Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    S I, the Trilogy
    S I, the Trilogy
    S I, the Trilogy
    Ebook1,547 pages23 hours

    S I, the Trilogy

    By Sharon L Reddy

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This book is huge, but it's one very fast-paced story and I prefer selling it as a unit to selling it as three books. Don't try to read yourself to sleep with this one. It's a real page-turner.

    The Supreme Court Justices said "Here, you at least seem to have some questions to go with all the answers raining down on us." S.I. isn't an undercover assignment. It's the most dangerous secret there is. But just catching the bad guys isn't enough, the attitude that allowed the Black Crow to almost 'own' them all had to be changed.

    Sharon Reddy:
    "This one has an eight-year-old firebrand and "Big Daddy," Alan Parker, as they build the attitude that supports justice. It's the transition piece, about fourteen years. He's the clan father. It's what his literary prodigy daughter wanted. The SI, no dots. It's fun. Really makes your brain run fast, if you read fast. I write happy endings. The good guys win. The cultures in this one were fun. The bestowed identities and Randy, the computer personality program, were a blast to write. Honcho, Sniffs, Pinks and Bubbles Quick. Pinks wears white. People keep trying to get him dirty. King of the Bar, a friendly brawl in places nothing is broken. Oh, the reason people stagger a few feet and fall over laughing, is they're trying to figure out how they're related, after the adoptions. Lots of design elements in this, and gourmet cooking. Some movie making and riding a dragon. And...:"

    About books by Sharon L Reddy, reviewers said:

    recluse:
    "The author is a fine wordsmith who possesses a marvelous imagination."

    Raven's Reviews:
    "...unique, fast-paced style ...allows one to read almost as fast as one can think."
    "...romantic brain-candy... If you like almost any kind of men at all, you'll like hers..."

    Mistress of the Dark Path:
    "...you will also notice your mind is stimulated."
    "...designed for a more educated and worldly crowd."

    R. Cagle:
    "I got hooked immediately."

    Marji Holt:
    "The characters came out of the books and into my dreams."

    Twenty-four titles. Start your collection today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSharon L Reddy
    Release dateJun 7, 2011
    ISBN9781583385579
    S I, the Trilogy
    Author

    Sharon L Reddy

    I write science fiction romance, but it's the literary definition of romance. Swashbuckle, Baby, in "white tie and tails." High romantic fantasies, million word mysteries, family sagas, statesmen, gurus and wise immortals. Loving dads, sons and brothers, and of course, the women who understand and appreciate them. High fashion and landscape design. Materials and art, the books are built to be read very fast, specifically for the way women visualize. Research on the soap operas of the fifties, trends in international populist (fan) fiction, technological development, and above all, long-term entertainment value. It has to be good in reruns. The intent is create a body of work that's just fun to read, in spurts or bursts over decades. Ethics, responsibility, nobless oblige, the power of money, the use of prestige. I write good guys win. Period. They're fantasies for women. Men with lots of muscle say, "I love you," a lot.Most of what is currently published was written in the first decade, 1991-1999, before Mother Nature changed my personal definition of "mature audience." I hope you'll remain with me as I and my work mature and enjoy the second decade of my work now being published, as well.I've lived many places and visited far more. My current residence is on a high mesa in New Mexico, in the United States, where I am engaged in a habitat restoration project.Explanation of the Pilots Group:Some of these works have been sitting on my hard drive close to twenty years and they're no fun for anyone just sitting there. They're exactly what they've been titled, pilots, like for a TV series. It is my intent and hope that other writers will choose to continue the adventures of the characters. There are only three restrictions. Don't kill off my heroes, don't make good guys bad guys and give my story credit if you publish. Yes, you may publish and make money on your stories. I loved reading and writing fan fiction, but the limitations on it could be frustrating, so... Have fun with these works that specifically don't have them.

    Read more from Sharon L Reddy

    Related to S I, the Trilogy

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      My Gangfight On The Buses

      Jan 12, 2022

      My Gangfight On The Buses
      3 min read

    • Article

      Before You Melt Into The Sea

      Feb 3, 2022

      Before You Melt Into The Sea
      11 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Prose II

      May 15, 2020

      Perfect Prose II
      4 min read

    • Article

      HUNTING With The Ellements…

      Sep 13, 2021

      HUNTING With The Ellements…
      19 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Apr 27, 2022

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Beach Bodies

      Jul 14, 2021

      Beach Bodies
      6 min read

    • Article

      Death Or Glory

      Jan 4, 2022

      Death Or Glory
      7 min read

    • Article

      Novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson: ‘Why Would You Put A Ceiling On Anyone?’

      Apr 30, 2023

      Chaotic conditions in Peckham: brolly-ruining wind, sudden showers, one of those afternoons when the weather apps show every symbol from sunshine to lightning and leave you to figure it out. Caleb Azumah Nelson, the 29-year-old author and artist whos

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Bargain

      Dec 10, 2022

      “Which one of you owns G2V3889?” Cygnus glided through a luminescent star field suspended in the center of an otherwise dark, oblong studio, then turned in a slow circle to survey the twenty Agents surrounding him. “Come on, speak up.” Vega shuddered

      16 min read

    • Article

      Wow, What A Day

      Aug 6, 2020

      Wow, What A Day
      10 min read

    • Article

      Hello, Grim Reaper

      Dec 15, 2021

      She was a babe. A fully paid-up, card-carrying babe. There was absolutely no doubt about it, and she was heading straight for me. She was almost sprinting towards me across the recently reimagined lobby of Claridge’s. She looked up, her scarlet-anoin

      3 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      Rock Hard

      Sep 10, 2020

      Rock Hard
      7 min read

    • Article

      Table Talk

      Sep 1, 2023

      Table Talk
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Shortest Day

      Oct 13, 2017

      The Shortest Day
      10 min read

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      Part 2 WHEN FISH FLY: The Revolt on the Slave Ship Creole

      Feb 1, 2022

      On October 25, 1841, twelve-year-old Pleasant Brown boards the Creole, a merchant slave ship sailing from Richmond to New Orleans with a “cargo” of enslaved men, women, and children. Although the United States had outlawed the trans-Atlantic slave tr

      7 min read

    • Article

      These Bad Things

      Dec 23, 2019

      These Bad Things
      9 min read

    • Article

      Brontez Purnell, Fiction

      Mar 21, 2018

      Brontez Purnell, Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Island

      Jun 4, 2018

      The Island
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Dividual

      Aug 10, 2021

      The first dividual I saw I was six, holding my uncle’s hand in immigrations. Ahead of us was a group of seven men and women, blue masks covering their heads and shoulders. They carried between them a pale violet tree trunk, its roots bundled in a bur

      22 min read

    • Article

      Crowning Glory

      Nov 26, 2022

      Crowning Glory
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Thin Place

      Nov 16, 2020

      We looked out of the window at the torrential rain. We’d booked tickets for the Castle’s Halloween event. The Castle was famous for being haunted by the ghost of its last court jester and made the most of this reputation every October, hosting a fair

      6 min read

    • Article

      Off The Scale

      Apr 29, 2022

      Off The Scale
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for S I, the Trilogy

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      S I, the Trilogy - Sharon L Reddy

      Prologue

      Old Basket Carver knew why he'd struck it rich. He hurried. He had very little time left to find his heirs and it was a twenty-two day journey. He wiped a tear from his cheek and smiled. Someone had decided he should be immortal. It was early, about two standard years. Someone had decided he should be immortal and his heirs were ready enough. He didn't know who of the people he loved had given him the 'old rockbusters dream.' He would change the universe.

