Barbary

Heather nudged her. For the first three or four pokes in the ribs, Barbary had no idea why. Finally she figured it out.

“Jeanne, um, Dr. Velory. This is Heather. My new sister.”

“How do you do, Heather.” Jeanne shook Heather’s small, slender hand. “We never were introduced, the last time I was here.”

“No, I was just a kid then, anyway,” Heather said.

“Have you shown Barbary the station yet?”

“We haven’t had time. Tomorrow, I’m going to start.”

Barbary blushed on being reminded that she had turned down Jeanne’s offer of a guided tour around Outrigger.

“I saw the observation bubble,” Barbary said. “In the transport ship. I found it myself. I stayed in it a lot. Nobody else was ever there.”

Jeanne frowned, hearing the defensiveness in Barbary’s voice, but her expression softened.

“I’m glad you found it,” she said. “And you’re right, hardly anyone else spent any time there. We wasted our time, instead. Arguing. We’d have done a lot better to look at the stars.” She held out her hand to Heather again, then to Barbary. “I hope you like it here.”

“Thanks,” Barbary said.

“Dr. Velory…”

A tall man in a grounder suit touched Jeanne’s shoulder. She let him turn her away to introduce her to a whole group of people, who closed in and cut her off from Barbary and Heather.

“You didn’t tell me you knew her!” Heather said.

“I don’t — we just sat next to each other on the shuttle. She knew who you are, though.”

“Oh, yeah, big deal, everybody knows who I am, Heather the first space-baby. Really tiresome. I tell you, Barbary, it’s great to have somebody else on the station who’s under eighteen.” She grinned. “Let’s go get some punch. Maybe they even have a buffet ... and you can give me a lesson in sleight of hand.”

o0o

The reception was a great success, but for Barbary it went on forever. Only when it began to break up did Heather think they could leave without attracting attention. Barbary had assumed they would be able to appear, then sneak off. Back on earth, no one ever cared if she disappeared. But Heather’s absence would be noticed as much as her presence. Barbary began to see some of the drawbacks of Heather’s life. She still envied her all the years she had spent up here — but she could see the drawbacks.

Now she followed Heather through the crowd. It was thinner, but still thick enough to make finding anyone a problem. Finally they saw Yoshi.

“I’m getting kind of tired,” Heather said to him. “We’re going to go on home.”

“That’s a good idea,” Yoshi said. “I’ll come with you.”

Heather gave Barbary an anxious glance. Barbary took care not to react. She figured she had about one more chance at acting weird in front of Yoshi before he decided she was seriously nuts. Besides, even if he came back with them everything would be all right as long as he did not barge into Heather’s room. And as long as Mick was not yowling at the top of his lungs when they got there.

Barbary had succeeded in forgetting about the shrimp until she started home. Just as the books on stage magic claimed, her ignoring something had kept others from noticing it. But as soon as she got on the elevator to the inner ring, she became uncomfortably aware of the damp handful of crustaceans in her pocket. And she thought she could smell them, too. She glanced sidelong at Yoshi, but he stared out at the stars, somewhere else entirely.

“What’s that funny — Oh!” Heather stopped herself just as Barbary elbowed her in the ribs. “Ow!”

“What’s the matter?” Yoshi was not too distracted to hear the protest in Heather’s voice. “What’s wrong? Are you two fighting?”

“Fighting?” Heather said. “No — why would we fight?”

“I thought you said, ‘ow,’” Yoshi said to Heather, and to Barbary he said, frowning, “and I thought you hit her.”

“Hit her!” Barbary said. “Why would I hit her?” She was offended. She would never hit Heather. Elbowing somebody in the ribs was not hitting them, and besides Heather was a lot smaller than she was. She had barely nudged her, and that only to get her attention.

“She didn’t hit me!” Heather said, just as offended. “And I said ‘oh’ — I was thinking about something.”

“I see,” Yoshi said.

Barbary knew that Yoshi meant the opposite. Of course he could not see; how could he? She hoped he might put this whole day down to tiredness and excitement, and let her start fresh in the morning.

The elevator stopped. They all got out and turned the corner.

The door to Yoshi and Heather’s apartment stood ajar.

Somehow, Barbary managed to keep walking. Her knees felt like oatmeal. Mick must have howled. Someone had heard him and found him and taken him away.

“Hmm,” Yoshi said. “Thea must be here.” He strode on ahead.

Heather grabbed Barbary’s hand. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Thea wouldn’t have any reason to go in our room.”

They hurried after Yoshi.

He stood just inside the doorway, looking at a jumble of delicate bits of machinery and electronics spread across the living room floor. Heather stopped short. Barbary caught her breath.