Return to Sirius by John Bowers

Author:John Bowers [Bowers, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faster Than Light Press
Published: 2018-09-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

After dinner, Kline paid the bill and Victoria complemented Gloria Vega on the food. Dennis Green took his leave.

“If you need transportation while you’re here,” he told Victoria, “just give me a shout. My garage isn’t busy right now and I can take you anywhere you need to go.”

She smiled as they shook hands.

“Thank you. Don’t be surprised if I take you up on that.”

Kline loaded her luggage into his farm pickup and they both climbed aboard. It was still hot out, but Sirius A had set and only the small, white-hot binary remained in the sky.

“Is it always this hot here?” she asked as he got the air conditioning cranked up.

“No. We’re just coming off of Sirian Summer, which comes around about every eighteen months. If you’d been here three or four weeks ago, you would be melting now. It takes a toll on everyone, including people who are used to it. Off-planet visitors think they’ve just landed in Hell.”

“Nick told me a little about that. I’m glad I missed it.”

Kline grunted. “Yes you are. But don’t worry, in another week it will get down into the nineties, which will seem like a winter day by comparison.”

They made small talk as he piloted the large pickup a few miles west of town, then swung north another couple of miles. The countryside was flat, but here it was also lush with green, irrigated crops.

“You know, when the shuttle came down, I was watching out the window and all I saw was desert. Dead, dry, nothing living. But this is like a paradise!”

Kline nodded.

“The miracle of irrigation. There are some deep aquifers under the surface, and we tap into those. Without them, I would be out of business.”

“You raise cattle too, don’t you?”

“Yep, sure do. Right now I’ve got half a million head on the range. They’re a little farther west of where we are now.” He glanced in her direction. “You like beef?”

“I love beef.”

“Then you have to try some of the meat from our enterprise. We have some native cattle that are half again the size of any cow on Terra, and the meat is unbelievable. I’ll make sure you get properly fed before you leave us.”

Victoria laughed.

“I think I just did. That meal at the Vega was fantastic.”

“It’s damn good, all right, but next time we’ll get you a Sirian steak. Don’t be surprised if your mouth just curls up and dies from sheer pleasure.”

Sirius B was starting to wane by the time they reached Kline’s plantation house. Shadows were starting to grow as the binary sank lower, but a couple hours of daylight still remained. Victoria’s eyes widened at sight of the plantation house, which looked exactly like a—plantation house, the kind she had seen in history chips. It was a huge, white antebellum mansion with a broad porch across the front and thick supporting columns to hold up the second floor balcony. It sat on nearly five acres of lawn surrounded by tall trees similar to oaks and decorated by colorful flowers of a genus Victoria had never seen before.

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