“Being posthumous, you mean? Have it straight: she had it coming. I didn’t kill her, but I’d like to have.”
Oh, good shot. Just as Justin and Grant showed up at the dining room door. She smiled at Jordan and laid a hand on his arm.
“You areeverything I expected. Hello there, Justin, Grant. Delighted you could make it. Would you like a drink?”
“Vodka on ice,” Justin said with a worried glance at Jordan. “H’lo, Dad.”
“You’re late,” Jordan said.
“Am I?” It was a question whether Justin would come out with his version of the time he’d been told to arrive; but he was a survivor of the secretive Nye years, and he simply said, “I guess so.”
“Grant?”
“The same, thank you, sera,” Grant said. “Ser. Paul.” Paul had come into the room with Catlin. “Good evening.”
“Good evening,” Jordan said darkly.
“Why don’t we sit down?” Ari suggested with a wave at the table. There were flowers, and the lit candles. Staff had done their best on very short notice. She took the host’s seat at the end, and let her guests sort things out–Grant and Paul would settle farthest away. There was no endmost seat, just the service cart for the drinks, and that left Justin and Jordan one on a side–Florian and Catlin stayed standing, and Callie, who was being bartender, offered the requested cocktails, and prepared a bottle of wine and another of water, while staff hurried around in the hall beyond–a little unpracticed in formal service, but doing their best.
“How do you like your office?” Jordan asked Justin.
“More convenient to the apartment,” Justin answered, stepping neatly around that one.
“And how are you liking being back in your office?” Ari asked, as if she were completely oblivious to the undercurrent. “It won’t have changed much, will it?”
“A little barren,” Jordan said. “But I’m sure the walls are well‑populated.”
“Jordan,” Justin said under his breath.
“I really don’t blame your father for missing you,” Ari said. “But it’s regulations, Jordan. Justin’s on restricted projects. No one’s objecting to his being; there, or you, but it’s the stuff he works with. I don’t know if he felt clear to explain that, but that’s a fact. You couldapply for a security clearance.”
“There’s a waste of time,” Jordan muttered. He was at the bottom of his Collins, nursing the last out of the ice. “Let’s go back to honesty. There’s not going to be a clearance granted. There’s already an investigation going on. –You gave her that card, didn’t you?”
The last sailed across the table, at Justin, as Callie set the requested vodka down by his hand.
“It was a little obvious, Dad. I don’t know what else you expected.”
Ari smiled tightly. “Of course it was. And I’m sure it’s an inconvenience to Dr. Patil, whoever she is. I’m sure you know that.”
“And I’msure,” Jordan said, “you know damned well who she is.”
“I’m learning,” Ari said. “She must have really annoyed you.”
Jordan rotated his empty glass, frowning at Justin.
“And why do you assume,” Ari asked, “that you’re not going to get your clearance back? Don’t you want it back? Or is your whole aim to assure you don’t? There could certainly be several reasons for that.”
“And we aren’t even to the first course yet,” Justin said. “Can we save this for dessert?”
“It’s not my choice,” Jordan said.
“Many things are,” Ari said, and smiled, and signaled the servers. “But Justin’s right. Let’s enjoy dinner.”
“We may not need dessert,” Justin said, as the salad course went down. “Nice.”
“Let’s love each other for at least three courses,” Ari said, smiling at Jordan. “How is your work going, Jordan? I think you and I are about at the same stage–deepstudy until our eyes cross. I’m trying to get started and you’re trying to span the gap.”
“It’s not that big a gap,” Jordan said defensively, and had a bite of salad, while service poured the first wine.
“Of course there’s a lot I have to learn. Justin’s going to cross‑check me on my theta sets. Would youlike to, just to get back in the game?”
Jordan frowned, probably looking for a stinger somewhere in that offer. “Might be interesting.”
Curiosity, curiosity. He couldn’t turn down actual information, and seeing how she worked, compared to her predecessor, was a question. “Delighted,” she said. “I’ll be interested in any criticism.”
“I’ll imagine you’re quite precocious.”
“I’ve been told so from the start. I’m really trying to make peace, here. And I really am interested in your input.”
“I’ll bet you are.”
“Dad…”
“Oh, I know she is. She still can learn some things. I’m sure she’s no more omniscient than the first model. She hasn’t gotten as argumentative yet, by half. But that will come, I’m sure.”
“It might come earlier if she has to deal with too many disagreeable dinner guests.”
“Oh,” Jordan said, “are we taking sides now?”
“Neighbors,” Ari said with a smile. “Thank you, Justin. But don’t worry. Good minds make interesting conversation. And I think Jordan is very interesting.”
They made it through the salad, even into the main course, which was pasta and imported sausage, with marinara and real cheese.
“Must say the food’s better here than Planys,” Jordan said.
“I’ll relay the compliment,” Ari said. “Thank you. –Were you able to get out of the labs there, Jordan? Did you see anything of the countryside at all?”
“Damn barren,” Jordan said in his conversation‑stopping way. “No, we weren’t offered tours. There weren’t even views. One window in the main office, for the secretaries. None for the rest of your favored guests.”
“There’s no reason for that,” Ari said. “There ought to be views. I don’t know why there weren’t.”
“Maybe they thought giving us a view of the landscape would guide us when we made a break for it.”
Across desert where there weren’t even precip stations. Where the waste of the labs and residences had to be carefully processed, every iota of foreign life eradicated, so it wouldn’t destroy the native micro‑fauna, and contaminate the other continent. When planes flew between the main continent and Planys, they decontaminated the landing gear and the hulls and sprayed down the inside…because they had a world where, unlike old Earth, unlike Pell, there were two distinct ecologies, two landmasses that hadn’t drifted close enough to mix for eons, where there were two circulating currents either side of a high oceanic ridge, and where the only thing that flew was vegetative, most of which wouldn’t survive in the opposing environment–what floated or swam could get there, but that was all. Massive ankyloderms cruised the subsurface, occasionally making a nuisance of themselves; over here it was the other kind of subsurface creature, the platythere, and both of them turned their feeding‑grounds to desert.
“So you never did see an anklyoderm,” she said, ignoring the barb.
“Never did,” he said.
“I’d like to,” she said.