Time Enough For Love

CODA-IV

Ira! Galahad! Got him?"

Yes! Hoist us in! Oh, what a mess! Ish, about two liters and lots of jelly."

Get him inside and let me see him. Lor, you can get us out of here now."

Seal up, Dora, and bounce it!"

"Sealed and zooming! Screens down! What the goddamn hell have they done to Boss?"

"I'm trying to find out, Dora. Be ready with the tank; I may freeze him."

"Ready now, Ish. Laz-Lor, I told you we should pick him up sooner. I told you."

"Pipe down, Dora. We told him he'd get his ass shot off. But he was having more fun than kittens-"

"-and wouldn't have thanked us-"

"-and wouldn't have come-"

"-you know how stubborn he is."

"Tamara," said Ishtar, "cuddle his head and talk to him. Keep him alive. I don't want to freeze him-if at all-until I've made temporary repairs. Hamadryad, clamp there! Mm

Galahad, one slug hit. the Finder. That's how his intestines got so chopped up."

"Clone-trans?"

"Perhaps. The way he regenerates, repair and support may be enough. Justin, you were right; the dates on his letters did prove that he didn't last through it; losing the Finder's signal pinpointed when and where. Galahad, are you finding more fragments? I want to close him. Tamara, rouse him, make him talk! I don't want to have to freeze him. The rest of you shut up and get out! Go help Minerva with the children."

"Glad to," Justin said hoarsely. "I'm about to throw up."

"Maureen?" Lazarus murmured.

"I'm here, darling," Tamara answered, cradling his head against her breasts.

"Bad...dream. Thought...I was...dead."

"Just a dream, Beloved. You cannot die."