«Of course I did.»

• • •

Tiarella gave him a quizzical glance as he came into the kitchen and flopped down at the table.

«You'll be happy to hear I'm leaving,» he announced.

Her blatant relief made him laugh bitterly.

«I'm not that heartless,» she protested.

«Oh, yes you are.»

»Orphée and I will take you wherever you want to go.»

«How very conscientious of you; but it's not that simple.»

«What do you mean?» The old suspicion resonated through the question.

«I've thought this through. Wherever I am, I will always think of Althaea. You know that. Which means you and I will always worry that I might come back. Because I know I'll never be able to trust myself, not completely. So what I propose is that I go somewhere that I can't come back from. I'll pay you to take me there, give Charmaine a proper contract to maintain the ride. God knows you can do with the money despite all those ridiculous ideals of yours; it'll be a nice dependable income for Althaea and Mullen to start with, too.»

«What are you talking about? Where do you want to go?»

«The future.»

• • •

The zero-tau field was nothing more than a grey eyeblink. An eyeblink that was giddily disorientating. The laboratory instantly changed to a dark, cool room with an uneven polyp ceiling.

Where Tiarella was leaning over him to switch on the pod a moment before, another figure now straightened up as her finger left the control panel. They looked at each other suspiciously. The girl was about twenty, undoubtedly related to Althaea. He could never mistake that fragile, narrow chin; her skin was ebony, though, with flaming red hair trimmed to a curly bob. Geneering trends had changed a lot, apparently.

«Hi,» he said.

She managed a strong echo of Althaea's shy grin. «I never quite believed it,» she said. «The man in the basement. You're a family legend. When we were little Dad told us you were like a sleeping knight ready to defend Charmaine from evil. Then after I grew up I just thought they were using the zero-tau pod to store botanical samples or something.»

«I'm afraid I'm not a knight, nothing like.» He swung his feet out of the pod, and stepped down. The floor was raw coral. Large cases and plastic boxes were stacked up all around. «Where am I?»

«The basement. Oh, I know what you're thinking. They dismantled the old lab fifty or sixty years ago. The family has membership in an agronomy consortium back on Kariwak. They provide upgrades for Charmaine's groves these days.» She gestured at the stairs.

«What's the date?»

«April nineteenth, 2549.»

«Jesus Christ, a hundred and two years. Is the Confederation still intact?»

«Oh yes.» She gave him an awkward grimace. «Mr Eason, Grandma's waiting.»

«Grandma?» he asked cautiously.

«Althaea.»

He stopped at the foot of the stairs. «That wasn't the deal.»

«I know. She says she'll understand if you want to jump back into the pod for another few days. She doesn't have long to live, Mr Eason.»