Page 46 of Fall
“Of course not.” She was relieved when thesurge of feeling passed.
“Good. I could always count on you to beefficient and no-nonsense, telling me how stupid I am for falling in love. Inever thought I’d see the day when you turned stupid too.”
“I’m not stupid,” she insisted, forcingdown a swell of grief at the thought of Rone still down on the planet, probablysearching for her desperately at this very moment.
Her claim prompted a response from Desh,who opened his eyes and arched his brows.
“I’m not stupid,” she repeated, trying toconvince herself as much as the men.
Hall glanced between her face and Desh’s,but all he said was, “Glad to hear it.”
When the ship neared a large star, theedges of the gravitational forces caused it to rattle and shake. It was anormal, everyday occurrence in space travel, but it caused Lenna to gasp andput her hand on her stomach.
Hall’s teasing expression turnedsympathetic. “Damn. You both look like you feel terrible. You’ll feel betterwhen we get back on the ground.”
“Where are we going anyway?” Desh asked,evidently rousing himself enough to enter the conversation.
“It’s an undeveloped planet—no Coalitionbase, so we’re basically left alone.”
“Hall and his wife, Kyla, have a vineyardthere,” Lenna told Desh. “They make wine. The real thing.”
“We’re just starting out,” Hall added.“There’s no wine yet. Cain has a ranch there. Real old-fashioned cattle.” Henodded toward his big, rough-looking friend, who hadn’t said a word more than agrunt the whole time. He was clearly listening to the conversation as hepiloted the ship, but he didn’t seem inclined to talk if he didn’t have to.
Rone would probably like him.
“That sounds like a good place to me,”Desh said. “As long as there are working showers and food I don’t have to killor dig up first.”
“I think we can offer you that much,” Hallreplied. “You look pretty young to have been planet dumped. What did you do?”
Desh gave a half-shrug.
“He told me he’d talked back to the wrongperson. He was only sixteen at the time.”
Hall’s eyes widened. “Sixteen? You musthave said something pretty bad to someone really important.”
Desh turned away with anuncharacteristically evasive expression.
Lenna realized that, after all this time,she still knew very little about this young man. “Who did you insult, Desh?”she asked softly
After a moment, he met her eyes. “The HighDirector.”
Everyone on the ship gasped at this news,even stoic Cain. “The High Director?” Lenna repeated. “Of the CoalitionCouncil?ThatHigh Director?”
The Coalition was governed by a largecouncil, which was supposed to be made up of representatives from all areas ofCoalition space, but had gradually turned into a power-grab from the mostruthless, ambitious people.
The High Director of the council was themost powerful individual in the known universe.
“Yes,” Desh admitted, rubbing his hairuncomfortably. “That one.”
“What did you say?”
“I… publically humiliated him. And he tookit personally because… because he’s my father.”
At this piece of information, even Cainturned in his seat to stare at the young man.
They were all silent for a full-minute.
Finally, Desh said, “I know. But it’s notexactly a family I want to brag about. The Kroo was more of a family to me thanhe ever was. Needless to say, I’m not planning to head back home for a familyreunion.”