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  “You’re my husband. That’s what I agreed to do. I can’t run your business, but I can be a good wife.”

  “And I can be a good husband,” Iswander said, making up his mind. “That’s why I’m going to send you away. You shouldn’t stay here. Go to Newstation—I’ll pay for the best quarters there. You can make a home, have friends, do whatever you like—and you’ll be close to Arden.” Londa tried to argue against the suggestion, but he watched her expression brighten. “It will just be temporary,” he continued, “until things settle here. I owe it to you for everything you’ve done for me.”

  “But I shouldn’t,” Londa said. “I belong here with you.”

  “I know you think that, but this isn’t what you signed up for. Go back to Newstation and lay the groundwork for my return. Spread the good word for me among your friends. If you convince them, they’ll tell their friends. Maybe we can salvage this.”

  She looked startled. “You really think I can help?”

  He didn’t want to point out that with his reputation at rock-bottom, anything would help. He looked through their windowport, musing. Bloaters drifted there, lumbering, innocuous, and peaceful. The nodules sparkled as a chain of internal flashes bounced through them in succession, one glimmer after another. The energy surges had been happening more often, making operations increasingly hazardous. Maybe it would be best to shut down the ekti-extraction operations, before anyone else was hurt … before the Roamers had another reason to heap blame on him.

  Londa said, “I’ll tell them you’re a good man, Lee. I’ll make them believe me.”

  “You can try.” He smiled at her as he finished his tea and stood up to kiss her on the cheek. “I’ll have Pannebaker deliver you to Newstation as soon as you pack your things. I’m staying here, though. I can’t leave … not yet.”

  Londa was obviously torn, but she would do as he asked. As he thought about it, he realized that he didn’t look forward to having her away. This complex was already lonely enough with Elisa gone, but he had endured worse, and he would get through this. Lee Iswander just had to find another way—as he always did.

  CHAPTER

  35

  ELISA ENTURI

  Because her stolen ship came from Iswander Industries, Elisa removed the external markings and doctored the registered ID code. When she slipped into Newstation, she didn’t identify herself. Just a traveler keeping a low profile. She had business to do here. Personal business.

  Roamer security had always been lax. The people were busy, independent, and disorganized. The old-guard clans did handshake deals based on family connections, promises, and personalities. Not a real business plan, she thought. She’d never had any respect for them.

  Though Lee Iswander was a Roamer himself, he had struggled for years to make the clans follow the norms of commerce. But rather than adhering to the rules that made Iswander Industries so successful and wealthy, Roamers mockingly compared him to the hated Chairman Basil Wenceslas from the Hansa. They had humiliated him when he tried to become clan Speaker, and Elisa was insulted and indignant on his behalf. Couldn’t they see what a great man he was?

  She forced herself to stop thinking about him, though. Iswander had cut her loose, thrown her out the airlock, and she was on her own now. So many people had disappointed her: her own family back on Earth, with their lackadaisical sense of entitlement, riding on the coattails of Elisa’s hard work … and Garrison Reeves, the Roamer man she had married. He had rebelled against his own backward clan, and the two of them together should have shaken up the Confederation—but Garrison’s priorities had turned out to be all wrong. Another disappointment. She had thought Lee Iswander was different from that, more admirable.

  She had been chased away from her life and accomplishments, had lost everything. Almost. She would claim her son and make sure he was raised properly. Seth had talent and intelligence, Elisa knew it. She would take him away from the distractions and misdirections of Roamer brainwashing. The boy was the last thing that she could call her own.

  Bypassing the main station, Elisa went straight for the hollowed-out comet that served as the Roamer school, where Seth was. The comet glowed unnaturally against the darkness of space, contaminated with the faint presence of wentals.

  Elisa didn’t like Seth living there. What if the supposedly benevolent water elementals harmed him? Another reason to take him away.

  She set course for the school’s delivery hangar, transmitting that her ship carried requested supplies for Academ. After landing, she armed herself with a charged stunner pistol, making sure she could set the intensity to Kill, should that become necessary. Elisa was not going to tolerate anyone who tried to stop her from taking her son.

