“You can cancel the upspeaking for me, thanks, OS,” I say. “But keep doing it to Kodiak. So. That system sounds mighty fun for the little ’uns.”
“‘Brutal’ is the word most often used for it in the Fédération press,” OS says, “though the closest translation to ymir,the Dimokratía word for the process, is ‘transcendence.’ I would try not to worry yourself about Kodiak’s responses to your entreaties to friendship. They say far more about his training than they say about you.”
“Thanks, OS,” I say. “That’s kind.”
“I do not say it out of kindness. I am aware of the frailty of the human psyche. I said this so your unhappiness wouldn’t interfere with your capacity to undertake the asteroid harvesting I need you to accomplish so I can maintain your existence.”
“Cool, cool,” I say, heading back to my quarters. “I think I’m going to eat a pint of ice cream and go to bed.”
“There is no ice cream on this ship.”
“I knew that,” I say. “It was a joke.”
“I have logged it as a joke and will learn from it. Next time you make a similar statement, I will laugh.”
“I appreciate your growth mindset, OS. I know a certain broody Dimokratía centurion who could learn a thing or two from you.”
Additional thing I don’t say to my OS: I’m horny. As I get to work, my mind goes to warm Greek sand, idle warriors, olive oil...
_-* Tasks Remaining: 337 *-_
Our acceleration is so gentle that I don’t notice it most of the time, but it’s still strong enough to make my pillow drift to the edge of my bed over the course of each rest period. As I watch the training reels, it feels like my feet are higher in the air. I get up twice to check that the surface is actually level. I wind up putting the pillow under my shoulders and my heels on the bare mattress, so the forces even out. Like that, I manage to take a nap.
I wake to OS’s voice. “Ambrose, I need you.”
I jerk awake, banging my head on the ceiling. For a moment, I’m back on the private Mari beach, reaching through hot grains of pink sand. About to race Minerva to the rocky point under the scorching sun. Then I see a creamy swath of stars rotating outside the window and remember where I am. “What’s happened? Is something wrong with Kodiak?”
“No. Our path is projected to intersect the asteroid’s in one hour. You need to suit up. Kodiak will take lead, but we need you to be ready.”
I roll out of bed, rub my face, and stagger my way through 00 and into 06. “Is the asteroid detectable?” I ask.
“Unfortunately, the asteroid is along the ship’s axis of rotation, so it’s in our blind spot for the moment. It shouldcome into range in seven or eight minutes.”
“Can I talk to you while you’re working?” I ask.
“Of course. I am busy troubleshooting any eventualities of intersecting the asteroid, but responding to you requires little computing power.”
“OS! Rude!”
_-* Tasks Remaining: 337 *-_
I watch from my airlock window as Kodiak, in his spacesuit, operates controls on the exterior of the ship. The whipping golden mesh net billows out into space. It’s not actually made of gold, but that’s the color it takes on beneath the light of the ship, its fine weave capturing any scant light that hits it, casting lines of light back and forth, like sunbeams on a seafloor.
“Ten seconds,” OS warns. The asteroid must be right beside the ship. I strain and peer, but I see only the revolving stars. The asteroid is completely dark, of course.
A swath of stars disappears.
“Five seconds. Brace.”
The ship rumbles and slows, casting me against the wall. When I make it back to the window, the golden net has closed around the asteroid. The dark boulder rolls to theedge of the net and teeters there, half in and half out.
Kodiak retracts one tether, and that side of the net rises. We’re on the brink of losing it entirely, but then his gambit pays off, and the asteroid tumbles into the secure belly of the golden mesh.
After the harvesting is finished, Kodiak bounds his way back to his airlock, reversing his body so he can use his heels to slow himself. His cord goes taut. But for that cord, he’d spin off into the void.
He passes over the gray portal and disappears around the far side of theCoordinated Endeavor.
“Kodiak?” I say, hand against the wall so I can feel the dull vibration of his airlock closing. “Kodiak, report.”
