"I didn't realize you were this conspiracy-obsessed," Savitri said to Beata.

"Welcome tome," Beata said.

"It's possible journalists and others do know about the Conclave," Kranjic said. "It's just not making it through the official media channels. And if the CU is actively discouraging journalists from talking about it, then they're not likely to discuss it with us—"

"—because all our communication comes via skip drone," Jane finished. "Which means it's monitored by the Colonial Union."

"Right," Kranjic said.

I remembered Hickory's concern about the CU listening in to its communication with other Obin. Apparently it wasn't the only one suspicious of the CU. "Don't you guys have code or something?" I asked Kranjic. "Some way to let other journalists know something even if you're being monitored?"

"You want me to write 'The hawk flies at midnight'?" Kranjic asked. "No, we don't have a code, and even if we did, no one would risk it. You don't think the CU looks for semantic idiosyncrasies and steganographic patterns?" He pointed to Jane. "Rumor had it she did intelligence for the CDF at one time. Ask her about it."

"So not only do we not know what the CU knows, we can't know what the CU knows," Savitri said. "We might as well still be lost."

"No," I said. "We can know. We just can't know from here."

"Ah," Trujillo said. "Your trip to Phoenix Station. You think you can find out more there."

"Yes," I said.

"You'll be busy with your inquiry," Trujillo said. "You're not going to have a lot of time to catch up on gossip."

"You still know people in the Colonial Union government," I said to Trujillo.

"Unless there's been a coup, yes," Trujillio said. "It's only been a year. I can get you in contact with a few people."

"I'd rather you came with me," I said. "As you said, I'm going to be busy with an inquiry. And your people will talk to you more candidly than they will talk to me. Especially considering what you thought of me the last time any of them talked to you." I looked over to Kranjic. "You, too, Jann. You still know people in the media."

Beata snorted. "He knows talking heads," she said. "Let me come. I know the producers and the editors—the people who feed people like him their lines."

"Both of you come," I said, before Kranjic could get off a shot at Beata. "We need to find out as much as we can from as many different sources as we can. Manfred in the government. You two with your media contacts. Jane with Special Forces."

"No," Jane said. "I'm staying here."

I stopped, more than a little surprised at this. "Special Forces carried out the attack on the Conclave Fleet," I said. "They probably know more than anyone about what the aftereffects are. I need you to find out, Jane."

"No," Jane said.

"John," Savitri said, "we've been attacked. Someone actually has to run the colony while you're away. Jane needs to be here.''

There was more to it than that, but Jane's stare was flat and expressionless. Whatever it was that was going on, I wasn't going to find out about it right then. And Savitri was right in any event. "Fine," I said. "I still have a few people I can talk to as well. Unless they're planning to hold me in a cell."

"You don't think anyone will question why the three of us will be coming along with you," Trujillo said.

"I don't think so," I said. "We've been attacked. I'm going to be engaged in my inquiry. Manfred, you're going to have to stand in people's doorways and try to get the CU to increase our defenses, and fast. Beata will present herself as our cultural minister; in addition to talking to her contacts she's going to try to get permissions for entertainment and educational programming. We have the capability for that now. And as press secretary, Jann's going to be busy shopping around the story of Roanoke's first year. You all have your own reasons for going. Makes sense?"

"Makes sense," Trujillo agreed. Kranjic and Beata nodded as well.

"Good," I said. "Our ship is due here in two days, then." I stood up to end the meeting. I reached over to Jane to catch her before she left, but she was the first one out the door.

"Where's Zoe?" I asked Jane, when I came back home.

"She's over at Trujillo's," Jane said. She was sitting in her chair on the porch, petting Babar. "She and Gretchen and all of their friends are mourning Enzo. She'll probably stay the night there."

"How was she doing?" I asked.

"Someone she loved died," Jane said. "It's hard for anyone. She's lost loved ones before. But this was the first time it was one of her contemporaries. One of her friends."

"And a first love at that," I said. "That complicates matters."

"It does," Jane said. "Everything's complicated now."

"Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you what that was about back there," I said. "You turning down going to Phoenix Station."

"Savitri said it," Jane said. "It's bad enough the colony is losing you to an inquiry, and that you're taking Trujillo with you. Someone needs to be here."

"But that's not all of it," I said. "I know you well enough to know when you're holding something back."

"I don't want to be responsible for compromising the safety of the colony," Jane said.

"How would you do that?" I said.

"For one thing, the next time I see General Szilard, I'm going to break the bastard's neck," Jane said. "They're not likely to keep me on after that. Then there would be no leadership for this colony at all."

"You were always the practical one," I said. "It's who I am," Jane agreed. "Something I got from Kathy, perhaps."

"Perhaps," I said. It was rare that Jane would talk directly about Kathy; it's hard to talk to your husband about his first wife, especially when you are made from that wife's DNA. When Jane brought up Kathy, it was an indication that other things were on her mind. I kept quiet until she was ready to tell me what was going on in her head.

"I dream about her sometimes," Jane finally said. "About Kathy."

"What do you dream about her?" I asked. "That she and I talk," Jane said. "And she tells me how you were when you were with her, and I tell her how you are with me. And we talk about our families and our lives and about each other. And when I wake up I don't remember anything specific about what we've talked about Just that we've talked."

"That must be frustrating," I said.

"It's not," Jane said. "Not really. I like that we just talk. I like feeling that connection with her. She's part of who I am. Mother and sister and self. All of it. I like that she visits me. I know it's just a dream. It's still nice."

"I bet it is," I said, remembering Kathy, who Jane was so much like, even as much as she was her own person. "I'd like to visit her one day," Jane said.

"I'm not sure how we'd do that," I said. "She's been gone a long time."

"No," Jane said. "I mean I'd like to visit where she is now. Where she's buried."

"I'm not sure how we'd do that, either," I said. "Once we leave Earth, we're not allowed to go back."

"I never left Earth," Jane said, looking down at Babar, who thumped a lazy, happy beat with his tail. "Only my DNA did."

"I don't think the Colonial Union will make the distinction," I said, smiling at one of Jane's rare jokes.

"I know they won't," Jane said, a trace of bitterness in her voice. "Earth is too valuable as a factory to risk it being infected by the rest of the universe." She looked over at me. "Don't you ever want to go back? You spent most of your life there."

"I did," I said. "But I left because there was nothing keeping me there. My wife was dead and our kid grew up. It wasn't too hard to say good-bye. And now what I care about is here. This is my world now."

"Is it?" Jane said. She looked up at the stars. "I remember standing in the road back on Huckleberry, wondering if I could make another world my home. Make this world my home."