All this talk of getting old It's getting me down, my Lord Like a cat in a bag waiting to drown This time I'm coming down Now the drugs don't work They just make you worse But I know I'll see your face again The Verve - "The Drugs Don't Work"

Tony read through the latest local agricultural report with satisfaction. The very first Lokian crops of the season had gone well. By now, the planting and harvest times ran like well-oiled machines; there were none of the errors that had plagued some of the earliest crops, and the available machinery had been improved tenfold. Irrigation canals had been built and the Alphans were learning to adapt their tillage to the varying soil conditions, to avoid erosion while still encouraging plant growth.

John would no doubt be pleased when he received the next shipment of soybeans and corn. The Alphans need never worry about starving as long as Dover was shipping its tons of grain to the Moon. Although there were crops on Alpha, there was not enough water on the Moon to sustain agriculture on a large scale. Loki, on the other hand, was able to produce a variety of crops in great quantity thanks to its healthy water cycle -- in the temperate seasons at any rate.

As Tony saw it, the "trade" between Dover and Alpha was the backbone of Alphan society. Alpha could not sustain its relatively large population without the crops from Loki. Dover, on the other hand, could not exist without the technology supplied by Alpha's engineers. The symbiotic relationship between the two sites was a guarantee of stability in a state whose population was now scattered throughout the inner solar system. It was important for Alphans at both ends to realise what they were still part of a community. To that end, Tony actively encouraged young Doverians to do brief internships on Alpha. Karim Habibi, Tony's designated successor, was due to return from Alpha that day.

The change in season from the overheated Summer to a relatively cooler Autumn had also brought Loki's first shipment of off-worlders. Young Alphans and Ceresians would come down to Dover, sent by their mentors to get some fresh air and hard work, and they would look down their noses at the Doverians, with their non-standard uniforms and hardworking hands. Tony sometimes felt that these second generation Alphans seemed to think that anyone who wasn't an engineer or an Eagle pilot was beneath their contempt. But of course, that was why they were sent to Dover: so that they would learn the hard way that there was as much intelligence and hard work needed to plant a field as building an Eagle. They also needed to learn that man's relationship with nature was far more ancient and deeply rooted in the species than man's relationship with space.

Tony wasn't sure that the off-world Alphans were impressed with their forced sojourns at Dover. The bunch he had welcomed the previous day were visibly homesick, and stared around at the unfamiliar decor with the amazement of people who had been abducted to another planet. Which was, in effect, exactly what had happened to them. Tony would give them a guided tour of the base later that day, once he had finished reading the Agricultural Section's report. And once he had had some lunch.

Removing his reading glasses, Tony rubbed his eyes and stretched. He looked around his office with a smile. He felt rather sorry for the young Alphans. There could be no doubt that Dover was very different from Alpha and Ceres II. In this season, the airlocks were all open to let in warm air from outside, even though the life support systems ran permanently to aerate the underground complex. The decor was very different, as well. Tony had made a conscious decision not to go for Alphan-style plastic panelling; it was costly to produce because of the petrol it required, and Tony had grown tired of always staring at white plastic, aesthetic thought it might be. When he was living on Alpha, he had sometimes felt as though he was trapped in the movie 2001.

Panelling was a necessity to cover all the wires, ventilation ducts and assorted plumbing that ran along the walls, but a variety of materials were used for the panels at Dover. Plasterboard and Shermeen flax screens were the most common, but the panels in Tony's office were covered in Lokian wood. This was a very precious material given the scant forests on Loki, and the dried flesh of the cactus-like plants would not have qualified as 'wood' on Earth. But having secured the material thanks to some haggling with John and the head of the forestry centre in the northern hemisphere, Tony was pleased with the effect. It was true that the brown, sinewy panels reminded him a little of the cork wallpaper that he had seen used in cheap accommodation in Europe. But these panels were varnished and polished to give the room a warm feel which Tony appreciated in his every day work. The carbonite window behind the desk let in so much daylight that Tony sometimes felt like a high-powered executive on Earth rather than the chief administrator of a colony on an alien planet.

Tony was not about to forget that he was an Alphan, however. The computer terminal and the plastic desk he sat at were reminders of that fact, as was the beige, black-sleeved uniform he wore. A severe black and white photograph of John Koenig decorated the wall to the right of the desk, while a map of Earth and a map of Loki adorned the left-hand panelling. The traditions of the high-powered executives still persisted, though; Tony had a picture of Salvatore and Maya on his desk, as well as various pens and trinkets which he felt compelled to fiddle with when he was talking to someone on the commpost.

Tony turned off the agricultural report as he heard a knock on the door.

"Yes? Come in!" he shouted.

The door slowly swung open on its hinges -- electronic doors had been mostly dropped at Dover in favour of cheaper traditional ones which were less likely to get blocked if the power went down.

