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Lothogy dove, shooting at the surface of the ocean before submerging. The hologram was swallowed in the mass of churning waves, leaving a firm knot of defeat lodged somewhere in Matthew's chest.
    "They ... they submerged, sir." Charles said, though his voice was baffled and held more than a little respect for the lost enemy.
    Matthew scowled at the holograms as they fired into the sea, knowing that the Lothogy was already out of range. Underwater systems, by God, they'd managed to install underwater systems.
    "Collect the debris from Fom Six," Matthew said. He looked to Charles. "Send a unit to shut down David's lab at Outboard Jupiter. I want everything erased. I want it so clean, it's like new."
    Charles nodded, his broad forehead creased with mounting concern. His dark eyes glanced at the controllers surrounding them before he asked; "And the subjects?"
    With a deep breath, Matt tried to battle through the real dilemma facing him. His business instincts told him he had to get rid of all evidence of David's illegal actions, to include the thirty-seven women now suffering from a disease that was supposed to be dead. His father wouldn't have hesitated. Necessary sacrifices for the safety of the company and the family , Jason Borden's voice nagged him from the recesses of his memory.
    Matthew, however, would be damned if he became like his father. He'd do the family proud, he'd keep the business running, but not at the cost of his soul. There was a line, damnit. Mesa Prosser's name knifed across his conscious, but he tried to justify her death as a matter of private war.
    His temples began to throb.
    "Set a security detail for them. Four medics. Transfer them onto Balor II and have them set a course for Pluto." Matt felt his eye twitch as he gave the order. It wasn't much, but at least they could be hidden for a little while. And with the experiments his brother had been conducting, it was just possible that they would all die before anything could really come of it. "And Charles, make sure the subjects have everything they might need."
    ***
    "It's not your fault, you know."
    Reesa grunted in acknowledgement, lounging on the deck of the Ho'ola Jane and opening her bottle of Dr. Pepper. She knew she should drink water like Kate, but there was something satisfying in the bubbly-burn of soda that appealed to her. That and she'd spent the first half of her life restrained from the normal indulgences of a child per force of her mother. Reesa believed she deserved some amount of leeway after nineteen years of modeling competitions and photo shoots.
    It was a sunny, warm day and there wasn't a sign of land on the horizon. Tufts of white clouds scattered across an azurite sky so deep it made Reesa's heart swell from the sight of it. Blue was her color, all shades of it. It was an all-encompassing color, a base, not flashy or obnoxious, but classy. It could be moody, tinting storm clouds or mysterious like the depths of a glacier, vibrant through the white of ice. It could even be dangerous, as on the silvery blue of a dorsal fin. Reesa smiled, content to remind herself of the basic reason she loved sailing.
    Blue was everywhere, hugging her little boat in the watery landscape.
    And then Kate spoke again, reminding her that she was not alone in her sanctuary.
    "Some people just don't see the bridge between fiction and reality," Kate stretched out on the deck beside her, short legs crossing at the ankles. "I know I said I wouldn't talk about it, but I had to say at least that much."
    "I know."
    "You know it wasn't your fault, or you know I had to say something?"
    Reesa smiled and said, "Both."
    Kate laughed and rolled onto her stomach, letting the sun burnish the back of her legs. Reesa did the same, propping her head onto her arms so she could survey her friend. Kate really was a pretty little thing, though she didn't seem to know. If she'd been an inch or so taller the modeling companies would have scrambled over themselves to exploit