  Iswander had made Elisa choose her priorities, and she had decided to ignore family dramas and distractions to concentrate entirely on her career, which Iswander promised would be important. She had wrestled with her choice, but the answer had always been obvious. She wanted to be with Lee Iswander. She could either affect thousands of lives, alter the politics and the economy of the Confederation, even change the course of history, or she could be a devoted parent. Elisa had accepted the sacrifice.

  Now, Iswander had made even that sacrifice moot, and the other choice was all Elisa had left.…

  She worked her way down the sloping ice tunnels, knowing where the classrooms were. She had taken Seth away once before. Maybe she could find him quickly and whisk him away before anyone could react. She was the boy’s mother, after all. It was her right to take him.

  But she was sure they would try to stop her.

  She glanced into several chambers, found Roamer clerical workers and teachers, but no sign of Seth. When she came upon a Teacher compy heading with purposeful steps toward a classroom, she stopped it. “Tell me where to find Seth Reeves.”

  The compy paused in midstride to access class schedules. “Level four. He is currently in a hydraulic engineering class taught by the Teacher compy KA. Shall I escort you there?”

  Elisa didn’t want to waste any time. “Yes. I’m in a hurry.”

  The compy led the way to a nearby lift, which dropped them down two levels. The pale wental glow inside the ice added an eerie lambent illumination. Elisa wanted to get her boy out of there quickly.

  They emerged and headed straight for a large chamber hollowed out of the wall. Without pausing, the compy stepped into the classroom. “This woman requests Seth Reeves.”

  Elisa would rather not have announced herself so prominently. Her determination wavered when she saw Jess Tamblyn and Cesca Peroni teaching the class together. They turned to look at her in surprise.

  She moved past the compy and spotted Seth immediately in the second row. As a mother, she knew she had a close connection with her child. “I’m taking my son. He belongs with me—not here.” She reached out her hand.

  Seth shocked her by recoiling. “No!”

  Then she was astonished to see Garrison and his new girlfriend Orli at the back of the classroom. They must have come to visit Seth. Garrison ran forward to stand in front of the boy, blocking her. “No. You’ve lost your right to make those decisions.”

  Orli Covitz also rushed to get in the way. With a flushed face and fists clenched at her sides, she glared at Elisa. “You tried to kill me. And not just me—you’re a murderer many times over.”

  Elisa felt ready to explode. Had they planned this, all conspiring to keep her away from her own son? “What are you doing here?” She reached for her stunner, wondering if she had enough charge to drop all of them.

  While the students began talking excitedly, Jess and Cesca also closed protectively around the boy. Jess said, “The Roamer convocation has put out a warrant for your arrest, Elisa. You destroyed a clan complex and murdered all the people in it.”

  She did not back down, though. “I don’t accept those charges, and the Roamer convocation has no jurisdiction over me. I was absolutely justified in my actions.” She raised the stunner pistol. />
  Garrison didn’t waver either. “You were always good at justifying your actions, Elisa. But you won’t take Seth.” He and Orli stood closer together to block the boy—as if they thought she would shoot her own son!

  “I’m not giving you a choice.” Keeping the weapon aimed at Garrison, Elisa pointedly switched the stunner’s setting to Kill. No use settling for half-measures.

  Seth grabbed his father’s hand and—even more infuriating—held on to Orli’s as well.

  Then one of Seth’s classmates stepped into the middle of the conflict, someone she hadn’t noticed before. “You don’t want to do this. He’s my friend, and that’s not what he wants.” Elisa recognized the young man—Arden Iswander. He looked so much like his father that she was momentarily disoriented. This made no sense at all. Arden knew everything that Elisa had accomplished for Iswander Industries, knew how much his own family owed her. Yet he stepped forward to join Seth! “Did my father send you?”

