Creation (30 page)

* * *

B
ack aboard
Persephone
, Jess sat looking out at the stars.

Sam stroked her long hair. “Mars wasn’t the adventure you imagined?”

Jess sighed. “I suspect back when they were building the array, when the large collectors were being put in place and before Mars was fully terraformed, my dreams might have been more realistic. But now? The Martians are just sad rich people with no motivation and less purpose.”

“I did enjoy the morning rock climb, and you can’t beat that lake for swimming. But I’m with you. A weeklong vacation, and I’m done.”

Jess turned her large amber eyes into his. “And Earth’s adventure?”

“I’m glad to be going home. But I suspect that corner of the solar system’s not done with us yet.” He’d done what he could. With Jess’s help, he’d found that love she’d talked to Sophie about so long ago—a love that’d never let him go, one that bound him to his creation.

Sophie had been silently listening from her captain’s chair. “But your purpose lies back on Chariklo?”

Sam smiled at the Tobe’s understanding. “Only partly, Sophie.”

Jess snuggled against Sam’s hand as she looked at Sophie. “Life is never stagnant. For now, there are two little girls who, among everyone in the whole solar system, are most needing of our time. But our love doesn’t understand boundaries.”

As Sam’s mind cleared of limitations, Tobes throughout the solar system bid him a fond farewell. His technological children accepting his need to return to the daughters he and Jess shared. He pulled her into his arms as they gazed out at the universe. “So many adventures yet to share.”

“So many precious lives.”

G
reg Chase is
a science fiction author and glass artist living in New Orleans with his wife, fellow author Deanna Chase, and their two shih tzu dogs. On any given day you can find him behind his computer, people watching in the quarter, or out in his studio creating stories in glass. You can find his glass work at 
Chase Designs
.