      He gave his destination to busters who came in comm range along his course. There weren't many. The message, We love you, look there, had sent him a long way out of surveyed areas, out where there should have been nothing but dust and ice. Every buster he messaged understood he'd been chosen. All said, 'You deserve it.' They were all sure he'd make it, if he hurried.

      A man on Balkan stopped in the middle of a chess move. His daughter watched his face until he set the chess piece down.

      Daddy?

      I'm sure I'm going to be mowing the lawn.

      You think it's your turn or you wouldn't have bet that on everything.

      True. However, an it's-about-time-oh-shit-whoopee feeling, and an image of galaxies turning, were odd accompaniment to I'm-going-to-be-mowing-the-lawn.

      It's about time.

      Sweetie, if you wished it for me, you may have overdone it.

      Daddy, I've known it was going to take a change in the universe to get you some oh-shit-whoopee since I was seven.

      Chapter One

      Gem March, holstered her stunners, hit the assists in her power gloves and shouldered the very muddy male. She already liked him. He'd done something that had gotten him the unwelcome attention of five 'paid trash' in the port. Her smile widened a bit when the something slipped out of the shadows. The too-slender boy looked about eleven. She knew he wasn't.

      Thank you. We could find no way to stop them. He would not listen to warning he should not ask questions.

      My kind of stubborn. Did you see where he came from?

      A ship, but it has gone. I am Korkassi. Clumelly brings the small bag he carried. We ask you take us with you. We offer coordinates of planetary remains as payment for passage. Seven percent finder's fee will buy elements needed for dietary supplements for all in Pramtown.

      I need an adult to give consent to take you anywhere.

      There are none. All in Pramtown are children. We are not as young as we look. We are seventeen. We are a failed experiment. The settlers did not want us. We were five when Brancor abandoned the project. We have been cautious, but that one has shown they have begun to fear us. We cannot wait until we are adult. One who sought to aid us is badly injured. We cannot allow it again. There are twenty thousand of us. Brancor would find other use for us, if it learned all lived and are not permanently damaged.

      I'm too familiar with the shit the development companies do in the name of 'good commerce and intelligent planning' to be truly shocked, but it really pisses me off. I take seven percent. The rest goes to getting twenty thousand the dietary supplements needed and my cousin, Julius, as their attorney, in a suit that every good judge in space has been dreaming of for decades. My ship is Cassilde. I call her Cassy. Cassy, increase personnel monitor audio sensitivity. Note exact time of my meeting with Korkassi. I'm going to ask both boys to describe Pramtown and life in it. This recording is to be entered as evidence in legal proceedings.

      Gem held her wrist up. The two monitors in her suit were more sensitive than her chron comm, but it had a cam. The way the boys talked, the way the words were shaped, enunciation, intonation and grammar structure would be considered irrefutable proof of substandard, total computer, instruction, and no social contact with other human populations, by every linguistics expert who couldn't be bought. And this time, even those who could be bought wouldn't take the job.

      She mentally apologized to the fellow on her shoulder, if he'd had plans she was aborting. She was sure he'd forgive her for deciding he shouldn't be there as outlet for the people who were going to be very irritated. When Korkassi 'ran down,' she prompted the other boy, Clumelly, with a request for a description of how they'd gotten the coordinates for the planetary remains. She blinked back tears of gratitude, when he said they'd moved the old man from the street, when others left him to die where he'd fallen. They'd gotten him out of the port, out of the icy rain, cared for him and remained with him until his death, two days later, then buried him a pretty place.

      Gem reminded herself not to run again. The boys weren't exactly robust and the immediate recording was too important. Out of breath would give corp attorneys a point on which to challenge the validity. Then she remembered her friend, Shiv, hurling a glass against a wall, and yelling she knew better than to argue with her feeling about things, and it was tearing her apart. Gem stopped arguing. She knew better too, or she wouldn't have been wearing power-assist covalls and gloves. The boys didn't get left behind. She yelled, Rammer!

      Cassy swung the hatch open ahead of them and slammed it behind. She initiated liftoff, as soon as it sealed. Gem ran out of the lift, dropped the man on a couch and got to the control station, before the emergency lift program ended. She got Cassilde pointed the right direction, just before they got out of the gravity well and engaged translight drive as soon as it was relatively safe. Then she went to work making her point, a course. As she did, she just knew there would be a Space Safety office and Traffic Control the next time she came. She put in the coordinates, and smiled a bit wryly, as she checked the board. The universe had changed when she engaged Cassilde's star drive.

      Con opened his eyes when he heard himself groan. The kid with green eyes under a mop of dark curls, who he'd seen pitched two meters into a wall, was standing beside the couch he was on. Someone in prospector's gear was at a ship control station, beyond him. He knew he was in as bad condition as he thought by the length of time it took him to notice the someone was a beautiful woman. His view was suddenly obscured by the other boy, a little fellow with the fairest skin and lightest hair he'd ever seen. The worry in his pale blue eyes, as he gently touched his head, needed an answer.

      I can feel there would be pieces moving if my ribs weren't wrapped, but my vision isn't blurred.

      I am most relieved.

      Welcome back, though I'm sure being conscious is unpleasant. You were being stomped into a stepping stone in a mud puddle by five. These two and nineteen thousand nine hundred ninety-eight their age, much older than they look, are why. We've got a small ship bag. If you had plans, sorry. We're headed for Balkan at max Cassilde can run. We've got the evidence needed for a broad decision, setting a precedent that will break the grip of colonial development corps on populations.

      Yes!

      I expected questions, not whoopee.

      Alden Coniff Maine, my great-aunt, Supreme Court Justice Amira Coniff, still calls me Connie, but everyone else has called me Con since I was two.

      Stutter, stutter. Boys, your prayers for assistance were most definitely heard. What were you doing on Glassia?

      Looking for a ship, not going back the way I came.

      You're bumming with what's in that bag?

      No, working passage with what's in my head. Usually, I have tools too, but I gave them to a kid who belongs in engineering, not in the galley, as encouragement. Her captain obviously agreed. I got a bonus for about what a good used set of drive mechanics' tools costs.

      Are other people as caring as you two are?

