Maya was supposed to be reviewing the current plans for a permanent settlement on Loki. Under normal circumstances, she would have been fascinated by the project, which involved building a complex of underground facilities; Maya herself had suggested the idea, remembering how her own people had sheltered from the surface heat of Psychon by burrowing underground. So far, the feasibility studies were promising, and various possible sites were being considered.

As she tried to read her screen, Maya realised she was having to re-read every sentence before any meaning got through to her brain. Her mind kept drifting back to the previous evening and what Tony had said then. But this was no time to be fantasising about her boyfriend. She lifted her eyes and looked around the wide space of Main Mission, hoping its bland colours would rest her eyes and restore their connection to her brain.

A few years ago, when the surface constructions of Alpha were repaired and reopened, Maya had found the sheer size of Main Mission daunting; she had never worked in such a large room in her entire life. But now it was as familiar to her as Command Center had been while Alpha was still drifting. Still, Command Center -- now closed -- would always have a very special place in her heart. That was where she had fallen in love with Tony.

Maya looked over at her lover's desk, even though he wasn't there. Tony was currently running a security drill with his remaining staff. Although half the security staff had been drafted into other areas, particularly construction work, Tony was adamant that there should be a standing security force on Alpha and its outposts. It was true that the threat of alien attack was lower now that the Moon had found a fixed home, but Tony simply didn't trust human nature. He reckoned that his species' inherent territoriality, now exacerbated by the addition of families, would bring trouble sooner or later.

Casting the present aside for the moment, Maya let her mind linger on the memories of her first few months on Alpha. When she arrived on the Moon, over a dozen years ago, the refugee daughter of a man who had tried to kill all the Alphans, Maya's only friends had been John and Helena. The rest of the humans, not surprisingly, barely talked to her. Things only got worse when John decided to make her his science officer with her own desk in Command Center, as this made most of the scientists on Alpha resentful of her rapid promotion.

Aware that she just had to grin and bear the situation, Maya had firmly put on a brave face and worked to make herself as acceptable to the Alphans as possible. She tried to mimic the humans, adopting their language and as many of their customs as she could understand. But most of all, Maya made sure that she never mentioned her planet or her father, hiding the overwhelming despair and loneliness she felt. Eventually, it had worked; her colleagues gradually treated her more cordially and the atmosphere around her became more bearable.

In the midst of all these problems, Maya had started to notice Tony... but not only Tony, she remembered with embarrassment. In her whole life, Maya had met a total of 37 Psychon men, aside from her father and brother, and all of them had left her planet long before she became a grown woman. Being suddenly thrust into daily contact with over a hundred human men had added to her confusion; she had been attracted to just about any man who showed her kindness. Blanche Dubois the second, Maya now thought wryly. She had even come close to making a pass at John!

Maya remembered having mixed feelings about Tony when she first joined the Alphans. She had been immediately attracted to his looks, and had noticed his charm and easygoing nature when he was talking to their other colleagues -- particularly Sandra, of course, who was his girlfriend at the time. Maya had been delighted to discover he also practised the sort of self-deprecating, cynical humour she had herself learned from her mother.

Unfortunately, none of this charm had been directed at Maya in the early days. In fact, Tony went out of his way to be rude to her, typically handing assignments to her subordinates even though she was supposed to be the head of the science department, and generally refusing to address her directly at all. The mission to Psychon had been his very first task as John's new first officer; not only had he found himself in a position where he very nearly had to kill his commander, but Tony had lost two friends in the process.

Tony managed to keep up this hostility for about a month, but then started to relax his attitude. At the time, Maya thought he was bowing to the pressure from John and Helena, but Tony later admitted that he had simply decided that he fancied her and wanted to get to know her better. Maya smiled dreamily, idly twirling a biro as she thought of those early days of flirting and hesitation.

They had eventually 'gone out' together, to use that well-worn euphemism, enjoying many bouts of hysterical laughter at the complications of sex with a not-quite-identical species. Being with Tony always made Maya forget the hardships she had suffered and, in time, she got to a point where she rarely thought of Psychon at all.

"Here is Computer's shortlist of possible implantation sites."

David's voice broke so suddenly into Maya's musings that she dropped her biro and had to lean down to pick it up.

"You were miles away," said David with a grin when Maya had finally reappeared from under the table.

"Light-years," she admitted seriously as she took the clipboard he handed her. "Thanks."

Maya determinedly put her thoughts about Tony aside; she would think about him when she finally got around to making her announcement. She dreaded getting up and making her little speech in the enormous space of Main Mission, but this was one Psychon tradition she wanted to respect. That was still for later, though; for the moment, she had work to do and it was high time she concentrated.

Computer had picked five "ideal" sites, where the bedrock would be strong enough to support a network of underground caves and at least one Eagle hangar, while being close enough to arable land to make the settlement useful. Maya entered each set of coordinates in turn into her terminal to see the survey pictures. One of the sites was too close to an area already earmarked for mining. Another one, Area 3 in the Southern hemisphere, immediately caught Maya's eye because of its proximity to a large lake bordered with white cliffs. That was the area where the Kanos had christened their baby. Maya had not been to the christening, since Tony was filling in for John on Alpha at the time. She now regretted this fact, as it had reinforced the distance between themselves and the Kanos. The other three sites were less breathtaking, but equally suitable; Maya would let the scientific committee decide which one they should use. She had a feeling Area 3 would win, though.

She looked up from her work as she noticed movement at the entrance to Main Mission. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Tony come in with several other people, including Alan, Bill, and Tony's security deputies Alexei Petrov and Kofi Ofori.

