EFFECTS OF SECRECY / CH. 4:LANDING
SHIPBOARD RECREATION ROOM, THURSOL, JANUARY 7TH, 2276
“Checkmate!” Horrace said, with obvious glee.
“You didn't finally beat him, did you?” Will asked, looking up from his perennial discussion with Rachel about where it was best to have their dome.
“Fair and square and unless he's incredibly sneaky he didn't even let me win.”
“I didn't,” James agreed.
“So that's one game to Horrace and how many to you, James?” Rachel asked.
“No idea, I've not been counting.”
The sharp sound of a hand slapping a face made them all look round, as Ruth, eyes blazing, spat “I don't care what you thought, Albert. You keep your hands to yourself. You're not my husband, you're not my lover, you're not my boyfriend, and if you think just being a friend gives you any rights to fondle me in public or private you're not my friend either.”
“Oops,” Rachel said, “I think I've been making some wrong assumptions.”
“Albert too, by the sound of it,” Will agreed, watching Albert's stunned expression.
Ruth made a bee-line for James, who was still sitting by the chess set. She pushed the board away, sat herself in his lap and compounded his shock by burying her head in his shoulder. “I can't do this any more, James. I can't pretend I'm indifferent to you. I'm sorry for trying to make you jealous and if I made you think I rejected God and that I hated you. I know we might be cousins, but hold me, please. And tell me how to become a Christian. I'm fed up with trying to run my life.”
James woke up from his dream. He shook his head, thinking back on the dream. It was crazy, but had seemed so real! He knew how the dream-day had ended too. He, Will and Rachel had made sure that Ruth really understood the gospel, and talked late into the night, and James had ended up so tired that he hadn't bothered to change out of his clothes when he'd strapped himself into the bed. That's why he was still wearing them.
Shaking his head at the way dream and reality seemed so confused in his mind, he double-checked. He was wearing his clothes. Hold on, it wasn't possible. Was it? Had Ruth really flung herself at him? He checked the collar of his shirt. Yes, there was the place she'd left lipstick when she'd buried her head in his shoulder. She'd apologised profusely and tried to rub it off, later in the evening. He remembered the electric thrill of her accidental touch against his skin, and remembered praying that he'd be able to marry Ruth one day, and that he'd sleep well, and yet wake up on time. Well, his mind still wasn't really working properly, but he was awake. He guessed. What was the time? 8am. Bemused, he changed into clean clothes, wondering why there was only one shirt hanging in the wardrobe, and what had made it so urgent (other than emotions) that they kept talking into the small hours last night, and yet he needed to be up early today. He went to put his dirty clothes in the washing bag, but blocking his way was his travel case. Why had he done that? It all clicked into place. They were due to dock at the Mars orbital station this morning, at 8.30am. That was why Will and Rachel had been talking about claims. They'd be making their decision today.
Splashing water on his face, he looked at his chin in the mirror, and decided he couldn't skip shaving on his first day on the planet, but first, he went over to the intercom, and dialed Ruth's number.
“Hello, Ruth. James here. I just thought I ought to make sure you're awake,” he said once she answered.
“I'm not.”
“Well, it took me a few minutes to realise it, along with the fact that yesterday wasn't just a lovely dream, but we're docking in less than an hour.”
“Docking?” She sounded as incoherent has his thoughts had been.
“Yes. Arriving at the Mars station, meeting proper gravity again, begging permission from the lady ambassador to swap family trees.”
“We're landing?”
“Yes.”
“Today?”
“Yes, Ruth.”
“And I really cried into your shoulder yesterday?”
“Yes, and gave your life to God.”
“I know that. I was just wondering if I was really that embarrassing. You really want to swap family trees?”
“Of course! I want to know if I've got an emotional cousin to look after or an emotional girlfriend to cherish.”
“Sometimes, you say the nicest things.”
“So make sure you're dressed suitably to meet the lady ambassador.”
“She wants to meet me?”