      Gem smiled at Clumelly. He looked selected for the world with a sun at minimum UV range for human habitation. The one thing she couldn't forgive, was the children weren't supplied with the dietary supplements needed on that world. To her, it was a clear indication they'd planned to keep twenty thousand children caged until they died, never having gone through puberty, at about age thirty. When Clumelly suddenly smiled back, she grinned. Development was obviously too slow, but it was progressing. He might look like a nine-year-old boy, but the interest in his eyes was definitely adolescent.

      Most people are caring, but too many are taught caring is a weakness.

      It's a sickness passed from generation to generation. All forms of bigotry are.

      You see it as bigotry, Con?

      Yes, it's fear of learning that the reason you have a nice house and the other guy is in a gov-subsidized apt is just plain luck.

      I like it.

      Thanks. Names?

      Oops, sorry. Gem March, Korkassi and Clumelly.

      Shit!

      What?

      Korkassi, Korkemeir-Kassimund. Clumelly, Clumander-El Lyranda.

      Huh?

      Twenty-seven years ago, a privately funded research group made a terrible mistake. They listed the contents of their gamete bank on an insurance policy. They were a bunch of geniuses and the gamete bank was assurance that genius was not lost to the gene pool. The insurance agent who wrote the policy truly believed the contents, as well as the equipment, should be listed. Within ten minutes of the policy registration, six development corps began a bidding war for the company that funded the research. The elderly owner died 'suddenly not unexpectedly.' The 'grieving' family sold the company to Brancor for eighty-two times its listed value at the time the policy was issued, twenty-seven hours earlier.

      I've never even heard of it!

      Sector Nineteen.

      Nineteen, because it was so big it looked odd without a number.

      There was something in the 'empty sector,' a research station with six thousand brilliant people, eight of them super-geniuses.

      Mortland Scientific, the Tuscov patents made a bid war seem reasonable and the death of the old man was 'obviously' the trigger.

      If you didn't know the exact time of policy registration, you wouldn't sniff the air for rot.

      Rot?

      Colloquialism, Forster has a plant that becomes deadly as it decomposes. Human settlements watch carefully for it, but once in awhile someone dies in their own backyard.

      Please, tell us more about our names.

      I want the rest too, Clumelly.

      The contents were listed as an asset on the company insurance policy, period. The settlement was quiet. Neither side wanted everyone to know the gametes of those people were a commodity. The judge added one item to the list of things in the settlement that assured their children would not be slaves. He ruled any child 'developed' from the gametes would be named in a manner that identified from whom the gametes had been taken. All sides were shocked. Dad says he was beginning to wonder if Mom was going to figure it out. Mom says she'd stopped figuring when he stood up, took off his robes and delivered his personal opinion. She shouted, 'Thank you,' and a dinner invitation.

      Our names are real names.

      Yes, Korkassi, they are, blended names, according to Compari legal forms. My daddy said no human child would be known by a number or the next name on a list if he could stop it. That's when my mommy decided the very young judge on a little station way out in Sector Eighteen was the partner she wanted for the rest of her life.

      I'd have grabbed him. Compari was pure genius, and he was obviously gorgeous too.

      Thanks. Ow.

      I didn't put you in the med unit, because it's not between the hatch and the bridge. They wrapped while I made a very general point into an actual course.

      I'm glad I'm awake, but my body is arguing. Now that my curiosity isn't helping argue, I'm losing.

      We will help you to the medical unit. We know where it is on a ship of this type.

      Thanks, Clu.

      Clu?

      You never used short forms of names?

      Others were Clumasta, Andemelly, Korkelly, Lindkassi.

      Twenty thousand combos of six thousand names and you two have the four that are the reason the contents of the gamete bank were insured for two hundred fifty million credits, making them a very large listed company asset. Uh... I'm going to need more help than I realized.

      You don't remember many of the blows, we remember them all.

      And the faces of those who still struck when you were beyond feeling them.

      Boys, they're unimportant.

      Not to us, Con.

      I'd argue, but I'd feel the same way. I'm going to use 'parents,' because 'genetic donor' sounds like it was voluntary and too damn impersonal. Your parents are alive. They're going to be real mad.

      Korkassi and Clumelly discovered Cassilde wasn't a Clinton Industries Rockmaster IV in the drive compartment. Gem grinned widely when the two near ran onto the bridge and began asking excited questions. They obviously understood what they'd seen.

      Well, it started with not being able to get a Broder regulator for at least thirty-two days. The only regulator on the supply ship that offered a thirty-two-day tow was a Minsk.

      That's for a-grav.

      True, but it's a regulator. Since the tow had a large price tag per day, I decided to see if I could adapt it.

      And built a new type of drive to fit it?!

      Almost exactly, Korkassi. In nine days, I got it to work well enough I was sure I'd make it to Take-a-break station, much closer than thirty-two days. It took me twelve more of babying to get it there, but by then I knew there was something unusual happening in the connection I'd built. Power loss ratio was dropping. I found the reason in the material I used. Trace elements were migrating, and in about forty days, the connection would have been molecularly bonded.

      I do not yet see that drive in this tale.

      The trace elements in the material weren't part of its listed chemical components. They came off my power gloves when I was shaping it. I'd pressed them into it, so they weren't bonded.

      Metallic. Add current...

      Like iron filings move toward magnet, but these weren't metallic and it was the ion stream, not the current, causing the migration.

      Gem nearly laughed when both slowly sat down on the deck. They'd seen the full implications immediately. Every ship would be more efficient if the shielding on the drive could be reduced, but that was just less mass to move. The boys had known the drive was different the instant they'd seen it, right after they'd removed the visors required to protect them from the blinding actinic light, which wasn't there.

      The connections don't even glow.

      The connections don't exist Korkassi. I had to design a drive that operated as a sealed unit and keep it from sealing the rest of the fuel system and power train to it. It took eight years. I had a lot of nuclear chemistry to learn, and nothing in a drive is even comparatively cheap on a prospecting supply station.

      You did all that alone in eight years. In twelve, twenty thousand of us made a hole in a fence.

      Don't you belittle your accomplishment!

      What?

      Korkassi, you two are amazing. All twenty thousand of you are. You're alive.

      Yes, but we could grow Earth plants a season and we had seed enough to prevent early permanent damage.

      There was only one silo, and it wasn't full, but the hybrid seed in it was engineered for that world.

      And you figured out how much each must have to prevent permanent damage, figured out how many years you could make the silo last and shared the crop equally at about age five.

      The computer did computations.

      Amazing.

      I don't understand either.

      You were babies. Your birth was amoral and your abandonment abominable.

      Gem, I'm tagging that one for Julius.

      I'd object, Cassy, but he delivers my lines so well, and to exactly the right audiences. Somehow, you children raised each other to embody the ideals of our species. Loving, compassionate, unselfish, forgiving, completely sane young people.

