"There!" David said."There!" David said. "All of it belongs to them." "That's all of it?" Denni asked. "That's Elohim Manor?" David nodded. "It was one of the hardest things I ever did, getting away from them. I raised every last udollar to buy the Asking by myself. I had to fight with them every step of the way to make sure that they would let me take the Merchanter classes, and when I told them I was going into debt to buy her, Mom said they'd buy it for me. I still have that money in a bank somewhere in Switzerland." "You didn't return it?" Denni asked. "I'm surprised." "I'm not stupid. I have pride, and I've known success. But I may need that money someday." Denni nodded. David sighed and opened his door, clambering out onto the graveled driveway. "Fall out, crew. We're home." "My God," Marder said, looking around. "The last time I saw a place like this, it was in a porn vid!" "Why does that figure?" Patricia asked. David debated breaking up the needle match between the two humans, but decided that so far it hadn't hurt anything. The more he thought about it, though, the more he thought Marder just didn't need to be a part of his crew. Chico clapped him on the shoulder. "So, you're rich, man." "Rich is relative," David said. "I'm rich with the ship and you guys. My parents measure rich relative to humanity. They're doing better than most, so they think they're rich." "It's pretty, anyway," Chico said, shrugging. "I dunno, man, I don't think I'm going to be a spacer forever." He gestured, encompassing the building before them. "Someday, man, to retire to place like this. To have roboservers named Jeeves bringing me two P.M. tea and biscuits. To put my feet up and have beautiful negro women feed me grapes and roll around in bed with." He laughed. "In my wildest dreams." "Might happen," David said. "You just really have to want it." A small robobutler floated out to where they stood. Chico, who had been watching the house closely, noticed it first, and tapped David on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sirs," it said in clipped, properly British tones, "You will have to remove yourselves and your vehicle from the premises. |