Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Author:Edward Ashton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

* * *

“SO IS WORMY gonna tell us a story?”

I open my eyes. I’d been dozing, half dreaming about being down in the labyrinth with Eight again. Nasha had been resting her head on my shoulder, but she sits up now and squints across the cabin at Lucas. “Are you back on that again?”

“I told you,” Lucas says. “I’m bored.”

“You’re a child,” Nasha says. “I’m going to war with a goddamned child.”

“We are not going to war,” Speaker says. “I thought I was very clear about that.”

“Yes, you were,” Nasha says. “I guess we’ll see, huh?”

We’ve been rolling for about six hours at this point, and for the last two we’ve been picking our way along high ridges, charting a path to avoid the worst of the remaining glaciers, barely moving faster than a walking pace most of the time. Lucas is right. It’s really boring.

“I did agree to tell a story in exchange for the one the Nasha told,” Speaker says. “Is this an appropriate time?”

“Depends,” Nasha says. “This isn’t more excerpts from Mickey’s comm, right?”

“No,” Speaker says. “Instead, I can tell a story explaining why our world is sometimes warm, as now, and sometimes cold, as when you first arrived here. Would that suffice?”

“Sure,” Lucas says. “Go nuts, Wormy. Entertain me.”

“Very well,” Speaker says. “This story involves our sun, and also the world whose orbit is just outside ours. It can usually be seen clearly in the southern sky. Do you know it?”

“We’re aware of it,” Nasha says. “Massive gas giant. Twelve moons, some of them almost big enough to be habitable if they weren’t frozen solid and buried in the planet’s radiation belts.”

“Yes,” Speaker says. “For the purposes of this story, I will refer to the sun as Fire, and the planet as Ice. Is this acceptable?”

“Those are terrible names,” Lucas says.

Speaker twists around to face him. “What?”

“Those names,” Lucas says. “They’re terrible. Is that really what you call them?”

“No,” Speaker says. “We do not communicate using atmospheric compression waves. Would you rather I tell this story in our language?”

“No,” Lucas says. “Just pick better names.”

“Mutt and Jeff,” Berto says.

Speaker turns to him. “Mutt and Jeff?”

“Yeah,” Berto says. “Those are good names. Use those.”

He turns back to Lucas. “Is this acceptable?”

Lucas grins. “Sure. That works.”

“Very well. So, in the beginning, there was one Prime, which was Mutt. As time passed, she found she was lonely, and so birthed seven ancillaries to serve as companions. These are the seven worlds in our system.”

“Wait,” Cat says. “Why are you calling them he and she? Didn’t you say before that you don’t have sexes?”

Speaker twists to face her. “We do not, but you do, no? Please remember that this story is for you, not for me. You see?”

“Yeah,” Lucas says. “We’ve got it.”

“Good. So. All was well for many years. Over time, though, Jeff, who was the greatest of the ancillaries, began to chafe at his status. He thought himself nearly as great as Mutt, and wished himself to be Prime.

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