      I am... not sure the last is true. I was searching for way to kill those, not just to stop them.

      I would have at your age. Now, I don't even have to remind myself they're not worth what my cousin would charge to defend me. He reminded me disposing of trash that's walking around is the job of police and courts, beginning when I was in primary school.

      The mineral claim means nothing to you.

      Of course, it does, Clumelly. Seven percent makes me part owner and everything that happens to you my business. Cassy, get the coordinates and get it loudly legally registered. Hit Jenny's family emergency account for the development bond.

      She'll be very pleased.

      Proves she was right. One of us did 'bump into something' where money fast will give the 'good guys' tools and time to use them.

      Her father will be mowing the lawn this summer.

      Your computer is very different. Mowing the lawn?

      Korkassi, your speech shows just how... cheap the ed programming was!

      We speak badly?

      No, you speak perfectly. My data pad uses more idioms and contractions!

      It is a farm equipment control computer. It has no education program, but it has technical manuals for all Fusilier products and is updated frequently.

      Gem burst into laughter. Someone had not liked what was done. A silo of seed tailored for the world wasn't worth taking, but a piece of Fusilier equipment still on manual update contract had to have been deliberately left behind.

      Ever read any fiction?

      No, but we know the meaning and many created stories for the entertainment of others.

      Korkassi, you were five. If you'd had good instruction programs before then, one computer couldn't make you sound like a damn two-credit tourist chron!

      Clumelly, I don't know what that is, but it is obviously 'cheap.' Now I understand why, each time we ceased speaking, she motioned to continue.

      Your speech will change very fast as you hear people and good tech talking. Cassy's interface program uses a lot of her capacity, but she needs very little of it in flight. I don't expect conversation during liftoff, landing or mining belt navigation. A prospector may make a large asteroid several and change the position and velocity of hundreds.

      It would be much fun to plot the many changes.

      It would not be possible unless exact shape and mass was known for each, Korkassi.

      Angular momentum would be statistically predictable with mass, velocity and gross shape of impact area.

      It would be fun to see how close we could predict.

      The variations could prove Meppert's fifth theorem! Perhaps I am wrong.

      Uh... no, Korkassi, you're not. Excuse me, I'm going to check on Con. And giggle. You to just solved a two hundred-year-old mystery. How did a one hundred thirty-six-year-old retired rockbuster come up with six theorems and proofs that advanced the science of subatomic particle behavior prediction more in one year than in the last six hundred? He plotted his logs.

      Plotting his logs did not give the theorems, Gem.

      No, Clumelly, but math really was his hobby. Old Double probably waited decades to publish to reduce the probability somebody would figure out how he did it.

      It would not lessen the accomplishment.

      No, Korkassi, but it would have lessened his fame in the halls of academia. And it's just what I would have done if I'd been a rockbuster from the slums of Corsey Port.

      Explain this, please.

      Corsey Port on Batua was the base for colonization of Majora. Portal Development suddenly declared stage two settlement nine years ahead of projections. About a quarter million people were suddenly stranded in transient housing, instead of on ships going to worlds where land, and people who would teach them to farm it, awaited. Over two hundred thousand of those people refused to sign passage, land and tech purchase contracts their great-great-great-grandchildren would still be struggling to pay off. Every one of those people had to be classed as unskilled to get first stage settlement approval for Majora, and all had to be fertile. Corsey Port went from a transfer point, with a steady flow of happy people determined to create new lives, staying a few days in obviously transient quarters, to a slum, with families of five or six packed into cubicles for one, around an abandoned port. Very few would hire people certified to have no skills and even fewer would pay to transport them to the work. Until Warman Jones struck it rich. His sister is the one who built a plan that gave five thousand people prospector training and ships. Corsey Port was empty in ten years.

      All who were given ships and training aided all others.

      Yes, Clumelly, but only people on Batua knew it, until Portal Development decided they'd be ready to require the people in Corsey Port to accept contracts, to end the financial burden of feeding them. It's reported the president didn't quite manage to keep from laughing before Portal negotiators left.

      Where did all the people go?

      Exactly what Portal asked, Korkassi. The answer was 'everywhere,' and it was about literal. Batua had asked Warman Jones' sister to build plans for the rest of the people too.

      Saint Miri of Posca.

      Con! You look better, but not like you should.

      Your unit was dithering. Cassy told it I'd prefer waking up and eating to nutrient infusion that would require several hours more than treatment.

      Shit! How did you get that depleted?!

      Twelve hours of very hard work rebuilding a hold-loader assembly that could have ripped out a bulkhead if there was any shift in gravity during landing.

      The cotter pin in the retraction assembly.

      That's the one. Every engineer I know dreams of finding something to replace that pin, but anything else would cost vital seconds, if the retraction assembly failed under load, and those seconds are very important to the operator who's counting them in the dark, and hoping the hatch opens before the air runs out.

      You've been there.

      Yes, and I curse and bless that little pin that drops the retractor arms and lets someone yank open the hatch a few seconds faster. The twelve hours started two bites into breakfast after third rotation watch.

      Twelve hours is very long to change a cotter pin used because it is quick to remove.

      It's quick if the arms are partially extended, Clumelly. One of the arms has to be disassembled in chunks to get to it when they're fully retracted. There's an optic to check that pin, and it's part of landing check, because it's most likely to break, or work loose, during full retraction.

      Why an optic sensor?

      The cost of maintaining a sensor that would do more than the optic isn't worth it for anything but a liner, where a delay may mean chartering a ship for those who missed a shuttle.

      Why before landing, not when retraction is complete?

      It's checked then too, Korkassi, but the usual is a micro-fracture goes from invisible to obvious break during maneuvering to establish orbit. I stood and watched an assembly during orbital maneuvering. I could barely feel when a thruster fired, but the assembly arms shuddered and bounced with every change.

      Why not lock them down?

      They're built to take the bounce and a solid cotter pin isn't affected at all.

      Korkassi, if the arms were locked down, invisible hairline fracture would be invisible until it broke under load. Many work beneath the arms of a hold loader assembly, and I would prefer to disassemble a loader arm for several hours, to counting seconds of air in the dark.

      Thank you, Clumelly. I was thinking about the machine. The reminder it is safety of people and not efficiency of equipment that is most important was needed. Again.

      He reminds me when I forget. Tech manuals have much about safety factors, but they do not remind that the safety of people is more important than that of equipment, so we must. And we must get food for you!

      Con said he'd been told his stomach growling made people think large hungry thing, feed! before, but it was the first time anyone had yelped and run for the galley. Gem burst into laughter and nodded. Then she looked in his beautiful dark blue eyes and...

      Gem...

      What... just happened?

      I don't know, but something did. Beautiful woman, I need to kiss you.

      Uh, huh.

