For the Good of the World

Chapter Two

Like all living quarters in the Starlit Arcology, the victim's home in the former starship had been shaped from pristine white nanite crystals. However, its current residents clearly favored colorful clutter.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Via said as she minced her way between piles of brightly-bound books, heaps of rocks of every shape and color, and crates stuffed full of documents. She raised a brow. Who still used paper?

The bereaved, a petite deep-ebony woman named Aura with a Terraformer's laurel winding around her collarbones like black glitter, led her to an orange chaise.

"Thank you," the teary-eyed woman said. She leaned over a pale Ancient man, who lay atop the broad cushions, his head propped on a lime green pillow. A quilt covered him to the chin.

Via blinked at his cherry-pink face, then nudged the nanites drifting around the room to begin recording. "You mentioned in the Caeles that you found him like this?"

Aura brushed gray hair from the old man's brow, her fingers shaking. "Yes. I came home from my evening duties and thought he was just napping."

Via frowned. "A bit late for a nap." Most people had already gone to bed for the night.

The woman chuckled, voice choked with tears. "Not for Ivan. The man's a night owl. He sleeps for a couple of hours and then stays up most of the night cataloging his silly rocks." Her face fell. "Or he used to."

"Did he have any health problems?"

"No, he was fit as a fiddle, at least for an Ancient man his age. Sharp as a tack, too." She smiled sadly down at him. "He was out in the field earlier today, prancing around the ice caves like someone much younger. He's always kept very active."

Behind the chaise, a dish rattled in the kitchen, and an older man with a Lifesupporter's vibrant green laurel and priest's fringed cloak stepped into the living room.

He paused and blinked at Via from beneath bushy eyebrows, holding a cup balanced on a plate, and then turned to press the tea into the widow's hands. "Here you are, my dear." He glanced back at Via, a warm smile filling his bearded face. "You're official, I see."

Via offered a small smile in return. "I am. Good to see you, Mitis. I wish we were both here under better circumstances."

Mitis Amaracus, her mother's friend and the personal spiritual advisor to the six planetary Chiefs, sighed. "I do, too." He patted Aura's back. "Come, my dear. Let's find you somewhere to sit."

Via scanned the room as Mitis lifted a dusty leather backpack from a chair. A hammer and compass fell out of an overstuffed pocket, and she nodded. The un-augmented Ancients had invented many clever ways to do their work despite their disabilities.

"Your husband was a geologist?" she asked. "Or you?"

"Both of us," the Terraformer said as she sat down heavily. Her hands shook as she let Mitis help guide the tea to her lips. "We met when I was adjusting the fault lines west of here." Her head jerked up, and then she relaxed.

The door slid open, and another Terraformer stepped inside. As Via glanced at the sparrow-like woman, her identity surfaced like a bubble in a pond: Rupei, Aura's younger sister.