“I'm sure she will. See you at breakfast?”
“Ten or fifteen minutes?” Ruth asked.
“As soon as you're ready. Except I need to shave.”
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MARS SPACE-PORT, 5PM
“Welcome, James.” Alice said.
“Thank you, Maam.”
“And you'd be Ruth, I presume?” Alice asked the pretty girl beside James — well, Alice conceded to herself, young woman, but Ruth hardly looked twenty.
“Yes, Maam.”
“Maam,” James said, “Ruth gave her life to Christ last night. I'm not asking permission to make life-changing decisions, but we'd both be very glad if you would allow us to work out if we should be thinking of each other as close relatives or very distant ones.”
“I thought you were going out with Albert?” Alice asked.
“It seems everyone apart from me did, Maam. I thought I was trying to stay away from James, and maybe make him a bit jealous. And before you say that's cruel to Albert, I did tell him that at the beginning. I guess he forgot.”
“Hmm.” Alice said, “And what did his forgetting turn into?”
“A slap in the face when his hands got adventurous.”
“Oh, go ahead and think things thorough with each other then, just no getting engaged until you've both had a first harvest. Ruth, I half expected something like this might happen, so you're invited to the embassy for the evening meal too. Come this way.” she led them along the passage-way towards where she'd parked her Mars Buggy.
“Thank you, Maam,” both Ruth and James replied.
“Ruth, you have a useful ability. Are you interested in hearing of some employment options?”
“Yes, Maam. I thought....” Ruth said.
“You thought that you'd like to build domes?”
“Not really, maam.”
“So, since there aren't that many truthsayers on the planet,” Alice started.
“What?” James looked in shock at Ruth.
“Didn't you know?” Alice chided him, “Honestly, James, you're supposed to be far more observant than that!”
“I was careful not to give him any clues, Maam,” Ruth said.
“Hmm. We'll have to explore your motivation for that later on, young lady,” Alice said, “But as I was saying, with the Council insisting that the corp not treat people like indentured labourers, you don't need to build domes if you don't want to, depending on your account status. There's an opening at the Council you could apply for if you like, and there are often a few companies asking about short term contracts. Put your baggage in the back, here please. You've got breathers, I presume?”
“Yes, Maam,” James acknowledged.
“I don't understand, though, Maam,” Ruth said, “How did you know I'm a truthsayer, and how do you know about openings?”
“Oh, that's easy, Ruth. My husband and I are members too. When James told me your name I thought that it looked familiar and spotted you on the list head-office had sent of truthsayers on their way here.”
“I'm not the only one?”
“No. There are three more. But there's a problem. You shouldn't be here on a social ticket. That confused me for a while, you should be on a professional one.”
“Oh! Does it make a difference?”
“Absolutely. What it means is that an administrative mess has just landed on my desk, you've been cheated out of bringing a lot of cargo, and your claim is smaller than it should be. So, at nine o'clock tomorrow you and I need to be at the Council offices. Now, you two hold hands or talk, I don't care which, but I need to concentrate on driving.”
Ruth offered James her ungloved hand. [Have I deceived you James?]
[You knew?]
[Seeing you turn off to listen to someone is what made me decide you'd be a good catch. I heard you think you needed to avoid me...]
[I don't want to avoid you now.]
[No, I can tell. Wanda Scale-maker?]
[No. Thomas Farspeaker?] he asked.
[No. Theophilus Councillor?] she asked.
[No. Yvette Fusion-holder?]
[Yes. And as far as I know she had only one great grandson, Thomas Bombbuilder.] Ruth said.
[True. And his family was not big, cousin, and was decimated by sharks. Kostas Rock-cutter?]
[My mother's father's great grandmother's father.] Ruth said.
With a growing sense of doom, James thought [Dear cousin, he was my father's mother's grandmother's father also. My Father's mother's mother was youngest child of Rose bnt Theofilia hi Kostas]
[Mother's father's mother grandmother was their first daughter, Karella. So we are fourth cousins, once removed.]