      Korkassi and Clumelly fixed meal packs and giggled. Cassy had shown the two on the bridge looking into each others' eyes and noted she knew what had happened. Then she flashed scenes from a dozen vids and noted she now knew why four actors in the vids made more than others. They'd portrayed love struck far more realistically.

      She so beautiful.

      They both are... Clu.

      I like that, but Kor doesn't seem right to call you.

      I like Clu too, but I thought of each piece of my name as a call name and like none more than another.

      I have a suggestion.

      Please tell me, Cassy.

      Corky. It was once a fairly common call name.

      It is longer than Clu, Con or Gem.

      Gem's mother calls her Gemmy.

      But that's longer.

      Though call names are usually short, simple to say and/or remember are most important. Gem has a friend named Friel, but all who know her well call her Lily. It's not part of her name and it's two syllables, not one, but those two are simpler to say and the call name suits her well.

      Does Corky suit me?

      I like it. I would remember it is you.

      That's your answer, Korkassi. I'm a program. I record a name suits someone when a human, usually Gem, says it. I have four such statements about Lily in my database.

      Do you remind others you are a program often, Cassy?

      Not often, Clu, but occasionally Gem will ask me something she doesn't realize requires judgment. I can only make decisions based on the information in my database. Boys, get Con fed and back in the medunit. It's queried its patient's status three times.

      He was more injured than we knew, and its database contains information that partially-treated injuries are still a danger to him.

      Precisely, Korkassi.

      Please, call me Corky.

      You decided you like it?

      No, Clu, I decided you do and the only thing you were sure I would learn to like that I didn't was toklus beans.

      You haven't tried them in two years.

      They are ugly yellow, slimy, they burn my mouth when I eat them and my anus the next day. None of those things have changed and I still would not like them.

      A few moments later, Cassy told Gem and Con that Corky and Clu had requested she tell them dinner was ready.

      Cassy, you helped. They wouldn't have come up with Corky.

      I searched my database for call names using two sounds of his name. Corky was the second listing. Cassy would have been confusing.

      Julius March-Cassiter stared at the validity certification on his screen for a few seconds, whooped, laughed, got mad and hit the comm button. Six-point-three minutes later, an armed Intersector Police escort for Cassilde hit light speed. His cousin was going to have to 'come out of hiding.' Cassilde's speed was going to be well-known very soon.

      Cassy certified the validity of the recording of the boys talk of beans, made six days earlier, and added it to her growing files for Julius. It fit the parameters he'd given for dialog showing good socialization and a sense of humor if possible. He'd said he had a half-dozen psychologists who wanted to help him get the children emancipated quickly, so Brancor couldn't just grab 'its' children to 'educate' them, but they needed some observational data. Stating they were sure the children were mature enough for emancipation 'because his cousin said so,' would be enough for everyone on Balkan, but would look odd to people on other worlds who read the court record. Another message from Julius came as she was instructing the boys in formal table setting. This one was addressed to Gem, not her, so she put it on the bridge screen.

      I know you said no messages. I've been ignoring it. There's an IP escort on the way, and they're dropping relay units. Brancor was caught flat-footed. Indications are, they thought there weren't many kids still alive. Grandmother took comm with Justice Coniff, while I took the report from Brisca. They became instant friends. They scream in rage in the same key. Jenny has Con's family as houseguests. They were already here. Justice Coniff is speaking at Sherdan college commencement in four days. The dean was her roommate in college. I just watched a vid of two hundred seven advanced students of intersector corporate law, screeching that horrid Sherdan tannix howl and running into the law library. They intend to assure no challenge delays things long. Frankly, if I had time, I'd probably be reminding myself I've been doing this fifteen years, and belong here and not in the library with the other kids. Jenny said her dad is mowing and remind you 'Bright shiny good luck means you're on the right side. It's what you get to counter the cheating the slime on the other side does.' Your mother may put that one in a frame and hang it on her office wall. Watch for the escort. What? No, Max, all criminal would do is put whoever Brancor picks, as 'no longer productive,' in rehab. Civil, where we can do something to stop the corp! Oh, sorry, out.

      He doesn't belong with the students.

      The only reason everyone doesn't say he's the best attorney on Balkan is so many know he doesn't expect it for about another fifteen years, Con, and we'd like to keep him fifteen more.

      Sorry, too late. Aunt Amira has empty benches. Who's Jenny?

      My cousin, Jenny Parker, also known as Jennifer Halstead Lake.

      The literary genius the critics were shocked to discover was a nine-year-old girl.

      She's sixteen now. You know the boys may be the 'buddies' she's never had.

      Too smart, too mature, too everything and other kids really couldn't understand her enough to be buddies.

      You've been there too.

      I didn't have a cousin about my age, who was too-too-too, too.

      Julius and I weren't really buddies. Our interests were too different. My first real buddy was six when I was seventeen. He always noticed if Jenny was following and never got in the way. Jenny's dad had been training him since he toddled. He was sort of pulled into the family along with Alan when Jenny's mother was killed. He was their next-door neighbor.

      Chapter Two

      Gem sighed when a fifth ship, going the other way, was identified as a news service. The Interplanetary Police captain she was talking to on comm laughed. The escort had slowed Cassilde, but she'd been 'close' to Balkan when they reached her.

      You knew you couldn't keep it secret when you engaged full thrust for Balkan. We'll hit a swarm at negligible lag time point, waiting for you.

      I had hoped I could just ask you to not mention it. I liked my life. That's always the problem with striking it rich.

      The new one looks nice, very nice.

      I haven't seen much of it the last couple days. All three of them have been in engineering. I get two thank-yous and a kiss when I take them sandwiches, all rather distracted. Have they decided how we're doing this?

      You're landing on the Parker estate.

      What?!

      That's what I said. The commander said Alan Parker decided there was too much to mow.

      Jenny will buy a yacht, so no one knows her dad had a tantrum.

      We got a swimming pool when the mower program glitched and Dad couldn't get it shut down before it got to the teliria. We'll go down with you centered, then reverse grav for the port, when field hits two hundred seven meters above surface. It's going to be an interesting maneuver. IP got permission from Balkan gov, and they have flyer traffic clear. Our formation will fit in the clear area of the estate grounds, if one of us doesn't make the switch fast enough. We're not picking up an atmospheric escort.

      Definitely not. It's a nice 'training' excuse for assuring there won't be news crews and lookers flying over. We'll have a clear landing corridor.

      TC said they wish they had IP help when they're trying to assure no one flies into a field when other ships are landing on private. Oh, Toler said tell you, the people standing around the estate with signs offering real homes to children are very polite and he's used to newscasters, but assholes who are sure a limo and a company name get them in anywhere, are really beginning to irritate him. However, he liked the one on the bicycle, who left a grin as his card.

      Taylor! It has to be, but if he's there, why isn't he there?

      That one confused me.

      That makes two of us. Captain Koster, you're not telling me something.

      Rumor is, the reason the steaders didn't want the children was it was a lease agreement for top-of-the-line equipment.