Tony smiled amicably as Layla Habibi came in. She was one of the computer technicians at Dover, the sister of Tony's chosen successor Karim. Layla was a very intelligent young woman, but who had been through an extremely bad marriage which had distracted her completely from her career. The chosen replacement for Tony's chief assistant Kate Andrews was now Becky Collins, not Layla. It broke Tony's heart to think of the potential that was lost because Layla had married the wrong man, burdened herself with two children and ended up in the Medical Centre with two fractured ribs and a broken arm before she was 21. Dover had also lost the expertise of her ex-husband Blake Collins who had been a promising agricultural engineer, and was now banished to food processing on Ceres II.

"What can I do for you, Layla?" asked Tony, indicating that she could sit down.

"I... I wanted to discuss the Temple with you, sir," she started hesitantly. Although Layla called him 'Tony' off duty, having known him virtually all her life, she followed the example of the other junior officers at Dover and called him 'sir' while on duty.

"The Temple?" repeated Tony.

"Yes. I was wondering if you needed a... curator for it," said Layla.

"Are you volunteering?"

"Yes."

Surprised, Tony leaned back in his chair and observed Layla thoughtfully. The Temple had been rebuilt when Loki was declared habitable again. In previous seasons, it had been housed in a temporary building and then dismantled for the bad seasons. But now that the Alphans had carbonite with which to make durable constructions, they had created a permanent edifice for the Temple.

Currently, the Temple was cleaned and cared for by those who used it, although Tony was vaguely aware that this system was getting less efficient as time went on. He spent virtually no time in the building himself, though he had recently inspected it with Dover's Chief Engineer John Vincent, the man everyone called "Duncan". Two decades of use and the tradition of leaving religious trinkets when using the edifice had created a hideous clutter inside the Temple, so that it now resembled a busy Rococo Catholic Church.

"Well, having a curator for the Temple is an interesting idea," said Tony finally. "I must admit I hadn't given much thought to the matter."

"Honestly, sir, the place is a mess," said Layla passionately. "And with everyone in the system wanting to consecrate their children and their weddings there, the place has got to be cared for in an orderly manner. Since I already live here permanently, I feel I could take on that responsibility. You know that I have personally found a great deal of comfort in the Temple, and I would like to give some of that back."

Tony nodded slowly. He knew that Layla had turned to her parents' religion, Islam, after the breakdown of her marriage. If someone had to take care of the Temple, Layla seemed a good choice. Provided she didn't feel tempted to convert everyone who used it to Islam.

"This will affect a lot of people who use the Temple," said Tony. "I don't want to give you the job and then discover that half the religious people in this system don't like you -- I'm not suggesting that that's the case, but I have to be careful... Actually, I'd like you to give me a report on the subject. You know, give me some idea what you plan to do if you become a curator. Perhaps you could discuss the idea on the bulletin boards and see how people would like you to run the Temple. Then give me a run-down of your conclusions. I promise I'll discuss the topic with Commander Koenig in the meantime. Why don't you come back in a couple of days' time? Submit your report and I'll let you know what I've decided."

That should have been Layla's cue to leave, and for a moment, she looked as if she might just do that. But she stayed put and leaned forward, looking down at her hands.

"There's something else," she started. "I'd like to set up a religious discussion group... Ever since I've... since my divorce, I have given a great deal of thought to spiritual matters. As you know, I have been studying my parents' religion. Although I agree with most of the tenets of Islam, I believe a lot of them don't apply to our situation here in the Lokian system. I have also studied the religions which influenced Islam -- Christianity and Judaism -- and I believe they could all be coordinated into one common system of beliefs which would be suited to Alphan life. All these religions are based on the word of the same God, and it is easy to prove that the discrepancies are due to human interpretation, rather than different revelations. I've already started working on the synthesis and I would like your permission to share these findings with others, to teach them what I have learned."

This was another matter entirely. "As you're probably aware, that's a more complicated issue," said Tony slowly, stroking his beard. "Now, I'll admit that I don't know the Moonbase Alpha Regulations off by heart, so I'll need to do some research on this. But as far as I remember, the regulations allow for a place of worship and access to a chaplain. But I believe they also state that proselytism, whether religious or political, is forbidden. So the Temple itself and its curator are covered by existing regulations, but a 'discussion group' allowing you to propound your religious views is not allowed. For the moment, those are the only guidelines we have regarding religion on Alpha."

Layla nodded. As one of Kate's apprentices, she had probably studied Alpha's only text of law in depth. "I'm aware of the statutes," she said. "Does that mean I won't be allowed to discuss my views with anyone?"

"I need to look into this," said Tony. This was obviously what Layla had been hoping for. "That's something else I'll have to discuss with Commander Koenig. Come back to see me on Friday and I'll let you know what we decide. This might be an opportunity to revise Alpha's attitude to proselytising."

He decided that was as much as Layla needed to know about his opinion on the matter. She nodded thoughtfully and agreed to come back to his office in two days.

