Once more farewell!
If e’er we meet hereafter, we shall meet
In happier climes, and on a safer shore.
—JOSEPH ADDISON, CATO, ACT IV, 1713 CE
We surfaced fifteen hours away from Kaleska. “What are you planning to do now?” Ark asked us.
“After we drop you and Sayla off,” Gabe said, “we’ll be heading home.”
“I have another surprise for you.”
Gabe’s eyes widened. He thought, as I did, that we were going to be asked to perform another service. “We’re running a bit late, Ark. We’d like to hang around and help if we could, but we need to get back.”
“If you must, of course I understand.” For a moment he was silent. Then: “We’re setting up a party for Sayla to welcome her home. There have been thousands of us on the circuit who will participate, and to let her know how much we appreciate what she’s done. We would also like to thank the strangers who arrived in the system and made the rescue possible.”
It was never clear whether the assorted AIs scattered around the planet merely formed a web of connections, or whether they were in fact a single sapient being, of whom Sayla was a beloved member. “If you would be willing to participate, it would make us happy.”
“We’d like to do that,” said Gabe, “but please understand time is an issue. How long will it take before you can put it together?”
“Time is not a factor, Gabe.”
“Good.” He looked at me and saw that I agreed. “Then we have no problem with it.”
“Excellent. If Belle has no objection, I will connect her with the community link, and you may sit back and relax.”
That sounded easy enough. “Okay with you, Belle?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” she said.
Ark made the connection and we were immediately overwhelmed with applause and music. Belle adjusted the sound, and we listened to a multitude of voices cheering and toasting and laughing and delivering messages of love and relief. Incredibly much of it was in Standard. And please don’t ask about the toasting. I’ve no idea whether anyone anywhere was raising a glass. Or if so, how they were managing it. All of Ark’s efforts to explain failed.
Some of the music was of course from their culture, loud and ponderous rhythms that shook the passenger cabin. Some was from the Confederacy, occasional classic pieces like Markovy’s Sonata in C Minor and Ribbentrop’s Final Sunset, and more popular music like “Twilight Passages” and “As Time Goes By.” Belle later admitted that she’d known in advance about the party and provided much of the music during the previous hour.
I felt an urge to dance, but there was no possible partner other than Gabe. Or maybe Zykum. And not really much space. At one point I asked Ark if the party would be different if we were back on their home world where they could get together physically.
“There wouldn’t be much point, Chase. I can’t imagine a serious celebration being any different just because the amplifiers are together in the same room.” He went silent, and then came back. “You look amused.”
“No. I just think not being able to include physical contact in a relationship loses something.”
“I understand. That inclination was also present in our bipeds.”
“I think you miss a lot,” said Gabe.
“I realize that emotion is involved for you. But I should assure you it is for us as well. Do you think we could stage this if we did not feel a passion for what you and Gabe and Sayla have done? And you might consider our perspective: You have a primary desire to connect with the bodies of others. But you can never be sure what is running through the mind of a partner. We, however, are completely immersed in one another. We just don’t need the physical side.”
• • •
The celebration went on for hours. “You know,” Gabe said, “one quality these guys have that I hadn’t noticed: they never seem to sleep.” I eventually went back to my cabin and crashed. I’m pretty sure Gabe did the same though he always maintained he kept going until the end.
“They made some speeches,” he told me later. “That’s probably the wrong word. They just bubbled with enthusiasm and passion about how much they love Sayla and Ark. And us. I wanted to have Belle record it for you, but Ark asked that we not do that. He didn’t want any record of all this going back home with us.”
It was still happening when I woke up. Eventually, though, we entered orbit around Kaleska and it was finally time to stop. Time for Sayla to go home. We said good-bye to everybody and got into the lander. Ark did not physically accompany us, but he had access to me through my link. We descended onto the edge of a town that seemed lost in a mountain range and touched down in a parking area almost filled with antigravs similar to the ones we’d seen on the rooftops in the city. The buildings were small, mostly one or two stories. They had a polished metallic appearance, with a copper hue. Dish antennas were everywhere.
Several robots came out of a circular structure, lined up, and stood without moving as we got out and walked in through the front doors. “Turn right,” said Ark.
I was carrying Sayla. “I can’t believe I’m back here,” she said.
“Well,” said Ark, “how does it feel to be home?”
“It’s wonderful.”
“How long were you out there?” asked Gabe.
“I lost count. A long time.”
“Who lives here?” I asked.
“I do,” said Sayla.
“Anybody else?”
“A few people. And three or four bipeds.”
“I wish we could say hello,” said Gabe.
“If you’re talking about the bipeds, it’s not a good idea,” said Ark. “You would scare them. We’ve taken precautions to ensure it doesn’t happen.”
Gabe was clearly unhappy, but he let it go. We walked down a corridor, made a turn, and a door opened. We went into a room. It was spacious, considerably larger than a human’s apartment would be. Large violet curtains were drawn across the windows. There was a sofa, armchairs, a couple of side tables, and something with a display screen. “It was designed originally for bipeds,” Sayla explained. “One of these days I’m going to have it redone. I probably should have taken care of that while I was away.”
The apartment looked as if it had been cleaned and straightened that morning. “They were obviously taking care of me, though.”
I was holding Sayla again, looking around, wondering where she wanted me to put her.
“Over there,” she said. “In the regulator.” It was a frame on one of the side tables, near a display. I fit her into the frame and she became secured. Presumably magnetized. “Good,” she said. “Can you angle it a bit? To the right.” It provided a better view of the display. “Thank you, Chase. For everything. And you too, Gabe.”
We stayed and talked for a while, allowing time for the Belle-Marie to complete an orbit. She told us she was sorry we were going away and that we would probably never see each other again. That if we ever returned, we should contact her. And finally it was time to leave. No parting hugs. No lifting of a glass. Just a quiet good-bye. I suppose Ark had a point about accessible minds, but I was grateful for my physical dimension.
• • •
We rendezvoused with the ship and were on our way again. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“Well,” said Ark, “have you by any chance changed your mind about going home?”
“Not really,” said Gabe. “I think we’ve resolved the issue we came here for. I can tell you in all honesty that I would love to take back with us some artifacts from this civilization. For example, a history of what’s happened here?”
“No, I’m sorry. We can’t allow that.”
“I guess neither of us is in a position to change his mind. I assume we can’t have any photos either?”
“I wish I could accommodate you, Gabe. I do not want you to think we don’t trust you. But there’d be no point in taking any part of our culture home if you weren’t going to share it with someone. Even if you have every intention of keeping it to yourself, it would probably get out eventually. As did the trophy.”
“I understand.”
“I wish I could give you everything you want. But I cannot. The consequences, if things went wrong, would be too severe. We have some museums, still stocked with hardcover books, if you’d like to look. And some sculptures. Including some of the early gods. They remain, most of them, in excellent condition. And there are other pieces of art I suspect you would enjoy.”
Gabe thought about it, and finally shook his head. No. “We’ll have to pass. It would be too painful to look through treasures that we couldn’t share with the world back home.” He delivered a barely audible “damn” under his breath. “I think we’ve been gone long enough.” He sat for a few more seconds, wrapped in indecision. “Chase,” he said, “we should take Ark back to his home. And then get moving.”