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The
Felicity
. In 3241. That was only three years ago.”
    “Yes, and I don’t need to ask what happened to the
Felicity
.”
    Rich shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you if you did.”
    “No. No one knows what happened to her. Well, perhaps in the future, there will be more expeditions and the mystery of
Felicity’s
disappearance will be unraveled. But we’ve gotten a little ahead of ourselves. About a century and a half, in fact. Another date: 3104.”
    “Mankeen,” Rich said, and the single word seemed self-explanatory and all-encompassing.
    “Yes, but something particular concerning the Mankeen Revolt occurred that year.”
    “The Mankeen League was formed; the Three Hundred Rebel Lords signed the League Charter with Lionar Mankeen. Actually, it was 302.”
    “Mm. And the Thousand Loyal Houses are actually 1,006 at this time, but simplification often makes for more dramatic syntax. How long did the Mankeen Revolt last?”
    Alexand seemed to be losing interest, and again Rich took the question. “Sixteen years: 3104 to 3120.”
    “And what happened in 3105? That should be easy, considering what day this is.”
    “The founding of the Concord by the remaining Houses of the old Confederation: the Loyal Houses. Of course, the Concord is really the Confederation under another name. Sometimes I wonder why everyone gets so excited about Concord Day.”
    Rovere laughed. “Well, Rich, there are some differences in structure. Minor, I’ll admit. It was a unifying ploy, primarily, and it came at a crucial time. Who is credited with paternity of the Concord?”
    “Arman Daro Galinin. He was Chairman of the Directorate then.”
    And Rich’s great-great-great-grandfather; he didn’t seem to find it necessary or relevant to mention that.
    “The Concord defeated Lionar Mankeen . . . when, Alex?”
    “What? Oh. In 3120. The Battle of the Urals.”
    “Correct. Now, the—”
    “And the first Purge followed,” Alexand went on dully. “Ten million Mankeen sympathizers were killed.”
    Rovere frowned at that uninvited piece of information; the Purges weren’t the Concord’s proudest moments. But it was the bitterness in Alexand’s tone that brought the frown.
    In the last year he’d become aware of something underlying Alexand’s cognizant cynicism; something related to the capacity for empathy that made him so unusual as a student of history. It was also undoubtedly related to his age. Adolescence is a process of disillusionment always, but especially so for the first born of DeKoven Woolf. The heir to the First Lordship couldn’t afford the luxury of comfortable delusions.
    Rovere concentrated on the scriber a moment, then, “Yes, Alex, the Mankeen Purge was ghastly in its casualties. So was the entire Mankeen Revolt. Nearly a billion lives were lost in those sixteen years, and all the extraterrestrial colonies were abandoned. Humankind retreated to Terra, and almost into a third dark age. The only colonies that weren’t entirely abandoned were on Pollux, which didn’t require habitat systems, but even Pollux—and Centauri—was abandoned in a sense; there was no communication between the Two Systems for half a century. The Concord was a long time recovering from Mankeen.” He paused, then, “Who can tell me when the first extraterrestrial colony was reestablished?”
    “3170,” Rich answered absently; his brother’s distraction hadn’t escaped him. “That was the Ivanoi mine complex in Tycho on Luna.”
    “And when was the last of the Solar System colonies reestablished?”
    “The last was Pluto. House of Shang. About 3200.”
    Rovere marked the points. The wind had died, and the spring sun was hot on his shoulders; the sound of the city seemed more distant.
    “Let’s backtrack a little. Another date: 3135.”
    Rich again took the question by virtual default.
    “The founding of the Peladeen Republic in Centauri.”
    “Correct. Which of the Peladeen Lords was in power when the Republic was