Judas Unchained

“Both of you, shush,” Mark said. He tried to stop grinning as he read the news flowing across the paperscreen that was balanced on his coffee cup. It was difficult; this was a proper family breakfast, the kind he’d loved back in the Ulon Valley, and an increasingly rare event these days. It wasn’t that life here was hard—quite the opposite. The two-story house they lived in was built from shiny carbonsteel composite sections, assembled by construction-bots. But even though it looked low-cost from the outside, the interior was spacious, with luxurious fittings. Its kitchen alone probably cost more than the old Ables pickup he’d driven in Randtown, with every automated gadget known to the Commonwealth, work surfaces of Ebbadan marble, and cupboard doors made from brown-gold French oak. All the other rooms were equally well appointed; and if you lacked any furniture you could order whatever you wanted from a unisphere catalogue site and the project personnel office would arrange for it to be delivered. The same with clothes or food.

No, home life was easy. It was the work that devoured all his time, and kept him away from the children. Except today. This was his day off, the first one in a long time. They’d arranged for the children to skip school so they could all spend it together.

“Can we go now?” Barry implored. “Dad, please, we’re all finished.”

Mark stopped reading the article about the political battle to lead the African caucus in the Senate. He glanced over at Liz for permission. She was holding her big teacup in both hands. Most of her French toast was still on her plate. “Okay,” she said.

The kids whooped and raced out of the room.

“Make sure you use your toothgel,” she shouted after them. “And don’t forget your swimsuits.”

Panda barked happily.

Mark and Liz grinned at each other. “Do we get some time together tonight?” he asked, trying to be casual.

“Yes, I’d like to have sex, too, baby. If we’re not tired after today, that’s a definite.”

They shared a more intimate, playful smile.

Liz wolfed down the last portion of her French toast. “Humm, too much pepper. I’ll have to alter the bot’s recipe.”

He glanced at the broad picture window behind her, checking the weather. Liz always sat with her back to the window, no matter what room of the house they were using. “I hate this landscape,” she’d announced on their third day in the town. “It’s a corpse of a world, a vampire planet.”

“Looks like a good day,” Mark said cheerfully as the sunlight shone on the rock and sandy regolith outside. “The tarn should be warm enough to swim in.”

“Whatever.”

“Something wrong?”

“No. Yes. This place. It really is driving me crazy, baby.”

He held up the paperscreen. News articles were still flowing down it. “We won’t be here for much longer, one way or another. The navy fleet should be hitting Hell’s Gateway any day now.”

Liz glanced at the open door, and lowered her voice. “And if that’s not enough?”

“It will be.”

“Then why is Sheldon building this fleet?”

“Because he had a healthy paranoia back when all this kicked off. In any case, he’ll probably use the starships even if we beat the Primes back to their homeworld.”

“Say again?”

“The Commonwealth is all humans have; we’re all bunched up in one big group. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to set up another human civilization on the other side of the galaxy? It’d probably be completely different to this one. We know how to avoid our mistakes now, to build something new. You’d have enough volunteers to make it viable; look how many people settle weird places like Far Away and Silvergalde.”

“Uh huh.” She sat back and gave him a calculating stare. “And would that include us?”

Mark’s enthusiasm went into an unpleasant nosedive. “I don’t know. How do you feel about it?”

“I feel very strongly that the children are brought up in the safety and security of the Commonwealth, providing it survives. Once they’re grown up, and responsible enough to make their own choices, they can start thinking if they want to go gallivanting off into the wild.”

“Er, right, Sure. But it appeals to me.”

“I can see that, baby. And I’ll be happy to talk about it later, say, in about fifteen years.”

“Ah. All right, I don’t suppose this will be the only intergalactic colonization attempt. I think we’re shaping up to live in a real golden age. The Prime attack might well be the best thing that ever happened to us; it’s shaken us out of our complacency. Just think of it, fleets flying off into the unknown. I bet we even go trans-galactic one day. That would be the ultimate, wouldn’t it?”

Liz gave him a tolerant smile. “I keep forgetting how young you are.”

“You mean you wouldn’t go?” Mark asked, surprised, and not a little upset.

“I hadn’t thought about it, baby, is the honest answer. But do me a favor, don’t mention this to the kids; their world is turbulent enough as it is right now without introducing wild ideas like this.”

“Like what?” Barry asked. He was standing in the door, his coat trailing from one hand.