gs could kill him in the wild back on earth. On a largely unexplored planet, the number had to be multiplied exponentially. He remembered how McLaughlin

He glanced at the full messenger bag. The interest he felt in its contents no longer felt traitor

had the knack for that sort of thing in some sort of measure. Michael swallowed the last of hi

ped into the warm evening. There were lights strung up through town at random intervals, but they were nowhere near as bright as tho

endor carts. For a moment the resemblance of Haven to Festha, one of the towns of the Praxtal region of Segeran was so strong that he expected Allie to come walking around the corner. It was their f

take in the details that made Haven different, made it a place where Allie wasn’t and had never been. The mass of the b

e stone aqueducts leading water to the communal bathhouses. Like the ones of ancient Rome, they were precisely engin

outline in the distance of the buildings at the crossroads that the Librarians claimed as their own. “Not Festha,” he told himself. Festha had no building

t stepping out of the doorway and on to the

ring if the commander ordered a watch placed on him. He thought it likely and wondered if the watch was also

at the door rather than following him inside. Once through the door, Michael snapped on the lantern and hung it on the hook in th

f, taking off the messenger bag an

came in while he was occupied in the mess tent and done a much more thorough job of it. Every speck of dust had been removed. Along with the dust, all sharp

hough there are no beams to loop them ove

make a decent noose if twisted up tightly enough. Again he was faced with the lack of places to hang. The smooth domed surface of t

s because he pulled the hook from the plaster, or whatever passed for plaster here. He doubted

cent enough job making

vion would be permanent. No muss, no fuss. Focusing enough to plan on creating his own death took too much thought. He preferred a more passive approach. He wanted to lay out the welcome mat for the

g the bag. A part of him thought that Mateo might be lying, that the entire offer was just a ruse to

more Alexandro’s style.” Somehow he didn’t think Mateo had changed that

ntioned could be seen as a slight depression with limited over growth covering it. While dirt a

lid stone, very little is pushing its

ed and mentally calculated distances and elevations. The next town along the ancient highway appeared to be at the very edge of the aerial pr

lated distances, wishing to take notes. He quickly searched the bag and found

” he muttered to himself before turning hi

to have been taken by the same sorts of cameras, but instead of following the road or moving between the roads in a large circle, it covere

dius of the aerial probes. He flipped through the two previous stacks again, checking the numbers provide

hip up the coast to expl

nder if the captain sent to explore thinks of himself more as Magellan or as Blackbeard?” He had been with the Guild long enough to kn

paper. “So they did send a ship,” he said confirming his suspicion. The paper, when unrolled proved to be a partial map of the coastline. It

surprised at the focus of the first surveys. “Not a

ndary import with only the general shape and size of the coast given. All details were reserved for the ocean. He unrolled the next map a

he seabed. Marks were placed on the images, showing depth. He was fairly certain he could make a decent topograp

t someone’s holiday c

side each image. While many of the notes were culinary, medicinal and commercial, many others listed the ways in which the item could kill. Treatm

mself with a nod of confirmation. Even though it was what

excitement. He gathered up the materials and put them all back in the bag. He set the bag to the side, stripped until he was weari

s body had lost the ability to find sleep on its own. He reached over to his night stand and picked up his watch. A press to the side of the watch illuminated

et it was in Betra

Docking Facility. Michael set the watch down and closed his eyes, his mind conjuring images of Allie as she laughed, tugging him reluctantly to the dance floor as the band played

or not, at that moment everything had been right with his world. Sleep began to pull at him and he let himself sink into the memory, pretending that he and Allie we