Sampsa shrugged. "We'll keep in touch. And maybe it'll do us good . . . you know, being out of each other's minds for a while."
7 didn't mean that. 7...
Sampsa looked - looked deep this time - and saw what Tom had been holding back from him. He sat. "Ahh .. ."
So? Tom said inside his head as he sat beside him on the edge of the bed. Are you prepared to risk that?
Sampsa turned and looked into Tom's eyes, seeing himself reflected back. "Are you?"
But Tom shook his head. You know what I mean. We've got to make a choice. To stay or go.
Sampsa spoke softly. "I thought you'd made that choice."
No . . . No, 7 ... Tom sighed and looked down at his clenched hands.
Sampsa reached out, putting his arm about Tom's shoulders. "I know it must be hard, Tom. I know how much you miss it all... your mother, the Domain, all that. . . but. . . well, I have to go. It's my destiny. And if you decide . . . well, to stay, then it'll be like half of me has been ripped away. But that can't stop me. Nor should it stop you. Seriously. If you want to go back, then go back. Find out whether you have to stay or go." He shrugged then hugged his mind's twin. "Do it if you must. But don't be afraid of doing it."
He was about to say more when the airlock hissed open again. There was a moment's pause and then the sound of footsteps out in the corridor, the babble of two voices talking quickly in Mandarin.
Sampsa stood then walked across to the door. "Ai Lin? Lu Yi?"
The twins turned as they were taking off their helmets and looked to him, giggling.
"We didn't think you'd be here," Ai Lin said, hanging her helmet up on the hook. "We thought.. ." She fell silent, noting how serious Sampsa looked.
"What is it?" Lu Yi asked, stepping past her sister. "Is it Tom?"
"Yes," Sampsa said, then, raising a hand before she could panic, he quickly added, "he's not hurt or anything, it's just. . . well, it's just that he wants to go back. To Chung Kuo. He.. ."
"Chung Kuo?" Lu Yi frowned, not understanding. "He wants to go there?"
Sampsa nodded, looking back into the room, conscious of Tom sat there in his head, looking through his eyes all the while, and wondering how it would feel never to feel that again. The thought made Tom look up and meet his eyes. Sampsa sighed, then turned, looking to Lu Yi again. "Yes. And he wants you to go with him. To meet his parents and see the Domain. He wants . . ."
I want to say goodbye, Tom said inside his head.
Sampsa glanced at him again, then nodded. "He wants to say goodbye."
"Aiya," Lu Yi said, looking to her twin, clearly scared by the thought of being separated from her for the first time in her life. She looked back at Sampsa. "You mean, just me and him?"
"And Ai Lin, if you want." He saw the relief in her face and .. felt, at the same time, Tom's surprise. "After all, I'm going to be very busy these next few months. And you two need a holiday.
So ..."
The two young women looked to each other a moment, then, giggling, fell into each other's arms.
Well? he asked silently, speaking directly into Tom's head. Are you still angry with me?
No, Tom said, getting up and coming across, then laying a hand on his arm fondly. No. Not now .. .
Mileja was running from room to room, giggling, Karr's youngest, Beth, in hot pursuit. Jelka watched her daughter disappear through the door of the great dining room then turned to look at Karr again.
Karr was staring at the empty doorway and smiling, fondly, indulgently, the way her own father had used to smile at her. Once again it brought home to her just how much like him Kan-had become. She smiled, the warmth she felt for him at that moment surprising her. Such things crept up on one until, suddenly, one's relationship was wholly different, transformed. Why, if it were not so ridiculous, she would have said that what she felt for Karr at that moment was something akin to love. Not the kind of love she had for Kim, no, but not so different from what she had once felt for her father.
She looked down, realising suddenly just how much she missed him. And with that realisation came another, that she was lonely. Oh, there was Kim - there was always Kim - and more often than not he was enough for her: he and Sampsa and Mileja, that was. But sometimes, late at night, or when she was alone and feeling thoughtful, her mind would go back to her father and to those first days on the island, at Kalevala, with her uncle and aunt. Those had been magical days. If she closed her eyes she could see him still, his face in the fire's flickering light halved into a mask of gold and black, his hands resting on his knees like something carved from stone and set before a temple. Magnificent, he'd been. Magnificent in the same physical way that Karr was magnificent. Archetypal, almost. And even if, in the years that had followed, they had fallen out over Kim, she had still loved him. Loved him despite all he had done to keep her and Kim apart. Loved him and understood him. She looked up, finding Karr's eyes on her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and smiled. "Just remembering, that's all." "Your father?"
"Yes." She sighed. "You'll come, I hope... to the ceremony." "Nothing could stop me," he said, smiling at her in the same way she had seen him smile at his daughters; a smile of pride and love. "It will be nice to see old faces again, neh?"
"Neh."
She was quiet for a while, then. "Hannah's told me things."
"Things?" Karr lifted his chin slightly, a questioning look in his eyes.
"About the situation here."
"Ah . . ." He nodded thoughtfully, then went across and pushed the door to. "Then you understand why we are leaving here."
"Leaving?" Hannah had said nothing of that to her.
"Yes," Karr said, noting her surprise, "to join Ebert in Africa. Things here are finished."
"And they'll be better in Africa?"
"For a time."
Jelka looked down, anxious suddenly. Then, "Why don't you come?"
"What?" He looked at her, not understanding.
"Why don't you come with us. You, Marie and the girls. Oh, and Master Heng. And others. We'll find room." She laughed. "We'll make room!"
"And Hans, and the Osu?"
"All of you." Jelka laughed, suddenly on fire with the idea. Why not, after all? They were all good people, and Kim was always saying that they needed as many good people as they could find. "I mean, if there really is nothing left to stay for?"
She saw the doubt in his face. "I'd not thought. I..."
Jelka placed a hand on his arm. "Think about it. Please, •v,- Gregor. Talk to Marie and the girls, see how they feel about the idea. In the meantime I'll talk to Kim. I'm sure he'd say yes. You could be on the New Hope with us!"
Karr laughed, then shook his head. "Full circle."
"What?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Full circle," Karr repeated. "Or do you forget who it was single-handedly blew up the first New Hope?"
"I. . ." She laughed. "Well, maybe another ship, eh?"
"And Li Yuan?" he asked, a note of sobriety entering his voice now.
She stared back at him a moment then looked away. "Li Yuan has made his own bed," she answered quietly. "Now he must lie in it."
On the cruiser back, Jelka sat silently at the window, watching the city pass below, her thoughts returning time and again to what Hannah had told her.
Gone, she thought, frowning deeply. How could it all have gone so quickly? Yet what worried her more was that it might be somehow Kim's fault - for giving up on Chung Kuo - or, more to the point, hers for persuading him to focus his energies elsewhere. One thing was for certain, however, that when Kim had withdrawn, no one else had stepped in to fill the void.