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Museum.”
    â€œIt’s actually pretty cool. I got a chance to climb into something like the Lunar Lander. Quite stimulating.”
    â€œI’ll have to go there, first chance I get.” Dad laughed. “So Ruen’s father is Officer Kikess? I know you told me about gathering stones with her, but how did you meet her?”
    â€œShe followed us when we left police headquarters. You know, Dad, she’s quite precocious. If I were to have a younger sister, someone like Ruen would be my choice.”
    Dad produced one of his quiet faces. Although a diplomat, I could sometimes read him quite well. I know he missed Mom, but so did I. Dying at an early age affected everyone, and I never got a chance to have siblings.
    â€œLet me tell you about my day,” he continued, after a moment. “The Basilians are having a crisis, as you can imagine—at least the diplomatic ones. The notion of a common—shall we say parent—with the Arandi has upset a lot of people.”
    â€œI would have thought the deception from the religious caste hiding their origins would have been more upsetting.” But what do I know?
    â€œFrom my point of view, I agree. However, Arandi and Basilians look at things differently than we do. And since they were told they were at war with each other, the topic is a little difficult to get over. But Ilandus and I are making a lot of progress. I spend hours telling them about Earth history.”
    â€œOh, that’s a good plan. From what little I know about human history, I’ve decided we’re always in conflict.” Perhaps I’m being a little negative.
    â€œYou astound me, Nara. That’s exactly the tact I’m taking.” Dad grinned.
    â€œLike father, like daughter.” I think I’ve made his day .
    After dinner, I retired to my room to start studying. My focus had shifted away from school the last few days, so I needed to catch up.
    It wasn’t long before Tata called my com. “Parent no understanding.”
    â€œWhat does Ambassador Tata not understand?” She’d always appeared reasonable to me.
    â€œNot deal with Ruen. Parent Kikess.”
    â€œShe doesn’t want you to have anything to do with Ruen because her father is with the police and was our interrogator?”
    â€œYes.”
    Lately, I had started to hear some inflections in Tata’s voice. He wasn’t happy. I had to rely on inflections and body language; his words were too minimal for emotional understanding. “Well, I think we should be able to make our own friends. We’re mostly alone on Basili. We need to create our own life.” Pleased with my words, I wrote them down on my computer.
    â€œGo. Mother calls.”
    â€œOkay. See you in the morning.” Tata had been more abrupt than usual.
    I settled down to study but, after only a few moments, my father knocked at my door. “Nara, I need to talk to you.”
    â€œNo problem. Come in.” I was surprised by the scowl on his face.
    â€œNara, I just received a call from Officer Kikess. Apparently, some items were stolen from the Space Museum. Do you know anything about this?”

Chapter 7
    Items were stolen from the Space Museum? My pulse quickened.
    â€œWhy would I steal anything? I don’t do things like that. Why would you even ask?” Tears threatened to pour down my face, and my lower lip began to tremble. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard from my Dad.
    â€œSorry, but I had to ask. Officer Kikess wants you and Tata to come in for an interview tomorrow morning.” He hesitated to enter my room any further.
    â€œI sure hope he also calls Ruen in for an interview.”
    â€œWhy would he do that?” Dad obviously barely remembered who Ruen was.
    â€œEasy peasy. Because she was with us at the Space Museum, and she’s his daughter. If she isn’t there, I’m going to protest his unfair treatment of us.” I turned