Child of Venus by Pamela Sargent

everything.”
    â€œTerraforming takes a long time,” Noella said. “You can’t just make it happen all at once.”
    â€œWe’d better go,” Mahala said. “Thanks for showing us around, Noella.”
    â€œGlad to do it. Oh, when you see Nikolai, do tell him that we’re expecting him after supper. We’re going to borrow a cart, so we can move my things over in one trip.”
    â€œI’ll tell him.” Mahala followed Ragnar from the room. The short hallway was silent, the workers hidden behind doors.
    â€œShe’s really moving into your house?” Ragnar asked as they stepped outside.
    â€œYes,” Mahala replied. Noella had lived with Risa when both of them were
young women, before leaving to set up her own household with her bondmate Theron Hyland. She had
taken up residence with her children and grandchildren after the death of her bondmate. Theron, who
had died during the Revolt trying to protect his students in the west dome’s school, was
another of the uprising’s heroes. “Noella’s moving back to our house now because
of Kolya.” The engineer, in front of others, persisted in addressing Kolya as
“Nikolai” even when the two lovers were joining the rest of Risa’s household at
breakfast after a night in Kolya’s room. Everyone else had been surprised at the sudden
romance between the two old friends, but Mahala had suspected that something was up as soon as
Noella had started using Kolya’s formal first name; the woman would roll the name around in
her mouth, as if tasting it. “I’ll bet they make a pledge sooner or later.”
    Her grandparents’ house, Mahala thought, was definitely getting more crowded. She had come back from her first visit with Dyami in Turing three years ago to find that Risa had acquired two new housemates, a young woman named Ching Hoa and a man, Jamil Owens. Since the two new settlers intended to become bondmates, everyone had assumed that they would eventually form their own household. Instead, Hoa and Jamil had gotten along so well with Risa’s housemates that the couple had decided to stay on after making their pledge. By then, Barika and Kristof had been expecting their first child.
    Now Kyril, their son, born in 640, was nearly a year old according to the Earth calendar the Cytherians continued to use, and Hoa had recently announced that she and Jamil were trying for a daughter. That meant that Hoa would almost certainly be pregnant soon, given that she and her bondmate were healthy and young. Paul, after examining them both and doing their gene scan, had practically guaranteed an immediate pregnancy.
    The External Operations Center lay near the main road, and a passenger cart was rolling over the bridge that spanned the small creek, but Solveig had said that she would meet Mahala and Ragnar at a bridge farther upstream. The creek was one of the many small streams created from the cleansed and purified water collected from the acidic rains outside, streams that fed the lake in the center of the west dome’s settlement. Mahala often thought of the rain and what it meant and found it beautiful.
    â€œWhen’s your Habber uncle supposed to get here?” Ragnar asked, interrupting her vision of the rain.
    â€œBenzi? He said tomorrow.”
    Ragnar was fascinated by her uncle and her great-uncle, although he would not admit it outright. He had learned to get along with her over the past couple of years partly because of that and because Solveig had become her friend. Whenever either Benzi or Dyami was visiting, Ragnar found an excuse to come over, usually tagging along with Solveig. It was odd that, given his interest in her relatives, he was so quiet and distant when in their presence. Dyami’s old friend and housemate Arnina Astarte, who had come with him during his last visit, had tried to draw Ragnar out, but even she had not penetrated his barriers. Ragnar