LIFE‑SUSPENSION L. E. MODESITT, JR

L. E. Modesitt is the bestselling author of the Saga of Recluse, the Spellsong Cycle, the Corean Chronicles, and several other series, as well as a number of standalone novels, such as The Eternity Artifact, The Elysium Commission, and a new book, Haze, that’s due out in June. His short fiction has appeared in a number of anthologies, and was recently collected in Viewpoints Critical.

“Life‑Suspension” is set in a future where interstellar travel is possible, but where there is warfare over who controls the lines of interstellar communication. “It’s a story that shows how thin the lines between all human passions are, especially in war,” Modesitt said. “I was a military pilot, and I’ve tried to capture the feel of those situations, and the contrast between the times of action and the quiet civility of officers in between action.”

I

The S.R.S. Amaterasu had left Kunitsu Orbit Station 2 less than three hours earlier, and Flight Captain Ghenji Yamato was more than ready to eat when the junior officers’ wardroom opened at 1600 KMT. He wasn’t the first entering–that would have been most impolite–but he was far from the last when he took his seat halfway down the second table.

He’d barely seated himself when his eyes registered a flash of white, and he glanced up.

The officer who had just entered the mess caught his eyes immediately, not because she was full‑figured, which she was not, boyish as her frame was, but because her short‑cut hair was pure white, and her pale white face was almost unearthly in its beauty. He almost laughed at the thought. Unearthly? None of them would ever see Earth–and probably not even Kunitsu–again for years. Objective years, not subjective, he reminded himself. He found himself still looking at her. For all the white hair, she was probably younger than he was. He couldn’t help but stare before he looked down abruptly.

She was ship’s crew–that was certain–and not one of the attack pilots for the mission ahead, because he knew most of them, except for the transfers and replacements, although her hair was cut every bit as short as that of the women pilots in his squadron. Yet... for all that he knew he had never seen her before; there was something about her. He just didn’t know what it was. He ate almost mechanically, although he did enjoy the black tea, probably a variant from the Nintoku Islands.

As he left the mess after the meal, he glanced back, but he didn’t see the white‑haired captain. As he looked to the corridor ahead, leading to the attack operations spaces–there she was, waiting and looking at him. Her eyebrows were also white, as were her eyelashes, but she had deep black eyes and red lips.

“Hello,” he offered. “I’m Ghenji Yamato, Flight Captain.”

“I know. Your name, that is, and your reputation as ‘the monk.’”

“The monk?” Ghenji knew the allusion, but wasn’t about to admit it.

“The flight captain utterly devoted to his duties once he’s shipside.” She smiled. “I’m Rokujo. Rokujo Yukionna.” She smiled. “I’m in life‑support.”

He thought he ought to recognize her name, but he hadn’t checked the roster of ship’s officers. He’d also never paid that much attention to names or where they came from. His educational background had been engineering, but he’d been fortunate, if one could call it that, to have been accepted by the service for training as an attack needle pilot. The current tour was his fourth, and, afterwards, he’d be eligible for promotion to major–and squadron commander, or the equivalent. With the time‑dilation effect, even with military pay discounting, he’d even be able to retire, not that he’d ever considered that.

Ghenji glanced at her green skinsuit–medical–and the senior captain’s insignia on the collars of her shipvest. “Doctor or technical?”

“Does it matter?” She laughed ruefully. “At least you asked. Most of the pilots just assume tech because I look so young.”

“You’re in charge of...?” He thought he’d recovered as gracefully as possible.

“Very good. I’m a recovery specialist, but I’m chief of the suspension and support.”

“A most necessary specialty, especially for attack pilots,” he said with a smile. He couldn’t have met her before, but the sense of familiarity remained. “You didn’t study at Edo Institute, did you?”

“No. Fumitomo, then Heian for my residency.”

“Why did you decide on the service?”

“I like the specialty. It fits me, and where else would I get this kind of experience? All planetside suspension facilities are either geriatric wards for the wealthy or holding pens for clone‑replacement therapy, and there aren’t many of the latter.”

