Orli looked oddly conflicted. She accepted Rlinda's hug and then something broke loose in her. She clung more tightly, burying herself in the broad embrace. She began shaking, trying to restrain sobs, and finally gave up restraining them at all. Rlinda was at first startled by the outpouring, but she put away her questions and just held onto Orli.

Wisskoff stood embarrassed by the awkward tableau. With a not-so-polite clearing of his throat, he asked, "Is there anything I could bring you for now, madam?"

"Two cups of hot klee, Zachary." She glanced down at the resplendent, fruity confections. "We've got desserts to share, and obviously we need a heart-to-heart, so once we have our klee, ignore us for a while."

"With pleasure, madam. Do I take it that you'll be footing the bill for the klee as well?"

Rlinda's dark eyes flashed, and the matre d' seemed to realize he had pushed too far, so he retreated with as much grace as he could manage.

Orli tried to straighten. "It's all right, Rlinda. I'm fine." She sniffled, and her lips trembled.

"If you're fine, then I'm skinny," Rlinda said. "Now tell me about it."

"I've had some ... life changes." Orli turned away. "Damn! I thought this would be easier. I rehearsed it over and over again on the trip here to find you."

"Some things aren't supposed to be easy." Rlinda turned to the Friendly compy. "DD, help us out here. Tell me what happened-just a summary please."

The little compy was happy to oblige. "Orli Covitz and Matthew Freling have dissolved their relationship. Matthew found a home for the wayward compies from our Relleker facility. Orli placed them with a new colony on Ikbir, but she kept me as her companion-I'm very pleased about this. We traveled here to find you."

"To find me? How did you know to come here instead of Earth?" Rlinda asked.

With a heavy sigh, Orli dodged the painful part of the conversation. "We went there first and learned about the funeral. Even here, though, we almost didn't get to see you. That matre d' is very rude."

"He gets away with it only because he's amazingly competent. The moment he makes a mistake he'll be fired."

"I don't need to worry about being fired then, madam." Wisskoff appeared next to them, set two cups of klee down on the table, and turned away without a further word.

"Enough about him," Rlinda said. "If you need to talk to me about Matthew, I'm here." She pushed one of the fruit confections toward Orli. "And so is dessert. Help me test this."

Orli picked at her dessert, but smiled as she tasted it. She sipped the hot klee and gradually started to relax. "I shouldn't be acting like this. Mine isn't the first marriage to break up. It wasn't right in the first place, and it was as much my fault as it was his."

"I've got my own collection of ex-husbands," Rlinda said. "That doesn't mean it's not painful. In fact BeBob-" Her words cut off as her voice shut down. It always surprised her how swiftly the sadness came upon her, like an ambush. She forced herself to take a bite of her own dessert. "This reminds me of one of BeBob's favorite dishes. He was my favorite ex-husband."

"I know. I used to fly with him a lot."

Rlinda nodded, still feeling the heaviness of loss. "If you can put up with a man in a cramped spaceship, that means he's a man worth knowing."

Twenty years ago, she and BeBob had been happy. She would bustle from planet to planet as trade minister. At first BeBob followed her like a puppy dog, took care of her, kept her company, but over the years, he'd grown weary of the "glamour" and the constant travel of Rlinda's powerful position, so he chose to stay on Earth more often. She flew about the Spiral Arm, doing her duties, and flitting back home to see him. She kept herself so busy that she hadn't noticed that BeBob wasn't feeling well, that his energy seemed low.

Ten years ago, she'd been away on Ildira for the gala opening of the rebuilt Prism Palace when Branson Roberts dropped dead of a brain hemorrhage while crossing the street.

Rlinda swallowed hard now, trying to hide the tears. After all of their adventures, their perils, their harrowing escapes, she couldn't believe he had died while crossing a street.... As Rlinda spoke, the words rattled out in a flood; if she talked quickly enough, she could stay one step ahead of the tears.

Her favorite ex-husband was cremated and his ashes compacted and placed in a capsule, which she kept on her desk. When she died (preferably after a glorious meal served with the best wines) Rlinda had left instructions that her remains were to be placed in an identical capsule, and they would be launched together into interstellar space.

"That's very romantic," Orli said.

Rlinda shrugged and sniffled. "It seemed like a good idea."

They finished the desserts, and Rlinda folded her big hands on the tabletop. With her napkin, she reached over to dab a sparkle of sugar from Orli's cheek. "Other than needing a shoulder to cry on, is there some way I can help you?"

Orli froze for a moment, then spilled her request. "I'm done with the Relleker compy facility, done with staying at home and keeping my feet dirtside. I need a change of scenery, a change of pace."

Rlinda drew her brows together. "Running away won't solve anything."

"Maybe I'm running toward something ... or maybe I just need to keep moving. You know I can fly ships. Does Kett Shipping need any pilots? Somebody to make a few runs?" She seized on this sudden direction for her life, which only pointed out just how aimless and lost she had been feeling.

