Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [158]
‘Worry? Why would I worry?'
The Roamers had helped Rlinda modify the Curiosity, and she had a few tricks that the local EDF security forces could not counter. She spun her ship and dodged up through the thinning air, not following an approved path. The complaints, threats, and frustrated curses on the comm system soon became amusing. She ignored them as her ship easily outran the few pursuers.
Ninety-eight
Sullivan Gold
'You took your sweet time getting here,‘ Lydia said.
‘I love you, too.' Sullivan couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He kissed her on the cheek. ‘I missed you very much.' ‘I'll bet. Do you have any idea how many times I thought about giving up on you and marrying somebody else?'
He held her, pressing her solid, bony body against him. ‘I don't believe it for a minute.'
‘Aren't you sweet?' They stood together at the edge of the landing zone, with inspectors and merchants moving in all directions. Captain Roberts had delivered Sullivan to his family, then quickly taken his leave, afraid that newsnet reporters might come to film the homecoming. He seemed very camera-shy.
Spacecraft came down, landing in heavy-security areas, and groundcars hauled cargo away to distribution centres. The air smelled of exhaust, fuel vapours, burned-out scrubbers, and paving material - much different from Mijistra, but he didn't mind. The familiar odours triggered a powerful nostalgia in him, enough to bring tears to his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away.
Around the spaceport, the background noise was deafening: air traffic, loading machinery, announcements blaring over loudspeakers, people shouting. His family pressed close. Sons, daughters, and excited grandchildren who wanted his attention peppered him with questions, eager to hear his stories, but he couldn't get a word in.
After receiving his message, Lydia had called the kids and grandkids and made a caravan. Sullivan was almost bowled over by the laughing, grinning people who rushed to greet him. He was smothered with kisses, claps on the back, children tugging on his wrists and elbows. He laughed out loud as he looked across the sea of faces, embarrassed to admit he didn't recognize some of them. ‘How big has the family gotten anyway?'
‘It's just the right size,' Lydia said.
He was shocked to see how different everyone looked. Had it only been a year? A lot had happened on Earth in the meantime. Was that Victor? And Patrice? How could so many hairstyles have changed? New boyfriends and girlfriends, two marriages broken up, three pregnancies, and one sad death (not from the hydrogue war, but in a stupid accident in a mass-transit breakdown). Three of the grandsons had ‘done their part' by signing up to join the Earth Defence Forces, swayed by a gung-ho recruitment drive. Sullivan wasn't sure how he felt about that. He couldn't think of them as being old enough to do such a thing.
‘It's so good to be home.' He kissed his wife on the ear and enjoyed the feeling of just standing there, surrounded by everyone. ‘You haven't changed a bit. You don't look a day older.'
‘That's because I fossilized long before you left.'
‘I wrote you twenty-five letters, but the Mage-Imperator wouldn't let us send them. And you didn't get the one the green priest transmitted.'
‘Convenient excuse.'
He sniffed at her teasing. ‘A little sympathy, please! You can't imagine the ordeal I've been through: hydrogues destroyed my cloud-harvesting facility right out from under me, and Ildirans held us prisoner because we happened to see something we shouldn't have.'
‘What did you see? Too many naked Ildiran females, I'll bet.' They had been married for so long that Lydia's barbs were more endearments than criticisms.
‘Now, dear, I wouldn't have gone on this venture if we hadn't had a family meeting and decided it was for the best. The payment the Hansa promised--'
Her angry snort cut him off, and he grew worried. ‘Payment? They changed