“Yeah, that was me,” he admitted. It actually felt good to boast about it for once.

Anja finally got her moment with him. “So this is what you really are? Some kind of galactic superagent?”

“Some of the time,” he admitted. “Not very often, thankfully.”

The other starship dropped through the clouds and came in to land next to the Elvin’s Payback.

“Who’s this?” Dushiku asked in a resigned tone.

“And why does a starship need wings?” Jesaral asked.

“They’re not wings, they’re heat dissipaters, and this is my new partner.”

Anja recoiled slightly. Dushiku merely gave a disapproving glance, and Jesaral was already powering up his outrage.

“Business partner,” Oscar assured them hurriedly.

The Mellanie’s Redemption landed smoothly The airlock opened, and a set of aluminum stairs slid out.

Jesaral gave Dushiku a meaningful glance that ended as a pout. Oscar put his arms around both of them, enjoying the flashes of jealousy.

The aluminum steps bowed as Troblum came down, raindrops trickling quickly down the worn fabric of his old toga suit. He gave Oscar’s startled life partners a brisk nod and quickly looked away.

“What sort of business?” Anja asked curiously.

“Exploration,” Oscar said contentedly. “The Commonwealth has sent out a lot of colony ships over the centuries. We thought it was about time we found out what happened to some of them. And who knows what else is on the other side of the galaxy? Wilson never did have a proper look.”

Anja raised her eyes skyward and produced a sigh of disapproval in that way only she could. However, she stepped forward and held her hand out to Troblum. “Good to meet you.”

“Uh, thank you.” He gave her hand a frightened look. By then it didn’t matter; Anja was looking up at the second figure to appear at the top of the stairs. She was so surprised, she forgot to prevent the emotion from revealing itself through her gaiamotes.

“This is my fiance,” Troblum announced.

“Pleased to meet you,” Catriona Saleeb said. She smiled nervously as she came down the stairs and fumbled for Troblum’s hand.

Oscar knew he was leaking out all the wrong thoughts, but he just couldn’t help it. He’d been the first to support Troblum when Catriona was made real. Troblum had seen that one last slender chance in the time after the Heart had decided to follow Gore and before the moment when it elevated itself. He hadn’t analyzed it or paused for doubt; he’d simply gone for it, using the Void’s creation layer to turn his solido into flesh and blood, an act that was perhaps the most human thing Troblum had done in his life.

Oscar was also pretty sure that it wouldn’t last, that Catriona would soon outgrow her initial thoughts. But then, ephemerality was the summation of most human activities. The trick was to enjoy the time when things were going right.

The Silverbird alighted gently outside the Tulip Mansion, its landing legs barely making dents in the gravel drive in front of the grand entrance portico. Justine floated down out of the airlock, taking a wonderfully reassuring breath of Earth’s old air once again. There had been moments when she thought that might not happen ever again. Kazimir whooped joyfully as he followed her down to the ground. Manipulated gravity was just one of the delights he’d discovered in the short time since she’d summoned him back out of the Void’s creation layer.

He stood perfectly still, allowing his mouth to open wide as he stared up at the preposterously extravagant building. “This is your home?”

“Yes, this is where I was born and lived ever since.” That was almost the truth. She didn’t want to spoil things. It was going to take this naive Kazimir a while to adjust to everything the Greater Commonwealth offered. And who better to act as his guide and tutor?

“Would you like to look around?”

“Oh, yes!” His arms flapped around for emphasis. “Who else lives here?”

“Ah, no one at the moment. It’s become a bit of a museum, I’m afraid. We’ll find you a bedroom, a suite, actually. There are some excellent ones in the west wing.”

He caught hold of her hand and gave her that beseeching look with his lovely big adoring eyes. “Will you be nearby, Justine?”

“Um.” She was blushing again. Come on, girl, get a grip. “I will stay for a while to make sure you’re all right. I’m going to be quite busy. There’s a lot to sort out right now.”

He grinned. “You have saved the galaxy. People will allow you time for yourself now. I am sure of it.”

“Probably.” The entrance doors were huge jet black slabs of glossy stonewood inlaid with a gold-leaf vine pattern. She paused as they swung open. I never noticed before; that’s so similar to the gates of the Sampalok mansion. Oscar had sworn his first voyage of exploration would be an attempt to find the previous occupiers of Makkathran. She still couldn’t quite get her head around that partnership. But then, in the Void, anything is possible. Kazimir was witness to that. And Catriona.

Kazimir peered in curiously as the lights came on along the length of the cavernous hall. “How old is this palace?”

“Over a thousand years,” she said with pride.

“Dreaming heavens,” he murmured as they walked inside.

“I used to rollerblade in here,” she said fondly. “That’s when I was your age or maybe a little younger. Dad would scream at me and-” She stopped dead. A shiver ran up her body, strong enough to cause her to clutch at the door frame for support. Shock that only a genuine flesh-and-blood body could know was threatening to reduce her to tears.

Gore was standing in the doorway to the white room. As always, his solido was the twenty-fourth-century version of himself, gold skin body wearing a black shirt and trousers.

“Dad?” she gasped. In her nice rational tidy mind she’d known all along that he would be waiting here for her, that ANA would have reanimated his personality as soon as it confirmed his bodyloss on the Anomine homeworld. But back in Makkathran his transcendence had been so real, so vivid. Her meat body and brain knew her father’s mind and body had gone on to something better, that Daddy had died, that everything afterward was just the result of clever technology.

Sometimes basic human flesh and blood was far too painful.

“You did a great job out there,” he said. “Not everyone operating in a meat body would hold it together under that kind of emotional stress. Thanks.”

“My pleasure,” she said weakly.

“So how about that-my original body finally gets fried up in a nova. Goddamn Marius, he’s actually worse than Ilanthe in his own pathetically petty way. Funny thing, I didn’t imagine I’d get nostalgic, but I think I’m going to miss it. The damn thing was like a psychological final safety net. I suppose I ought to clone another. Not that I’ll ever use one again.”

“Good idea.”

“And I’m going to have to have a long talk with the Delivery Man; he can fill in the missing details. I accessed the kubes in Ozzie’s asteroid as soon as ANA brought me out of suspension storage; they updated me back to the point I left on the Last Throw. But there’s no accurate record of what happened on the Anomine homeworld between then and when that old Tyzak guy switched on the elevation mechanism. The way it played out, I’m guessing there had to be some serious problems back there.”

“Yeah, that’s how I read it, too.”

“Right. Well, you wouldn’t believe the fuss the Radical Darwinist Faction is kicking up in here. Conniving little shits. I could do with some help slapping them down. Are you coming back home now?”

Justine draped an arm around a very silent Kazimir’s shoulders and gave the golden man a defiant look. “Not just yet, Dad. There’re a few things I have to finish off out here. They might take awhile.”