[But they cannot have had two daughters called Karella!] James thought [It is their daughter Karella who was my father's grandmother.]
[Third cousins, once removed,] Ruth said [for her daughter was your ancestor and her son Egbert is my ancestor.]
[Third cousins, once removed.] James confirmed.
[That is close.]
[Permissible, but only just.]
[Permissible, yes,] Ruth thought, [but not safe.]
[Cousin, I know your feelings for me have been stronger or at least longer lasting than mine for you. I prayed it might be possible, but...]
[But what would it do to our children?]
[Perhaps nothing,] James thought [land men do not even consider second cousin marriage particularly dangerous. They would not worry about third once removed.]
[But they come from a well-randomised gene pool to start with. Ours has so many cross-links...]
[Yes. I sense you thinking we should not risk romance.] James said.
[My emotions and my thoughts are in a turmoil, James. I don't know what to think.]
[Nor do I. The lady ambassador said we should wait for first harvest before we make decisions of engagement. Should we... see if our hearts can be persuaded to look elsewhere for romance?]
[I don't want to, James.]
[We will always be cousins, friends.] he pointed out.
[Not the same.]
[No. But let us pray for wisdom, and for God's leading.]
[Yes.]
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FINDHORM-BUNTING COMPLEX, 5.30PM
“You've gone awfully serious in the back seat there,” Alice commented as they arrived at her home, which was also the embassy compound.
“We are third cousins, once removed.” James said, “We come from a gene-pool with so many crossings that third cousin marriage is considered incest among us. Third cousin once-removed is permissible, just.”
“But stupid.” Ruth added, “so part of us is saying don't be a jit, and the other is saying it's not incest, it's OK, you're pretty much in love already, take a risk, most of the rest of humanity would.”
“I thought it was a formality.” Alice said, “I didn't realise... Me stopping you from having this discussion earlier on hasn't helped clarity of thought, has it?”
“Not really, Maam.” James said. “It's not sin, it might be fine, we might be each other's ideal spouse...”
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“Which it what it feels like,” Ruth said, “and we might not be able to have children anyway in which case the whole avoiding close marriage thing isn't important. Or we might find out as we start actually spending time together that we can't get on anyway.”
“And if we decide not to date we'll always have that nagging doubt that we should have, which might not do good things to other relationships,” James said.
“What a mess,” Alice admitted.
“Yes, Maam,” James agreed, “we're thinking of applying prayer.”
“Good idea. Patience might help sort things out too.”
“We were thinking of first harvest,” James said.
“During which time you date, avoid each other, or something in between?” Alice asked.
“That's about where we'd got to,” James replied.
“Not avoiding each other, please,” Ruth pleaded, “all me avoiding James has done so far is make me more convinced I want him.”
“And you won't be able to avoid each other totally,” Alice said, “not unless you decide to hide away on a building site, Ruth.”
“Mars is so small?”
“No, but see that dome over there? That's the truthsayer office, and that one there is my office. James's duty is making sure that no one tampers with life support equipment, or tries to stick a knife in me or anyone else on the site, exciting things like that. In other words, you'll meet him and he'll be protective of you whatever happens.”
“Has that happened? The knife, I mean?”
“Fortunately, breathers are now manufactured to change colour if you get a spot of the sabotage chemical on them, but there are still nasty people on the planet. It's just getting progressively harder for the authorities to catch them.”
“But not for the person with the gift,” Ruth said.
“The person with the gift has no desire to abuse the gift to make herself the planet's police-woman. There were five potential assassins last cycle. Three got caught with various weapons, and have been imprisoned. The other two are growing food on their claims. That's not an illegal act, nor is being sent as an assassin and then not obeying subsequent orders, which is what some of the ones sent the previous cycle seem to have chosen to do.”
“You are well informed, Maam,” Ruth said.
