Read Online Zima Blue and Other Stories by Alastair Reynolds - Free Book Online

good night's sleep - I visited Kolding and got a fresh update on the repair schedule.

    'Two, three days,' he said.

    'It was a day last night.'

    Kolding shrugged. 'You've got a problem with the service, find someone else to fix your ship.'

    Then he stuck his little finger into the corner of his mouth and began to dig between his teeth.

    'Nice to see someone who really enjoys his work,' I said.

    I left Kolding before my mood worsened too much, making my way to a different part of the station.

    Greta had suggested we meet for breakfast and catch up on old times. She was there when I arrived, sitting at a table on an 'outdoor' terrace, under a red-and-white-striped canopy, sipping orange juice. Above us was a dome several hundred metres wide, projecting a cloudless holographic sky. It had the hard, enamelled blue of midsummer.

    'How's the hotel?' she asked after I'd ordered a coffee from the waiter.

    'Not bad. No one seems very keen on conversation, though. Is it me or does that place have all the cheery ambience of a sinking ocean liner?'

    'It's just this place,' Greta said. 'Everyone who comes here is pissed off about it. Either they got transferred here and they're pissed off about that , or they ended up here by a routing error and they're pissed off about that instead. Take your pick.'

    'No one's happy?'

    'Only the ones who know they're getting out of here soon.'

    'Would that include you?'

    'No,' she said. 'I'm more or less stuck here. But I'm okay about it. I guess I'm the exception that proves the rule.'

    The waiters were glass mannequins, the kind that had been fashionable in the core worlds about twenty years ago. One of them placed a croissant in front of me, then poured scalding black coffee into my cup.

    'Well, it's good to see you,' I said.

    'You too, Thom.' Greta finished her orange juice and then took a corner of my croissant for herself, without asking. 'I heard you got married.'

    'Yes.'

    'Well? Aren't you going to tell me about her?'

    I drank some of my coffee. 'Her name's Katerina.'

    'Nice name.'

    'She works in the Department of Bioremediation on Kagawa.'

    'Kids?' Greta asked.

    'Not yet. It wouldn't be easy, the amount of time we both spend away from home.'

    'Mm.' She had a mouthful of croissant. 'But one day you might think about it.'

    'Nothing's ruled out,' I said. As flattered as I was that she was taking such an interest in me, the surgical precision of her questions left me slightly uncomfortable. There was no thrust and parry; no fishing for information. That kind of directness unnerved. But at least it allowed me to ask the same questions. 'What about you, then?'

    'Nothing very exciting. I got married a year or so after I last saw you. A man called Marcel.'

    'Marcel,' I said, ruminatively, as if the name had cosmic significance. 'Well, I'm happy for you. I take it he's here, too?'

    'No. Our work took us in different directions. We're still married, but . . .' Greta left the sentence hanging.

    'It can't be easy,' I said.

    'If it was meant to work, we'd have found a way. Anyway, don't feel too sorry for either of us. We've both got our work. I wouldn't say I was any less happy than the last time we met.'

    'Well, that's good,' I said.

    Greta leaned over and touched my hand. Her fingernails were midnight black with a blue sheen.

    'Look. This is really presumptuous of me. It's one thing asking to meet up for breakfast. It would have been rude not to. But how would you like to meet again later? It's really nice to eat here in the evening. They turn down the lights. The view through the dome is really something.'

    I looked up into that endless holographic sky.

    'I thought it was faked.'

    'Oh, it is,' she said. 'But don't let that spoil it for you.'

    I settled in front of the camera and started speaking.

    'Katerina,' I said. 'Hello. I hope you're all right. By now I hope someone from the company will have been in touch. If they haven't, I'm pretty sure you'll have made your