26
When you meet back with Kosmo, he's hanging around the visitor's lounge of the G81 embassy, talking to his own version of Aria on his tablet. His takes a male appearance, but he's made the face the same shade of chrome as his own synthetic skin.
"—you gotta be kidding me, I'm not doing that—Oh, hey Enol!" he says. "Let's go deal with the botanists."
The pair of you bound along the inside of a tube connecting the wall of the dome to a nearby tower. A kilometer below, you can just about make out the traffic of carts down on the ground. With six times less gravity than on Earth and no wind, they can make the buildings as tall as they want in Moltke. The top of the tower is a rooftop garden. Plants spread out down the whole north face of the tower, which is placed among the other buildings in a pattern that maximizes its share of sunshine.
You walk through an olive grove and you hear the sound of argument. Through the foliage, you spot a man and a woman, both in their early 30s, both redheaded with freckled faces. The pair have English accents. They're dressed in overalls, hair tucked back, with heavy gloves on. It's clear that they're siblings.
"—even if I went to Pluto, it wouldn't be far enough away!" the man shouts. "I've had it up to here with your meddling!"
"My meddling?" the woman replies. "you're the one who told Emmeline about—"
"—your affair? She needed to know!" the man snaps back.
"Well, Chen needed to be warned about you and—" The woman suddenly stops short and lowers her tone. "I think we've got company…."
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