Ghenji nodded. “In a way, it’s like attack flying. If you want to pilot anything outside the service, all you are is a tram driver... ”

All in all, they talked for close to two stans before he had to leave to stand an ops‑watch, not that doing so meant more than watching the system indicators.

Ghenji didn’t see Rokujo the next day, but when he woke the following morning and rolled out of his cubicle, he decided that he would make an effort to encounter her, while he had time to get to know her... even though that was unlike him. But she did fascinate him, perhaps because of the calm, almost unblinking, way she viewed him, as if she were focused on him and him alone.

Still, the Amaterasu would enter deep jump in three days, and in two Ghenji Yamato would climb into a cocoon and be hibernated until the ship re‑entered normspace, not that he knew that destination, only that it was in the area disputed by the Mogulate and the Republic. After that, his real tasks would begin.

For all his engineering background, he still found it hard to understand a universe where instantaneous–or near‑instantaneous–interstellar communications were possible, but where interstellar travel was far slower. It did make for an interesting galaxy–and one that required the space service... and one Ghenji Yamato–or other pilots like him.

Despite his interest in Rokujo, with his own duties and schedule, it was just before the evening meal when he saw her standing just outside the officers’ lounge adjoining the junior officers’ wardroom.

“Good afternoon, Rokujo.”

“Good afternoon.”

“I was looking for you earlier, at lunch.”

“We were running tests, and I didn’t get away... ”

Since seating was not strictly by rank except at the formal mess dinners, they sat together and talked.

“You know your names are almost contradictions of who you are,” she said, taking a quick mouthful of rice.

“I hadn’t thought about it. I’m an engineer.”

“Yamato was an emperor, filled with courage, and willing to commit the most treacherous acts possible in search of honor. Ghenji was a schemer and a lover and the first non‑divine Shinto romantic hero–as depicted by a woman. You certainly have courage, but your honor is that of a monk’s, and I doubt you could betray anyone.”

“That’s a fault?”

“I didn’t say that it was, so long as honor doesn’t preclude love.”

“What about you?”

“Let us just say that I have two natures, hot and cold, and I’m always seeking balance while believing in absolutes... ”

After spending the meal mainly listening and just watching her, Ghenji realized that it was one of the more enjoyable he had spent in a service wardroom in years, if ever.

Unfortunately, afterwards, Rokujo hurried off to deal with some sort of system glitch in the suspension diagnostics, but that, as Ghenji knew all too well, was more than typical for anyone who had to deal with systems. His turn would come once they entered the combat zone.

He turned, debating whether to stay and play speed‑chess, when another pilot approached.

“I saw you with Captain Yukionna,” offered Hotaru, the flight captain in charge of Kama‑three.

“What about her?” asked Ghenji cautiously.

“Oh... nothing.”

“What you’re not telling me isn’t nothing,” replied Ghenji with a grin.

“Well... if you want to be with her... don’t even think about being with anyone else.”

“Oh...?” For Ghenji, the implications were appealing. He’d never liked it when women, especially officers, played off men against each other. “Is that a return flight?”

“If you’re hers, she’s yours, and no one else’s. I’ll see you later.”

Ghenji stood, watching. He thought he heard Hotaru murmur something else but he wasn’t certain. What was certain was that Hotaru could have said more. There was also no doubt he had no intention of doing so.

• • •

On threeday, after his shift on the combat simulator, Ghenji cleaned up and made his way down to the life‑support deck, with the rows and rows of cocoons. He found Rokujo system‑linked, and sat down on the deck, cross‑legged–monk‑fashion, he supposed–to wait.

“How long have you been here?” she asked, as she finished de‑linking from the system.

“Not long.” He stood and gestured toward the console. “What were you doing?”

“I was checking diagnostics on the medical suspension cocoons.”

“There’s not a problem, is there?”

