“Eat, drink, sleep, and die,” he said. “Make love, too?”

“Can you imagine humans living for years in an environment where they couldn’t make love? See that group?” Ana was pointing to the horizon. “Go and ask them.”

Half a dozen people/symbiotes had appeared. They were moving in true kangaroo fashion, bounding along with fifteen-meter leaps in the low Mars gravity.

Drake watched them wave and point, inviting Ana and him over to an open structure beside a jumble of rocks.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s go and chat.”

He was curious to hear about life on the surface of Mars, but he didn’t want to talk to them about lovemaking activities involving a symbsuit. He was quite capable of conducting his own experiments on that subject.

The change took place on the second day on Mars. Ana became suddenly withdrawn and remote. Drake didn’t know what it was — something he had said or done? — and she did not want to talk.

That had never happened in the old days. It was not that they had never argued. But they had a standard rule. As Ana put it, “Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.”

When one’s feelings were hurt, the other always knew. They would sit and talk, argue as much as necessary, and get every nagging pain or upset out into the open. Once the sore point was exposed, the other could stroke it better.

But Ana refused to do it. She only said, “It’s nothing.” When clearly it wasn’t.

The return flight to Pluto, cruising out to where Drake’s Servitor was patiently (or perhaps impatiently) awaiting his return, was quiet and unsatisfying. According to Ana, the trip had been a complete success. If there had been major temporal shock, it now lay in the past.

But if it was a success, why was she so distant?

He found out on the final morning of the flight, minutes before they were due to land at the station on Charon. Ana had been a lot more cheerful during the previous twenty-four hours. He assumed that the trouble, whatever it had been, was over. Because his guard was down, the shock was so much harder to take.

“What do you mean, our last few days together?” Drake had been watching the ship’s automatic docking on Charon when Ana’s quiet statement jerked him to attention.

Had he heard right? Had she really said, “I wish we could have made more of our last few days together.”

He said, “I thought we could stay here in the outer system for as long as we like.”

“You can.” She moved to stand in front of him. “But I can’t. I made promises. The people heading for Rigel Calorans are waiting for me, but they won’t wait forever. I have to head out and join them.”

“But what about us?” And when Ana shook her head, he went on, “Look, if you already made promises to them, I completely understand. I wouldn’t want you to go back on your word. But I have nothing to hold me close to Sol — nothing but you. I’ll come with you, join your group.”

“No, Drake, that isn’t it at all.” She took his hand in hers. “I like you a lot, and I will never forget that I owe my life to you. But you can’t go with me. Let me put it more brutally: I don’t want you to go with me. I do not love you as you love your Ana.”

“I don’t believe it. Everything we’ve said to each other, everything we’ve done—”

“Everything that you have said. We make fine, fond lovers, physically we fit together beautifully, I don’t deny it.”

“So what’s the problem? Ana, we can talk this through, we always have.”

“That’s the problem, right there. I’m not Ana — not your Ana. I’m me. You and I have never talked through any problems together. Think about it, and you will realize that what I say is true.” She released his hand and stepped away. “Drake, this is all my fault. I should never have revivified you. I see you looking at me, and I know you are seeing someone else.”

“I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”

“No. You are blind. You want what you see, what you think I am. There’s so much background that you and your Ana shared. I don’t have that, but you don’t even realize it’s missing. Let me give you just one example. You assumed I would know why you call your Servitor Milton, so you’ve never bothered to explain it to me. But I don’t know.”

“ ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’; an ancient poet, John Milton, wrote that. It was just a sort of joke when I said it, because the Servitor—”

“Drake, I don’t know and I don’t want to know. I want to leave, right now.”

“You can’t leave. What will I do without you?”

“You will become what you were before I appeared to mess up your life: strong, dedicated, brave.” She came toward him, hesitated, and then at last kissed him quickly on the lips as the airlock cycled open. “There’s more to it than that, Drake. I thought you guessed, but apparently you didn’t. I started to tell you once, but you cut me off as though you didn’t want to discuss it.”

Drake turned. Melissa Bierly was standing in the open doorway. The brilliant sapphire eyes smiled a welcome. There was a radiance and a calmness in her face that Drake had never seen before. Then Ana was rushing forward, and the two women embraced fiercely.

“Hello, Drake Merlin.” Melissa spoke softly, almost shyly. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You?… and Ana…”

“We are companions. Life mates. We go as a team to Rigel Calorans.” Melissa, still holding Ana by the hand, came toward him. “We owe you a lot.”

“Everything,” Ana added. “You are the reason that Melissa and I met. You were not here, Drake, but you brought us together. I sought her out because she had known you.”

She turned to Melissa. Drake saw again that look in -Ana’s eyes, the totally loving look. He had seen it once before — when they were speaking of Melissa.

“But we were lovers ,” he whispered. And, when Ana merely nodded, “How could you do that with me, if you are bonded to her?”

Both woman stared at him in confusion. “For your comfort,” Ana said slowly. “To cheer you, when you were frightened and upset. How could I have done anything else? Melissa would have done no less.”

Melissa nodded. She placed her arms around Ana, resting her head on her shoulder. “I would, Drake, if you needed me. But Ana did. She soothes pain almost before it is there. That is one reason why I love her.”

Drake stepped backward and slumped into the ship’s control chair. “And Ana loves you, and not me. I am going to lose her.”

“Yes,” said Ana. “You will lose me. But don’t get it wrong. I told you, what you will lose is Ana, but it is not your Ana.”

“I will be without you, again. What can I do? How will I live?”

Both women came forward and stooped to kiss him on both cheeks.

“Don’t give up,” Melissa said softly. “Keep your faith, Drake, and go on. We agree with you; somewhere, sometime, you will find Anastasia. Not my Ana. Your Ana.”

Ana and Melissa stepped away. Hand in hand, they moved toward the airlock. Drake rose halfway out of his seat, as though he intended to follow them. Then he slumped back. The door of the airlock slid shut.

He was still sitting, staring blindly at the displays of the rugged surface of Charon, when the door opened again. The little Servitor, Milton, eased quietly into the room. It rolled forward to stand at Drake’s side. As though sensing the human’s mood, it did not say a word.

Milton had been on Charon when Melissa Bierly arrived, and it had listened in on the whole conversation. It knew what would happen next.