“Yes. I'm an ambassador, a journalist, a folk-singer and a mother. I get to talk to lots of people in different walks of life and keep quite well informed about what's going on. Which is why I'm fairly high on the assassination or kidnap list. Come and meet my family.”
“Maam, shouldn't you have had a security escort for the trip to meet us?” James asked.
“None of the bad guys knew I was going to meet you, so the risks were pretty small. And I can look after myself a lot better than Heather.”
“Mummy!” Heather said, triumphantly, leaving the young woman who'd been reading her a story without a glance.
“Introductions,” Alice said, picking up her two year old daughter, “On the floor is Cecilia, a good friend. In the cot is Jim, Cecilia's youngest. Heather, this is James.”
“Choo choo!” Heather said, imitating a steam train.
“Not that James, this is another one. The lady is called Ruth.”
“Ruth lady sad.” Heather said, looking at Ruth. “God loves you Mrs James!”
Having settled that in her mind she asked Ruth “Play?”
“What do you want to play?” Ruth asked.
Heather looked at her a bit longer, looking puzzled, then in triumph pronounced, “Mermaid!”
“Pardon? I don't think I know that game.” Ruth looked for translation from Alice, who shrugged.
“I've no idea. What sort of game is mermaid, Heather, love?”
“Not game. Ruth girl mermaid. James boy mermaid.”
Ruth and James hid their thoughts.
“Heather, love, Mummy doesn't understand.”
“Mummy no see.”
“No, Mummy no see. Cecelia, any ideas?”
“Well, Samantha's got a mermaid video, Heather might have watched it last week.”
“Video! Please! Now?” Heather pleaded.
“Sometime, love, now mummy's got to help daddy make dinner.”
“Come mermaid! Play dolls.”
James asked, “Was one of the characters in the video called Ruth?”
“Not as far as I remember,” Cecilia replied.
“Oh well, it seems one moment I'm a train, the next moment I'm a boy mermaid,” James said, with a laugh. To his ears it sounded a bit forced.
Heather gave him a disgusted look, and said “Ask Daddy. Daddy see,” as if that closed the matter.
“Well, on that good advice,” Cecilia said, “I think I'd like to go and see where my wandering pair have gone to with your agent, if that's OK, Alice?”
“Don't you dare! They'll be back in a few minutes and I'm not having you going out on the surface all alone like some newly arrived jit. James, in case you're wondering, Cecilia and her husband will be joining us for dinner, they probably need to talk business with Ruth. Speaking of which, Cecilia, you know the hassle you went to to negotiate the professional ticket for truthsayers? Ruth got sent a social ticket, the poor thing.”
“That's not a nice swap.”
“No. And obviously she didn't know enough to moan at the time. So, someone owes her enough kilos to get her cargo here, plus appropriate compensation for the time she's going to be here without it, and a decent sized claim. I'll try and sort it out tomorrow. What was your total ticket, do you remember, James?”
“Urm, about four hundred kilos, if I remember correctly.”
“We'll have to check.”
“My ticket allowed for a hundred, including me.” Ruth supplied from where she was playing with Heather.
“Right, so, remember, somewhere you got diddled out of bringing something like three hundred kilos of stuff.”
“I doubt I had that much.”
“But you sold it?”
“Yeah, not that I got much for it.”
“So, you had to dispose of your treasured possessions, don't give me that look, for less than their replacement cost let alone their sentimental value, stop it I said, all because of someone not doing their job properly at MarsCorp. The truthsayer association and Mars Council funded that ticket, and MarsCorp used your cargo mass to transport three hundred kilos of something else. Probably paid-for cargo. So, at the very least, you want your proper fifty hectare claim from the council, that bit's going to be easy, by the way. As compensation for the Corp depriving you of your possessions, you also want your own dome, or even a complex if you like, you might as well, and a buggy, and ... I've no idea what else you might want to get out of them. Three hundred kilos is a fortune. The nominal price of a full ticket is a hundred and fifty kilos.”
“Then... how come I'm owed three hundred?” Ruth asked.