“No. That’s why now is a good time to check everything in detail. After you and the other pilots start flying missions, we’ll need them–that isn’t the time to find out something’s wrong.”

“That makes sense.” He paused. “Would you like to join me for some tea, if you can... and, if...?” How could he ask what he really wanted to know?

She smiled, amusedly. “Are you trying to find out if I’m committed to someone in some way? I’m not. And yes, I’d love some tea, even what passes for it in the wardroom. Then, we’ll see... ”

Ghenji hadn’t made that offer, although it was what he had in mind.

II

The space service was practical, but not given to more than acknowledging that humans, particularly with mixed crews, did require a certain privacy. Cubicles for one officer would fit two, but not with all that much room to spare.

Rokujo, lying in Ghenji’s arms, or on his right arm, looked up. “Officers’ cubes have a cross‑section that’s almost bell‑shaped.”

“It helps get rid of excess heat,” he replied languidly.

“Or traps it... my not‑so‑monkish lover.”

He stroked her short, silky, brilliant white hair.

“I need to go,” she said. “I do have the med‑section mid‑watch.”

“You didn’t... ”

“I wasn’t about to. Your monkish concern with duty would have had you protesting that you didn’t want to interfere with mine.” Almost absently, she licked her lips, before smiling at him. “This way, you’ll get a good night’s sleep.”

He had to admire the seemingly boneless way in which she slithered into her uniform skin‑suit and shipvest before leaving him and the cubicle.

He lay back, amazed at what had happened. In a way, she had almost coiled around him, he reflected, yet cool as she seemed, and as cool as her touch was, she also radiated warmth. How could anyone look so cool, even feel so cool, and then pour forth such heat? But then she had said that her nature was both hot and cold.

Later, alone in his small cubicle, he finally drifted into an uneasy sleep, knowing that before long he’d be in suspension in transit to the combat zone, even if he had no idea where it was or exactly what the mission would be.

He dreamed, and the dream was like all the others. He was awake and trapped in his cocoon, and, just as the shakes and shivers began to subside, the temperature began to plunge once more. He could not move, and at that moment, the face of a woman with flowing white hair and skin as white as porcelain, and lips like cherries appeared above him, and bestowed a loving kiss upon him–and the ice encased him with whiteness.

He woke, not sweating, but chill. The face in his dream had been that of Rokujo. The chill in his soul intensified as he realized that it had been her face all along. Every dream about life‑suspension he’d ever had was exactly the same–and it had always been her face. He just hadn’t known it.

Surely, he was just back‑projecting. He had to have been. He’d never met Rokujo Yukionna before embarking on the Amaterasu.

III

Ghenji didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed when the cocoon opened and a thin techie glanced down at him. “Signs are green, Flight Captain. You know the drill, ser.”

“Thank you.”

Ghenji eased his way out of the cocoon and sat on the stool, sipping the special post‑suspension “tea,” waiting until the monitors showed that he was clear to resume duty.

After the evening spent with Rokujo, he hadn’t seen her again before he’d entered suspension, not because he hadn’t looked, but because their work and watch schedules had simply not coincided in any practical fashion.

He checked the ship‑link–three point four standard years since they’d pushed off from Kunitsu orbit station two, and who knew how many more before they returned? If they returned.

Four stans later, he was in the squadron ready room with the other flight captains, listening to Operations Commander Togata.

“... In less than forty hours, we’ll begin the attack on the first Mogul station. Flight Captain Nokamura will lead Kama‑one.... Flight Captain Yamato will lead Kama‑four.... Full briefings are on all consoles.” Togata gave a brisk nod to the flight captains, releasing them to study the attack profiles.

The briefing consoles were enclosed booths set against the bulkhead on the starboard side of the flight operations center. Ghenji sat down in the not‑totally‑comfortable padded seat and lowered the hood, waiting while the ops system verified his identity and then began the briefing.

