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“They’re in the main dome. I’ll kick ’em out. For that matter I can hitch a ride with them.”

“No, sir, their boat isn’t fast enough. ’Scuse me, Governor, they just came on line.”

Important meeting? Kai felt conflicting emotions of relief and fearful anticipation. He really should have spoken to his team last night, if only to prepare them. Then he berated himself for borrowing trouble where it might not exist. Any number of things could account for Sassinak’s meeting: the arrival of the tribunal, a report from Sector Headquarters that she didn’t care to broadcast, even a report from Dupaynil.

Kai was outside his dome now and aware that, by way of a special blessing, Ireta had produced a glowing sunrise of spectacular brilliance. Mouth agape, he admired the eastern sky, clear blue in a band above the distant mountains. Above that, clouds were a blood red, tinged with orange and yellow, vivid primaries to startle the eye. The vaster bowl of deeper-gray night clouds began to spread with a deep purple, rolling back from the clear morning sky. Thunder rumbled in the distance and a cool sweet-scented breeze wafted gently through a force-screen which would have rebuked stiffer winds. Such a spectacular dawn could only be the harbinger of great things, Kai thought. But he was not prone to believe in presentiments and frowned at the whimsy.

“For once, this blighted planet is pretty,” Lunzie said as she quietly joined him.

Kai smiled at her, pleased to share the dawn’s magnificence with someone else.

“What’s the commotion? Every signal in the camp’s sounding.” Lunzie rubbed her eyes, sleepily.

“Sassinak’s sent for me.”

“My presence has been requested as well. Varian, too?”

“I’d expect so. And I’m just on my way to rouse the officers.”

“I’ll help.” Lunzie’s smile had a touch of malice for the men of the Zaid-Dayan had imbibed mass quantities of her brew. Lunzie could take an unkindly delight in the discomforts caused others by overindulgence.

They had roused the deep sleepers when the globe bleeped cheerfully. As Lunzie and Kai emerged from the dome, dawn light reflected from the side of the pinnace. Kai was opening the veil when the vessel’s sonic boom cracked.

“They wasted no time, did they?” Lunzie said.

Fordeliton was the pilot. “We’re to collect Varian as well,” he said, gesturing for them to belt up in their seats. “Sector HQ sent an update, and Kai,” he turned to give the geologist a broad grin, “the ARCT-10 is okay. In fact their message only just reached Sector.”

“What happened to it? Have you any details?” Kai strained against his seat belt, leaning toward the pilot in his excitement.

“If you’ll shut up,” Fordeliton replied good-naturedly. “That cosmic storm they went off to investigate was considerably more powerful than even the wildest estimates. Sector has sent down The Word that that sort of space hazard is to be ‘avoided, repeat, avoided’ in the future. Your ship lost one whole drive pod and the main communications frames, with severe damage to the other three drive units. Some of the living compounds were riddled by debris, but there was no great loss of life. The names of casualties were not included in the message. At any rate, your EV had to limp to the nearest system on auxiliary power. Which took forty-three years. Sector sent them a signal about your safety and well-being. So you should soon have a status report.” Ford grinned over his shoulder at Kai, delighted to be the bearer of good tidings.

“That sunrise was a good augury,” Lunzie remarked with an air of pleased surprise.

Kai squirmed against the restraint of the seat belts, sensible of a relief so intense that it left an ache at the base of his skull.

“I never have understood why the EVs consider themselves invulnerable to the hazards of space,” Lunzie said. “One reason I opted for your mission when it came up, Kai. I figured I’d be a lot safer on a planet than tagging a cosmic storm.” She gave him a wry grin. “Of course, I have been safer.”

“What? With mutineers,