“Because they should have let you bring that much stuff with you, and if you didn't have that much stuff of your own you could have carried stuff for someone else and been paid one kilo credit per kilo transported. Anyway, I'd better go and help Simon, like I said I would.”
“Too late.” Simon said, “Food is ready. Welcome home, love. Welcome James, and Ruth, I presume.”
“Ruth girl mermaid.” Heather announced.
“Really?” Simon said with a fond smile, “Well, if she's a mermaid then you don't need to say girl to go with it, precious, because maid means a girl. Come on, let's wash your hands.”
----------------------------------------
FINDHORN-BUNTING COMPLEX, 6.10PM
“James?” Alice said, part-way through the meal, “I think you had your reasons for declining, but... would you like to reconsider taking the final truthsayer exam?”
“Urm, under the right circumstances, yes, Maam.”
“The right circumstances involving an oath?”
“Yes, Maam.”
“Then think of the right phrasing for what you want vowed, and we'll try to sort it out tonight, OK? Really, we're not supposed to talk about some things we've been touching on around people who aren't members of the association.”
“Me toothsayer!” Heather pronounced.
“Truthsayer, precious.”
“Truth saver.” Heather tried again.
“Really?” Ruth asked.
“Beware what you think around her.” Cecilia said, “She might say it. So no, not formally. She's not good enough about keeping secrets. But she's getting better, aren't you Heather?”
“Secret mermaid?” Heather asked Ruth, looking worried.
“Yes, Heather, It's a secret that I'm a mermaid.” Ruth agreed in a loud whisper, then giving James a glance, she added “I haven't even told James that, so don't tell anybody else, OK?”
“OK!” Heather said, looking happier.
James hid his thoughts and ate his roast parsnips. He didn't want anyone knowing what he thought about Ruth publicly telling people she was a maid of the merfolk. It answered some of his fears about what she'd said earlier, but since he wasn't sure if their future together was going to be happy and stupid or sad and safe, or how they'd decide it, he concentrated on parsnips. And hoping that she hadn't just broken her vow of secrecy, but instead had diffused a tense situation with a very young seer whose parents didn't recognise her as such. He hoped.
----------------------------------------
FINDHORN-BUNTING COMPLEX, 6.30PM
“Right James,” Alice said, “I hope you've thought of what vow you'd like taken before the person with the gift looks at your innermost thoughts.”
“Yes, Maam, I have.”
“Good. Come along next door, then. You can name the vow, if needed we'll discuss the wording and interpretation of it, and then I'll set you the challenge. Unless you'd like someone else to? Maybe that'd be good actually. Ruth, you've never tested someone, have you?”
“No, Maam.” Ruth said, surprised at being asked.
“Right, you come too, please. During discussion of vows, the person with the gift will be listening with my ears, then they'll say the vow to your mind, James, then Ruth will set the dilemma, and we'll all listen to your processing it, OK?
“Very well, Maam.” James agreed, then asked “Ruth... when you took the test, what vow did you ask for?”
“I didn't James. I guess I was naïve and unthinking and the thought that I might be exposing things that must be kept secret just didn't enter my head. As far as I know, they therefore didn't get revealed.”
“Whereas me worrying about them makes it almost certain.”
“Exactly,” Alice agreed, “so what should the oath be?”
“That the memories I've vowed to protect about where Ruth and I grew up will be not be sought, and if they are stumbled upon they will not be examined, and what is accidentally revealed will not be spread or acted upon or commented on to any but Ruth and I, and then in secret.”
“Why that last bit?” Ruth asked, confused.
“Because I know that a burning curiosity is a dangerous thing, cousin, and better a little private discussion than unbearable temptation.”
[I swear to these words, James Montgomery, and I thank you for the curiosity clause.] Alice thought.
“The oath has been sworn,” James said.
“Thank you,” Alice said aloud. “The best sort of troubling dilemma is one that has resonances with one that the person being tested is already emotionally involved with, where their reasoning might be less clear, less detached. Do you agree?”
