Eating Memories by Patricia Anthony Read Free Book Online

good, so the hand slipped off, down past his chin, dragging his lip open for a minute.
    “Good kid,” Larry said. “Good kid.”
    “Good kid,” Sweet Tooth told him. Then he said, “Home’s going away now.”
    “Yeah?” Larry said, wrapping his arm around Sweet Tooth’s shoulders. It stayed put this time.
    “Martingale got the ship stabilized, but we still have a lot of lateral motion.” Jean was looking at Larry, but Larry was eyeing Sweet Tooth. He had a silly smile on his mouth.
    “Martingale’s stupid, isn’t he, kid?” Larry asked.
    “Martingale calls me stupid,” Sweet Tooth told him. Larry’s arm was a little heavy on his shoulder. The heavy arm pulled Sweet Tooth’s face real close to Larry’s so that Larry spoke into his ear.
    “Right in here,” Larry said, rubbing the knuckles of his other hand into Sweet Tooth’s forehead, “is everything a bee knows. So you can’t ever be stupid, Sweet Tooth. You’re a genius of a bee who just looks like a human. That’s all. A bee genius.”
    “A genius,” Sweet Tooth said. He didn’t know what it meant, but it sounded nice.
    The ship went “clang” and rocked a little, but Larry had his shoulder harness on, so it was all right. Jean, who didn’t have anyone’s arm around her, fell off her knees a little way to the floor. She didn’t hurt herself. It wasn’t that big a bump.
    “I’d better get back,” Jean said.
    Larry eyes were closing. “Right.” Then he gave Sweet Tooth one big squeeze. “You take it, kid. You get us home, okay?”
    “Get you home,” Sweet Tooth told him. He got up. Jean got up with him. Larry looked real small in his seat. And real sleepy.
    “I know you will,” Larry said.
    They left Larry sitting there and went back to the bridge. Martingale looked upset. “Get Dunaway in here.”
    “Dunaway’s dead,” Jean told him.
    “Real sick,” Sweet Tooth said.
    “And Goldblum?” Martingale ignored Sweet Tooth. He always did.
    “His leg’s broken. I gave him some painkillers. He’s resting now.”
    “You mean I’m left to pilot this ship with a planetologist and an idiot savant?” Martingale’s voice got bigger and bigger until he shouted out the last part of what he said.
    “Idiot,” Sweet Tooth whispered. He wasn’t feeling happy anymore,
    “Shut up, Martingale, Don’t call him that.” Jean reached out to touch Sweet Tooth on the shoulder, but it didn’t take the pain away.
    “What should I call him, huh?”
    “A recombinant. That’s what he’s called. A recombinant. Or you can call him by his name.”
    “He doesn’t have a name. He has a number,”
    “You know what I mean.”
    Martingale looked at his console a long time. “Okay,” he said after a while, “Sweet Tooth, Where’s home now?”
    Sweet Tooth shuffled his feet for a minute. Martingale made him feel like he wanted to run away.
    “Come on, goddamn it! This is what you’re here, for! Where’s home?” Martingale’s eyes came up from the console and met Sweet Tooth’s. There was a sort of burning thing in them, like the burning thing that whipped between Jupiter and Io.
    Sweet Tooth pointed. Home wasn’t going away any more, but it was real small. Smaller than he’d ever felt it.
    Martingale moved a lever. The ship did a thing like Sweet Tooth’s body did when it was cold. It started to move, but it wasn’t moving right. Home was under the floor now.
    “No, no, Bill,” Sweet Tooth said. He jumped up and down a little. The ship moving made him excited, but moving the way it was moving made him nervous.
    Martingale stopped the ship again. He put his hands over his face.
    “Home’s far, Jean,” Sweet Tooth told her, feeling real bad about everything, about Larry, about Dunaway, about how Martingale and Jean were looking upset.
    “How far?” Martingale asked.
    Sweet Tooth spread his arms apart wide, so wide he felt the stretch in his chest “Far,” he told him.
    “Okay,” Martingale’s eyes went right through his