Chapter Four
Ethan waited for Cariad in the lot outside the shuttle station. A regular shuttle schedule of three arrivals and departures per day had begun to run, and Cariad had comm’d to say she would be on the noon arrival. Ethan had watched the shuttle fly in, appearing from out of the sky as if by magic. To him, Nova Fortuna was now no more than a stationary point of light at night, and in the daytime the starship was entirely invisible.
As a Gen, he now required special permission to return to his old home. The new rule rankled, especially because Woken like Cariad could come and go as they pleased. The reason given was that the Woken’s roles were mostly scientific and performed aboard the starship, while Ethan’s and the other Gens’ jobs were confined to the settlement or nearby. Ye
