Shine by Jetse de Vries (ed) Page B

reporting its progress to the moon. It was a smart piece of equipment by Hermes' standards, smart enough to try to communicate with any network it could find. Despite its sophistication, many of the communications protocols were beyond its capabilities, impenetrable and alien. Most never even acknowledged the Peace Pipe' s overtures. Some rejected it outright.
    But a few did. And a few of those said, Talk to us.
    The Peace Pipe told them of Hermes and its thirteen hundred inhabitants. It sent pictures of the children. It offered a single bottle of lunar wine, if the people of Earth would come to orbit to collect it. It promised peace.
    The protocols listened intently, acknowledging every packet.
    "Someone is hearing us!" said the kids. The adults, including Ani, shook their heads. Acknowledging wasn't hearing. And even hearing wasn't understanding.
    But when Jared went to stand in front of the stream and rail at them, Ani said, "No."
    "Why not?"
    "It's their time. Don't discourage them."
    "They don't understand! They think everything can be fixed with more work."
    "What else has ever fixed anything?" she said, softly. In the last week, the teens had stepped up. They'd worked extra shifts in the farm. They'd gone to Jared's labs to help. They'd hit the old problems lists with a new eye, and they'd suggested a lot of things they could do. Most of which probably wasn't workable. But to discover that there was still enthusiasm--it was thrilling.
    Jared was silent for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was unusually quiet. "Why did you come here?" he asked her.
    Ani shrugged and looked away. "I don't know."
    She could feel his gaze, hot, on the back of her neck. You don't throw your life away on an 'I don't know ,' that gaze said.
    "Why did you?" Ani asked.
    Jared laughed. "Anyone with half a brain knows that. Because I'm an asshole. I poke holes in things. Everyone hates me. Of course I'm here."
    Ani sighed. "I don't know," she said, finally.
    "What do you mean, 'I don't know?'"
    "I mean, I don't know. I didn't have a terrible childhood or get raped by my boyfriend or screwed out of an inheritance, or any of those easy answers. I just--I've just always wanted to do something just, well, incredibly crazy."
    "You could've picked skydiving."
    Ani shook her head. "I always wanted to make something, something important."
    "I can't believe it's that simple."
    "Why not?" she turned back to him. "Why can't there just be something in our genes that makes us want to see what's over the next ridge? Why does it always have to be some trauma? My dad, he did genetic research on plants. Corn. He never believed me either. Said, 'Genes aren't programs.' But if it isn't that, what?"
    "What are your specialties?"
    "Chemical engineering, functional physics, and American literature."
    Jared nodded and said nothing.
    "What are you thinking?"
    "Just how amazing we all are."
    Ani shook her head. "I don't think we're amazing. I think we're what we have to be. And I think our children will be what they have to be. Which will probably be a lot more than we are."
    The next morning, they lost the link with the Peace Pipe . There had been no indication of a malfunction. It was just suddenly not there.
    She imagined a tiny flash, blooming over Earth.
    And wondered what the kids would do.
    Unified Sustainability came to get Roy Parekh in the same way it always did. Two men, one small and soundless boat. Except this time it wasn't business suits and briefcases. They walked into his office holding small, silver guns. In his retinal displays, the two men had no names, no tags.
    "Is it that time?" he asked.
    The two men blinked and paused. One of them said, "Your statement suggests a certain level of awareness of your crimes. Do you wish to state them?"
    "Will it assist in my trial?"
    "There will be no trial."
    "Then why would I want to talk to you?"
    A pause. Then: "Unified Sustainability hereby seizes all assets and operations of Intelligent Risk. Roy Parekh,