2061 Odyssey Three

chapter 54 Reunion
'Whatever made you think I was dead?' cried Heywood Floyd. 'I've not felt better for years!'

Paralysed with astonishment, Chris Floyd stared at the speaker grille. He felt a great lifting of his spirits - yet also a sense of indignation. Someone - something - had played a cruel practical joke on him; but for what conceivable reason?

Fifty million kilometres away - and coming closer by several hundred every second - Heywood Floyd also sounded slightly indignant. But he also sounded vigorous and cheerful, and his voice radiated the happiness he obviously felt at knowing that Chris was safe.

'And I've got some more good news for you; the shuttle will pick you up first. It will drop some urgent medical supplies at Galaxy, then hop over to you, and bring you up to rendezvous with us on the next orbit. Universe will go down five orbits later; you'll be able to greet your friends when they come aboard.

'No more now - except to say how much I'm looking forward to making up for lost time. Waiting for your answer in - let's see - about three minutes...'

For a moment, there was complete silence aboard Bill Tee; van der Berg dared not look at his companion. Then Floyd keyed the microphone and said slowly: 'Grandad - what a wonderful surprise - I'm still in a state of shock. But I know I met you here on Europa - I know you said goodbye to me. I'm as certain of that, as I'm sure you were speaking to me just now...

'Well, we'll have plenty of time to talk about it later. But remember how Dave Bowman spoke to you, aboard Discovery? Perhaps it was something like that.

'Now we'll just sit and wait here until the shuttle comes for us. We're quite comfortable - there's an occasional quake, but nothing to worry about. Until we meet, all my love.'

He could not remember when he had last used that word to his grandfather.

After the first day, the shuttle cabin began to smell. After the second, they didn't notice - but agreed that the food was no longer quite so tasty. They also found it hard to sleep, and there were even accusations of snoring.

On day three, despite frequent bulletins from Universe, Galaxy and Earth itself, boredom was beginning to set in, and they had exhausted their supply of dirty stories.

But that was the last day. Before it was over, Lady Jasmine descended, seeking her lost child.