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turning the sled into the gate of the family ranch, some klicks distant from the original First Community buildings. The new town had been built some distance from the original colony site, out of the path of snake migration. Their ranch abutted the Reeve farm on one side and the Hu property on the other. Behind them was the red sandstone back of Saddle Ridge, no-being’s-land except for the wild animals native to Doona. Beyond that and the river was the Hrruban First Village. Every landmark came rushing back to her like the tide coming back up the Bore River from the distant sea.
    She knew her mother and father were struggling against laughter as she kept inhaling and exhaling until she was hyperventilating. But she couldn’t seem to get her lungs cleared of all that stinking canned air. And she couldn’t keep from swiveling her head about her, wishing it were on a 360-degree socket. The sheer space, just loose and lying around, was a sight for her eyes.
    Student housing allotment on Earth was very cramped, even for a junior diplomat trainee in Alreldep. No special treatment was given one who had graduated with honors or taken the advanced degree in only a year. She had had to endure the same tiny quarters as any other beginner in what she liked to call Diplodep. She had missed having room to stretch out, and the view of faraway horizons. She had longed for that almost as much as she had missed her family. And Todd. And today was the Hunt.
    They were nearly at the ranch house now, and Kelly felt her heart pounding for pure happiness. Two of the farm dogs paced the sled, barking their heads off. Kelly leaned out, calling their names and trying to pet their heads as they ran. Vic coasted the sled to a stop in between the house and the barn. When he turned the ignition off, he gave Kelly one more quick hug.
    “Welcome home, sweetie. Hey!” he yelled at the house. “Lookit what I brung home!”
    Joyfully, Kelly leaped out of the sled and into the arms of her brothers and sisters. The two smallest, Diana and Sean, tried to jump into her arms. The dogs raced around them, barking and jumping and trying to lick her face.
    “Hello, coppertop,” she hailed her brother Michael, who waved from the door of the barn and hurried up to meet her. Michael was a year her senior, but they had always pretended to be twins. Their faces were very much alike, with broad foreheads, wide golden hazel eyes, and strong pointed chins. His hair was as fiery a red as hers and just as thick. Their mother always said they reminded her of two matches in a box. Their father, more kindly, merely called them autumn-colored, to suit their autumn birthdays.
    “Hi, hothead,” Michael said with a broad grin on his face, swinging her around in a circle. He was a very junior veterinary resident, working under Ben Adjei at the Doona/Rrala Animal Hospital. Michael was still clad in his white tunic, but was stripping it off as he steered her toward the house. “Hurry up and change into your gear. They’re going to start Gathering the Hunt at twelve hundred hours. Go scrub the ship stink off your skin, or the horses’ll run from you, not the snakes. Unless you’re too tired to participate?” he asked teasingly.
    “Not a chance!” Kelly said, wriggling free and heading toward the house. “It’s what I hurried home for! Oh, how I’ve missed Calypso.”
    “That’s what Todd said you’d say.” Michael nodded, helping her carry her bags. “Still horse crazy after those years of horseless Earth?”
    “Thank goodness, he and Hrriss got back from that Hrrethan assignment,” Kelly said, ignoring her brother’s jibe. “Wouldn’t be a proper Hunt without them leading it.”
    As soon as she had showered in unlimited hot water and dressed in comfortable well-worn clothes, Kelly raced out to saddle her bay mare, Calypso. The mare gladly accepted the present of a couple of carrots and nuzzled her mistress’s hand. Kelly just hoped that she hadn’t