Rlinda chuckled. "Why, yes, in fact, I do. One of my pilots, Mary Coven, is retiring, and I bought her ship for a song, but I don't have a captain yet. That sort of paperwork usually falls to Tasia and Robb."

"What do I need to do to get approvals?"

"You need to ask me." Rlinda tapped her on the head. "There, you're approved. The ship is called the Proud Mary. We can rename it if you like."

Orli shook her head. "The name sounds fine."

"Go to Earth, spend a week or two arranging matters, take the Proud Mary on a shakedown flight. I assume DD will be your copilot, given the appropriate upgrades?"

Orli threw her arms around Rlinda and gave her a big hug again. "Thank you. This is just what I needed."

CHAPTER.

60.

ADAR ZAN'NH The Solar Navy search ships headed out into uncharted space above the Spiral Arm, attempting to follow the course the Kolpraxa had taken. Adar Zan'nh's septa flew for days, seven fully equipped warliners with sensors extended, hunting for any sign of the lost exploration ship.

There had been no report, no distress signal, but every Ildiran had felt the crew's outcry in the thism, then utter silence. Osira'h had felt it more sharply than anyone else.

As the warliners flew through empty space, the crew remembered stars, but there were few stars nearby in this vast void. It would be so easy to get lost out here in the void....

Zan'nh forced himself not to think about that. Through the faint threads of thism that connected them, he felt the crew's uneasiness. Out here in the universe's darkest spaces, he had to be the strongest tie that bound them all. Yet he could not ignore the fact that he was worried for the Kolpraxa and its commander. The expedition should have been a shining moment in Tal Gale'nh's career.

Throughout the voyage, Osira'h remained in the command nucleus, alert, guiding the search by following the connection she maintained with her brother. Though none of the warliner's sensors detected any trace of the lost ship, she reached out with her enhanced telepathic powers, feeling a vibrant sense of purpose again.

Looking up, she reassured Zan'nh, "Gale'nh is still alive, Adar. We will find him-I can still sense him."

Zan'nh kept his voice low, so as not to feed the fears of the crew. "I am personally concerned for Tal Gale'nh and the Kolpraxa's crew, and as Adar of the Solar Navy, I am also concerned about the threat they may have encountered." He could not push away the sight of the ominous shadow cloud that had swallowed-destroyed?-the fleeing black robots. What if the Shana Rei truly had returned? It seemed impossible. What could have awakened them? And how could the Solar Navy fight them?

Beside him, Osira'h held on to the command rail and closed her eyes. Her feathery hair twitched with a hint of her thoughts.

Zan'nh regarded the halfbreed girl who had grown into a beautiful young woman. Osira'h was slender, with an elfin face and small rounded nose reminiscent of her mother's, the noble cheekbones and generous lips of the Mage-Imperator.

Zan'nh remembered when Osira'h was just a little girl, the most perfect product of the Ildiran breeding program. Unlike the others, she was a halfbreed child born of love instead of scientific experimentation. Trained to use her mental powers, Osira'h had bravely confronted the hydrogues. Zan'nh remembered how impressive she had looked, forcing her will on the great elemental beings and commanding them to cease their destruction.

Now she concentrated, finding the faintest gossamer connections that told her Gale'nh was alive. Zan'nh knew she was trying to send strength to her brother, and she continued even when she sensed no response from him.

"I will not underestimate the power of hope," she said.

The search ships flew onward, guided only by Osira'h's reassurances that they were following the correct course.

Five days later, Osira'h called out, "He is here." She raised her voice so everyone in the command nucleus could hear her. "He is here!"

At Adar Zan'nh's command, all seven warliners decelerated and hung together in the middle of an infinite emptiness. Osira'h's eyes remained closed as she guided them, confident and insistent.

Sensor operators deployed fast-moving probes in all directions, like fluff from a seedpod, but they detected nothing. The communications array sent out persistent signals hailing the Kolpraxa. Still no response.

They combed the emptiness for hours with no result.

Osira'h paced the command nucleus. "I know Gale'nh is here, but I'm trying to find one small spark in all this emptiness. The stars are far away. It's so dark." She could not suppress a shudder.

Finally, they blundered into the Kolpraxa almost by accident, detecting a mass anomaly in the vacuum, even though the expeditionary ship was all but invisible. It emitted no electromagnetic or heat signature; its running lights were dead; its anodized metallic hull didn't reflect even a hint of starlight.

The seven warliners approached cautiously, shining forward blazers on the exploration ship, which was little more than a silhouette that drank light, as if the Kolpraxa had been painted with a matte coating of deepest black.

"It is the Shana Rei," someone whispered. "Just like in the story of the planet Orryx." Zan'nh remembered the tales from the Saga of Seven Suns, how the creatures of darkness had englobed entire worlds and battle fleets with impenetrable black armor.

Osira'h leaned against the command rail, her eyes wide. "Gale'nh is inside there. He's nearly smothered. We have to get to him." Her voice grew more urgent. "We have to break through!"