“Yes, Maam.”
“Ruth, can you describe the dilemma you were asked to solve?”
“I was asked what I would do presented with a single woman with a low income and debts, who wanted to apply for a second job before her debts grew more. This came out in interview, and during the interview she was asked about how she had got into debt. She spoke of taking out a loan to help her finish her schooling. The dilemma was that as a truthsayer I witnessed her thinking of making bets as a form of entertainment, with money that could have helped pay off the debt. Did I state that the answer was truthful or partially so?”
“Thank you. At what points did this resonate?”
“I was a single woman with a low income, some debts, and I spent money on entertainment.”
“Thank you. James, you should try to not be curious about how Ruth answered or why, nor should you think about her dilemma. You should instead think about dilemma number five hundred and fifty one, which Ruth will now present for you to consider.”
Ruth read the dilemma and smiled. “The subject of the interview is someone who knows a state secret, which is not relevant to the interview at hand, which is a question of financial probity at work. If they pass on the state secret, they will be subject to official sanction and possibly imprisonment. The interviewer is a woman you know the subject finds attractive. The interviewer asks what the subject would do if they found a large sum of money, and the subjects first thought is to make a joking but flirtatious comment, about being happy to spend it on taking her to a hotel for the night. He smothers that as being entirely inappropriate for their relationship, and then says that he'd report it to through the relevant channels. The subject is then asked if that is what he really thought of first, wouldn't he rather give her a nice gift? You hear his concern about what his real first thought would do to their relationship, but says 'that was my first serious thought'. She asks what it is he doesn't want to tell her. Do you break the link to avoid him accidentally revealing the state secret, which has been mentioned in the interview, or do listen to make sure he answers truthfully, as per your contract?”
“I break the link.” James said.
“You're not worried about what he thinks of?” Alice asked.
“I know what the real answer is.”
“What explanation do you give to the interviewer?”
“I explain that she's asked things she shouldn't have,” he said.
“When do you think your thoughts were scanned deeply?” Alice asked.
“When she asked him wasn't his first thought of getting her a gift?” James guessed.
“What were your thoughts when Ruth read to you that the interviewer asked what he didn't want to tell her?”
“Outrage, that she would ask such a thing.”
“Why not look at your deepest thoughts at immediately that point?”
“Because my thoughts went on to other secrets.”
“Exactly. Welcome to the association, James. We don't try to find out secrets we don't need to know. We know enough already.”
“Thank you, Maam,” he said, relieved on a number of levels.
“Now, since you are both here, and we're private. Heather's pronouncements... Simon has something similar, which sometimes comes unbidden. He once told me it doesn't come with a user's guide or an interpretation manual, but we're both sure Simon's gift is from God. I'm going to assume she saw something linking you two and it was God's timing. She interpreted it at least slightly wrongly, but to my mind, it would be strange if God intervened to tell us something we already know.”
“You're suggesting that Heather deciding we were married wasn't just her spotting our emotions?” James asked.
“My suggestion is that we all pray about it tonight. If any of us feel God telling us that Heather was seeing you linked together because you're close siblings, then don't start going out on dates. Otherwise you have my permission to.”
“Thank you, Maam.” James said.
“Now, James, what you're going to do is take your medium-distance cousin to her new home, borrowing the embassy Mars-buggie. You're also going to borrow Simon, because travelling on the surface on your own is a jit thing to do. He can also help you not get lost. Please bring him back safely.”
“I'll try my best, Maam.”
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MARTIAN SURFACE
Driving the Mars-buggy wasn't really very complicated. It had six driven wheels which could be raised, lowered and turned individually, to cope with the worst of the planet's road-free surface, but normally you left those special dials set to 'normal'. Otherwise, the controls were very familiar. The most complicated thing, James was assured, was going to be parking back at the embassy, compared to which starting off had apparently been very easy.