      Why didn't you tell me this before?

      It's a rumor and my job is to get you to Balkan, and though chasing you to Brancor HQ and helping you plant a bomb first was tempting, my husband would have complained I didn't take him along for years.

      We're all finding out we all agree development corp business practices are abhorrent, and they should have been regulated when Portal caged two hundred fifty thousand people and told them to sign contracts indenturing their families for generations or starve. Warman Jones may be why they weren't. He ended it before Batua went bankrupt, but I'll bless him forever for giving that horror a happy ending.

      You're going to do the same with this one.

      And Julius and Con's Aunt Amira are going to make sure that they can't ever do it again.

      Jenny smiled and watched her dad pace. He always did it for her when she had to appear 'mature' and he knew just sitting was driving her nuts. There was no one on the estate, except family, but there were news hovcams all around the perimeter. She disliked them, but her dad hated them, though only the remote control hovcams, not newspeople.

      I've considered counting seconds backward, then computing my average variance to pass the time, Daddy.

      Sixty-seven, sixty-six... There they are!

      Alan! Kassimund said yes!

      Yes! Thanks, James. She knows you know the law and have their best interests at heart. I'm just a relative of two people she's heard of.

      When I explained why it would be easier if they were in this district, she just raised an eyebrow. When I explained you were out here pacing for Jenny, she smiled and said yes.

      He's family, Daddy. Bet?

      No, but I'd bet you didn't tell him it's a family secret. I told the gardener to prepare for a wedding on the north terrace. The rennia are in bloom and loris around the gazebo aren't.

      What?

      You didn't see the message with two of them standing together on the bridge, James.

      No, I didn't, but I just remembered the description Con gave me of his 'ideal woman' when he was nine. 'Drive engineer' came first. 'And pretty' was an afterthought that grew in importance. I'd tell my wife, but she's probably made out an announcement list.

      The March family were all gathered awaiting the ship. On another world, Con's family would've gotten top billing in the news, but not on Balkan. The March family was a founding family, and even other famed names were mentioned as 'also in the March family.' There were six families the reporters always mentioned someone with another name was in. The March family had been a bit more successful in being 'just nice people' than most, but that had just gotten more difficult. Arella March watched her daughter's ship settle and smiled.

      That smile looked a bit sad, Aunt Arella.

      It is, Julius. They're not going to be able to just leave it all behind and go play in the rocks.

      No, they're not. And they don't know anything except Cassilde is too fast, yet. He must have been right outside the gate.

      Obviously, you know the person with Toler.

      So do you. That huge blond is Taylor Bridgson.

      He did grow into those ears.

      He's about two-meters-four and he's back on Balkan as a research associate for Breerdan Dynamics. Taylor!

      Julius! I'm working on convincing myself knocking her down on the way to engineering isn't a good way to be sure she recognizes me.

      That would do it. Bicycle and grin were perfect.

      I dug the bike out of storage in my great-grandmother's shed. I had to rebuild it to ride it. I don't plan on putting it back. I rode it to Breerdan the last three mornings and I was much more ready to work. By the time I got home, I'd unwound.

      Taylor, you're too young for the relief I heard in that last statement.

      Hi, Fem March. You always heard when something bothered me. I like what I do, but my piece of the project is about done and... Is that Jenny?

      Jenny watched the hatch. The instant it began to move, she jumped up and ran across the lawn.

      Taylor!!

      She ran right into his arms, looked up at him and winked.

      Hey, Sprat. We both finally got big enough.

      You overdid it again, but the results are even more interesting this time. I'm getting you in the family hug group. Julius is going to do last because he'll start progress-to-date during the hug.

      It's most important, but I really appreciate getting to say hello before they go to work on it. Hovcams everywhere. I am going to pitch for Breerdan.

      They're the only ship tech company on this world with the materials development facility needed.

      Materials?! Damn! Gem! If you don't let me see that drive, I'll go on a hunger strike!

      Taylor?! Good Lord! Jenny!

      Gem, where are they?!

      Engineering, probably. That's where they were the last three times I said 'hatch' and Con said they were on the way.

      You'd be with them and not out here if you could. Why?

      A power increase, just before we made orbit, Taylor.

      Not a surge?

      Nope, quick rise, then steady. Taylor! Cassy, let him in!

      I mentioned materials, Gem.

      Bright, shiny, good luck, Jenny. He's nineteen?

      Twenty and five doctorates. Daddy, me, Con's mom, dad and aunt and Julius in now. I'm not essential, but I'll die if I don't get to see it.

      Julius! Alan! James! Elaine! Amira! Julius, they're in engineering and I can't stand not being there! Cassy! Were home!

      Cassy opened the hold, extended the ramp and invited everyone to take the hold lift to the lounge. Jenny smiled widely and followed Gem to the personnel hatch, at a run. She caught up at the lift and watched as everyone else ran in, including Justice Coniff.

      Why are we running?

      Jenny needed an excuse, and Tarker Frazell said you're slowing down, Justice Coniff. Con yelled your fifty-meter sprint time had dropped a half-second in fifty years, and the only way Frazell would know if you were slowing down mentally was if he could suddenly keep up with you.

      I hope the news hovers got nice views of my kick.

      We're headed for engineering.

      Oh, I knew we'd be doing this there when Connie didn't come out of the ship. I hope you leave it here until after the wedding. That way, if one of you gets an idea in the middle, the wedding party can tag along and finish.

      Wedding?

      You and Con, Gem.

      Uh...

      What to bet?

      Jenny, I know better than to bet against you, but... we haven't discussed...

      Anything but the kids and the drive. The rest was just talk. When you remembered to talk. Tell me about his hands and yours on tech.

      Uh, huh. You're right. I tackled him in the galley after we rebuilt the cycler controls. Cassy, when everyone is in, close up and lift one meter.

      Gem, what are you doing?

      Getting married, Julius. If we're not on the planet, we don't need a license and we're in Amira's jurisdiction.

      I told the gardener to prepare the north terrace.

      Thanks, Alan. We'll have to do a reception for all those frustrated company owners, but everyone I really want here is here, and...

      Cassilde is where you want to be married. I'll tell the gardener reception.

      The groom spent ten minutes in the medunit while the bride got ready. She admitted she should have waited until he got his head out of the circuit access port before telling him they were getting married. The lump on his head wouldn't have shown in wedding pictures, but she really preferred his eyes not be crossed.

      Clu and Corky helped Julius into a ship suit. He was laughing too hard to manage it alone. Cassy had passed Jenny's message, Hand-tatted ivory lace dress made by old friend. Julius had gone down under five men and remembered he'd been in a Corsia business suit, when they ran down the corridor with it. He realized it would fit Con better than Alan's clothes would have, when the ship suit fit him fairly well.

