Chapters 9-12 Summary

By autumn, Emilio is taking care of himself and using the latest in voice recognition software to study radio data from Rakhat. He is interrupted when little Celestina brings him a guinea pig, her mother Gina apologizing. Emilio gently explains that he is too old to accept Celestina's marriage proposal and names his new pet, hopefully, Elizabeth after the Virgin Queen. Emilio explains that with no allowance for travel at near light speed, he is old enough for a Jesuit pension and that he is leaving the priesthood. Celestina embarrasses the adults by suggesting that they marry and Emilio specifies that the civilian clothes Gina agrees to buy for him not be black. Emilio connects with his new trainees mostly through cyberspace while he and Elizabeth contentedly make do on their own.

Chapter 10 returns to the storm-drenched Pon River on Rakhat...