Zan'nh pushed back his uneasiness. "Dispatch a full team with high-powered lasers. Maybe concentrated light will break through." If Osira'h sensed Tal Gale'nh was alive in there, then the Kolpraxa must still have life support and atmosphere.

As they suited up, Ildiran engineers and warrior kith studied the Kolpraxa's design plans to familiarize themselves with the external airlock placement, discussing their plan of rescue.

From the flagship's command nucleus, the Adar watched his crew make their way over to one of the exterior airlocks. The controls were sealed with the ebony film, but when the rescue team used their lasers, the intense light peeled away the coating, turning it into smoke and shadows. They worked at the hatch for more than an hour.

Osira'h fidgeted beside the Adar. "I'm trying to let him know that help is coming, but Gale'nh can't sense us, can't sense me, though we're so close, even with the thism of so many Ildirans aboard these warliners. I can't detect any crew aboard the Kolpraxa. None at all."

"There were thousands," Zan'nh said.

"And now I sense none." Impulsively she added, "I want to suit up and go over there with the rescue crew. I need to be there for Gale'nh."

"Not until we know it is safe," Zan'nh said.

"When I was a child, I saved our entire Empire." Her eyes flashed. "My presence on the Kolpraxa will help keep us safe."

When the Adar could not dissuade her, he and Osira'h both suited up and jetted over to the silhouetted ship. By now the engineering team had forced open the airlock's external hatch, but they waited for Zan'nh to join them. Moving with extreme caution, they entered the Kolpraxa.

The interior of the lost ship was dim and only the grayish blue emergency bioluminescence lights glowed, giving the corridors a surreal appearance. The temperature measured as cold, but not intolerable. The searchers carried brilliant blazers that shone into every corner, bleaching away the shadows, but creating a flood of new ones behind them.

When sensors indicated that the atmosphere was breathable, one of the engineer kith risked opening his faceplate. After he breathed without difficulty for several minutes, the warrior kith followed suit, but made the Adar and Osira'h wait while they too verified that the air was safe.

Zan'nh inhaled, trying to place a strange smell. A warliner's atmosphere was always scrubbed and processed, but this smelled cold and lifeless. Except for the small group accompanying him, he detected only a resounding silence in the thism. Everything about the Kolpraxa was drained of energy, devoid of life.

"Where has the crew gone?" Osira'h asked. "There's no thism here at all."

The team moved forward. The corridors were empty, as were the chambers and meeting rooms, the dining halls, the crew quarters. All deserted. Osira'h struck out in the lead. "To the command nucleus-I feel Gale'nh there."

The interdeck lifts were nonfunctional, so the team climbed stairs and ladders, deck after deck, until they reached the command nucleus. The transparent observation dome was entirely obscured by a blackness that allowed no glimmer of starlight inside. The control panels were dead and dark. Even the faint blue emergency lights barely functioned here.

They found Tal Gale'nh, all alone in the dark. He sat on the floor beside the command rails. Although he faced the searchers, he didn't react to their arrival, didn't seem to see them.

He huddled next to five bodies, the only other Ildirans they had seen aboard the Kolpraxa. His arms were outstretched, as if trying to encompass the fallen crewmembers next to him. They were all completely drained of color, bleached into near nothingness.

In the pale blue light, Adar Zan'nh did not at first recognize the difference, but Osira'h ran to her brother. "Look at his hair!"

Tal Gale'nh had once had dark locks and a deep greenish gold skin. Now, the color had been washed out of him. His skin was ghostly pale, his hair the color of ivory. His eyes stared ahead.

Zan'nh shone his handheld blazer on the Tal's face. Osira'h wrapped her arms around her brother, clung to him-and finally Gale'nh stirred. Osira'h touched his forehead, cupped his cheeks in her hands, and closed her eyes as she concentrated.

Eventually, Zan'nh felt a flicker as Gale'nh's presence returned to the thism. The pale and devastated Tal looked at his sister, then at the Adar. "They're all gone." His voice was a hoarse whisper, like stone scraping on stone. He indicated the bodies around him. "I tried to save these, used all my strength to hold them, while the shadows took the others away. Not ... enough left."

Zan'nh spoke in a crisp, commanding voice, hoping to get through. "What happened to your crew, Tal?"

Gale'nh's eyes flickered, but continued to stare off into an inconceivable distance. "The shadows took them and unmade them ... but they said I was different." He heaved a deep breath and let it out. "All my people are gone, faded to black."

CHAPTER.

61.

DALE REEVES.

The ragtag group of Retroamer ships arrived at their isolated destination: an incredible and majestic alien city in space, built and abandoned long ago. Clan Reeves could call this place their own.

Dale Reeves and his wife rode with the bearded patriarch in the convoy's lead ship. After investing so many years of work at the Rendezvous site, Dale had been uneasy about this great exodus, but he knew he would never change his father's mind. Olaf Reeves was like an asteroid on a collision course, and those who got in his way would suffer from the impact. Garrison had proved that without question.