He was, from the look of him, learning far more about Beowulf Shaeffer than he had ever wanted to. He tried to stick to what he knew. “Traveling. Any contact at all with Pierson’s puppeteers during that period?”

“No.”

“Other aliens? Aliens the puppeteers dealt with?”

That made me smile. “I’m a celebrity among the Kdatlyno…”

✴
GRENDEL

There were the sounds of a passenger starship.

You learn those sounds, and you don’t forget, even after four years. They are never loud enough to distract, except during takeoff, and most are too low to hear anyway, but you don’t forget, and you wake knowing where you are.

There were the sensations of being alone.

A sleeper field is not a straight no-gee field; there’s an imbalance that keeps you more or less centered so you don’t float out the edge and fall to the floor. When your field holds two, you set two imbalances for the distance you want, and somehow you feel that in your muscles. You touch from time to time, you and your love, twisting in sleep. There are rustlings and the sounds of breathing.

Nobody had touched me this night. Nothing breathed here but me. I was dead center in the sleeping field. I woke knowing I was alone, in a tiny sleeping cabin of the Argos, bound from Down to Gummidgy.

And where was Sharrol?

Sharrol was on Earth. She couldn’t travel; some people can’t take space. That was half our problem, but it did narrow it down, and if I wanted her, I need only go to Earth and hunt her up in a transfer-booth directory.

I didn’t want to find her. Not now. Our bargain had been clear, and also inevitable; and there are advantages to sleeping alone. I’ll think of them in a moment.

I found the field control switch. The sleeper field collapsed, letting me down easy. I climbed into a navy-blue falling jumper, moving carefully in the narrow sleeping cabin, statted my hair, and went out.

Margo hailed me in the hall, looking refreshingly trim and lovely in a clinging pilot’s uniform. Her long, dark hair streamed behind her, rippling, as if underwater or in free-fall. “You’re just in time. I was about to wake everyone up.”

“It’s only nine-thirty. You want to get lynched?”

She laughed. “I’ll tell them it was your idea. No, I’m serious, Bey. A month ago a starseed went through the Gummidgy system. I’m going to drop the ship out a light-month away and let everybody watch.”

“Oh. That’ll be nice,” I said, trying for enthusiasm. “I’ve never seen a starseed set sail.”

“I’ll give you time to grab a good seat.”

“Right. Thanks.” I waved and went on, marveling at myself. Since when have I had to work up enthusiasm? For anything?