      Taylor showed Corky and Clu how to make flowers of optic filaments, using a high-speed packing binder. They got their bouquets of feathery globes placed on each side of Justice Coniff just before Con ran into the lounge with most of the other men following. The women, who'd been 'helping' Gem, entered a bit more slowly a few seconds later.

      Taylor watched the woman he'd had a crush on since he was six, walk toward a man only three years older than he was. He was already sure he was right for her, but he still said, Ow, very softly. He felt the light tap on his hand and looked down at Corky.

      Both of us know your feeling.

      She was a lot of boys' dream woman. I was the lucky tech-crazy kid who had a connection to the family. I trailed Alan all the time. I rode my bicycle to her house and trailed her when she was home.

      She came home and stayed long enough to soak up love. We need aid retaining our culture. They will be kept here by the drive. It is too much safer to delay giving it to all. You're helping us.

      The wedding was beautifully simple, just two people telling of discovering they wanted to share all their lives, then vowing to one another they would. By the time it was over, Taylor had realized several things.

      My piece of the project for Breerdan is about finished. I've been telling myself that's why I was tense, but I've known it was more than that for a while. I've got over forty invitations to work on other projects other places. They all look like fun, for whoever takes the position. None are on this world or Greenbower. Breerdan offered permanent. That's not what I want either. You guys realize you're going to be Jenny's big brothers?

      We are!

      Corky, big brother is not what I wish to be when I look at her.

      We always ended up sitting side-by-side watching because we weren't big enough to work on some things. It started when she was in a baby seat. I was already running for Alan's workshop whenever he opened the door. I was eleven when we moved to Greenbower. She began writing All the Dawn Divided right after we moved.

      Gem said many praised the book, then tried to say they were mistaken.

      Yes, Corky. They really helped book sales. My mom had already read it. When she found out Jenny had written it, she yelled, 'Of course,' but she was laughing too hard to tell me why for quite some time.

      It didn't surprise her.

      I can't imagine anyone who knew Jenny even being slightly surprised. Your about-to-be little sister has incredible depth and understanding, and always did. Her, about to be your, dad is amazing.

      He's why she has depth?

      Yes. She was not quite three when her mother was killed. Her dad quit his job as a test engineer and started a consulting business out of their house, so he could be home with her. He said he got a lot of contracts with an apology, an explanation his daughter needed help understanding her feelings now, and the request to continue the comm call later. They were sure he had his priorities straight. I lost you.

      I was having some difficulty with 'priorities straight,' but realized it meant in proper order. Such idioms are new to us and we remind ourselves often that they aren't literal.

      Corky, Clu, are you ready to do this?

      Yes, Alan.

      Going to call me 'Dad' when it's done?

      We thought we would follow custom, by starting with Dada and progressing to that as time passes.

      Jenny heard her father burst into loud laughter. It was the perfect excuse to leave the women and join the boys. She laughed at herself when she thought, The four most interesting man on the planet in the corner with me!

      Daddy?

      Jenny, it just wouldn't be the same. I couldn't duplicate the delivery.

      Jenny, he couldn't.

      Oh, I believe him, Taylor, but it's going to be fun listening to him try. Now, how do we keep all those wonderful people from assuring every child has a lovely home or school waiting, in twenty thousand different places?

      You see it?!

      Of course, Corky. The more you saw of what is actually a rather homogenous culture, the more you had to realize you'd built something unique, which should be preserved.

      I told Taylor he is helping. He told me the job offers he's not taking. I think I'm glad he didn't tell me the salary he's not taking too.

      Daddy, when they file for emancipation, me too.

      You don't like the way I spend your money?

      Of course. I just want to be able to use it myself if you and Taylor get in a brawl and it takes more than my allowance to bail you out.

      It is a possibility, Alan.

      Julius! Add a petition for Jenny. She's sure authorizing a ship purchase price withdrawal from her account would bother me.

      I knew she'd cover your tantrum, Alan.

      It's really my fault, Gem. I remembered to tell him I'd rebuilt the controls on the Wester right after I heard it crash through the wall of equipment shed. The old Estatemaster still almost runs properly. It only requires a program correction about every three minutes.

      I'm probably going to buy goats, have an apartment built in the garage and advertise for a goatherd who plays flute or pipes.

      You could ask the gardener to do it, Alan.

      He's the one who suggested goats, Taylor, right after he dove into the plumage nettles to get out of the path of mower.

      I'll bet the rest of what he said was interesting too.

      I wished you were there, Gem. You'd have really appreciated his command of language.

      Con joined them, then introduced his mother when she did. Jenny watched Corky and Clu. They shifted position a bit as people joined the group, not to get out of the corner, to make room for another in the conversation. It surprised her when Clu suddenly grinned and walked around the periphery of the group to stand beside her.

      We're not shy.

      I noticed.

      You notice everything about people. You didn't notice there was table there, until you looked for a place to set your glass.

      I've run into doors I didn't notice were closed. You watch people too.

      My watching was survival. I was the best at hiding in shadows. Corky was best at asking people to find something for us to do to earn money for supplements.

      Twenty thousand, Clu.

      Some farm, some maintain tech, some forage. Corky and I sought work in the port.

      To earn enough to buy supplements for twenty thousand?

      No, we earned enough to buy the trace elements we couldn't mine that were needed to prevent damage to all.

      You bought the contents of ships' elemental reclamation units.

      We had a tech manual for a unit that produced dietary supplements, so we built one.

      And kept all alive without people in the port realizing you were all alive.

      It seemed prudent.

      And now?

      Corky told Taylor he's helping preserve our culture. We haven't seen you choose any other, except your father.

      Taylor wasn't a surprise. You are.

      I'm seventeen and I became a realist the day I learned I was an unleased piece of steading equipment, and an embarrassing business loss.

      We're going to kill that corporation for that. We're all reminding ourselves that Julius is right; the only way to do it is take all its money. Bombs and lynchings would be satisfying, but I've been practicing visualizing money as its blood and slicing its veins open to watch it run out. It's working. I haven't pulled up a listing of Brancor facilities and chosen where put a bomb in 'the next one' in three days.

      There are twenty thousand who will be sure your anger, and assurance it will not happen again, was worth gates bolted against us. My heart is broken. You've chosen Taylor.

      Just as first. I did that when I was six. I'm in no hurry. You should be. I certainly would be in your situation.

      I am. Corky isn't.

      Uh, oh.

      I'm very small. I know he worried. So when he sprinkled his supplements on my food, I sprinkled mine on his. I'm very good at hiding in shadows.

      Julius needed to get back to work, so the voluntary custody and adoption papers and emancipation petitions were quickly signed. Alan led 'his boys' to the house and their rooms. Taylor tagged along.

      You guys do know this is a mansion and the rest of us don't live like this?

      It's beautiful.

      It's our home, Corky. The emancipation won't change it. It won't change if you go back, or choose to live on another world. You won't stop being family and your rooms will always be ready for you to come home.