The mission itself was simple. The Mogulate had already begun to change the planetary dynamics of the uninhabited system into whose outer reaches the Amaterasu had recently emerged. If the Parthindians completed the re‑engineering, they would disrupt the clear‑link‑comm line used by the Republic that connected the upper galactic “west” section to the “east” section of the inhabited Republic solar systems.

The Amaterasu ’s needles were “just” to take out the two central engineering installations in the system. At the very least, that would cost the Mogulate another ten years of investment and resources. At best, the Parthindians would abandon the project and attempt some other form of havoc. The mission required two separate attacks, roughly one to two days apart.

In the centuries since the Diaspora, warfare, like everything else, had changed, and with information and knowledge as the basis for technological societies, inter‑system communications had become more and more paramount, for a system that lacked that connection could falter technologically and become vulnerable. So warfare involved attacks on the link‑lines as much as attacks on systems and planets–and had also become rooted more and more in convictions of “rightness.” Not that righteousness and “truth” hadn’t been prime motivations behind battle from the first knapped flint spear.

Afterward, Ghenji went to the wardroom and had a large mug of green tea. He’d always felt cold, inside and out, after a console briefing.

Then he went back to the ops center and began to study the possible attack vectors from the drop spot, and particularly the last‑instant options. Before he finished it was time to eat, but he was late and didn’t see Rokujo until she was already seated between several others members of the ship’s crew.

As soon as he could, he hurried to meet her before she escaped to the med‑center... or wherever.

She stood waiting, smiling.

“I’d almost hoped to see you when I came out of suspension,” he confessed.

“You don’t want that,” she replied with a laugh. “I’m only there when there’s trouble, the snow‑maiden‑woman, if you will.” Her voice dropped. “Except I’m no maiden... as you well know.”

Ghenji blushed.

She took his hand.

Everything would have been perfect, except after she left his cubicle, he dreamed the suspension dream again–and the face was indeed that of Rokujo, and she was trying to tell him something... something urgent.

IV

Ghenji had run through the checklist, and waited in his needle, monitoring the operations net, with his armor tight and restrainers locked, as the Amaterasu began to spew forth the attack needles.

Kay‑one, stand by for release.

Standing by, Sunbase control.

Launch one!

Kay‑one is clear. Flight kay‑two to position...

Before long, the four needles of Kama‑four were in position in the mass‑drivers.

Launch four!

The brutal jolt of acceleration pinned Ghenji and his armor into the needle’s couch as the Amaterasu ’s mass drivers hurled the four needles of his flight “downward” toward the solar engineering facility orbiting the F2 star that the Mogulate was working to turn into a facsimile of a nova.

Kay‑four, release on schedule.

Affirm, kay‑four on line and alpha victor, Ghenji beamed back, concentrating on the mental display fed to him by the needle AI, showing his four needles on courseline aimed directly at the Mogulate installation. They were traveling energy‑blanked, hurled out by the sun‑like power of the Amaterasu. Without energy emissions the Mogulate EDIs would detect nothing until the needles were within enhanced visual range, and by then, effective reaction would be difficult. Not impossible, because nothing could conceal that a ship had entered the system and that it had released a single blast of energy. But the defenders could only estimate what sort of attack might be coming, on what vectors, and when. There was always the possibility that the launch blast had been a decoy, designed to lure defenders into position, wasting time and energy, and even putting them in the wrong location.

Even so, Ghenji kept checking the EDI and detectors for any signs of defender vessels.

Fourteen and a half minutes later, he had visual on the Mogulate installation–as well as EDI on more than a dozen hot‑scouts–the high‑powered and heavily‑shielded Mogulate defenders. The Kama‑four needles had certain advantages–far higher down‑system absolute velocity than the defenders could ever match, greater numbers, and, until they began to use their drives to maneuver, virtual invisibility. The disadvantages were that the defenders knew where the Kama needles had to go in order to plant their torps and that the defenders individually had greater fire‑power.

Seconds later, his sensors could pick out a gap between two of the hot‑scouts not linked by defense screens. Too obvious. He tweaked the drives and angled for a narrower space “above” and to the right of the central hexagonal energy net maintained by the Parthindian defenders.

