Volscen arrived a year to the day after Iasius s last flight, rendezvousing with the fledgeling voidhawk egg as it orbited contentedly amid the ring. Oenone s nutrient-production globe disgorged the womb-analogue and its related organs in a neat package, which the Volscen s crew retrieved.
Athene was waiting just inside the airlock as they brought the organ package on board. It was about the size of a human torso, a dark crinkled shell sprayed with rays of frost where liquids had frozen during its brief exposure to space. They started to melt as soon as it came into contact with the Volscen s atmosphere, leaving little viscous puddles on the green composite decking.
Athene could sense the infants mind inside, quietly cheerful, with a hint of expectancy. She searched through the background whispers of the affinity band for the insect-sentience of the packages controlling bitek processor, and ordered it to open.
It split apart into five segments like a fruit; fluids and mucus spilled out. At the centre was a milk-coloured sac connected to the organs with thick ropy cords, pulsing rhythmically. The infant was a dark shadow, stirring in agitation as the unaccustomed light shone on her. There was a gurgling sound as the package voided its amniotic fluid across the floor, and the sac began to deflate. The membrane peeled back.
Is she all right?Oenone asked anxiously. The mental tone reminded Athene of a wide-eyed ten-year-old.
Shes just perfect,sinon said gently.
Syrinx smiled up at the expectant adults peering down at her, and kicked her feet in the air.
Athene couldnt help but smile back down at the placid infant. Its all so much easier this way, she thought, at a year old they are much better able to cope with the transition; and theres no blood, no pain, almost as though we werent meant to have them ourselves.
Breathe,athene told the baby girl.
Syrinx spluttered on the gummy mass in her mouth and spat it out. With her affinity sensitivity opened to the full, Athene could feel the passage of the coolish air down into the babys lungs. It was strange and uncomfortable, and the lights and colours were frightening after the pastel dream images of the rings which she was used to. Syrinx began to cry.
Crooning sympathy both mentally and verbally Athene unplugged the bitek umbilical from her navel, and lifted the baby out of the sacs slippery folds. Sinon hovered around her with a towel to wipe the girl down, radiating pride and concern. Volscen s crew began to clear up the pulpy mess of the package, ready to dump it out of the airlock. Bouncing Syrinx on her arm, Athene moved down the corridor towards the lounge that was serving as a temporary nursery.
Shes hungry,Oenone said. A thought which was vigorously echoed by Syrinx.
Stop fussing,athene said. Shell be fed once weve dressed her. And weve got another six to pick up yet. Shes going to have to learn to take her turn.
Syrinx let out a plaintive mental wail of protest.
Oh, you are going to be a bonny handful, arent you?
She was, but then so were all of her nine siblings as well. The house Athene had taken was a circular one, consisting of a single-storey ring of rooms surrounding a central courtyard. Its walls were polyp, and its curved roof was a single sheet of transparent composite which could be opaqued as required. It had been grown to order by a retired captain two hundred years previously when arches and curves were the fashion, and there wasnt a flat surface anywhere.
The valley it sat in was typical of Romuluss interior, with low, rolling sides, lush tropical vegetation, a stream feeding a series of lakes. Small, colourful birds glided through the branches of the old vine-webbed trees, and the air was rich with the scent of the flower cascades. It resembled a wilderness paradise, conjuring up images of the pre-industrial Amazon forests, but like all the Edenist habitats every square centimetre was meticulously planned and maintained.
Syrinx and her brothers and sisters had the run of it as soon as they learnt to toddle. Nothing harmful could happen to children (or anybody else) with the habitat personality watching the entire interior the whole of the time. Athene and Sinon had help, of course, both human nursery workers and the housechimps, monkey-derived bitek servitors. But even so, it was exhausting work.
As she grew up it was obvious that Syrinx had inherited her mothers auburn hair and slightly oriental jade eyes; from her father she got her height and reach. Neither parent claimed responsibility for her impetuosity. Sinon was terribly careful not to display any public favouritism, though the whole brood soon learnt to their creative advantage that he could never say no or stay cross with his daughter for long.
When she was five years old the whispers in her sleep began. It was Romulus who was responsible for her education, not Oenone . The habitat personality acted as her teacher, directing a steady stream of information into her sleeping brain; the process was interactive, allowing the habitat to quiz her silently and repeat anything which hadnt been fully assimilated the first time. She learnt about the difference between Edenists and Adamists, those humans who had the affinity gene and those who didnt, the originals, whose DNA was geneered but not expanded. The flood of knowledge sparked an equally impressive curiosity. Romulus didnt mind, it had infinite patience with all its half-million strong population.
This difference seems silly to me,she confided to Oenone one night as she lay in her bed. The Adamists could all have affinity if they wanted to. It must be horrible to be so alone in your head. I couldnt live without you.
If people dont want to do something, you shouldnt force them,Oenone replied.
For a moment they shared the vista of the rings. That night Oenone was orbiting high above the dayside of the saffron gas giant planet; it loomed through the misty particle drifts, a two-thirds crescent which always held her entranced. Sometimes she seemed to spend the whole night watching the colossal cloud armies at war.
Its still silly of them,she insisted.
One day we will visit Adamist worlds, then well understand.
I wish we could go now. I wish you were big enough.
Soon, Syrinx.
For ever.
Im thirty-five metres broad now. The particles have been thick this month. Just another thirteen years.
Double for ever,the six-year-old replied brokenly.
Edenism was supposed to be a completely egalitarian society. Everybody had a share in its financial, technical, and industrial resources, everybody (thanks to affinity) had a voice in the consensus which was their government. But in all the Saturn habitats the voidhawk captains formed a distinct stratum of their own, fortunes favourites. There was no animosity from the other children, neither the habitat personality nor the adults would tolerate that, and animosity couldnt be hidden with communal affinity. But there was a certain amount of manoeuvring; after all, the captains would one day choose their own crews from the people they could get on with. The inevitable childhood groups which formed did so around the cub captains.
By the time she was eight, Syrinx was the best swimmer out of all her siblings, her long spidery limbs giving her an unbeatable advantage over the others in the water. The group of children she led spent most of their time playing around the streams and lakes of the valley, either swimming or building rafts and canoes. This was around the time they discovered how to fox Romuluss constant surveillance, misusing affinity to generate loitering phantasms in the sensor cells which covered every exposed polyp surface.