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THIRTEEN PEOPLE HAD died and six suffered permanent injuries from the disaster that occurred during the construction of the Sirocco. The event had thrown a pall over everything, and what had been an exciting rush toward the building of humanity’s first jump-drive starship had turned into a somber, mournful effort to get the thing done. Now it was built, the Leader was attempting to inject some enthusiasm into his voice as he made the announcement, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it.
Kes, who was watching Barker’s speech at home, turned off his interface. He had observed the building of the ship from afar, through watching daily vidnews reports and via his sporadic contact with Wilder. They remained good friends, but she was incredibly busy and he wasn’t into socializing these d
