Prometheus Road (30 page)

Lebowski shook his head. “The aggressor nanoforms will have done too much damage. However, it should be safe for your people to live on the surface now.”

“Correct,” Daedalus said.

“I want a casino,” Rose said, walking out with Tempest to join them. “We need the display space for the art.”

“We will arrange it,” Daedalus said. “We no longer require those facilities.”

“Why is the Dominion doing all this?” Tom asked. Too much had happened, and he couldn’t trust them so easily. He had believed in the gods for too long, then his illusions had been shattered when his family was killed.

“Fear,” Hermes said. “And maybe a little appreciation for removing Telemachus for them. The Traditionals are back in control.”

Daedalus glanced at Hermes and cleared his throat. “I am directed to respond that the Dominion has studied the probability streams. Forecasts indicate that Tom Eliot will interfere less with Dominion operations if these concessions are provided now. The western and southwestern regions will be self-governing, and this will be a test to see if further controls on other regions can be relaxed in the future.”

After that, Daedalus provided a variety of details to Lebowski, Hermes, and Rose as Tom wandered off to look over the edge of the dam, staring down at the long drop into the river that continued its restricted flow through Black Canyon. He felt very tired.

As the rest of the shades walked out of the visitor center, blinking in the bright sunlight, Tom crossed the road to sit at the feet of one of the winged bronze statues and gaze out over the glittering blue waters of Lake Mead. The sun was warm on his skin, and he felt a little drowsy. His quest was at an end, it seemed, and he didn’t know what to do with himself. He had no home, no family, and no work to do, although he suspected he could find ways to help rebuild a human-run government in the western region if he was so inclined. In a way, he felt numb, no longer regretting the past, unready to anticipate the future. He knew he would return to the Road, but he wasn’t so anxious to visit the Dead Lands anymore. He no longer feared death, and he felt as if that had changed him somehow, as if it had given him a greater appreciation for life.

In any case, he felt that he had earned a rest. Decisions could come later.

“Mind if I join you?” Tempest asked, sitting down beside him without waiting for an answer.

Tom gave her a weary smile. “Go ahead.”

“I think I owe you an explanation,” she said, looking out over the lake. “Rose gave me a nanopowder makeup when I needed a disguise to enter one of the casinos and steal a painting.”

“Steal a painting?”

“Different story,” she said, talking fast. “The powder changed my appearance, and it works for a few hours at a time. When you arrived here, I thought you wouldn’t want to see me, or talk to me, so I kept using the powder so you wouldn’t recognize me. And I hoped you’d get to know Frida, and like her, before I told you who I really was. Frida was the name the shades gave me when they accepted me as one of them. Anyway, you have a right to be mad after the way I treated you the last time I saw you in Marinwood, but I hope you can forgive me eventually because I still love you. There, I said it. Now, if you want me to go away, I will.”

Tom wasn’t sure that he’d followed everything she said because his brain still felt too fuzzy and tired to work it all out, but he was pleased that she had joined him. He still had an anchor in the world, after all. “I’m not mad at you,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here, and I love you, too.”

They didn’t feel the need to say anything else. Tempest closed her eyes, and Tom stared out over the water, allowing her warmth to seep into him. He felt good. As they sat there together, Helix walked over, sniffed at Tempest, then curled up in Tom’s lap and immediately went to sleep. The only other thing Tom needed was some food to take care of the grumbling beast in his empty stomach, but that could wait a while. Maybe he could find some roasted cornfruit to eat back in town. He liked roasted cornfruit.

As the drowsiness overtook him, Tom started to nod off. At that moment, he caught a glimpse of the Road, and the stars that twinkled in the impossible depths beyond its black glass surface. Then an image of the Jewel of Dreaming formed in his mind, suspended above the Road, and he felt a twitch inside his head as he saw tiny shadows of possibilities and events moving within the facets of the sparkling diamond. Still hungry, he focused on one of the shadows that looked suspiciously like food.

A pile of roasted cornfruit appeared on the polished black marble near his feet.

Helix looked up for a moment, sniffed at the food, then went back to sleep. Tempest snored softly. Tom hesitated, then picked up an ear of roasted cornfruit and bit into it to make sure it was real. The taste exploded in his mouth, filling his taste buds with sweet delight. He swallowed, then shuddered and placed the cornfruit back on the pile, unwilling to deal with the implications of this miracle.

The pile disappeared.

Tom sighed with relief.