Almost as soon as he’d committed, he was through the gap and releasing his four torps. The rear screen display, only “rear” in the sense that his mind identified it as such, showed the fading energy flares that had been Republic attack needles. Initially, he could see that three of the four needles in his flight had survived the defense barrage.

Torp energy lines, seemingly from everywhere, converged on the hollowed‑out nickel‑iron asteroid that would have been one of two energy fulcrums used to change the stellar dynamics of the F2 sun that dominated one quadrant of his EDI. Then, the entire EDI “screen” flared, before blanking to avoid overloading both the nanotronics of the needle and the brain cells of the pilot.

Ghenji checked his departure vector against the projected track of the Amaterasu. If the giant needle‑carrier followed the projected track... if... then he was home free.

That was all there was to it, in a sense–an approach in which the less maneuvering required, the greater the possibility of success and survival; a window of between nanoseconds and seconds in which to launch torps; and the selection and execution of an escape vector that would take the pilot back to the needle‑carrier that had launched him or her. In the end, nanoseconds were all that separated success and failure.

Kay‑four lead, kay‑four‑delta... massive damage... vectoring on you, open slave link...

Within his armor, Ghenji winced, but immediately activated his slave acquisition system. Then he checked the inputs from the damaged needle. The drives had kicked the needle onto the departure vector before fusing, but outside of the separate slave transmitter, the delta needle was half‑junk, and habitability was nil. He could only hope that Kashiwagi’s emergency life‑suspension system had functioned as designed.

Ghenji used his steering drives to link with the damaged needle but, even hull‑to‑hull, could get no feedback.

Another seventeen minutes passed before Ghenji had lock‑on with the Amaterasu.

Sunbase control, kay‑four lead, approaching from your eight‑seven, amber level.

Kay‑four lead, interrogative status.

Kay‑four lead and beta green, kay‑four gamma strike at target. Kay‑four delta on slave‑link and tow. Status unknown.

Standing by for link‑recovery for delta. Couplers ready. Suggest decel in ten.

Sunbase control, affirm decel in ten.

Operations control took Kashiwagi’s needle first, and then the two remaining Kama‑four needles, with Ghenji last.

Before he powered down and left the cradle, he linked to ops. Interrogative status, kay‑four delta.

Recovery successful, pilot in suspension.

Thank you, Sunbase ops.

He finished the shutdown checklist and then eased himself out of the restrainers and then out of the needle through the flexible umbilical tube.

Later, there would be a complete debrief, after operations correlated all the information, but, once he finished the post‑flight and mech report, he checked the mission status. Out of sixty needles launched, seven had been lost, and four had returned with various stages of damage to the needles and their pilots. He nodded–the stats were close to operational norms.

He still had time before the flight leader debrief, and he needed to check on Lieutenant Kashiwagi. The lieutenant was one of his pilots. Tired as Ghenji was, he headed up to the medical section. As he neared the two technicians stationed at the master suspension consoles, he couldn’t help but overhear the quiet words between them.

“Snow‑woman got him... but he should make it... bring ’em back from a block of ice... not medically possible... she can... ”

Snow‑woman? Ghenji stepped forward. “Can you tell me about Lieutenant Kashiwagi?”

“Ser!” Both stiffened. Neither spoke for a moment.

Then one finally said, “Dr. Yukionna could best tell you, and it will be a while.”

“I’ll wait.”

He stood there, pacing back and forth, for close to a stan before he saw a flash of short brilliant white hair.

“You’re here because of one of your pilots?” Rokujo’s words were barely a question.

“Kashiwagi... Kama‑four‑delta. Will he make it?”

She offered a faint smile. “It’s likely. He did suffer explosive decompression before life‑suspension fully kicked in. That’s in addition to major organ failures. We don’t have the facilities to rebuild him here, but there’s a good chance that we can keep him alive in suspension until we return to Kunitsu... ”

“Likely?” That didn’t sound good.

