fact, I’m going to have to ask everyone to remain in Government House until further notice. Also, we’re going to ask you to not wear your uniforms while you’re here. For various reasons, we need for you to go incognito . . . you’ll know why later. In any case, civilian clothes will be supplied to you.” He gave Melissa a meaningful glance. “I’m afraid that applies to you as well, ma’am. Your robe . . .”
“I understand.” Melissa pulled back her hood; again, Jorge was struck by how much she resembled Inez. “I don’t like it, but I understand.”
“I’m sure you do.” Sawyer’s voice was even, but something in the way he said this made Jorge aware again that Melissa probably knew more than she’d been told. There were few secrets that could be kept from a mind reader . . . and if Jorge had ever doubted that the Order was capable of telepathy, his conversation with Inez had erased his skepticism.
Inez said nothing but simply sat quietly beside Jorge, close enough that their shoulders touched. Only yesterday, he would have welcomed such contact, perhaps even taking the opportunity to casually drape an arm across the back of her seat. But that seemed ages ago, and much had changed in too short a time. Not only that, but he’d been made self-conscious by the cold way in which Melissa regarded him. She’d said little to him during the flight from Algonquin, remaining in her cabin for most of the trip, but Jorge had little doubt that she knew about the attraction he felt for her daughter.
In an effort to distract himself, Jorge gazed through the windows on his side of the coupe. By then, the hovercar had left the aerodrome behind and was crossing into Liberty’s city limits; in the dark and silent hours between midnight and dawn, the sidewalks were empty, streetlamps casting a soft radiance upon the snowbanks along the curbs. Again, he reflected how much his hometown had changed in the last few years. When he was a boy, Liberty had still been little more than a large town, with packed-dirt streets meandering between wood-frame houses and the occasional adobe-brick structure. No building was more than three stories tall, and fish-oil lamps were still the principal source of lighting in most homes. It was even possible to see shags in the streets, tied up at hitching posts or pulling wagons from one place to another.
All that had changed. Once hjadd emissaries to Coyote assisted the Federation in rebuilding the starbridge, the colonists found themselves benefiting from increased trade with the other races of the galaxy. Although humankind apparently didn’t have much to offer in terms of technology—aside from raw materials and certain cash crops, there was little that the hjadd , the kua’tah , the morath , or the soranta didn’t already have, particularly in terms of technology—they were surprised to discover that aliens were fascinated by human culture. Music, painting, sculpture, even literature and vids: in all their variations, these art forms were as much in demand as wood, iron, or hemp, with the Talus races willing to exchange knowledge and tools that they’d long since taken for granted for things they’d never heard or seen before.
As a result, in the six and a third LeMarean years that had passed since Black Anael, human civilization on Coyote had undergone a distinct transformation. Liberty itself was a prime example; the older buildings, constructed of blackwood, mountain briar, and adobe, were vanishing, to be surrounded or outright replaced by amorphous, free-form structures that had been literally grown, from the ground up, by microassemblers that broke down the limestone-and-granite bedrock beneath the topsoil and used them as raw material. Even electrical fixtures were no longer limited to primitive wiring systems but now used embedded solar arrays and piezoelectric threads to supply and transfer power. The hjadd had used such advanced nanotech to erect their own embassy;
“I understand.” Melissa pulled back her hood; again, Jorge was struck by how much she resembled Inez. “I don’t like it, but I understand.”
“I’m sure you do.” Sawyer’s voice was even, but something in the way he said this made Jorge aware again that Melissa probably knew more than she’d been told. There were few secrets that could be kept from a mind reader . . . and if Jorge had ever doubted that the Order was capable of telepathy, his conversation with Inez had erased his skepticism.
Inez said nothing but simply sat quietly beside Jorge, close enough that their shoulders touched. Only yesterday, he would have welcomed such contact, perhaps even taking the opportunity to casually drape an arm across the back of her seat. But that seemed ages ago, and much had changed in too short a time. Not only that, but he’d been made self-conscious by the cold way in which Melissa regarded him. She’d said little to him during the flight from Algonquin, remaining in her cabin for most of the trip, but Jorge had little doubt that she knew about the attraction he felt for her daughter.
In an effort to distract himself, Jorge gazed through the windows on his side of the coupe. By then, the hovercar had left the aerodrome behind and was crossing into Liberty’s city limits; in the dark and silent hours between midnight and dawn, the sidewalks were empty, streetlamps casting a soft radiance upon the snowbanks along the curbs. Again, he reflected how much his hometown had changed in the last few years. When he was a boy, Liberty had still been little more than a large town, with packed-dirt streets meandering between wood-frame houses and the occasional adobe-brick structure. No building was more than three stories tall, and fish-oil lamps were still the principal source of lighting in most homes. It was even possible to see shags in the streets, tied up at hitching posts or pulling wagons from one place to another.
All that had changed. Once hjadd emissaries to Coyote assisted the Federation in rebuilding the starbridge, the colonists found themselves benefiting from increased trade with the other races of the galaxy. Although humankind apparently didn’t have much to offer in terms of technology—aside from raw materials and certain cash crops, there was little that the hjadd , the kua’tah , the morath , or the soranta didn’t already have, particularly in terms of technology—they were surprised to discover that aliens were fascinated by human culture. Music, painting, sculpture, even literature and vids: in all their variations, these art forms were as much in demand as wood, iron, or hemp, with the Talus races willing to exchange knowledge and tools that they’d long since taken for granted for things they’d never heard or seen before.
As a result, in the six and a third LeMarean years that had passed since Black Anael, human civilization on Coyote had undergone a distinct transformation. Liberty itself was a prime example; the older buildings, constructed of blackwood, mountain briar, and adobe, were vanishing, to be surrounded or outright replaced by amorphous, free-form structures that had been literally grown, from the ground up, by microassemblers that broke down the limestone-and-granite bedrock beneath the topsoil and used them as raw material. Even electrical fixtures were no longer limited to primitive wiring systems but now used embedded solar arrays and piezoelectric threads to supply and transfer power. The hjadd had used such advanced nanotech to erect their own embassy;
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