Once Layla had left, Tony downloaded the regulations to his slate and looked up the statutes, running a rapid search on any mention of religion. He was pleased to find that his memory of the regulations on proselytism was correct. It was explicitly forbidden for any Alphan employee to try and convert other employees to any system of thought, be it religious or political.

Tony stood up to look out of the window. It was only noon, Dover Standard Time, but the sun was already falling behind the hill at the back of the cliff and the greenhouses in the Dover bay were in shade. Tony could see the Flats stretching out six kilometres to the wizened lake, their dry expanse sparkling white in the shimmering heat of the large sun. There would soon be storms raging over the high plains, as the atmosphere cooled down in irregular patches, cold fronts forming and clashing with the existing hot ones. The storms meant a lot of disturbance, but they also meant rain, revitalised rivers and a well-filled lake, with water that could be tapped into the Alphans' reservoirs.

As he admired the view, Tony thought over the regulations. Layla's request for a religious discussion group brought up an important question. Tony wasn't interested in the religious aspect, but the political implications were another matter. Alpha could not continue to exist indefinitely as an oligarchy bound by corporate rules from another world. New ideas had to be allowed to emerge, as well as opportunities for those with ideas to express them. Tony turned back to his computer and started typing up a brief report and request for comments to send to John.

Maya watched through the carbonite window in the meteorology station as Tony slowly made his way up the hill to the "Governor's Mansion", as the Doverians already called the Verdeschis' incomplete home on the Parnassus peak. Maya could just see Tony passing the building site that was the Collins house before he disappeared behind the Temple again.

The discovery of carbonite the previous Spring had finally given the Doverians an opportunity to build some external structures which would hopefully survive the bad seasons. Carbonite was a compound which could be melted to form an extremely strong glass-like substance. One of the foundries at Koenigshafen had been reconverted to manufacture the glass, and Maya knew it was being used on Alpha as well.

The Temple on Parnassus and the greenhouses on the Flats were the very first of the new structures to be completed; now that Duncan's building team was familiar with the materials, they were working on a new meteorology station for Maya. Ostensibly to get more experience, they were also building new quarters for the Verdeschis and a couple of other families. The new quarters would have one level above ground, with probably no more than two or three rooms, while the rest of the quarters were underground, connected to the Dover base and protected by airlocks for the bad seasons.

Even though the surface section of their quarters wasn't finished, Maya was already enjoying the one room in the meteorology station that was done. The carbonite walls offered a beautiful view over Lake Bergman to the east, and the crop fields to the west. More importantly from Maya's point of view, the air-conditioning from Dover's life-support system was doing a good job of countering the heat of the sun outside. The new meteorological laboratory was being built to one side of the Verdeschi's quarters, so that Maya could go straight from her home to her workplace; an ideal arrangement as far as she was concerned. Humans seemed to enjoy any weather conditions; they baked themselves in the sun and skied down Parnassus in the snow. Maya, however, preferred moderate temperatures.

Tony had reappeared from behind the Temple. He was wearing a cloth cap and dark glasses -- indispensable items in this hot weather -- and Maya could see the sweat on his Summer uniform. In her opinion, it was still too hot for him to be climbing hills -- at sixty-seven, Tony wasn't as young and strong as he liked to think he was. He could just as easily have used the elevator in the underground section and come into the house through the bottom door.

Maya was surprised to see her husband pause near the Temple; he seemed to be looking at the building thoughtfully. Maybe he was admiring the architecture. The building was simple but striking, the result of a close collaboration between the architect Mary Osgood and the building engineer Duncan Vincent. The sloping carbonite walls of the Temple were made opaque by an inner layer of white concrete which made the edifice blend into the landscape in this dry, dusty season.

Giving Tony's behaviour no further thought, Maya turned away from the window and carefully made her way down the circular staircase which led underground. As she passed Salvatore's room, she knocked on the door.

"Toto! Your father is here!"

Unsurprisingly, there was no answer. Salvatore seemed to retire into a world of his own when he was in his room. Maya went into the kitchen at the end of the corridor to start making some food. Cooking was by no means her speciality, so Tony was the family's designated cook in the evenings, but Maya could at least make her family some simple lunches. Tony was always pleasantly surprised when he found her in the kitchen.

Maya was very carefully reheating some couscous when she heard Tony clambering down the iron staircase.

"Oh, there you are," he said cheerfully as he entered the kitchen. He went straight to the water tap and splashed some cold water on his face and arms, not caring whether it wet his uniform. He grinned sheepishly at her. "Boy, it is hot out there!"

"I don't know why you're so surprised," said Maya with a smile. "It's November; Summer only ended a few months ago. It's a good 30 degrees Centigrade out there. You should know better than to be running around in this heat at your age!"

"Oh I'm all right," he responded with a shrug. Tony looked down at his uniform and, as an afterthought, removed the tunic. Even though it was specially designed for the hot weather, Maya could imagine that any kind of garment would be too hot after climbing up the hill. "You know, I'm strongly tempted to institute a djellaba as the official doverian uniform for the hot season," he continued.