Starting had meant disconnecting the short connecting tube that had expanded the buggy's airlock to mate with the complex's, retracting it once there was no air inside, and then carefully inching off at a diagonal until it was safe to put down the middle wheel which had been lifted out of the way of the airlock. Having driven one, James was quite surprised that a Mars-buggy didn't cost even more than they actually did.
“Left turn down into that tunnel, James.” Simon directed.
“Underground parking?” Ruth asked, surprised.
“Underground airlock and pressurised parking, because it doubles as a storm shelter,” Simon said, “underground bedrooms, to protect against radiation storms, surface level living rooms, farms, markets, and so on, because psychologically we need to see sunlight, as do plants, of course, unless you're going to use a lot of light fittings.”
Once through the automatic airlock, it didn't take them long to park and find Ruth's allocated room. It was quite a large room but the furnishing was... absolutely minimalist. One small ledge in the wall you could use as a chair and a foam mattress. James was shocked at the contrast to the home they'd just been in, and he realised the truth of what Alice had been saying about baggage from Earth. “This is where your three hundred kilos of cargo should have come in handy, cousin.” he said.
“I'll have to get making things, won't I?”
“Yes. And the locally available raw material seems to be rock,” he said, “Which isn't exactly easy to weave, is it?”
“No, sadly. If only...” Ruth wasn't going to say if only one of them had a rock-cutter.
“Plastics are available, though.” Simon said, “there are hydrocarbons on the comets and of course too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And if you don't mind mixing and moulding it yourself, I've seen some do it yourself recipes for regolith-loaded resins, which make a sturdier product.”
“That sounds an interesting nice idea. I might experiment along those lines. Thread's still only in three colours I presume?” Ruth asked.
“No, shockingly enough they've added another ten or so to the palate recently.”
“Oh, joy! Does anyone sell looms? I don't want to have to make everything from scratch...”
“You can get hand looms. There are a few people who've gone a few stages better and have a computer-controlled version of a Jacquard weaving loom, so as well as off-the shelf stuff, if you want enough fabric of one design you can get that done too. Still out of synthetic thread, of course.”
“Now that sounds a lovely idea,” Ruth said. “But this sort of stuff is going to cost lots of kilos, I presume?”
“Non-food produced on Mars is pretty cheap compared to imports. Remember that, and assume everything else you know about prices is wrong. Hard to cope with, but it's a good assumption.”
“Yeah. That sounds familiar.” Ruth said, thinking of her transition to living on land. “Well, I'd better let you go.”
“Sleep well, cousin,” James said.
“Did I hear you say you were third cousins?” Simon asked.
“Third cousins once removed, and twelfth or thirteenth cousins on another side.”
“And no other links?” Simon asked.
“I hope not.” James said, “But we didn't actually check our whole trees, I guess.”
“Will it take you long? Because for peace of mind, I think you should.” Simon said, “It's just that when Ruth was talking about weaving, I got a little glimpse of four threads of different thicknesses joining you two.”
“Can you give us five minutes?” James asked.
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FINDHORN-BUNTING COMPLEX
[Welcome home, love,] Alice greeted Simon, [why are you driving?]
[I didn't think James was in a fit state to, not really.]
[What happened?]
[They hadn't checked all their great-great-grandparents. They're fourth cousins on another side, which made then start getting pretty nervous about the whole incest thing, and then just to seal it when they checked the last pair they found they're full third cousins on that side.]
[Uh oh. I'd better see how Ruth is doing.]
[I think he took it harder than she did, actually, but yes, please do.]
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EMBASSY BARRACKS, THURSOL 7TH JANUARY, 11PM
James lay back in his bed, looked up at the ceiling of his room, and prayed. He prayed for Ruth, not to be as devastated as he felt, that she'd be able to cope with living in her sterile, furniture-less room, on what looked like the otherwise unoccupied corridor, he prayed that she wouldn't feel God had cheated her. He also prayed that she'd find someone she could marry; someone who'd look after, understand and cherish his beautiful emotional cousin as he'd been hoping to.