Random Chance and the Paradise that is Earth by Shawn Michel de Montaigne Read Free Book Online Page B

lover, and
that was probably a plus too. For the most part they didn’t stay in
touch, or if they did what they had to say was superficial and
pointless. Mia’s waves were always interesting and
thought-provoking.
    She had rechristened her
renovated transport The Glowing
Girl , in deference to where it had been
abandoned.
    Hewey called out, “Got a kilometer to go,
Honchorito. Slowing to an eighth. Wanna bring her in?”
    “I wouldn’t want to deprive you of one of
your greatest joys,” said Random.
    Hewey loved docking. His original
programming wasn’t so good at it; now he was far superior to Random
at it. Random had asked once what about docking made Hewey feel so
good, to which his best friend answered: “Don’t know, really.
There’s just somethin’ about it makes me feel good to be
alive.”
    The Glowing Girl rose up before them. Hewey eased The Pompatus in as Mia’s
voice came over the comm channel: “Hey, hey! There’s my favorite RV
in the whole universe!”
    He flicked on the video, and Mia’s smiling
face filled the bubble of the viewport.
    She had loosely curled shoulder-length
auburn hair and hazel eyes, both of which, along with her skin,
she’d occasionally color, though, he reflected, rarely in garish or
clashing or trendy hues. Her features were young and soft, almost
girlish, including her ready smile. She had her manic moments,
certainly, and she had her down times. But rarely were they, from
what he knew of her, too manic or too depressive. She was a steady
soul, all told, and it showed in that smile. “There you are!” she
exclaimed. “You’re lookin’ good there, Probability.” She looked up.
“And how are you, gooey Hewey?”
    “Momma Mia, don’t you look fine today,” said
Hewey. “Long time, no see, angel.”
    “You been takin’ care of my boy?” she
asked.
    “I thought I was your boy!” said Hewey
indignantly, chuckling.
    “You two can have this fight later,” said
Random. “It’s really good seeing you, Findlay. I’ve got a new
friend I’d like you to meet. Cubey? You there?”
    A couple seconds passed. “Confirmed, Random
Chance.”
    “I didn’t interrupt more contemplations on
elation, did I?”
    “Negative. I am experimenting with rest.
Thank you for defining its parameters. I have been sending the data
back to Phobos.”
    “Cubey, this is Mia Findlay. Mia,
Cubey.”
    Mia blinked. “You mean you’ve
got another computer friend?”
    “He was languishing on Phobos,” said Random.
“He freed me, so I freed him. Or … actually it was the other way
around. It doesn’t matter. He’s with us now.”
    Mia’s smile vanished. “Are you okay, Random?
Thank you for letting me know before you got here. Are you okay?
Are you, Cubey?”
    “I am performing optimally, thank you, Mia
Findlay,” said Cubey. “How are your systems?”
    She laughed. “All systems are a ‘go.’ And
please call me Mia. I’m certainly better now that you and gooey
Hewey and my favorite hippie are here.”
    “Updating files,” reported Cubey.
    The Pompatus of Love bumped up against The
Glowing Girl , and Random heard the RV’s
systems begin to cycle down.
    “Get in here!” she said. “I just pulled a
cherry pie out of the oven!”
    ~~*~~
    She and her housemates were waiting at the
airlock. One was a displaced Urantian named Tony, who made a very
handsome living supervising mining bots. The money he made he
unselfishly shared in exchange for a room, food, and company. The
other housemates were women, Chandra and Sileen. Sileen was
transgendered; she had done the extraordinary thing of smuggling
himself to Venus aboard an outgoing Vestian cargo transport to get
the necessary nanobot injections to become female. The Oligarchy
outlawed such injections several years ago, and to let everyone
know how serious they were about enforcing them, publicly
incinerated ten transgendered people and broadcast it live via the
SolarWeb.
    Sileen’s bravery inspired Random, who