Engineman - Eric Brown [150]
"That's quite a change around, Ralph. You were quite the disbeliever."
He shrugged. "I was wrong. I realise that now. Out there, I saw the truth." He took a long swallow of beer. "Anyway, now... now I have things to do on Earth, things I neglected to do for a long, long time."
He looked into her calm, oval face. She swallowed, then said, "And what is that, Ralph?"
He said, "You recall when we met a few weeks ago... you said you wanted us to be friends again."
She squeezed his hand. "You'd like that?"
He felt something constrict his throat. He nodded. "I'd like nothing better, Carrie."
"Oh, Ralph, Ralph..."
He looked up at her, fearing her rebuttal. "What?"
To his surprise, he saw that she was weeping. "Ralph, Susan arrived in Paris last night. She wants to see you. Let's... let's go see her together, okay? Now. She's at the Plaza."
His stomach turned. His daughter... how would he ever find the words to excuse his abandonment?
"Does she hate me, Carrie?"
She smiled. "Of course not. I explained what happened... what demons were driving you. She'll be delighted she has you back."
"For however long, before the Heine's..." he began.
She took both his hands in hers. "Eight years? That's a long time, Ralph. We can make the most of them, okay?"
They stood together and embraced, and some nameless emotion, which he hadn't experienced in years, swelled in his chest.
Carrie said, glancing at her watch, "Come on, let's pick up Susan and go for dinner."
As they made for the exit, Mirren said, "Carrie... I don't think I ever thanked you for saving my life."
She laughed. "Don't mentioned it, Engineman."
Hand in hand, they left the Blue Shift bar and stepped out into the balmy Paris night.
Epilogue
Dan Leferve sat on the patio of the bar and gazed out across Orly spaceport. Night had fallen over Paris, but the port was illuminated by dozens of starships phasing-in, phasing-out, or just sitting on the tarmac. It was a sight that never failed to stir something deep within him. He drank his beer and watched a bigship of the Canterbury Line prepare for phase-out: its dorsal lights came on, then flashed like emergency beacons. The streamlined, shark-like 'ship flickered from existence in silence. Within a minute another 'ship appeared in the vacated berth as if by magic, displaced air blowing across the spaceport and lapping over the drinkers on the patio.
Not for the first time that evening, Dan glanced at the towering arrowhead of the fastship The Sublime Ascension. Behind its multiple viewscreens he could see the small, dark silhouettes of the crew as the 'ship prepared for phase-out in less than - he glanced at his watch - thirty minutes.
His heart skipped as he watched two white-uniformed officers climb the steps to the patio and approach him. "Alpha Leferve, if you're ready..." The officer's tone was deferential.
"If I can have just five more minutes." Dan glanced across to the door of the bar. "I'm expecting a friend."
The first officer said, "Of course. By all means." They left the patio and Dan exhaled a sigh of relief.
He returned his attention to the activity on the tarmac.
Fifteen years ago the Interface Organisations across the Expansion had, one by one, closed down the portals and ceased operation. Within two years the free Expansion had rid itself of the interfaces. The Rim sector of the galaxy, however, run by the Danzig Organisation, had been another matter entirely.
It had taken a further year of intense guerrilla activity, spearheaded by Hirst Hunter and the Disciples, to destroy every last interface and bring the Organisation to its knees.
Only then was the continued safety of the nada-continuum assured.
After the close-downs, the Lines had resumed business and gradually expanded. They were as busy now, if not more so, than even at the time of their hey-day twenty-five years ago. Bigships and smallships, pushed by Alphas, Betas and Gammas, constituted seventy-five percent of the star traffic, and fastships made up the remainder. They were, as their name suggested, super-fast star vessels