  Elisa was appalled by every aspect of the scenario. Lee Iswander’s son taking Garrison’s side! She felt whiplash from so many unexpected reactions. She raised the stun pistol and pointed it at the cluster of wide-eyed Roamer children. “No, your father didn’t send me. And I am tired of being betrayed.”

  Garrison and Orli didn’t move. “Think it through, Elisa. Where would you go?” Garrison said. “Roamers are Confederation citizens. No matter where you go, those murder charges will be hanging over your head.”

  A Teacher compy stepped forward from the front of the room. “I’m afraid I must ask you to leave. You are disrupting our class.”

  Elisa blasted the compy with a kill-intensity stun bolt, which sent him reeling before he clattered to the floor. Garrison grabbed Seth, shielding him in case she shot again. The other children in the classroom yelled and scrambled away in random directions.

  Before Elisa could fire again, Cesca cried out and launched herself forward. “Stop!” At her shout, the glow in the walls of the comet intensified.

  Jess slapped his hand against the ice wall and said in an odd voice, “The wentals—!”

  With a surge of light, energy rippled beneath Elisa’s feet, and the comet walls crackled. She felt sparks, shocks—directed at her. The pulse nearly knocked her off her feet. Static swirled around the weapon in her hand.

  No one else was affected, but another ripple of the pale blue light curled up from the cometary ice and throbbed through her body … she wasn’t harmed, but could feel a clear warning. Elisa backed away, swinging the stunner from side to side, target to target, but she saw that the charge had been drained. “He’s my son!”

  Garrison and Orli folded around him, and Seth held on to them. Jess and Cesca both touched the ice walls now, and the wentals surged even brighter. Elisa couldn’t fight them.

  Silently vowing to return, stronger next time, she bolted out of the classroom before the wental energy could strike her again. Leaving turmoil behind her, she ran up the tunnels brandishing the ineffective stunner at anyone who tried to block her way.

  All around her, bright wental light continued to intensify through the cometary ice, driving her away.

  Elisa cursed all the forces arrayed against her. She had to escape. Regroup. Form new plans.

  Hating that the capricious wentals could lash out at any time, hating Garrison, and hating everyone in this Roamer complex, she reached her stolen ship and activated the engines as fast as she could. Newstation security would surely be coming after her now. Alarms had been sent through the complex, but evading them wouldn’t be a problem.

  Elisa knew she would be back. They couldn’t stop her so easily.

  CHAPTER

  36

  XANDER BRINDLE

  The souped-up Verne made quite an impression when it arrived at Newstation. Showing off, Xander arranged for a VIP docking berth with all the amenities. His partner was not comfortable with the extravagance, calling it unnecessary, but Xander knew it was the best way to get the Roamers to pay attention.

  “We don’t need to be treated as special,” Terry said.

  “It’s not for our egos,” Xander reassured him. “It’s to make them take us seriously. This way they’ll really listen when we present our plan.”

  Although the two men looked far too young to be captains of industry, Xander had a respected Roamer clan name, and they had the weight of Kett Shipping behind them—not to mention Maria Ulio’s money. With that, he and Terry would receive an open-minded hearing when they presented their crazy yet ambitious idea at the next clan convocation. The very thought of their proposed trading complex made Xander grin. It struck right to the heart of what made Roamers great.

  OK filed all the appropriate online forms and dealt with the tedious admin details while Xander and Terry went out to enjoy a fine meal in the most expensive eating establishment on Newstation. “There were thirteen restaurants on Ulio that I never got to try,” Terry said. “I always thought there’d be time.”

  “We’ll just have to make up for it.” Xander lounged back. “We can commission a bunch of new restaurants at our station. That’ll be a priority for us.”

  “No, gathering and repairing ships will be our priority. New restaurants will be a pleasant bonus.”

  Xander requested a slot on the agenda of the regular clan meeting the following day, and dropped numerous hints that he and Terry were going to have a grand announcement. Right now, Newstation was disorganized with Roamers rushing about to get in on the new ekti-extraction boom, but most of them didn’t have the equipment or the funds to do what they wanted. There weren’t enough ships available for sale.