“Most of those who are likely to survive do, and if they survive, the med‑systems at Kunitsu orbit station can return almost all to full function.”

That was the best Ghenji could hope for. He nodded.

“Later?” he asked.

“It might be much later, but... yes.” The quick smile that burst through the formal frosty exterior was gone almost as soon as it had appeared... but Ghenji had seen it.

V

Immediately after the needle recovery, the Amaterasu withdrew and began the maneuvers to move into position for the second attack.

Ghenji had appreciated Rokujo’s company the evening after the first attack... but he did not see her again until the evening meal the following ship‑day. She was looking for him, though, as she entered the wardroom.

“How is Kashiwagi?” he asked.

“He’s under suspension. There’s no way to tell now, not until they bring him out when we return. How are you?”

“Concerned. Now that I’ve thought about it, there should have been more defenders at the last installation.”

They settled near the end of the second table.

“You think there’ll be more at the next?”

“Maybe they thought we’d attack it first.” He shook his head. “Enough of that. Do you prefer the art of calligraphy, representation, or actuality?” That should spark some discussion, since it had been more than a little controversial on Kunitsu just before they had left, in part because one of the “art‑monks” had used a molecular shredder to destroy an entire actuality exhibit at the national museum at Oharano, claiming that the actuality school did not practice art, but merely plagiarized reality.

“I tend toward representation.” She smiled. “Especially when embellished by calligraphy... ”

As she talked, occasionally gesturing, turning her hand, in the indirect light of the mess, Ghenji thought he saw the faintest pattern of white on her white skin. White on white, almost diamond‑like, or... he wasn’t quite certain. He thought there might be the same pattern on her neck as well, but then again...

Much, much later, as they lay there together in Ghenji’s cubicle, he did not wish to think about the next day. He’d never really worried about missions and duty, not before he’d met Rokujo. So he tried to think of something, anything, that would divert her... and him.

“You said you were the snow‑woman... and so did one of the techs... ” Ghenji didn’t want to turn his statement into a question.

“That’s because of my billet, and my name. The name is the same as one from an old legend, and... you know what I do... I’m responsible for bringing people out of suspension, out of the cold... or putting them into it, if necessary.” She absently licked her lips, red, but thin, and, as he had discovered, more than mobile.

Ghenji couldn’t help watching closely. They were very close, and when she’d done that, it had looked to him almost as though she’d flicked her tongue–a rather pointed tongue. He wanted to shake his head. That wasn’t possible. “And the white hair?”

She just shrugged in that incredibly sinuous and sensual fashion that fascinated him. “The hair goes a long ways back, to Old Earth at least. It’s always run in my family. I’ve been told the women are an odd mixture.”

“What else runs in your family?” Ghenji tried to keep his tone light. “Besides passion?” He grinned.

“Jealousy.” She bent forward and nibbled his ear. “We don’t share. Ever.”

That was fine with Ghenji. Then he thought. “What about duty? You do have to share me with duty.”

“You’re fortunate. One of my ancestors didn’t understand that. I do... mostly.” She wrapped her arms around him, coiling herself about him.

At that moment, Ghenji had no more interest in biographical questions.

When he woke, she was gone.

VII

Once more, Flight Captain Ghenji Yamato waited in his needle, monitoring the net. Within his armor, he felt hot and clammy, yet cold and chill. Why? What had happened to the warrior‑monk?

Kay‑four, stand by for release.

Standing by, Sunbase control, he pulsed back.

Launch four!

The sudden acceleration slammed Ghenji and his armor into the needle’s couch as the Amaterasu ’s mass drivers hurled his needle out and away. He and the remaining two needles of his flight slashed “upward” at an angle toward the second component of the Mogulate solar engineering facility. Ghenji checked vectors and relative speeds. Sunbase control, affirm, kay‑four on‑line.

