Free The Seeds of Time by Kay Kenyon Page B

the future, same as the past. You see what this means?”
    “Why would they lie about the Future Ceiling?” She pulled back, yanking her eyes away from his, desperately trying to keep some distance.
    “So they can lie about the future. They don’t want us to know.”
    Clio shook her head. “You think I can just jump in
Starhawk
, take her for a little spin? They’d
notice
, Hill. I’d be busted, we’d all be busted.”
    Hillis sighed, took her hands again. “We’re not going to hijack the ship. We’re going to change the Dive boards during the next regulation Dive. Next mission.”
    Clio rolled her eyes. “Oh
that
ought to work! Folks wake up a hundred years from now, and Russo’s too dumb to know where the hell she is!”
    Hillis put his palms up, trying to quiet her. “Nobodywakes up. We Dive up for a brief glimpse, then reverse directions and wake up with no one the wiser.”
    “What if we see the end of the world?” Clio asked. “Is that real, or not? How can we change it?”
    “I don’t know for sure that we can change it. But suppose the future is a possibility, not a certainty? Maybe we could do something to avert disaster.”
    “Christ almighty, you guys are playing with theories! It’s never been tested You could kill us all, or worse.” She jumped up, headed for the door. “Forget it.”
    He plunged after her, took her by the arm, stopping her. “Clio. This isn’t some college prank. Zee has it all worked out. And it’s about saving our future, making sure we
have
one.”
    “We can’t get anywhere near Earth, Hill. At Dive point we’ll be out of range of sensors—we won’t be able to see a damn thing on Earth except clouds and the bluish tint of water.”
    “We can still pick up electromagnetic transmissions.”
    “We won’t have
time
to sit there and record radio and TV signals. Folks on the bridge will be awake. And they’ll be asking questions.” She was facing him, buying into this mad discussion. Goddamn him anyway.
    “We don’t need time. We’ll record decades of broadcasting while we’re still
in
Dive.”
    “We can’t do that.”
    “Why not?”
    “You can’t use signal receivers in Dive.”
    Hillis smiled. “Sure you can. Zee …”
    “… has figured it out,” Clio finished for him. She shook her head. “Why? Why do you have to do this? It’s crazy. You’re making me crazy.” Clio took his face between her hands. “Why?”
    Hillis paused a moment. “I don’t want to make you crazy, or hurt you. I just have to know. I just have to know if it’s all over. If what we’re doing here, with Biotime, if it’s all a game. We know the Earth is greying, Clio. Every day. I can watch it from the monitors. I know it’s greying. I just want to know if it’s dying.”
    Clio looked up at him, thinking, but not saying,
Why do you want to know? We’ll get there soon enough, the slow way. Then we’ll know. Knowing the future is a curse. You can’t hope for things, you can only wait for them, and it’s not the same. Not the same at all
.
    But she looked up at his face, and said, “I can’t think about this anymore. It’s too crazy.”
    “Sure,” Hillis said. “Let’s just leave it for now.” He went over to his desk, started pawing through the stacks of video games. He was pissed, but not showing it.
    Then, he turned around, with one of those heartbreaking smiles. “Want to play a vid?”
    Clio slowly walked over to the game console. He tossed her Debt Roulette. She lost and lost.
    She got two stiff drinks in her at the station bar before Teeg walked in, collected his beer, and plopped himself down at her table.
    “Mind if I join you?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, you don’t seem to have a date, so you can hardly refuse.”
    “I just did refuse, Teeg.”
    “And I’ll buy you a drink.” He motioned to the waiter. “You sure got a long face. Booze make you sad? Some people, like me, it makes them happy. Luck of the draw.”
    He took a long pull on his