  Their new outpost might take care of that problem—in the long term.

  Terry was not much of a public speaker, nor was he a Roamer, but Xander told him not to worry. “I’ll make the speech. I’ll convince them. Let’s face it, I’m better at it than you are.”

  “You are indeed a far superior bullshitter.”

  Though Xander pretended to be calm, he spent a lot of time contemplating what he would say. The next day, as they headed toward the convocation hall, he felt excitement building within him. The chambers were crowded with clan members curious to hear their big news. Most of them were discussing the tragic reports that the Shana Rei and the black robots had completely destroyed Relleker, a prominent Confederation colony. The CDF battle group had barely escaped with their lives.

  Xander was outraged. “That’s just what they did at Ulio!”

  “This makes our proposal more necessary than ever,” Terry said.

  On the way to the convocation chamber, Xander spotted Orli Covitz along with Garrison Reeves and Garrison’s son Seth. As Xander thought of clan Reeves and the famously stubborn Olaf Reeves, the last piece fell into place in his mind. It was the perfect solution.

  Sending Terry ahead with OK, Xander grabbed Garrison’s arm. “I’ve got an idea to run by you! If nothing else, I’d like your blessing … just because.”

  In a rush, he described his proposal. At first Garrison was pensive; then his face lit up. “That’s a fine idea. In fact, I’ll be the first to sign up.” He glanced at Orli. “Are you interested? For safety’s sake, it might be best to take Seth away from here anyway.”

  She smiled. “I am if you are. Sounds like something we’d like to do.”

  Feeling lighter on his feet, Xander hurried in to meet Terry, who looked overwhelmed by the crowds of curious Roamers. Not long ago, in front of a similar convocation, Xander’s parents and Orli had revealed that bloaters were the source of ekti-X, which was triggering a sudden shift in clan dynamics and Roamer business.

  Xander and Terry’s announcement was going to be just as important.

  “You don’t need to talk, unless you want to,” he reassured Terry as they approached the main podium. “Just stand next to me.” He couldn’t stop grinning about the surprise he was about to add.

  When Speaker Ricks introduced them, the man didn’t seem overly interested in what they had to say
, but Xander quickly grabbed the attention of the audience. “Ulio Station is destroyed—Terry and I barely got away with our lives.” He let that hang for a moment. “Right now, the clans are in turmoil because everyone used Ulio as a trading nexus. Roamer trade is scattered and suffering. So what are we going to do?”

  He ran his gaze across the rows of faces. “We need a place just like Ulio Station—an independent center where we can salvage or repair ships and where traders and other businesspeople can meet.” He clapped a hand on his partner’s shoulder, making him flinch. “And Terry and I are going to build it.”

  He heard mutters mixed with chuckles and sighs of disbelief. Disappointed expressions appeared in the audience; they had come expecting a grand announcement, only to hear an unlikely pie-in-the-sky scheme.

  Xander knew he would make them come around quickly enough. “We already have the funds. Everything. Paid in full. Our new trading and repair hub will be open for business before you know it. Right now I’m asking the clans to support us.”

  Terry seemed embarrassed, but he confirmed. “It’s true. We have all the resources we need. I inherited Maria Ulio’s fortune. We can begin work. We can pay you. All we need is people who want to join us—oh, and some wrecked ships to start with.” His voice grew somber. “I guess there’ll be a lot of damaged vessels at Relleker. We can salvage them.”

  After Terry’s grim reminder, Xander quickly brought the conversation back to excited optimism. “And by the Guiding Star, Handon Station will grow from there.”

  Embarrassed, Terry leaned forward to the voice pickup. “We haven’t actually decided what to call it.”

  Xander talked over him, emphasizing the name. “Handon Station will be a place where Roamer dreams can thrive. And we’re ready to get started.”

  “But where will you put this new complex of yours?” called out an older woman, the head of clan Gupta.