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powerful governor. Thomas knew he could be wrong, but he’d keep a close eye on him.
    TINA HAMMER
    Tina shuddered from the cold gusts bearing down on them from the Rockie foothills. The weather had changed in the last few days. It was still nice, with only occasional rain showers in the evenings, but the temperature had dropped, and everyone knew winter was coming soon. The thought only spurred her on, because she knew once the first snow fell, that would be the end of building season, as everything still had to be done out in the open. It shouldn’t take more than a week to finish the fishing boat she was working on with Dean, so she wasn’t worried. But the one Henry and Kim had started last week was an entirely different matter. They would have to get some kind of shelter for it, or everything they had done so far would be destroyed come spring.
    She smiled to herself. Back in Selection, they had discussed what to do once they were settled on their new homeworld. Dean had come up with the idea that they should build ships. Of course, at the time, they had only laughed about it. After all, they were soldiers. What did they know about building ships? But Dean had reminded them of it occasionally, and after a while, they had discussed it more seriously and figured it could be done. Dean knew a little about shipbuilding from having worked at a shipyard before joining the Navy, and the kind of boats they would need in the beginning would be rather simple. By the time they left Earth, Kim and Tina had bought into the idea, and they’d decided they would do this together. Henry was the hardest sell, and hadn’t joined them until they were safely down. Tina guessed he must have realized that his soldiering days were over. After all, with no wars, who was there to fight?
    That wasn’t something that concerned her anymore. At some point her hopes and dreams had changed. She had given up on scramjets years ago, and piloting the shuttle had been a different matter altogether. She had been the first human on Aurora after all. What more was there? So she did her duties, and took pride in her job as the executive officer of the Exodus. The thought that her former vocation would soon be obsolete though made her look around, and she discovered there were a lot of other pursuits in life she would like to try.
    “I guess there will be a lot of folks coming up here, the way that fucking pinhead is running things down in Andrews,” Dean suddenly said, loud enough to be heard by everyone around. Tina shot a quick glance over at Kim and Henry. Her friends were split when it came to politics, and Dean seldom passed up on a chance to rant about what he once described as “the oppressive bastards down in Andrews and that idiot puppet” — meaning the Consortium and Governor Havelar. She wouldn’t have put it that way, especially not when her best friend was adamantly defending the need for unity and the leadership of Havelar, but she was concerned about the development as well. She didn’t think Henry had heard Dean’s latest comment, or he would have shared an equally eloquent retort. Tina hid her skepticism well enough, but she had to admit Dean had a point. She couldn’t put it all away, like Kim did, but she tried not to focus too much on the bigger issues. Dean though, kept going.
    “If you ask me, the admiral should be in charge. Yeah, I know we need a civilian government, and Hamilton is an officer, but he is also a human being, not like those fuckers who still think they’re back on Earth, having the FBI tapping phones and bugging rooms.” She noticed Henry narrowing his brows; he must have heard. Tina didn’t say anything, and motioned for Dean to stop, but he didn’t seem to care.
    “You know, this is Aurora! We should have people out there right now, exploring in every direction, building their own farms and shops, not working communal projects. And the boss should be elected, not appointed by some dude who’s been