‘I bribed an astronaut. Oh, not with sex, the usual currency. I used to move in influential circles, back home. I happened to know something about this woman’s family which she did not want revealed to her colleagues . . . With this we could tell how close we were to the river. It was tough, but we made a dash for it when the children were still small.’

Delga stared at the two maps. ‘Look. This long scribble of the rat boy’s just has to be our river. Which does go all the way to the substellar point. Wow.’

‘We may never get that far,’ Dorothy said. ‘It’s a hell of a long way. Especially if we have to stop to grow a crop of potatoes every fifty klicks. And isn’t the climate there supposed to be difficult? Too hot—’

‘If the whole world is getting cold,’ Anna said reasonably, ‘then that might solve the problem.’

‘And besides,’ Delga said, ‘where the hell else is there to go?’ She faced Yuri. ‘So what about it, Earthman? You going to join us?’

He couldn’t see a choice. There would be better protection in a larger group, a better chance of survival. And at least with this group there would be other kids for Beth to meet – a choice, at least, of partners for life. Maybe even more in Klein’s group, and he glanced that way.

Delga noticed the look. ‘Yeah. You’re going to have to go face the big man.’

‘But bring your people here first,’ Anna said. ‘Maybe you ought to go and tell them they aren’t alone any more.’

Yuri stood, and thanked them for their hospitality. He felt like his manners were rusty. Then he set out alone for the jilla lake and home, wondering how he was going to break all this to Mardina and Beth.

CHAPTER 45

When they came back to the camp by the river, it was as a convoy: Yuri and Mardina walked, and Beth rode on the hood of the ColU.

They had let Beth pick out her own favourite clothes, which were all colourful cut-downs from the old ISF gear. And she packed a bag with gifts for the children, from old toys to choice potatoes from the latest crop, and pretty rocks she’d found over the years. Though whether she had a clear idea of what ‘children’ were going to be like, Yuri had no idea. She might imagine some version of the builders, Mister Sticks grown large and wearing human clothes.

Yuri had suggested to Mardina that they wear what was left of their own ISF-issue gear, in order to blend in with the crowd a little better. But Mardina went to the opposite extreme, picking out her drabbest stem-case work clothes, her coolie hat, even her bark sandals. ‘This is who I am now,’ she said evenly.

Not for the first time in his life, Yuri couldn’t read her mood. But he went along with her decision.

The whole of Delga’s camp turned out to watch them approach, the men and women in their little huddles, the kids behind the women.

‘Not exactly welcoming,’ Mardina murmured.

‘At least they’re not waving crossbows this time.’

Beth just stared at the children, stared and stared. And the ColU swivelled its camera mounts to inspect the mutilated machine that stood patiently at the edge of this colony’s potato field.

They got to within about ten metres. Then one of the women stepped forward, staring at Mardina. ‘I know you. She’s a fucking astronaut!’

Mardina murmured to Yuri, ‘I take it you didn’t explain my particular circumstances.’

‘I didn’t tell them anything.’

‘Fair enough—’

‘An astronaut! I always hated you bastards, even before I got on the ship. Jones, that was your name.’

‘It still is.’

‘Why, you mouthy—’ And the woman launched herself out of the group and went straight for Mardina, running flat out, her hands outstretched as if to grab Mardina’s throat.

Mardina stepped aside, stuck out a leg and sent the woman sprawling. ‘Ten years out of the service but my ISF training’s still there. Good to know.’ The woman was up on her knees, spitting dirt out of her mouth. ‘Now, one quick chop to the neck—’

Yuri held Mardina’s arm. ‘Leave her to the others.’

Some of the women, and one man, came running up. They hauled the woman to her feet, her arms firmly held. ‘For God’s sake, Frieda, we have to live with these people . . .’

Dorothy Wynn stepped forward to apologise. Delga just laughed.

They were brought into the camp reasonably peacefully. Yuri and Mardina sat by the women’s fire and were offered more nettle tea. The men of the colony hung back, evidently curious. The ColU rolled away to inspect its silent brother by the potato field.

Beth stared at Delga’s stump of an arm. And then, wide-eyed with astonishment, she was cautiously welcomed by the children.

‘Play nice, Freddie,’ Delga called with a hint of venom. ‘So, ice boy. Full of surprises, aren’t you? Only two of you. Two survivors, of fourteen.’

‘It’s a long story,’ Yuri said.

‘And not all that dissimilar to yours, I’ll bet,’ Mardina said levelly, pointedly looking around at the group, the eleven adults.

‘More extreme though,’ Delga said. ‘We’re all survivors, I guess, here in the Bowl. But you two evidently pushed it to the limit. Respect.’

Dorothy Wynn said, ‘I’m sorry how Frieda took a pop at you like that.’

Mardina shrugged. ‘She’s right. I am ISF crew, or was.’

‘But I’m guessing you didn’t volunteer to stay down here.’

‘I filled a gap in the manifest. The drop group was short . . . I had the right genetic diversity. Lucky me.’

‘We’re all here now,’ Dorothy said firmly. ‘Which is all that matters.’

Anna said, ‘And you had a kid, even though it was just the two of you? That took some guts.’

Yuri and Mardina shared an awkward glance. This was very private stuff, but these others had been in a similar position. Yuri said at length, ‘I think we concluded that it took less guts than not having a kid.’

‘And another? Did you think about having more?’

This time neither of them was willing to answer. Even after Beth was born they’d found such issues difficult to discuss. Their whole world was focused on one person, on Beth; somehow they hadn’t been able to imagine breaking that up with a second child. Maybe someday they would have got around to it, the alternative being to let Beth grow old and die alone. But that, Yuri realised slowly, was the old game, under the old rules. Looking around at these people, he saw that everything was different now – for Beth too.

Still they weren’t answering Anna’s question, and the silence stretched. Yuri was relieved when another familiar figure walked over to break things up.

‘Hey, Yuri. I thought you were dead, man . . .’

It was Liu Tao. Yuri could see that his old comrade from the ship had come from the Klein camp, to the north. He wore the remains of an ISF-issue coverall, with two bands of red ribbon around his right biceps.

Yuri stood up. They shook hands, embraced briefly. Yuri was unreasonably glad to see Liu. ‘Never thought I’d see you again. I always thought you’d come through, though.’

Liu shrugged. ‘Well, I lived through a spaceship crash on Mars and two years in a UN jail before I was shoved aboard the Ad Astra. So I’m a tough guy, right?’

‘How touching,’ Delga said. ‘Male bonding. We don’t get enough male bonding around here, do we, Dorothy?’

‘Delga . . .’

Mardina said, ‘Klein sent you over. Right, Liu? One of his right-hand men now, are you? Hence the pretty ribbons on your arm.’

Liu shrugged. ‘Yeah. Something like that. He’s inviting you over for a drink, Yuri. You and Lieutenant Jones here.’

‘A drink?’

‘Potato vodka. Not bad, at least the stuff Gustave drinks.’

‘And that’s not really an invitation, Yuri,’ Delga said, smiling cruelly. ‘It’s an order.’

Mardina said, ‘I think we’re through taking orders from anybody.’