62.Life in the Clouds

Howard returns home to his apartment in Tantor, a cloud city on the gas giant Big Top orbiting Epsilon Eridani. Over martinis, Bridget raises the possibility of adopting orphaned children from recent disasters, challenging Howard's assumptions about what is appropriate for artificial beings.

Howard arrives at his and Bridget's apartment in Tantor and prepares drinks while Bridget works on a species taxonomy for native Quilt life. They discuss the city's name (a mangled literary reference), the success of cloud cities in drawing population away from Quilt's dangerous surface ecosystem, and Bridget's observation that new predatory species seem to evolve constantly. When Howard makes a dismissive comment, Bridget pivots to ask if he has considered adoption. Howard spills his drink in surprise. After cleaning up, Bridget explains that shuttle disasters and the inherent dangers of frontier life have created many orphaned children across the colonies—Vulcan, Romulus, and others—and that governments are establishing departments to address the problem. She argues that they are official citizens with friends, club memberships, and tax obligations, challenging Howard's reflexive objection that they are machines. Howard realizes he has no coherent logical objection, though his emotional response is resistance. Bridget assures him he need not decide immediately and smiles knowingly, leaving Howard certain that adoption is inevitable.