"I didn't say I was an atheist," she says quietly. Daddy'd be so disappointed if that was the case--provided everything they learned from the Bible turns out true, anyway. If it doesn't, he'll never know.

The way they think about it on Barrayar is interesting, though. Realistic, too, no matter what God turns out to be. Beth tilts her head. "What about when there's no more family? What happens to your spirit then?"

Everyone dies eventually. Families die out, too--maybe slower here than at home, but eventually there won't be Vorrutyers and Vorbarras and all the others.