“Nobody but Tania Seven, I guess; some doctors. He didn’t even tell Eliot.” He took a healthy gulp and then swirled the wine around in the glass, staring into it. “A lot of secrets. Did he tell you enough so you can understand why I’ve never discussed … certain things with you? John and I?”

I was tempted to say no and watch his reaction. “I guess so.”

“Good. That’s what I was hoping.” He finished his glass and slid down under the covers. “Early one tomorrow.”

“New New?”

“Got to meet with Civil first.”

“Sybil? Who’s she?”

“Civil. Civil Engineering, I.C.E. Architects, too. You need the light?”

“No.” I turned it off. “Watch a little cube.” I left it on Random Walk with no sound while I sipped the wine. My night for solitary drinking. There were a few seconds each of guitar playing, gymnastics, copulation, a periodcostume fencing scene, more copulation, and then a dramatic shot of a swamp by moonlight. I remembered the question that had occurred to me on the ag level. “Dan? Do plants grow in the dark?”

“Some. I’ve seen phytoplankton glowing blue-green in a boat’s wake.”

“Grow, not glow. We really aren’t hearing each other tonight. Do plants grow in the dark?”

“Most plants, yeah. Darkstage photosynthesis. That’s when they turn carbon dioxide into carbohydrates.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.” After a minute, he slid over and pressed himself against me. “Lots of things grow in the dark.”

“God, Daniel.” I had asked for it, though. “At least let me get my clothes off.”

MANEUVERING

PRIME

Most of O’Hara’s second meeting with Purcell, those parts that had to do with Berrigan’s revelations, O’Hara never mentioned to anyone, except cryptically—and although everything that went on in Room 4404 was automatically recorded, those records were closed to human inspection for two hundred years. That is not a problem for us.

Room 4404, the Cabinet Room, was the only “inside” room on the craft that had its own airlock. It was isolated from the rest of Newhome by four centimeters of vacuum, whenever occupied. It contained its own power source; fully half that power was drained by sophisticated watchdog devices.

30 September 2097 [16 Bobrovnikov 290]—Purcell is seated alone at the horseshoeshaped table that dominates the semicircular room. The table seats twenty-four; its open end points toward a lectern. Uniform cold white light glows down from the ceiling, a little too bright to be comfortable. Holo windows show a dim starscape.

Purcell is reading a small book, an old-fashioned one with paper pages and red leather binding. He looks up as O’Hara enters.

She looks over her shoulder, startled, as the door snaps shut and the airlock pump whines.