Permanence

"Come on, Sis," said Jentry. "I need that thing to pay off our debt. You wouldn't want us to lose the station, would you?"

She stared at him. Possibly a million things came to mind that she might say right now, but none seemed adequate.

Finally, in a kind of daze, she said, "I traded it on Oculus for supplies. Sorry."

Strong cleared her throat. "Then you are liable for the—"

"Take it up with the Compact," snapped Rue. "Bill the Cycler Order. I assure you we're good for it."

Then she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

A FAMILIAR COUNTDOWN was ticking away in the background. Rue floated once again in oxygenated liquid, watching Mike adjusting his G-bed through the wavery liquid that filled the interceptor.

"I hope this is the last time we have to trust our lives to one of these things," he was muttering.

She smiled fondly at him, and lay back. In just a few minutes they would fall into the brooding red cloudscape of Erythrion, and if the gods and kami were kind, they would survive the transition to FTL flight. In a few hours, they would be at New Armstrong.

Michael was going there to teach Irina Case's people his new alternative to Permanence. And she… she came to take back what was hers. She would see Jentry's Envy in her control again, and the men who had taken it would find justice, or die.

They would arrive at New Armstrong well in advance of the Envy. Rue would make her case, buttressed with plenty of evidence from Oculus. New Armstrong would be threatened with sanctions by the Compact if necessary, should they not comply. But they would. They would take Mallory and his people into custody once they rode down the beam, and a new crew, handpicked by Rue, would replace them. Then, finally, the Envy could be brought back onto her original ring and, in a few years, she would return to Erythrion.

Maybe by then Rue would be ready to captain her again.

She had been putting something off, she knew. A little holo window showed Erythrion approaching, like some baleful god. With a sigh, Rue took out the card Max had left for her, and pressed her thumb against it.

The card darkened, then a tiny holo of Max appeared in it.

"Don't ask," he said with a shrug. "I couldn't very well leave it all to the old bat, could I? You deserve it, Rue, you do."

But why? She mouthed the words.

As if he'd heard her, Max paused. "You came along at a time when I'd started to lose hope, Rue. I didn't believe there were good people in the world anymore. But you came stomping into my life, all oblivious to the little jealousies and intrigues of the family, as though you'd somehow been kept in a crystal jar somewhere, pure and unsullied by the rest of the stinking clan. At first I couldn't believe it. But I believe it now. So I'm going with you to Chandaka, and maybe we can make this family stand for something again— or maybe for the first time. Because I wasn't able to do it on my own.

"But if you read this, then I didn't make it back. And maybe it will have been my own doing; I hope not."

"I hope you thrive, Rue. I know you will. And take my stuff and use it well… and keep it out of her clutches." He grimaced.

"Thrive, cousin. Thrive."

Rue raised heavy fingers and thumbed open a pouch on her suit. She brought out the little ediacaran medallion, and held it up for a moment, arm shaking with the effort. She could see the delicate galaxy-shaped spiral of it on the siltstone.

"Brace yourselves," said the pilot. "We're starting the dive."

Rue could feel the hand of Erythrion begin to press down upon her. The interceptor swayed from side to side, and her heart began to hammer.

Across from her, Mike gri

"And so much more," she replied with a smile.

We have time.