Whips was not well... -----     Chapter 28. "I'm dying, aren't I?" Whips asked over his private channel. He was pretty sure what the answer was going to be. Laura was silent for a moment. Then, very quietly, she said, "Yes. Yes, you are, Harratrer. I'm sorry." "Thought so." He tried to say it casually, but he could hear the pain in his voice too clearly. "We're working on it," she said. "We're not giving up, and you shouldn't either." "Got. . . too many things to do to give up," Whips said, studying the side [ Continue reading... ]

Meanwhile, on Emerald Maui...   ------   Chapter 26. The problem, Whips thought, wasn't that he had to send out one of the kids; it was that he had to do that and accept that if something went wrong he could not do anything about it. Sky and Earth knew that there were dangers to going out on a rocking ocean vessel—especially in this ocean. After the tsunami there would almost have to be a huge number of dead bodies, animals that hadn't been able to escape in time, and that meant that the water for many kilometers around, [ Continue reading... ]

The castaways were recovering from a tsunami... -----       Chapter 25. Sergeant Campbell surveyed the forest from ground level and found himself shaking his head. Doesn't stink too bad yet, but it will, and that'll be just the beginning. If their columns had been located on the northern edge of the continent, it might have been better in some ways; the wave wouldn't have had a chance to pick up much debris, it would have been more water than anything else. But they'd been kilometers inland and south, and what had [ Continue reading... ]

The littlest castaways were in some trouble...   -----     Chapter 24. Harratrer was rising through a nightmare. The Europan sea surrounded him, filled with darkness and menace. There were no Vents in range, and with horror Harratrer realized he was alone. He was in the high waters, nearer the Sky than the Earth, away from all safety. And there was something coming, behind him even as he fled. Something huge and swift and hungry. An orekath. He jetted as hard as he could, but the water seemed to have turned [ Continue reading... ]

There had been an ominous silence on the airwaves... ------     Chapter 23. Hitomi gripped the arms of her seat tight, focusing on the panels in front of her. She had to concentrate, because if she didn't she'd skip from thought to thought to thought in a blur, and it would be scary. Way too scary. Whips was still out there, and the wave, the wave was coming, a big wave they said. No, wait—she heard the dragging sound of the big Bemmie moving fast behind her. "Are you both strapped in?" he said, his voice having that [ Continue reading... ]

When last we left our castaways, they had a problem... -----     Chapter 22. Even without Whips' terrifying message, Laura would have known that something was horribly wrong. With no visible warning, the quadbirds and other flying creatures suddenly burst from their perches and flew, whistling and hooting and screeching, away, all in a mingled, multicolored mass that arrowed off to the south. Almost in the same moment, she could see movement on the ground and the trees—animals large and small running, scuttling, swinging [ Continue reading... ]

Sue had just gotten a really odd clue... -----     Chapter 21. "No offense," a sleepy-eyed Portmaster Ventrella said, cradling his coffee in his hands like a precious jewel, "but this had better be very good, Sue." "You know I wouldn't kick you out of bed for anything that wasn't," Sue said. Then her conscience poked her, and she said reluctantly, "Well, it's not life-or-death. . . not directly now, I think, but. . ." The Portmaster sighed and gave a weary grin. "Ehh. You've got me up, let's talk about it. I'll decide [ Continue reading... ]

Sue had a real mystery on her hands.... -----     Chapter 20. "Jennifer?" Sue said softly. The young woman's eyes opened and looked around; for at least the third time, Sue watched the tension in Jen Buckley's face ease into relief as she took in the clean brightness of Orado Port's main medical facility. "I still keep thinking I'm going to wake up on LS-42." "I can't blame you. You spent a bit over a year on that ship. But you're safe now." "How are the others?" "All five of you are making a good recovery, [ Continue reading... ]