      Alan, it would not matter if you had no home at all. You gave us your family as our own. Gem could only give them as friends.

      Corky, any adult could have--

      Yes, but none did. For twelve years, people chased us away. The moment you learned of us, you began making a place for us in your home.

      Well, we're not exactly crowded. Your rooms are actually a small suite. It has two bedrooms, each with a half-bath that connects to the tub and spa area. There's also a door to that from the parlor of the suite. There's a small balcony and stairs down to the pool. There aren't many things in your closets, because you'd outgrow most before you wore them twice. Where did you get clothes?

      We made them. We grew plant fibers and made cloth. There were only two things we didn't have, trace minerals for dietary supplements and loving parents. We have families. Clu and I were a family. Ours was smaller than most. Most common is about four who share shelter and loving friendship.

      It's a complete society and you've learned it's too healthy to let go.

      Yes, Taylor.

      Stop! Back!

      Don't argue! Clumelly knows something is wrong!

      Four minutes later, they found a bomb. It was in the hall, not a room. It was only the first. They found one in each of the homes of Gem's family, except Julius'. Police tests showed all had been in place since the day after he'd received Gem's first message.

      They didn't find the person, with impeccable references, who'd worked for their pest control company four days, one before and after the annual inspection of the houses, until she got a message her mother was ill and left the planet. Toler had known who and when, immediately. It was the only time someone had been on the estate. She was a real pro, with the best equipment money could buy. They found nine-second loops in all the home computers. She hadn't gotten in Julius home or office, because neither his condo association nor office space lessor used the company. Julius spun from the report on the screen, to face Amira across the desk in Alan's study.

      This looks stupid, but no one stupid could get past Toler, or Willa Gustova at BCP.

      Julius, what was that obviously unpleasant thought?

      Something I'm too sure of, Amira. Comm connect Police Commander Throckton.

      Yes, Julius?

      There will be a trail, not too suspiciously easy to follow, beginning with 'comp wiz,' that leads right to Anjer Hollydon, supervisor of that project twelve years ago. The corporation is just a business, employer of thousands. There's your villain; a madman, a criminal. He'd never make it to trial. An 'angry citizen' would 'do everyone a favor' and save the cost of rehab for a monster.

      Business as usual. Toss a member of the pack to the dogs, so the rest can keep feeding on the herd.

      Yes, development corps have a lot of klisker rat traits, but the dogs catch on fast.

      Yes, Julius, we do.

      Add Max. Sector Prosecutor Maxine Atag'hina, Amira.

      I know her work, outstanding.

      Max, Justice Coniff is listening in. You up to date?

      Throck sent text of the call so far.

      We have to keep the civil and criminal issues completely separate on this.

      Understood. I'm feeling pleasant. I've got a reason to rip a piece out of Brancor and no one was injured.

      Gem and Con had chosen to stay on Cassilde when offered a 'honeymoon' suite in the house, but they were taking advantage of the proximity. They were in the company spa with Taylor, Jenny, Corky and Clu.

      This feels very good.

      It's the only thing I really wish Cassilde had that she doesn't, Corky. There were times I really needed more than just to soak sore muscles.

      I now have even greater appreciation of our suite.

      There's a very nice spa in the condo complex where I live, but it's center front and my condo is back corner. I use it, but not frequently. It's not convenient.

      I wouldn't use one often, if it wasn't in my room, where I can just strip and wade in, Taylor. Clu, are you ready to talk about it?

      There's little to say, Jenny. There have been other times I became sure there was danger. I learned to pay attention to the feeling, but never before has it been so strong.

      Now that's interesting. Almost gives a gauge of the danger.

      It would be very convenient, Taylor, but I don't think I can judge it in that way.

      I do not think there would be time to judge it if you could. I have been pulled back from a corner as I started around it and landed sitting nearly two meters from it, more than once. I am sure he would have found another way if there had been time. He winced each time I sat down carefully for... several days.

      Corky?

      I feel odd, Gem.

      Out now!

      Taylor dove across the spa and lifted Corky out. Con had started for him, but reversed direction and got out. He reached them first, but all the others were around him before he began looking him over.

      House comp, check Corky for elevated temperature.

      Temperature point-four degrees below base recording at fourteen-seventeen this date.

      Daddy!

      Jenny, towels. Let's get him dry and wrapped.

      Big towels, that cabinet, Gem.

      I apologize for ending such a pleasant time.

      We'll do it again, Corky.

      What happened?!

      A sudden odd feeling and his temperature is below base recording, Daddy.

      Comm Dr. Maja Krigerry, emergency, room view.

      Dr. Krigerry's office is paging. Comm established.

      Well, I can see who. Tell me what, Alan.

      An hour later, Clu was sitting beside Corky, who'd been sent to bed.

      Not eating enough for a growing adolescent, Corky.

      I'm going to be eating all the time!

      No, but it will probably seem so. You may grow to near Taylor's size.

      That I don't believe.

      Do you believe you did not damage yourself permanently and will mature?

      Damage myself?

      All knew you often gave your supplements to others, Korkassi. All watched to assure that you got them anyway. I always did. We also knew you didn't compute supplement needed for your greater size. The last two years, you gave me two of every three of yours. I gave them back. I love you too. We are best as a team. If Basket Carver hadn't given us his claim, and hope there would soon be enough for all, I would have told Lortola you were committing suicide. By the time all had entered the circle to tell you of your value to them, you'd be very careful to take your share, just to assure you didn't have to sit in the circle for several days again.

      You knew.

      Yes, and I knew you were sure you had permanent damage. I wouldn't have told you this if the doctor had not given Alan injects for you. I'd have watched your surprise as you grew and your shoulders widened. You needed to know the injects are not a waste of time. I know, by the injects, that it was a very close thing. You look more mature than I because of your size and features, but you are not. Do you know if you're capable of ejaculation yet? I thought not.

      Clumelly! What are you doing?!

      We're going to find out and I'm sure you don't know how to do this.

      Alan suspended monitoring in Corky's room, turned to Taylor and grinned. Taylor handed him a fresh cup of coffee and sat down across from him in the little 'snack nook' in his study.

      The right man is on the job.

      He's been keeping the hero alive since they were babies, Taylor. Jenny is about to send us all off, not come with us.

      That's a disappointment, but I'm surprised I'm not more surprised.

      Finding something truly worthwhile for me to do, to aid in breaking my dependence on her, has been getting nearer the top of the priority list for awhile. I knew I was going and she wasn't when she told James I paced for her. She's ready to 'have been' the literary prodigy and become the literary genius.

      And she's got all the books she's written since she was nine to sell.

      Heltzger, copyright registrar, lost ten kilos to look good on intersector entertainment news, verifying the receipt dates in his personal log. He has credit auths and hardcopy in his safe.

      "Applied for, but not registered per author request, specified number of updates allowed. I knew the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1