Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 39

Suzanne sat, leaning against Ricky, connected, and resting in the silly thoughts he was having as he played with Philip. It made her feel like a little girl again, only now there was love.

As she wandered through his mind-she marvelled at how trusting he was-she found a file that he'd left open in his dynamic memory; and, curious, she checked it. "Oh, I see," she said. "You went through the same thing about your parents when you were getting to know Lisa."

"Yeah."

"So you already knew how hard it is."

"Yup."

"Thanks. By the way, how do we go about getting married? It's not like there's a government office around here we can go to."

"I'd like to go talk with Bill Alexander, and see what he says. He marries people too."

Ricky's memories of his friend filled her mind. "Okay," she said. "But he's on Earth; and we've got a baby boy to deal with."

"I guess we wait till Philip's grown up so he can look after himself, and then we go. Obviously we'll have to be really careful when we get there if we don't want to get blasted out of existence. I know! We can land in some deserted part of the Earth where maybe we won't get noticed. After that, we can sneak around and, with God's help, get to Bill without being caught."

"Yeah, that sounds good. And besides, I've got your word; so I'm in no rush." She held out her hands. "Here. Let me hold Philip for a little. I need to learn how to do this play stuff."

#

Ricky bladed rapidly along the ridge that was the lip of the vast crater Copernicus, which lay south of the Mare Imbrium, and southwest of the Montes Apenninus which he'd visited the first time he came to the moon. He was holding Philip high above his head, as Philip-glowing happily-stretched his arms out in imitation of his adoptive parents when they flew.

As Suzanne raced after them, she radioed, "You're sneaky! You know I can't catch up to you on a straightaway!" This was because their robotic bodies were functionally identical.

"Yup!" he replied. "You'll just have to out-sneak me." He swerved to his right, and dropped down into the crater, slaloming along the numerous ridges.

She immediately switched to ski mode, dropped down behind him, and took a flying leap off the side of a mound, using it as a ramp. Controlling her flight with her hand thrusters-using their foot rockets for flying was against the rules-she watched for her chance as she descended. He suddenly swerved directly in front of her to avoid a boulder; and she crashed into him, sending Philip tumbling high into the sky.

"Tag, you're it," she exclaimed triumphantly over the connection.

"I sure am," Ricky responded.

"Time," she said as they untangled themselves. "Since you're 'it' now, I get Philip."

"Right."

They got up and, since they were getting no feelings of fear or upset from Philip, bladed off casually in his direction. They soon found him sitting on the ground, putting pebbles and dirt into his mouth.

"What's he doing?" Suzanne radioed.

Ricky connected with him and replied, "Tasting. It seems he got a mouthful when he crash-landed; so now he's trying to figure out which one has the best ingredients so he can absorb it."

"Huh, go figure. I never would have thought of that."

"Me neither. After all, we don't need to eat, except for repairs."