Maya took his tunic and tossed it into the laundry basket. "I've heard this argument before. You want to have a separate set of uniforms for Dover, but in the end, you always come back to wanting to be just like Alpha. And let's face it, that black sleeve does suit you," she added flirtatiously.

Since the couscous didn't require her immediate attention, Maya gently brushed her hand on Tony's chest. His increasing hairiness as he got older fascinated her, and although his appearance had changed considerably in the twenty-five years since the Alphans had found Loki, Maya still thought Tony was a remarkably handsome person. It was no wonder so many young women fancied him -- no boy in the second generation came anywhere close to him. For the moment, at least; Maya had some hope that Salvatore might turn out as good-looking some day.

"I think you just fancy powerful men," said Tony, leaning over to give Maya a kiss on the cheek. Out of the corner of her eye, Maya saw Salvatore standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He took one look at them and then turned and disappeared.

"Salvatore," called Maya. "Come back here. I saw you!"

The young boy sheepishly put his head around the door again. "I thought you two were up to something, so I thought I'd leave you alone. I can do without seeing things like that. It might mess with my psyche and stuff."

"Up to something?" repeated Tony, surreptitiously checking on the progress of Maya's couscous. "I'll have you know your mother and I are the epitome of good behaviour!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Salvatore shuffled into the room, his hands buried in the pockets of his shorts.

"Don't talk like that, Toto, you sound like one of those Collins kids," admonished Tony. "Come and wash your hands. This is ready."

Tony had evidently taken charge of the food, so Maya washed her hands and kept an eye on Salvatore while he did the same. His personal hygiene seemed to have taken a plunge ever since the onset of adolescence, and although Tony assured Maya that this was a perfectly natural stage which their son would grow out of when "he stopped being a teenager and became a human being again", Maya couldn't help nagging Salvatore about it. Washing his hair regularly and keeping his hands clean were evidently difficult concepts at this point in his life. Tidiness was another matter entirely; Maya had already given up trying to make sense of the mess in the boy's room. She made sure he made his bed every day and left things at that. Still, as Tony often said, Salvatore made their life interesting.

Salvatore helped Maya lay the table and they both sat down. Unable to help herself, Maya reached out and smoothed Salvatore's curly hair. He made a face at her, so she stopped. Both Kate and Giovanna had explained to her that little boys didn't like being fussed over by their mothers. It offended their nascent male pride or something.

Tony served up the couscous and its vegetable sauce, placing the empty pans in the sink when he was finished.

"I'd better go and put a shirt on," he said. He glanced down at his bare chest and disappeared out of the door.

"Good, I was afraid he was going to drop chest hairs in our couscous," said Salvatore with a grin. He poked suspiciously at a piece of carrot. "Is this Giovanna's couscous?"

"Yes. She brought me some this morning. So it isn't mine, if that's what you're worried about."

"Oh, I'm not worried," said Salvatore brightly. "You wouldn't deliberately poison your own family. So I knew this had to be Giovanna's."

Maya laughed. "Well, thank you for your confidence in my cooking!"

"Giovanna's going to teach me how to cook too some day," continued Salvatore. "She promised. But I'll be making real pasta with Helena this afternoon. I'll make the mix and everything!"

Helena was Karim's wife and Kate Andrews' only daughter. Even though she was named after the Chief Medical Officer of Alpha, Helena Habibi's name was usually pronounced He-LAY-na. Maya couldn't remember when this strange pronunciation came into use, but it was useful to distinguish the two Helenas in casual conversation.

"Sounds as if Helena H. has found herself a gullible kitchen skivvy." Tony had returned with a clean tunic on. "Making pasta by hand is no fun. You've seen us all do it, Toto; that machine is a bugger to operate. You'd better be careful: we don't want to export substandard pasta to Alpha. Still, having had the training, you know what you'll be doing next Winter!"

The confection of secondary food products like couscous and pasta was one of the main activities at Dover during the off-seasons. The other main occupation was the spinning and weaving of Shermeen flax. Tony had first instituted these secondary activities to justify Dover's continued occupation during the bad seasons, after a poll of the base's population showed that a lot of families wanted to live there permanently.

Maya had assisted at the meeting with John where Tony had successfully argued that it was less hassle to process Loki's raw materials at Dover and then export the finished products to Alpha, rather than ship all the raw materials directly to the Moon. This way, the agricultural specialists at Dover could work in a field related to their speciality in all seasons, and without having to move from their homes. Maya had always thought this was a wonderful system, particularly as it meant she didn't have to go and live on Alpha again.

Salvatore seemed to have lost interest in the conversation; he was too busy wolfing down his food -- apparently another common characteristic of human teenagers. As Maya started on her own plate, she thought of something she had discussed with Giovanna that morning.

"Isn't Kate coming back this afternoon?" she asked Tony.

