Lucy put her hand on Dan’s. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. To her surprise, Dan looked up and smiled. ‘We’ve been a good team,’ he said. ‘We’ve helped each other to get to where we are, and now I guess we’re ready to move right on.’
Lucy leaned across and kissed him lightly, and at that very moment, Nettie, The Journalist and Leovinus walked in the door.
By the time they had persuaded the Oxford constabulary that Leovinus was not an illegal immigrant (even though technically speaking he was) it was well after half past one o’clock. By the time Nettie had been able to shower off all the intoxicating Yassaccan perfume, it was half past two. And by the time they had found Lucy and Dan, the deadline was well past. They all slumped in front of their coffees and nobody said a word, until Nettie suddenly looked up.
Listen!’ said Nettie. ‘It’s no good us all just sitting here like burnt toast. I know there’s not much point, but I suggest we go back to where we left the Starship in orbit – just in case – they may have left something – or somebody may have got left behind – or – I don’t know what. All I know is I won’t be happy until I’ve seen it’s not there.’
‘You are so charming, dear lady,’ said Leovinus, ‘and possess such a fine mind.’ It would hard to say who was more jealous – Lucy or Dan. Neither of them said a word however and there followed a short argument about the futileness of doing what Nettie had suggested, which seemed about to segue into a discussion about the futility of existence itself, until Nettie cut it short. ‘Well I’m going. Will you take me, The?’
Strangely enough they all felt more cheerful as they took off in the tiny landing craft. The illusion of doing something, no matter how useless, is always good for the psyche. They roared up into the stratosphere and there, with the Earth rolling beneath them – a wonderful ball of real life – they suddenly saw another, even more wonderful sight. An astonishing sight. A sight that made them cheer and shout and kiss each other.
And Dan found himself kissing Nettie and being kissed back by Nettie and then kissing Nettie again and then she was kissing old Leovinus and Dan reminded himself that she had rejected him before and there was no point in being hurt again… And then he suddenly remembered the sight – the wonderful sight that had made them all cheer and start kissing each other in the first place: over the Earth’s glowing blue and white shoulder heaved the immense and fabulous shape of the Starship Titanic!
‘Of course!’ yelled Nettie. ‘We’re idiots! Captain Bolfass said we had half a day but he was talking about Dormillion days!’ She checked her watch. ‘We’ve still got twenty minutes to go!’
Leovinus gazed into her beautiful face. Her eyelids fluttered, and slowly she opened her lovely eyes and gazed back at him. He had slipped the missing cerebral artery – the central intelligence core – into Titania’s brain as gently as he could. He knew the shudder of life that would run through her would bring both joy and pain, as unused neurons and dormant cybernetic pathways pulsed into new life.
‘Titania!’ whispered the old man. ‘I still love you.’
Nettie, Dan and the others gasped as the beautiful creature raised her head off the floor, leant up on one elbow, and then – her hair spilling around her shoulders – rose majestically, powerfully and sat as she had always been designed to sit, with her chin resting thoughtfully upon her hand. Titania had come to life and the Starship Titanic was finally complete.
At once Nettie felt a change in the Starship – as if a powerful and benign presence were watching over them all – a presence that was hugely intelligent, kind, wise, caring, serene, warm… Nettie squeezed Dan’s hand.
‘Dan,’ she said. ‘Would you kiss me again?’
And that, really, is the end of the story. Captain Bolfass, Lucy and The Journalist were able to disarm the bomb as soon as Titania came to life – much to the bomb’s relief; it had never really wanted to explode.