Part 18 (2/2)

82 .

much sleep that finally awakened her, groggy and

cotton-mouthed.

The small port was covered, shutting out any ex- tenor light. A glance at the chronometer indicated she had been asleep for nearly twelve hours. She hadn't thought she was particularly tired, but in this case it

seemed her body^ad disagreed with her brain.

She put her face back together; then, feeling no less

than fifty percent human, she made her way up to the

deck.

They were cruising at a slightly slower speed now.

So as not, she suspected, to exhaust even the muscular orcas. Rachael was sunbathing on the rear deck. Mer- ced was nowhere to be seen this new morning, and Sam was on the deck above the central cabin, be- hind the bridge.

The master control lay nearby. To her surprise Sam

was reading a book. A real book, not a tape or disc.

”la ora na-morning,” he greeted her. ”It's not often I have the pleasure of meeting someone who lives in

reverse.”

”Fm still half asleep, Sam,” she told him with only

a touch of irritation. ”Don't play games. What are you

talking about?”

”Only that you get younger and more beautiful each

day.”

”That's nice.” She turned, scanned the endless

ocean, the view no different from the day before, that she knew would be no different tomorrow. ”When I

regress all the way back to an egg, I'm yours.”

”Fried, poached, scrambled, diced, or in an omelet?”

”Hard-boiled,” she responded, not missing a beat, She eyed the empty bridge. ”Master remote or no, shouldn't you be up there checking other instruments?”

”For instance? You worry too much, Cora.” He eased back into the lounge. The material cooled his back, kept him from perspiring too much. ”The Com- monwealth's been overtechnologized tor centuries. If

83.

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