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built in the same Egyptian-looking design as Phaethon's.
The top of the mountain was flat, littered with gravel, and with a few thorny
strands of grass. On a rock not far away sat a wrinkled old man. He was
leaning on a long white staff, and his hair and beard were the color of snow.
The old man was staring at a plant that had taken root. It was less than nine
inches tall, just a slender stalk, but it must have been made to bloom out of
season, for one bud had unfolded and formed a silver leaf. The leaf shone like
a tiny mirror, and the old man stared down at it, smiling in his beard.
He looked up. "The Golden Age is ended. We will have an age of iron next, an
age of war and sorrow! How appropriately you are armored, then, my darling
Mrs. Phaethon. You look like some delectable young Amazon! How could you
afford armor like that?"
"I collected the fees during the Transcendence from everyone who came to
consult with my daughter."
" 'Daughter'?" blinked the old man. "Daughter... ?"
"She is not yet legally of age, so the money came to me. And the Transcendence
predicted, or decided, that Gannis would try to undo some of the harm he had
done to his public image, and so, during the long months of Transcendence
(even though it only seemed like a moment to us) he put this armor together
for me, one atom at a time. When I say 'to us' I mean 'to those of us who were
in the Transcendence,' that is. I don't recognize you."
He groaned and leaned on his stick and pushed himself to his feet. "You
don't?!! My sweet young curvaceous little war goddess has forgotten me! And
after all we meant to each other!"
She stepped back half a pace. "The Phoenix Exultant is coming." She pointed
overhead. Where the clouds parted, a golden triangle hung in the sky, as the
moon is sometimes visible by day. Even from orbit, the great ship was still a
naked-eye object. "The landing craft will be touching down here. So clear off
if you don't want to get hurt."
"I know all that. The landing craft fell out from port-side docking bay
nineteen, about two hours ago. There were big dragon-signs painted on her
keel: Just Married, and tin cans on tethers floating aft. Anyway, the lander
flew beneath the levitation array. Your husband left the lander there, and
just jumped out of the air lock. He swan-dived into the atmosphere. Simply to
show off how much re-entry heat his armor can shed, I suppose. Heh, heh! I
expect him any minute."
"How do you know this?"
"I was watching it all from my grove. I told the leaves in a certain valley of
mine to form a convex mirror, so I could take measurements of the Phoenix
Exultant as she approached. Amazing what you can do with primitive tools and a
little simple math! I also built a bridge across that little stream in front
of your parent's house, out of planed wood and good old-fashioned molecular
epoxy. Very refreshing to work with your hands!"
Daphne made the recognition gesture, but nothing happened. "Who the hell are
you? The masquerade is over! Why isn't your name on file?"
"Oh, come on!" He looked sarcastically exasperated. "You are the mystery
writer. It should be obvious who I am!"
"You are the one who started all this. Woke up
Phaethon, I mean, and got him to turn off his sense-filter so that he saw
Xenophon stalking after him. Phaethon found out that he had been redacted...."
"Yes. Obviously. And ... ?" "You work for the Earthmind! She arranged this
whole thing from start to finish so that everything would work out right!"
"Little girl, if you were not in a space-adapted body one hundred times
stronger than I am right now, I would turn you over my knee and spank your
pert little behind bright red."
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"Okay. You don't sound like an Earthmind avatar. Are you Aurelian ... ? You
did all this to make your party more dramatic ... ?" "You're guessing."
"You're an agent of the Silent Ones. You woke up Phaethon for Xenophon's sake,
to get the Phoenix Exultant out of hock, so your people could grab it."
"Exactly right! And I've come here to surrender, but only if you make mad,
passionate love to me, right now!" He threw his arms wide, as if to embrace
her, capering from one foot to the other, hair flying wildly. She fended him
off with her hand. "Okay, no. Do I get another guess?"
The old man straightened up, and looked at her, a look of calm amusement. He
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