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we’re all being honest and open, I’d be
lying through my teeth if I told you that we’re not both attracted to you. Very attracted to you. You’re beautiful and alluring.”
    She
looked embarrassed, but not angry. “And you’re both quite gorgeous yourselves.
Thank you. So, how will this work? Am I staying here with you two?”
    “It
would be safest for you if you did,” said River. “This planet is controlled by
the Addonians now, and it’s heavily guarded. Six months ago, ships came and went
on all three planets pretty much at will, although once they landed on Sera
there were security checks. But all that has changed now. A ship can’t simply
land here either from Sera or Voyeur Moon. The air space is patrolled. You’re
as safe here as anywhere now.”
    River
gave him a worried look. “Unless of course you’re
uncomfortable here, with us in the same quarters. I mean, if you think
anything will happen that you don’t want to. We could house you in other
quarters, but you’d be alone, and we’d rather be able to keep an eye on you all
the time. The Tyranns can’t get to you if we’re here with you.”
    She
fingered the chain around her neck again, and Vaughn could see the struggle on
her face, but wasn’t sure if it came from what River had just said, or whatever
that chain meant to her. “What is that chain?” he asked.
    She
sighed heavily and then pulled it out of her tunic, revealing a diamond ring on
the end of it. “His name is Jacob Mariner, and I want to college with him. We
were engaged before the first invasion, and then he went backpacking in Europe
with several male friends. I haven’t heard from him since. There’s no way to
get in touch with him since any communication across the oceans are now gone on
Earth. I don’t even know if he’s still alive.”
    Vaughn
rose and walked into his bedroom, retrieved his laptop, and then came back into
the kitchen. He logged onto a database that he had no business being in, but
that he and River had hacked into months ago. They were still in there
undetected because they had several user names, and were able to mask their IP
address most days. “Give me his full name again, and any other identifying
information, like his birth-date.”
    She
gave him the information he’d asked for. “I also know his last address, but
it’s old now. I have no clue where in Europe he was when the invasions
occurred.”
    “That’s
all right. Just give me what you have.” She did, and then he searched while she
watched and River ate. Finally, his name came up. Vaughn read the drone reports
and then shook his head. As if this poor girl hadn’t had enough of a shock
lately.
    “What
is it? Please tell me. Whatever it is. At least I’ll
know.”
    Her
voice shook and he hated that. “He was picked up in a raid in Germany eighteen
months ago, and brought to Voyeur Moon. A great many of the able-bodied men who
were in their twenties, thirties, or forties were sent to the mines to work,
here on Addo. It’s back-breaking work, and the men are
treated like slaves. Most of them don’t last a year.”
    “He’s
here?” Her voice came out in a whisper.
    Vaughn
shook his head. “Not anymore. He died six months ago. I’m so sorry, Marianne.”
    ****
    River
brushed a hand along her arm and was alarmed to find her skin so cool. “Is
there anything we can do?”
    She
shook her head, and then let go of the chain. “I had a feeling, deep in my gut,
that he was dead. But I always wished I could at least find out what had
happened to him. Now I know.”
    Her
voice was too flat and dull. River glanced toward his brother, a question on
his face, but Vaughn merely shrugged.
    “It’s
all right,” she said. “Like I said, I think I already knew.”
    “You
loved him,” said River.
    “Yes.
Yes, I did. We hadn’t seen each other in what … two years I guess.”
    “That’s
a long time,” said Vaughn.
    “Yes,
it is.”
    “Why
don’t you finish breakfast?” said