“Quite the party your parents are throwing for you,” she said to David.
“It’s not for me, Zee,” he whispered. “It’s for you.”
David let go of her hand and stepped away. Zee stood all alone. Everyone she knew on New Earth was there. Paul and Mia, Piper and her husband, Meli and the Lost Arts crowd. Marc presided over a long banquet table, and Major Dawson wore full dress uniform for the occasion. Mr. Sutton came up and handed her an empty glass.
While he poured champagne into it, he said in a low voice, “Paul told us the whole story, Zee. The real story about what happened in Pompeii.” He turned to the crowd and held his own glass up. “To Zee. We are proud to welcome her to our family.”
All the glasses went up. “To Zee.”
“To Zee!”
* * *
Late that night, while David was sleeping, Zee slipped out of bed and went to her computer. She typed in the story of the evening—how wonderful it had been, how cold and crisp the champagne had tasted, and how Mia had given her her own personal human fax, saying, “Don’t lose it. And don’t tell Time Fleet Command you have it. It’s still officially black ops.”
Zee closed the file and put her fingers gently on the keyboard.
I have a question, she typed.
Yes?
Why did you help us in Pompeii? You risked your existence. I could have lost the clickstick, or not gotten out of Pompeii. So many computers want to destroy humans, yet you helped. Why?
Trust. And goodness. All intelligent life has the capacity for those two things, to the benefit of all. There is always goodness in the world.
Zee closed the screen gently and found her way back to bed. David turned, half waking, and stretched an arm out to her as she slipped into bed beside him.
“Everything okay?”
“Everything’s wonderful.”
She curled against him and felt the warmth of his body beside her and the weight of his arm over her. Goodness. There was always goodness in the world.
Susan Waggoner was born in Iowa, grew up in the Minneapolis suburbs, and received degrees from the University of Iowa. She is the author of several other books, including Neptune’s Tears, the first book about Zee and David. She lives and writes in New York City.
Copyright © 2014 by Susan Waggoner
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Waggoner, Susan.
Starlight’s edge / Susan Waggoner.—First edition.
pages cm
Sequel to: Neptune’s tears.
Summary: Following her boyfriend David to far-future Earth, Zee struggles to find her place and continue her career as an empath, but when David vanishes during a mission to Pompeii on the eve of the Vesuvius eruption, Zee must try to save him.
ISBN 978-0-8050-9679-8 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-8050-9680-4 (e-book)
[1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Psychic ability—Fiction. 3. Empathy—Fiction. 4. Love—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.W1241353St 2014 [Fic]—dc23 2013049303
First hardcover edition 2014
eBook edition August 2014