"What's all this for?" Maya heard Tanya exclaim.

Tony winked at Maya and came over to see her. "You said you needed the whole 'family' here; I couldn't bring Alan and Bill without the others," he whispered. "They overheard me and invited themselves along... You still planning to do this?"

He had probably recognised the hesitant look on Maya's face as she realised just how much of an audience she would have. But looking up into Tony's eyes, she knew she had to go through with her plan. He was worth it. She nodded with a smile.

"I think half of them already suspect," continued Tony. "I mean, what could we possibly be announcing? Anyway... It's nearly the end of our shift. I'll go and get the big boss; you start rounding up your girly friends, hmm?"

Maya didn't have many "girly friends" to round up. Sandra, Annette and Tanya were already on duty in Main Mission; the only person missing was Helena. Looking up her at the crowd forming around her, Maya realised there was no putting off the moment. She needed to get everyone into Main Mission and make her announcement. She had been waiting all day, after all.

Maya activated the commlink to the Koenig's quarters. After a pause, the link was established and Helena appeared on screen.

"Maya," said the doctor, visibly surprised. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes..." started Maya, before taking a deep breath. "Can you come to Main Mission? I have an announcement to make."

Helena's pale face fell. "I'm sorry, no, I... with the baby..."

Maya nodded; although she was disappointed her best friend couldn't come, she was aware that the recent birth of the Koenig's daughter made it difficult for Helena to go anywhere -- at least, at such short notice. Maya decided she should perhaps have had a word with Tony about his timing.

"Why don't you just keep the commlink open?" suggested Helena. "It'll be just as if I was there."

"Right, yes, good idea."

Maya nodded again, feeling a bit stupid all of a sudden. She was beginning to get stage fright, and the idea of broadcasting her speech just made things worse. The build-up was getting to her.

The doors to John's office glided open and Tony trotted down the stairs to join her, followed by the commander. With Tony beside her and all eyes on them, Maya knew here was nothing for it. She took a deep breath.

"As..." She interrupted herself as it occurred to her she needed to speak louder. "Um... As you probably all know by now, I have an announcement to make... and I suspect most of you can guess what it is." Maya caught Sandra's eye and saw the operative nod with a knowing smile. "It's a Psychon tradition that important events in a couple should be announced to the family by the woman, so I... since you're my family here on Alpha, I am declaring that..." She turned to smile at Tony. "...that Antonio Dean Verdeschi has asked me to marry him, and I've accepted."

Everyone in Main Mission seemed to erupt into congratulations at the same time, including Helena on the comm screen. Maya only had eyes for Tony; he looked as if he was going to burst with happiness. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her -- something they very rarely did in public, but it seemed appropriate right now.

"Did you have to mention my middle name?" he whispered in her ear once they had broken the kiss. Maya just laughed and kissed him again.

All the others had crowded around, and Maya and Tony had to let go of each other and pay some attention to their friends. On screen, Helena made Maya promise to come and discuss wedding plans as soon as possible, before signing off to take care of her children. Bill and Alan both slapped Tony on the back in quick succession.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," said Tony, making a face as he rubbed his back. "You're supposed to congratulate me, not cripple me!"

"So, who is going to be your best man?" asked Bill.

"Yes, who?" said Alan, crossing his arms and putting on a look of playful menace.

Tony looked embarrassed. "Um, I don't know, quite honestly. I think I'll have to throw a coin. I have a feeling the whole security section will be volunteering."

"All I want to know is when the bachelor party will be," declared Alexei with a big grin.

John was also part of the crowd, his blue eyes shining with genuine joy for his two colleagues. "Congratulations," he said gently. He hugged Maya in a fatherly embrace and then shook hands with Tony. "When are you planning to do this?"

"Well, the Psychon wedding is already over," explained Maya. "That was it just now."

"Bit of an anticlimactic event, evidently," remarked Tony. He had been very amused when she explained all this the previous night.

Ofori was visibly surprised. "So on Psychon, you would already be married? And I thought the European ceremony was short! Back home where I came from a wedding would last for days. It was bad enough that me and Alibe could only have one day's celebrations here on Alpha, but a few minutes?"

"Yeah, well, you know how it goes," said Tony. "The more time people spend with computers, the less time they have for other things. We're going to go for a big European-style wedding too -- cos I certainly don't feel married yet. But we'll do that when we can have a day out on Loki..."

"It turns out Tony has everything sorted out in his mind," explained Maya. "As soon as Loki cools down after the Summer, he'll have us both down there for some kind of big wedding, which he tells me will need at least two years of preparation."

"It does sound as though he has it all sorted out," agreed Tanya.

"I did give it some thought beforehand," said Tony. "And of course, we know who we want to marry us." He looked pointedly at John, who grinned and nodded his acceptance. The commander performed most of the marriages anyway.

"It is about time you two got married," said Sandra. "What took you so long?"

Alan nodded and observed the couple thoughtfully. "Yeah, I was about to ask that myself. I mean, how long have you two been together? Ten, fifteen years? Why did it take you so long to make an honest woman of her, Tony?"

"Um, well, I don't know," said Tony, looking at Maya. "I guess I never thought I was the marrying kind."

Maya smiled sweetly and didn't say anything. She knew exactly why Tony hadn't asked her before. In his mind, marriage had been invented mainly for the purpose of legitimising children. Since they were never going to have any children, there didn't seem any point getting married. In fact, they had even discussed this early on in their relationship. What Maya hadn't yet found out was why Tony had finally chosen to propose now.