Her husband nodded gravely as he helped himself to some water. "Karim is on the same Eagle. They'll be back at Dover after sunset. Actually, I'm surprised Helena didn't take the afternoon off, with her husband and her mother coming back from Alpha tonight. I suppose working keeps her mind off things. She has the next few days off on compassionate leave anyway. She and Patrick are the ones who will be taking care of Kate... I don't know if I should go to see Kate this evening or talk business with Karim first."

"Perhaps you should go and see them both later," suggested Maya. "I'm sure Kate will want to be with her family, and that includes Karim. He's very fond of his mother-in-law too. He'll probably come and see you tomorrow."

"Yes, you're right. I'll leave them alone. I don't need to know right now what our little friend Karim thought of our fearsome Commander. I'm sure it went well. I wanted him to have an opportunity to do some work on his own, and presenting the start of season agricultural report to John seemed like a good idea. I suppose Karim could have gone on to Ceres II with the Koenigs for their son's wedding this week. But I think you're right; he probably wanted to come back with Kate and he did say he was missing Helena and the children. He can go and see John again some other time."

"I suppose you'll be asking him to do that a lot in future." Maya knew that Tony was gradually shifting the burden of responsibility to Karim, to see if the young man had the strength to shoulder it.

"Yes, I will. Toto, pass me some bread. Yes, I think Karim needs to learn some diplomatic skills now he's been following me around Dover half his life. Mind you, I think he's a natural. He opens his mouth and everyone listens; I noticed that when he was at school." Tony ate his bread and added, "He seems to be looking forward to the job. I must admit I was a bit concerned this was all turning out like Citizen Kane, me picking him out when he was only a little older than Salvatore. I had visions of him being miserable and despotic all his life, and dying as a lonely old man whispering 'Rosebud'."

"Why would he whisper 'Rosebud'?" chirped Salvatore. At thirteen, his voice was beginning to break and suffered unpredictable changes of pitch. Embarrassed, Salvatore coughed and half shrugged.

"I can't believe I haven't shown you Citizen Kane," said Tony. "It's about a boy who is taken away from his parents and reared to be a great politician. And he becomes one, but in the end, he dies alone. His last word is 'Rosebud', the name of the sled he had as a child, when he was living with his parents. You have got to see that movie, Toto, it's a classic!"

Maya remembered seeing the film many years before, while the Moon was still wandering around space, but her recollection was different to Tony's. She was pretty certain the hero had not become a great politician. But she let the mistake pass.

"I won't want to see the movie now, will I?" remarked Salvatore smugly. "You've just told me how it ends!"

Tony playfully cuffed Salvatore on the head. "You're too clever by half, you. Eat the dinner your mother made for you."

"Actually, Giovanna made it, and she's not my mother," pointed out Salvatore, though he keep his eyes on his plate and started studiously eating again.

"That's true," agreed Maya. "You should have remembered that, Tony."

Tony grinned at her. "How can I win with two Psychons against me? It was bad enough when it was just you!" He put his hand tenderly on hers.

"Ugh! Can you two lay off that sort of thing at the dinner table?" exclaimed Salvatore, making a disgusted face.

Maya laughed outright, and Tony removed his hand. "You know, I don't remember being such an obnoxious little horror when I was thirteen," he said. "It must be that Psychon blood."

"Oh no, don't you accuse me," said Maya, lifting her hands. "The obnoxious bit is definitely something he has inherited from the Verdeschi side of the family."

"And how would you know? The only other member of my family you've ever met was a figment of my imagination! It's definitely from your side of the family."

"On the other hand," interrupted Salvatore superciliously, "it is conceivable that I have developed my very own brand of obnoxiousness which owes nothing to either of you."

Tony guffawed and then started to laugh. "Oh we have a regular little comedian in our family, haven't we? Finish your food, Toto... and I don't care who cooked it."

Maya observed the two of them tenderly, the two men who were her entire family and the centre of her private world. She could see so much of Tony in Salvatore as he grew up; the same dark features, the same facial expressions, even the same voice emerging as Salvatore's vocal chords matured into manhood. Salvatore's existence had been a battle from the start, but he was a victory well worth the fight.

"Does Commander Koenig have a successor like Karim too?" asked Salvatore when he had finished his meal.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I'm sure he's thought about it: he just hasn't shared his thoughts with the rest of us."

"If John Koenig dies," insisted Salvatore. "Who would succeed him if he hasn't got a successor?"

"The person who would succeed him is me," explained Tony.

"But you're old too," said Salvatore seriously. "I mean, you're only ten years younger than him. Wouldn't it make more sense for someone from the second generation to succeed him?"

"Well... yes and no. The problem with people from the second generation is that they're not even thirty yet. It takes a great deal of self-confidence and maturity to run a state virtually single-handed, the way John does, and those are things which usually come with age. I wouldn't be too happy if Karim had to take over straight away either. He has the intelligence and the leadership qualities he needs, but he just doesn't have the life experience to be a great leader. John and I were just brash astronauts at that age; nobody would have trusted us to head a space mission, never mind about a whole nation. So yes, it's definitely a concern, especially considering John and I are both well past our retirement age."

