CARIAD COULDN’T HELP but notice, as she left the shuttle field and walked the streets of the settlement, that the place seemed unusually quiet. Though she hadn’t been planetside for weeks, she was sure that there used to be many more people out and about. She guessed the Gens were all busy at their jobs, working hard to get the colony on its feet. Ethan was probably at his farm. He had no reason to be in town during the daytime.
Alasdair, whom Aubriot had appropriated as his personal medic, formed part of his retinue. An agricultural scientist—not Anahi, who hadn’t wanted to come down—an ecologist and a meteorologist had also come along. Aubriot insisted on leading the way.
They first visited the machine works, where the kits for vehicles, agricultural machinery, and the massive roadmake
