hardly
noticed when he found himself with
Reesa as his partner, swinging her around wildly, her laughing and panting,
leaning against his
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arm around her waist. They did the krakowiak
hop, click heels, stamp;
they did the macho
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