"Oh well, you always say that power keeps you young," said Maya cheerfully. She didn't like Tony discussing his age; she was afraid he might upset Salvatore.

"I've been thinking," said Salvatore, chasing the last grains of couscous with his fork. "What would happen to me if you both died?"

Maya exchanged a surprised look with Tony. She knew he had promised himself to answer any of Salvatore's questions without hesitation or embarrassment, so she trusted him to answer this one.

"If we both died," said Tony calmly, "you would go and live with Giovanna and Rachid. If they weren't able to care for you, then you'd live with Karim and Helena."

Salvatore grinned. "Well, that's a relief. I was afraid you might send me to live with the Collinses or something. Like Mike and Mary had to when their parents died."

Mike and Mary Osgood's parents had both died within a couple of months of each other in Y21, when Mike was thirteen and Mary, seventeen. The two orphans had lived with the Collinses for a while, until Mary wisely broke off her engagement to Blake Collins. She had then moved to independent quarters which she still shared with her brother.

"Um, no, we wouldn't hand you over to the Collinses, Toto," said Tony. "They're nice people, but I wanted you to live with Giovanna if you could so that you would continue to learn Italian."

Tony glanced at Maya. They had both agreed that the Collinses were out of the question as foster parents if Salvatore was orphaned. Although Shermeen and Eddie were sweet people, they had a pretty bad track record as far as bringing up their own children was concerned. Maya was beginning to wonder if there hadn't been more going on in the Collins household than met the eye all these years. Blake and Becky certainly seemed to have plenty of problems.

"Anyway, I might add that neither of us are planning to drop dead any time soon," concluded Tony. "I said I was past retirement age, not that I was going to be pushing up the daisies!"

Salvatore laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "It's not really that I'm worried. But I was wondering. You know, everyone is talking about Kate..." He hesitated and lowered his eyes. "They're saying she's coming back to Dover to die."

Tony didn't seem willing to answer, so Maya said, "I suppose she is. They can't do anything more for her on Alpha, so she wanted to come back here."

"Would you want to die on Loki, rather than on Alpha?" asked Salvatore. He was looking at Maya, but she noticed that he glanced at Tony as well.

"You need to get your ears fixed, cloth ears," said Tony. "I thought I told you we're not planning on dying, either of us."

"But we'd like to die on Loki if we were planning to die," said Maya. She stood up and started to clear the table. "Come on, you two, it's nearly two o'clock. We can continue our jolly conversation on death later."

Salvatore was about to get up when Maya added, "Don't forget you have an appointment to see Doctor Vincent this evening, Toto."

Sitting down despondently, Salvatore threw up his hands. "Oh, not again. What the fuck is he going to do to me this time? Ow!" He rubbed the side of his head, where Tony had slapped him.

"Don't you use language like that, young man!" growled Tony in a voice that brooked no contradiction.

Still rubbing his head, Salvatore pouted defiantly. Maya continued to clear the table, turning her back on Tony and Salvatore as she put the plates in the sink. "I know you hate going to see the doctors, Toto," she said, "but it's the only way to keep them happy. We'd all be much worse off if we didn't let them have their way. Besides, we want them to see what a healthy boy you are, and that they're wasting their time looking at you."

"Oh I hate doctors!" exclaimed Salvatore. "I wish they'd leave me alone!"

Turning back, Maya found that Tony now had his arm around Salvatore and was talking to him in a low voice, his face close to his son's. "Your Mamma is right," he said. "You know they're not allowed to do anything that we haven't agreed to, and this is the easiest way to get them off your back. Give them a little so they won't take a lot. They're just concerned about you, because you're the only one of your kind and they're afraid they won't know how to treat you if you do become ill."

"They make me feel like a freak," said Salvatore through clenched teeth. "I hate it. Especially last time, when Devers was there. That bastard looked me over like I'm some kind of scientific experiment. He was asking Ben and Raul all sorts of questions as if I wasn't there, and then he wanted to poke at my..." He glanced up at Maya and interrupted himself. "Well, you know. They were all so excited to know I was growing up."

"Yes, I think Jeremy got a bit over-enthusiastic," said Tony. "I think he's been sufficiently told off about that by now, though. All Helena could say was that as a researcher, he doesn't do much work with patients and that he got carried away because he likes to discover new things. But she won't let him do your tests again."

"I'm not a new thing to be discovered," muttered Salvatore. "I'm sick of dirty old men poking at me."

"I'll tell you what, why don't we ask Halima to do your tests from now on?" suggested Maya. "She's really nice. You know I don't like doctors either, Toto, but she's different. I liked her very much."

She looked at Tony hopefully and he nodded. "Tell you what, Toto," he said. "Why don't you come and see me when you've finished making spaghetti with Helena and I'll take you over to the Medical Centre myself? It isn't as if they have to do much after last time; I'm sure we can get Halima to skip the blood test, for instance. Nothing will have changed in a few months."

