“But I’m leaving soon.”

“I know.”

Past her shoulder I could see through the restaurant’s window the gaudy crescent of Saturn hanging low on the horizon, the thin line of its rings slicing through its bulging middle. Closer to the horizon the sky of Titan was its usual smoggy orange overcast.

The starship was parked in orbit up there, waiting for us to finish our final preparations and board it.

“We’ll be gone for twenty years,” I said.

“To the Sirius system. I know.”

“It’s a long voyage.”

“Not as long as some we’ve already made, Orion,” she said, “or others we will make someday.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain it during the voyage.” She smiled again. “We’ll have plenty of time to remember everything then.”

My heart leaped in my chest. “You’re going too?”

“Of course.” She laughed. “We’ve endured the collapse and rebirth of the universe, Orion. We have shared many lives and many deaths. I’m not going to be separated from you now.”

“But I haven’t seen you at any of the crew briefings. You’re not on the list…”

“I am now. We will journey out to the stars together, my beloved. We have a long and full lifetime ahead of us. And perhaps even more than that.”

I leaned across the table and kissed her lips. My loneliness was ended, at last. I could face anything in the world now. I was ready to challenge the universe.

BOOK I:TROY

Chapter 1

THE slash of a whip across my bare back brought me to full awareness. “Pull, you big ox! Stop your daydreaming or you’ll think Zeus’s thunderbolts are landing on your shoulders!”

I was sitting on a rough wooden bench along the gunwale of a long, wallowing boat, a heavy oar in my hands. No, not an oar. A paddle. We were rowing hard, under a hot high sun. I could see the sweat streaming down the emaciated ribs and spine of the man in front of me. There were welts across his nut-brown skin.