world.
- I already feel so . . . different. This is just going to make things worse.
Lbbp stood behind her and put a slender grey hand on her shoulder.
- And what’s so wrong with being different? Doesn’t make you less important, or less clever, or less . . .
Terra turned. - Aren’t I? Aren’t I less clever? she asked angrily. Aren’t Ymns stupid and primitive? Wasn’t that the whole point of bringing me here? So I wouldn’t grow up like them?
There was an awkward silence as Lbbp took the time to frame his response as carefully as possible.
- It was a spur of the moment thing. You were in danger and I made the decision to help you. It wasn’t any sort of judgement on the Ymn race in general or even on your parents in particular. I just found an abandoned baby. The fact that it was a Ymn baby was a secondary consideration.
Lbbp breathed heavily. That seemed to come out all right. Terra was still staring out of the window. Lbbp needed to cheer her up and, if at all possible, change the topic of conversation, and at that moment he suddenly thought of a way to stun two drftgrf-bgshns with one bdkt, as the saying had it.
- Look, he said, they don’t particularly need me at the Life Science Hub for the next day or two. Those cell cultures can develop themselves without my help. How do you fancy a trip somewhere, just you and me?
Terra turned towards him, smiling. He already knew what she was going to suggest.
- Rfk? she asked.
Lbbp smiled. - Rfk it is! he said. Tomorrow, first thing.
I think I got away with that, thought Lbbp.
2.8
T he nature reserves along the coast at Rfk had been Terra’s favourite place on Mlml ever since Lbbp had first taken her there at just three orbits old. Lbbp had watched, beaming with pride, as the tiny Ymn girl had capered through the forest and along the shore, agog with fascination at the plants and wildlife. How gratifying that she should share his love of nature. A parent always hopes that their children will share their passions, but it’s by no means a certainty that they will. This is doubly true of adopted children, and several thousandly true of adopted children from different planets.
Lbbp had made a point of taking Terra to Rfk at least once an orbit ever since. Several times an orbit, if work and other commitments permitted. The place had many guises, all beautiful in their own way. During the hot season, towering tree-sized flowers and delicate flower-sized trees would be in full bloom, a festival of colour around which bird-sized insects and insect-sized birds would buzz and flutter. During the cooling season, the foliage would turn a deep blue as it dried and fell, forming great cushiony piles which Lbbp would expressly forbid Terra to jump into, before joining her in jumping into them. During the cold season, icicles and frost would decorate the land and vegetation like glittering baubles, which Terra found curiously moving for reasons neither she nor Lbbp could guess at. During the warming season, the tree-sized flowers would punch their way through the ice like deceased warriors of legend, resurrected by their ancient gods to fight another battle. It was all especially fascinating because the climate within the city had been artificially controlled since eras past, so one had to venture out into nature in order to experience ‘weather’ at all.
That morning, Terra had set her sleep-well to wake her early and had Lbbp’s configuration 11 ready for him by the time he woke up. They had made up a bag of food – slices of configuration 9 (it tasted better cold than the other configurations) some wsht rolls, pt-ssh paste and a flask of hot zff. They fitted their gravity bubbles (- Did you remember to charge your bubble? - YES, I remembered to charge my bubble ) and packed spare power cells; it was almost a whole cell’s journey to Rfk. They set off just as everyone else was floating to work and study . . . Lbbp and Terra exchanged mischievous grins as they
- I already feel so . . . different. This is just going to make things worse.
Lbbp stood behind her and put a slender grey hand on her shoulder.
- And what’s so wrong with being different? Doesn’t make you less important, or less clever, or less . . .
Terra turned. - Aren’t I? Aren’t I less clever? she asked angrily. Aren’t Ymns stupid and primitive? Wasn’t that the whole point of bringing me here? So I wouldn’t grow up like them?
There was an awkward silence as Lbbp took the time to frame his response as carefully as possible.
- It was a spur of the moment thing. You were in danger and I made the decision to help you. It wasn’t any sort of judgement on the Ymn race in general or even on your parents in particular. I just found an abandoned baby. The fact that it was a Ymn baby was a secondary consideration.
Lbbp breathed heavily. That seemed to come out all right. Terra was still staring out of the window. Lbbp needed to cheer her up and, if at all possible, change the topic of conversation, and at that moment he suddenly thought of a way to stun two drftgrf-bgshns with one bdkt, as the saying had it.
- Look, he said, they don’t particularly need me at the Life Science Hub for the next day or two. Those cell cultures can develop themselves without my help. How do you fancy a trip somewhere, just you and me?
Terra turned towards him, smiling. He already knew what she was going to suggest.
- Rfk? she asked.
Lbbp smiled. - Rfk it is! he said. Tomorrow, first thing.
I think I got away with that, thought Lbbp.
2.8
T he nature reserves along the coast at Rfk had been Terra’s favourite place on Mlml ever since Lbbp had first taken her there at just three orbits old. Lbbp had watched, beaming with pride, as the tiny Ymn girl had capered through the forest and along the shore, agog with fascination at the plants and wildlife. How gratifying that she should share his love of nature. A parent always hopes that their children will share their passions, but it’s by no means a certainty that they will. This is doubly true of adopted children, and several thousandly true of adopted children from different planets.
Lbbp had made a point of taking Terra to Rfk at least once an orbit ever since. Several times an orbit, if work and other commitments permitted. The place had many guises, all beautiful in their own way. During the hot season, towering tree-sized flowers and delicate flower-sized trees would be in full bloom, a festival of colour around which bird-sized insects and insect-sized birds would buzz and flutter. During the cooling season, the foliage would turn a deep blue as it dried and fell, forming great cushiony piles which Lbbp would expressly forbid Terra to jump into, before joining her in jumping into them. During the cold season, icicles and frost would decorate the land and vegetation like glittering baubles, which Terra found curiously moving for reasons neither she nor Lbbp could guess at. During the warming season, the tree-sized flowers would punch their way through the ice like deceased warriors of legend, resurrected by their ancient gods to fight another battle. It was all especially fascinating because the climate within the city had been artificially controlled since eras past, so one had to venture out into nature in order to experience ‘weather’ at all.
That morning, Terra had set her sleep-well to wake her early and had Lbbp’s configuration 11 ready for him by the time he woke up. They had made up a bag of food – slices of configuration 9 (it tasted better cold than the other configurations) some wsht rolls, pt-ssh paste and a flask of hot zff. They fitted their gravity bubbles (- Did you remember to charge your bubble? - YES, I remembered to charge my bubble ) and packed spare power cells; it was almost a whole cell’s journey to Rfk. They set off just as everyone else was floating to work and study . . . Lbbp and Terra exchanged mischievous grins as they
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