Salvatore nodded reluctantly. "I still wish they'd leave me alone." He sighed, shrugged his shoulders and got up. "I'd better go; I'm going to be late."

Once Salvatore was gone, Tony also got up and came over to join Maya, who was scientifically rearranging the plates in the sink. She liked to make sure that the dirtiest plates would get the best soaking time.

"I'm beginning to think we're dealing with more than teenage tantrums," said Tony quietly. "I don't know, he didn't react like this before..."

"Maybe because he didn't realise exactly what was happening," said Maya. Satisfied with the arrangement of the plates, she turned back to Tony. "It breaks my heart, Tony. I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for putting our only child through all this. Helena and Ben keep saying that the tests aren't painful, as if that's the only thing that could possibly bother Salvatore. They don't seem to understand that he needs privacy. Especially now, when he's reaching puberty. He's at an age when he desperately needs to be accepted, to feel 'normal'. These tests are a constant reminder that he's some kind of... abnormal freak. Lots of things are happening to him, and he doesn't need the whole of Alpha's medical profession scrutinising him on top of it all."

"I know." Tony sighed and slid his arms around her. "I know how you feel. But... Maya, what if Salvatore does become sick? These tests are the only way that the doctors can monitor his health and... well, you know what Helena said."

Maya had heard this argument before. She had hoped that Tony's apparently conciliatory attitude to Salvatore's reaction would indicate a change of opinion on his part. Even though Tony, at Maya's instigation, had once officially questioned the need for doctors to inspect Salvatore like a curiosity every couple of months, he had been easily convinced by their arguments about it being in Salvatore's best interests. All Maya could see was that the frequent tests were ruining Salvatore's present in the hope of some hypothetical future benefit.

"You humans worship your doctors so much, you can't even see the power you give them," she said. "It's always the same story; they're all obsessed with being the greatest doctor ever, and what better way than by deciphering the secrets of a unique hybrid? Salvatore is just a scientific opportunity to Helena and her medical friends. They don't care what harm they might be doing to the person he is. They're only interested in garnering all the kudos for curing his body if he ever falls ill. That might be a laudable aim, but it's not worth making Salvatore's life miserable. There will be no point saving his life if his life isn't worth living."

"Yeah, well, I sometimes wish they'd concentrate her Nobel-winning efforts on the tribbles instead," said Tony with a small smile, obviously trying to cajole Maya into a better mood. "But I... I don't think things are as bad as you say. Salvatore is going through a difficult stage right now. All teenagers do. I think his sudden allergy to the tests is a symptom rather than a cause."

"I don't know. I hope you're right," conceded Maya with a sigh.

As always, she felt helpless against the barrage of human beliefs around her. On Psychon, doctors only tended to the sick; on Alpha, they seemed to have jurisdiction over every living being from birth to death. They could separate mothers from their babies, stop relatives from visiting the dying, and decide what unborn children had the right to live. There were reasons, always plenty of reasons, which all the humans would blindly accept, but even when Maya understood the reasons, her Psychon nature rebelled against the control the doctors purported to have over her body and that of her son.

"Of course I'm right," said Tony lightly, kissing her. "I never liked anything when I was a teenager. Well, I'd better be off, too. I have a bunch of off-worlders to show around and a couple more issues to raise with John. It turns out Layla wants to found a Lokian religion."

Still upset by their conversation about Salvatore, Maya smiled wanly. "I thought that was Davey Kano's hobby."

"I know. And now we have two of them at it," said Tony. "All we need: a war of religion in the making."

"I don't think I'll ever understand humans," said Maya, shaking her head. "But I'm still hopeful I'll understand you some day. You're simpler."

"Well, your simpleton husband has to go and run this place. I'll try and drop by this afternoon if I'm on the hill." He kissed her again and left. Maya glanced at the dirty dishes in the sink and decided someone could do them later.

"Welcome to Dover," said Tony, putting on his most charming grin.

The group of ten Alphans and Ceresians watched him in silence, most of them squinting or shielding their eyes from the sunlight. Some of the off-worlders were wearing the sunglasses they had been given upon arrival, and all had heeded the instructions to wear light clothing. Tony couldn't tell if they had also remembered to put sunscreen on; because their skin was so rarely exposed to direct sunlight, off-worlders tended to be more prone to sunburns.

The new arrivals were all staying in the visitors' section of Dover, a set of shared flats reserved for temporary staff; Tony shuddered to think what went on in that part of the base. Away from their parents, mentors and, more often than not, husbands or wives, the off-worlders took full advantage of everything Dover had to offer. Tony trusted Dover's Facilities Coordinator, Saskia Van't Hooft, to keep an eye on them, but he wanted to make sure he also established a personal relationship with the young people, so that they felt welcome at Dover.

