（外文电子版资料）TITAN-JohnVarley_ch24_ch.docVIP

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Cirocco had given up on having opinions. You know what? she asked, feeling more than a little giddy. If somebody said right now that Ringmaster had never left Earth orbit, that this whole thing had been staged in a Hollywood backlot, I dont think Id bat an eye. A perfectly natural reaction, Gaea soothed. She was waddling around the room, getting a glass of wine for Gaby and a double shot of Scotch on the rocks for Cirocco, straightening paintings, brushing dust from tables with the ragged hem of her skirt. Gaea was short and squat, built like a barrel. Her skin was weathered and brown. She had a nose like a potato. But there were laugh lines at the corners of her eyes and her sensuous mouth. Cirocco tried to place the face, giving her mind something to do while she studiously avoided making theories. W.C. Fields? No, only the nose qualified for the role. Then she had it. Gaea looked a lot like Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII. Gaby and Cirocco sat on opposite ends of a slightly frayed couch. Gaea put a glass on the end table beside, each of them, then huffed across the room to hoist heir bulk into a high-backed chair. She wheezed, and laced her fingers in her lap. Ask me anything, she said, and leaned forward expectantly. Cirocco and Gaby looked at each other, then back at Gaea. There was a short silence. You speak English, Cirocco said. Thats not a question. How do you speak English? Where did you learn it? I watch television. Cirocco knew what she wanted to ask next, but didnt know if she should. Suppose this creature was the last remnant of the builders of Gaea? She had seen no proof that Gaea was actually one organism, as April had said it was, but it was possible this person thought she was a Goddess. What about all that ... that show outsider Gaby asked. Gaea dismissed it with a wave. All done with mirrors, dear. Mere sleight-of-hand. She glanced at her lap, then looked sheepish. “I wanted to scare you off if