The Man between my crosshairs (girl X assassin)

Chapter 30/What are best friends for?

When they got back to Archigram Cathy pulled Zoe to one side.

"Ryder just dumped me," said Cathy.

Zoe tried to look shocked "that's really terrible."

"I need a drink, do you want to join me. I'm sorry to do this to you. I'm just falling apart and my best friend isn't around" said Cathy clearly on the verge of tears.

"Sure," said Zoe "where is your best friend?"

"Oh," said Cathy casually "she died a hundred and fifty years ago."

So it was that Zoe found herself being pulled along to an expensive bar called The Metropolis. It was tiny the tables hung on bars from the ceiling. The whole place was so much like eveywhere in Archigram. Meticulously elegant in its design, and at least six times smaller than it had any right to be. No scrap of space was wasted,  the off-planet grown wood, warm and smooth to the touch everything about it spoke of a serene place.

They both fumed at Ryder, Cathy because she had just been dropped faster than a rock through wet tissue. Zoe because she had seen him making out with Alux. And while she knew this was all about the mission she felt dislocated like an Eskimo in an igloo walking out into the Sahara desert. Shot follow shot.

"So who was your best friend?" Zoe said holding a glass of gin in her hand. She looked around, worried in case Ryder might use this as an opportunity to slice her. The bar they were in was small, the tables tiny and high up. You could either stand or sit at a tall table. All designed so that as many people as possible could fit in to the tiny space.

"Ada.. She .. well we met while I was doing my degree in MegaStructure Engineering at University, you know orbit elevators, planet rings, space colonies that kind of stuff.  We shared a room together." Cathy said.

Zoe took a sip "What happened to her?"

"Huh?" Cathy added. 

Zoe dropped into bluntness "How did she die?"

Cathy sipped her drink "Old age. She was ninety four. I remember visiting her in hospital towards the end. She was a little woozy on the drugs and at first she thought I was a grandchild for a while. She was so pleased I had come. I remember sitting on her bed. This old wrinkled thing talking and laughing like we had done at college. She remembered our college days together more clearly than she could remember what she had done last week. She reminded me about when we had to build this model bridge to carry a fixed weight and make it as light as possible. She remembered Harry who became her second husband falling on our beautiful bridge. Turns out the second bridge was better than the first. We won... Strange... I could never quite figure out when she had become an old lady. There all gone now. Harry, Ada, Judy, Ricky, Obenwai , Tundi. all gone.. all dead... left behind like the dreams of yesterdays tears. No matter how hard you try there are some things you can't get used to. Sometimes I get a mail from a great grandchild asking what her great great grandmother was like. I talk to them. Not so much now. I've lost contact with their families."

"Must be tough," Zoe said. They both took another drink.

"Yeah - I knew we couldn't be together forever. I thought Ryder was OK about me being you know..."

Zoe smiled "immortal."

"Yeah " Cathy pressed a button a robot arm came over. It was running on tracks from the ceiling. "Another one," said Cathy. The arm disappeared and came back with a bottle of gin. It paused. 

"I'm still standing," Cathy said. It and poured another shot for each of them. 

Zoe took another sip. "You never wanted kids?"