"Take off as soon as you can. We don't want to catch any of the larvae in our backwash,” Neave said.
Rafe strapped in quickly, averting his face. Let them get off the ground quickly! He didn't think he could see one Cynthian larva, let alone a crater full of them, without wanting to burn them out of existence. But he had the rest of his life to conceal that feeling and to insure that his children grew up without it. There were Cynthians to guard. There would always be—thank God—Cynthians to guard.
"Each generation,” Pauli muttered as acceleration pinned them into their seats. “Each generation will have to decide all over again not to kill, not to exploit."
"But there will be caretakers to remind them of the price to them as well as their intended victims,” Rafe said. “Us, and our children."
The ship arced up through the clouds and into the stillness of the night sky, sprinkled with stars in whorls more wonderful than the patterns on a Cynthian's wings. Above them were the stars that they would never reach again, though their children or grandchildren might, if all went well, soar among them once again. Before them lay the atonement that would encompass their entire lives. It might not be—was not—enough; but it was all that they had to give. Behind them lay the memory of a splendor of wings.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1989 by Susan Shwartz
ISBN 978-1-4976-1117-7
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Table of Contents
Author's Note
Acknowledgment
Part I - Planetfall
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Part II - Survivor Guilt
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Part III - Bread of Affliction
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Part IV - Nemesis (ten years after Planetfall)
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25