Chapter 10

I booked us ringside seats at the Polynesian Luau, riding high on a freshround of sympathy Whuffie, and Dan and I drank a dozen lapu-lapus inhollowed-out pineapples before giving up on the idea of getting drunk.
Jeanine watched the fire-dances and the torch-lighting with eyes likesaucers, and picked daintily at her spare ribs¹ with one hand, never avertingher attention from the floor show. When they danced the fast hula,her eyes jiggled. I chuckled².
From where we sat, I could see the spot where I’d waded³ into theSeven Seas Lagoon⁴ and breathed in the blood-temp water, I could seeCinderella’s Castle, across the lagoon, I could see the monorails and theferries and the busses making their busy way through the Park, shuttlingteeming masses of guests from place to place. Dan toasted me with hispineapple and I toasted him back, drank it dry and belched⁵ insatisfaction.
Full belly⁶, good friends, and the sunset behind a troupe⁷ of tawny⁸, halfnakedhula dancers. Who needs the Bitchun Society, anyway?
When it was over, we watched the fireworks from the beach, my toesdug into the clean white sand. Dan slipped his hand into my left hand,and Jeanine took my right. When the sky darkened and the lightedbarges puttered away through the night, we three sat in the hammock.
I looked out over the Seven Seas Lagoon and realized that this was mylast night, ever, in Walt Disney World. It was time to reboot again, startafresh. That’s what the Park was for, only somehow, this visit, I’d gottenstuck. Dan had unstuck me.
The talk turned to Dan’s impending⁹ death.
“So, tell me what you think of this,” he said, hauling away on a glowingcigarette.
“Shoot,” I said.
133“I’m thinking—why take lethal¹⁰ injection? I mean, I may be done herefor now, but why should I make an irreversible decision?”
“Why did you want to before?” I asked.
“Oh, it was the macho thing, I guess. The finality and all. But hell, Idon’t have to prove anything, right?”
“Sure,” I said, magnanimously.
“So,” he said, thoughtfully. “The question I’m asking is, how long canI deadhead for? There are folks who go down for a thousand years, tenthousand, right?”
“So, you’re thinking, what, a million?” I joked.
He laughed. “A million? You’re thinking too small, son. Try this on forsize: the heat death of the universe.”
“The heat death of the universe,” I repeated.
“Sure,” he drawled, and I sensed his grin in the dark. “Ten to the hundredyears or so. The Stelliferous Period—it’s when all the black holeshave run dry and things get, you know, stupendously dull. Cold, too. SoI’m thinking—why not leave a wake-up call for some time aroundthen?”
“Sounds unpleasant to me,” I said. “Brrrr.”
“Not at all! I figure, self-repairing nano-based canopic jar, massenough to feed it—say, a trillion-ton asteroid—and a lot of solitude¹¹ whenthe time comes around. I’ll poke¹² my head in every century or so, just tosee what’s what, but if nothing really stupendous crops up, I’ll take thelong ride out. The final frontier.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Jeanine said.
“Thanks,” Dan said.
“You’re not kidding, are you?” I asked.
“Nope, I sure ain’t,” he said.
They didn’t invite me back into the ad-hoc, even after Debra left inWhuffie-penury and they started to put the Mansion¹³ back the way itwas. Tim called me to say that with enough support from Imagineering,they thought they could get it up and running in a week. Suneep wasready to kill someone, I swear. A house divided against itself cannotstand, as Mr. Lincoln used to say at the Hall of Presidents.
134I packed three changes of clothes and a toothbrush in my shoulderbagand checked out of my suite¹⁴ at the Polynesian at ten a.m., then met Jeanineand Dan at the valet parking out front. Dan had a runabout he’dpicked up with my Whuffie, and I piled in with Jeanine in the middle.
We played old Beatles tunes¹⁵ on the stereo all the long way to CapeCanaveral. Our shuttle lifted at noon.
The shuttle docked four hours later, but by the time we’d beenthrough decontam and orientation¹⁶, it was suppertime. Dan, nearly asWhuffie-poor as Debra after his confession¹⁷, nevertheless treated us to ameal in the big bubble, squeeze-tubes of heady booze and steaky paste,and we watched the universe get colder for a while.
There were a couple guys jamming, tethered to a guitar and a set oftubs, and they weren’t half bad.
Jeanine was uncomfortable hanging there naked. She’d gone to spacewith her folks after Dan had left the mountain, but it was in a long-haulgeneration ship. She’d abandoned it after a year or two and deadheadedback to Earth in a support-pod. She’d get used to life in space after awhile. Or she wouldn’t.
“Well,” Dan said.
“Yup,” I said, aping his laconic¹⁸ drawl. He smiled.
“It’s that time,” he said.
Spheres of saline tears formed in Jeanine’s eyes, and I brushed themaway, setting them adrift in the bubble. I’d developed some real tender,brother-sister type feelings for her since I’d watched her saucer-eye herway through the Magic Kingdom. No romance—not for me, thanks! Butcamaraderie and a sense of responsibility.
“See you in ten to the hundred,” Dan said, and headed to the airlock. Istarted after him, but Jeanine caught my hand.
“He hates long good-byes,” she said.
“I know,” I said, and watched him go.
The universe gets older. So do I. So does my backup, sitting in redundantdistributed storage dirtside, ready for the day that space or age orstupidity kills me. It recedes¹⁹ with the years, and I write out my lifelonghand, a letter to the me that I’ll be when it’s restored into a clonesomewhere, somewhen. It’s important that whoever I am then knowsabout this year, and it’s going to take a lot of tries for me to get it right.
135In the meantime, I’m working on another symphony, one with a littlebit of “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” and a nod to “It’s a Small World AfterAll,” and especially “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.”
Jeanine says it’s pretty good, but what does she know? She’s barelyfifty.
We’ve both got a lot of living to do before we know what’s what.

The End

1 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

2 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

3 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

4 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

5 belched   

v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气）

参考例句：

• He wiped his hand across his mouth, then belched loudly. 他用手抹了抹嘴，然后打了个响亮的饱嗝。
• Artillery growled and belched on the horizon. 大炮轰鸣在地平面上猛烈地爆炸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

7 troupe   

n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团

参考例句：

• The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
• The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。

8 tawny   

adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色

参考例句：

• Her black hair springs in fine strands across her tawny,ruddy cheek.她的一头乌发分披在健康红润的脸颊旁。
• None of them noticed a large,tawny owl flutter past the window.他们谁也没注意到一只大的、褐色的猫头鹰飞过了窗户。

9 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

10 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

11 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

12 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

13 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

14 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

15 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

17 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

18 laconic   

adj.简洁的；精练的

参考例句：

• He sent me a laconic private message.他给我一封简要的私人函件。
• This response was typical of the writer's laconic wit.这个回答反映了这位作家精练简明的特点。

19 recedes   

v.逐渐远离( recede的第三人称单数 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• For this reason the near point gradually recedes as one grows older. 由于这个原因，随着人渐渐变老，近点便逐渐后退。 来自辞典例句
• Silent, mournful, abandoned, broken, Czechoslovakia recedes into the darkness. 缄默的、悲哀的、被抛弃的、支离破碎的捷克斯洛伐克，已在黑暗之中。 来自辞典例句