If Jove Stray

Chapter 11: and all the universe

"With a large ship as a windbreak, it might not be so bad," Walsh mused. "I would love to see the Aeneid move once more time."

He leaned back against the counter with a sigh. "I was a young man when we crashed. I miss the stars sometimes."

"What was it like?" Alcott inquired.

"I was unappreciative at the time," he said. "We didn't have many portholes but we all crowded around when we got to the planet. It was this glowing ball with the sun glinting off it. Beautiful. The rest of space was boring, you tell them, Levi."

"I got to see the Milky Way arm as we passed out of Earth's solar system," Levi admitted. "It was amazing."

Alcott slugged him in the arm. "I wish you had a holo-rib at the time. I would have loved to see pictures."

"We have a book," Dylan mentioned. "Levi, doesn't it have galaxies they photographed on Earth?"

"What are you waiting for? Alcott demanded. "Walsh and I will finish dinner, why don't you two go get it?"

Walsh handed Levi his crutch as Dylan and he moved to the front door. They headed down the hall together quietly.

"I still haven't wrapped my head around Alcott's new partner," Dylan remarked. "It's too rotated, even for Dashiell."

"I agree," Levi snorted. "Dylan, I was your only match, right?"

"Oui, why?"

"Why didn't they threaten you with cryo?"

"They would have," she answered. "Later. I was only eighteen; O'Keefe would have waited until I was twenty-four. Of course, they kept promising they'd pull you out of cryo. That was a lie."

They made it back to their berth. Dylan found the book on the shelf and returned to Levi's side. Levi was used to the roar of the earthstorm to the point that he had forgotten it was going on. He hoped this would be a short storm.

"Hello?"

Dylan stiffened as a person turned the corner, heading towards them. It was Tyson, relief plain on his face when he recognized Levi.

"I'm so sorry; do you know where Alcott is?" Tyson inquired. "I was sulking and didn't ask where she'd gone, and I feel terrible about my behavior." He laughed. "I have six years of education on how to deal with people, and one encounter with Dashiell Turner throws it all out the window."

"You could have just called her," Levi told him. "Don't you have a holo-rib?"

"Yes, but I don't know how to use it," Tyson replied. "And I'm sorry, I don't think we were formally introduced. I'm Tyson."

"Dylan," she said.

He stuck out his hand, but Dylan had both of hers wrapped around the book. She hadn't bolted yet, so Levi rest his arm over her shoulders, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Sorry, Tyson, we don't really shake hands here," Levi explained. "I only know about it because my father told me. You can come along; Alcott and Walsh are waiting for us."

Tyson bobbed his head, dropping his hand. He walked next to Dylan, though Levi wished he would stand on the other side of her.

"What's the book?" Tyson asked.

"It's about galaxies," Dylan told him. "We were going to look through it for dinner."

"For dinner? Do we not eat food for dinner?" Tyson joked.

"During dinner," Levi amended, making a mental note to talk to Tyson privately. He didn't want this man to scare Dylan when she had made so much progress.

"How many people live here?" Tyson continued. "I guess I'm surprised there is book publisher."

Dylan giggled. "The book is from Earth. It's over a hundred years old."

Levi laughed as well at Tyson's surprised face as Dylan punched in the code to Walsh's berth.

"We picked up another for dinner," Levi called. "Not that he can eat anything."

"Tyson?" Alcott called. "Never mind him, I want to see these galaxies; Walsh has been talking it up."

"Ouch," Tyson remarked.

Dylan cleared a spot on the table and opened the book carefully. The colors had been pretty well preserved; the Aeneid and the base were relatively dust free. The first photo was of a bright blue sphere. They all stared at it for a while without saying anything.

"What does it say? Is that a star?" Alcott inquired.

"No, it's Earth," Tyson said. "That continent is North America, and that little bit there is Greenland. You can see Africa and Europe at the edges."

He pointed all of these out, and then wiped his eyes. "Wow. I'll never see my planet again. I mean, it's out there, somewhere and people are living and dying and they have very little in common with this world, at least as far as I can tell."

Alcott turned the page. Levi had pulled this particular book down when he was feeling homesick for the Aeneid. It happened less and less now, but he enjoyed the look of amazement on the others' faces.

"Do you think Lully could figure out a way to print these?" Walsh inquired. "This would be a beautiful print."

"I'llask," Levi remarked.