14
BECAUSE THE SHUTTLE was flying west, the day dragged on forever. People grew tired and tried to sleep in their seats, but Mikandra couldn’t get comfortable. No one else seemed to have this problem. She was too pampered. The workers were so exhausted, they slept wherever and whenever there was time. Even the crew members were nowhere to be seen.
She kept glancing over the sleeping forms of Jocassa and the merchant at her reflection in the window and the vast masses of cloud beyond. Occasionally, the craft would turn and sunlight from one of both suns would spear through the window, increasingly often as the day wore on and the light turned golden.
Once, the cloud cover broke and she spotted a landscape of rolling hills, small settlements and patchwork fields.
Probably some farming co