He forced himself to concentrate on the mental display, while he kept checking the EDI and detectors for the first signs of the Parthindian defenders. Less than twelve minutes later, he had both visual and full EDI on the Mogulate defenses–and he didn’t like what he saw. There were close to forty hot‑scouts comprising a defense net with four energy‑screen hexagons, and all were lined up almost perfectly to block the Amaterasu ’s needles.

He mentally checked the options, scanned the offshoots, and pulsed to his flight, Kay‑four, course change follows... Execute... NOW!

The two quick heading changes would do nothing to the flight’s projected target release point, but they would change the angle of penetration of the defense screen–enough, Ghenji hoped, to allow a successful torp release. He wasn’t so sure about whether they could correct enough afterwards, assuming they did penetrate, to regain a departure vector that would allow successful recovery.

There were no real gaps in the defense screens, not given the speeds and vectors involved, and Ghenji angled his needle toward the lowest energy concentration level in the screens with the least course deviation possible. Then, just in the nanosecond when the needle impacted the screens, the system shifted all power to ablation and defense.

The needle was through the Mogulate defenses, and nothing lay between it and the second hollowed‑out asteroid.

Ghenji released all four torps.

In his mental display, ahead of him, his screens showed far fewer energy lines impacting the Parthindian installation than during the first mission and, behind him, far greater numbers of energy flares that had once been Republic attack needles.

At that instant, the EDI screen blanked in overload protection. Nearly simultaneously, the needle bucked and shuddered–and the diversion screens crumbled. That was trouble. At the velocities his needle carried, anything at all that struck the needle could now turn it into a mass of scrap composite and metal.

A second shudder rattled the needle, and Ghenji couldn’t help but wince as fire shot through his back and down both legs. Then... he felt nothing below his waist. Nothing, not heat or chill.

Ignoring what he couldn’t do anything about, Ghenji forced himself to study the needle’s diagnostics. The shield generators had already gone red. The converter blinked amber, then red, and stored power reserves running down, barely enough for a return to the Amaterasu on residual velocity.

He funneled almost all the remaining power into the steering drives, trying to get the needle back at least close to the departure vector for rendezvous with the Amaterasu. If he didn’t get close enough, then injuries and habitability didn’t matter.

The fading screens did show him that the mission had been successful–where the second installation had been was a rapidly expanding mass of energy and mass. Then, needle system after system began to shut down.

Ghenji quickly cross‑checked his departure vector against the projected track of the Amaterasu. Close... but was it close enough?

There were no other needles from flight four that had made it through, and the close‑screens didn’t show any needle nearby enough to slave to. On his courseline and velocity, ETA with the Amaterasu was a good forty‑three minutes away. And something like forty would be without power.

He triggered a burst comm. Sunbase control, kay‑four lead, all systems red, on track for pick up. ETA plus forty‑three. Will activate beacon. Mission accomplished.

Within less than five minutes, he could feel the chill beginning to creep above his waist, a sure sign of far greater damage to his needle and armor–and himself–than he’d realized. He hated the idea, but there was no help for it. He triggered the emergency suspension system.

As the cold rose around him, the shakes and shivers began, if only in his upper body, and he could not move. Somewhere in the mist beyond, there was the face of a woman with flowing white hair and skin as white as porcelain, and lips like cherries appeared above him.

“Speak of this to no one else, and you will be spared eternal winter,” she said, and bestowed a chilling kiss upon him–and the ice encased him with whiteness.

VIII

Ghenji blinked as the cocoon opened, and Rokujo smiled at him, bending down and brushing his lips with hers–warm and merely apple‑red, rather than chill and cherry red.

“You gave even me quite a bit of trouble,” she murmured, “but you’ll be fine.”

“You’re not... ” He remembered the words of the snow‑woman in white–so like, if not identical to Rokujo–and he forced a smile.

“I am what I am, and you have a very good memory, for which I’m grateful.” She kissed him gently once more. “Besides, you really don’t believe in those ancient legends, do you?” Her white eyebrows arched, just slightly, but sinuously.

This time, after her kiss, his body and blood did not turn to ice.