Part 8 (1/2)
”Wait a second.” She turned a frown his direction. ”Are you talking about a vacation while your sons are out there in who knows what kind of danger?”
”Why not?” he asked. ”Seriously. There's not a single thing we can do for them from here, even if we knew something had gone wrong, which we won't-sending shuttles back and forth has already been rejected as too possibly provocative.
Giving your mind something besides worry to occupy it would be good for you.”
She gestured minutely at the electronics in front of her. ”If this can't keep my mind busy, I doubt a vacation will.”
”That's only because you don't know the kind of vacation I have in mind,” he told her, mentally crossing his fingers. If he presented this right she might just go for it... and he knew with a solid conviction that it was something they both needed. ”I was thinking of a leisurely cruise sort of thing, with stops at various points for relaxing strolls through forests and gra.s.slands, or maybe a swim through warm waters. Companions.h.i.+p with others when we want it, privacy when we want that, and all the comforts of home. How's it sound?”
Chrys smiled. ”Like the coastline cruises they used to advertise when I was a child. Don't tell me some enterprising soul's bought a deep-sea liner from the
Trofts?”
”Ah-not exactly. Would it help if I told you the cruise itinerary includes five planets?”
”Five pl-Jonny!” Chrys's eyes widened with shock. ”You don't mean-the survey mission?”
”Sure-and why not?”
”What do you mean, why not? That's a scientific expedition, not a vacation service for the middle-aged.”
”Ah, but I'm a governor emeritus, remember? If Liz Telek can talk her way aboard the Qasama trip on the grounds someone with authority should be present, I can certainly borrow her argument.”
A muscle in Chrys's jaw twitched. ”You've already arranged this, haven't you?” she asked suspiciously.
”Yes-but I'm going only if you do. I didn't misrepresent any of this, Chrys-I'll be there strictly to observe, make a policy decision should one come up, and otherwise just stay out of everyone else's way. It really will be just like an out-of-the-way vacation for the two of us.”
Chrys dropped her eyes to the table. ”It'd be dangerous, though, wouldn't it?”
Jonny shrugged. ”So was life in Ariel when we were first married. You didn't seem to mind it so much.”
”I was a lot younger then.”
”So? Why should Justin and Joshua have all the fun?”
He'd hoped to spark a reaction of some kind, but was completely unprepared for the burst of laughter that escaped Chrys's lips. Genuine laughter, with genuine amus.e.m.e.nt behind it. ”You're impossible,” she accused, swiveling in her seat to give him a mock glare. ”Didn't I just tell you I planned to be worried about them? What're we going to do-make this a Christmas exchange of worries?”
”Or we can deputize Corwin to do the worrying for all of us,” Jonny suggested with a straight face. ”Brothers in the morning, parents in the afternoon, and he can worry about the Council for me in the evenings. Come on, Chrys-it'll probably be our only chance to see the place our great-great-grandchildren may someday live.” At least our only chance together, he added to himself, in the three or four years I have left.
Her face showed no hint of having followed that train of thought: but a minute later she sighed and nodded. ”All right. Yes-let's do it.”
”Thanks, Hon,” he said quietly. It wouldn't, he knew, quite make up for losing her sons to the universe at large... but perhaps having a husband back for a while would be at least partial compensation.
He hoped so. Despite his a.s.surances, it was quite possible two of those sons would soon be swallowed up by that same universe, never to return.
Chapter 6.
The Council-along with an ever-expanding ring of agents/confidants-kept the secret of the Troft proposal remarkably well for nearly four weeks longer; but at that point Stiggur decided to release the news to the general population.