"Now as you all know, I'm the commander of this base, Tony Verdeschi," continued Tony. "That's why I have a black sleeve while you lot get to wear cheery colours instead. This charming young lady beside me is my assistant Becky Collins. If you ever have any problems during your stay, we're the people you need to come and see. Now, we're going to show you the installations here so you can get to know your way around before you start work. We can chat as we go along. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why are we standing in the sun?" asked a Eurasian girl with a crew cut. "I'm pregnant, I have to take care of myself!"

Mentally reviewing the transportation list, Tony guessed that this girl was Ling Ling Doherty-Sanderson, 18, apprentice to her mother-in-law Eva Sanderson. Not a bad idea to marry her mentor's son at the first opportunity; sure-fire way to get a promotion.

"We're standing in the sun because it's good for you," replied Tony. "And because this just happens to be a good place for a large group to stand. Anyway, as you can see, the sun is already setting: this is nothing compared to the blast you'd get at midday. Besides, you should be soaking up the Vitamin D for your baby, young lady..."

"I have a question too," said one of the boys. "Why is the sun setting if it's only three in the afternoon?"

The boy was a nondescript white kid, probably about twenty. Tony tried to remember the young man from his files, but failed.

"The reason the sun is setting, um..?" he prompted.

"Geoff," said the boy. That didn't tell Tony much either.

"Right, the reason the sun is setting, Geoff," said Tony, "is that the time zone at Dover is constantly readjusted to make life here as easy as possible. During the hot periods, our working day starts later and reaches into the night, so that we benefit from the cooler evenings and nights. During the Autumn season which is coming up, the clocks will be set back every few months so that the working day coincides with the daylight time. This is how it will stay all Winter, and then we'll start setting the clocks forward again during the next Spring. As this is the very beginning of Autumn, the discrepancy between the working day and the actual daylight time is at its most noticeable."

That seemed to satisfy his audience, so Tony started walking towards the Flats, pointing out features as he went.

"Now, a bit of geography. This sort of big courtyard we're standing in now is called the Dover bay. Basically, the whole coast is one big cliff with a series of 'bays' and 'peaks'. The lake used to come up this far a few thousand years ago, but it has since receded, leaving the cliffs here and creating this flat area which you see in front of you."

Tony indicated the Flats, spreading out into the distance to the north and south and bordered by the cliffs to the west and the lake to the east.

"That blue blob in the distance there is Lake Bergman, named after Victor Bergman, obviously," continued Tony. "If you put on the sunglasses you were given and look very carefully, you might just see a sort of white line beyond it, which is the other side of the lake. This area we're standing on right now is called the Flats and the area on top of the cliffs is called the Heights. And in case you're wondering, the blue stuff above us is the sky." This earned Tony a chuckle from some of the off-worlders.

"Please, sir, I didn't realise we needed those sunglasses," said a black boy beside him. "I forgot mine inside."

Tony noticed that Becky rolled her eyes, and he could sympathise with her. He knew for a fact that she always greeted the off-worlders with instructions to carry sunglasses and a hat with them in this weather. Shaking her head, Becky counted how many people were lacking the necessary items and then disappeared into the nearest airlock to get more supplies.

"Okay," said Tony, indicating that the group should follow him out of the bay. "While we wait for Becky to come back with sunglasses, I'll continue this tour. As you see, this whole area is used for market gardening. That's basically for things like tomatoes, carrots, lettuce and various kinds of fruit. The greenhouses are air-conditioned to keep the plants at whatever temperature they need. The Flats get almost permanent sunshine, because the shade from the cliffs doesn't reach this far until late evening. The important thing to remember about plants is that most of them are perfectly happy as long as they get plenty of sunshine and water."

"What do you do for water in this season?" asked one girl. "Doesn't a lot of the water in the lake evaporate during the Summer?"

She spoke so quietly that, if she hadn't been standing so close to him, Tony wouldn't have heard her. She was small but buxom, with brown hair tied back in a severe bun under her cloth cap, her eyes invisible behind the dark glasses. The girl looked vaguely like a young Carol King on the identity badge on her chest, but Tony couldn't make out her name without his reading glasses.

"We get a lot of our domestic water from the same sources as Alpha and Ceres II," Tony answered, pleased that he was getting some intelligent questions this time around. "We recycle about 80% of the waste and condensation produced by the population. For agricultural purposes, though, we have to siphon water off three main rivers that run in this region. We are in the process of giving ourselves some large underground reservoirs which we hope will allow us to start planting early each growing season without affecting the ecosystem so much. Currently, we have to take water directly off the lake and the rivers without waiting for them to regain their maximum strength after the bad seasons."

"Why's that a bad thing?" asked the black boy. Tony suddenly remembered his name: Ahmed Ofori, one of Alibe's twins.

"That's a bad thing because we're taking water from sources which are already severely depleted by the Summer," explained Tony. "Even now, a lot of Loki's water is condensed in the atmosphere. That's why it's hot and muggy like a sauna out here. We're actually walking through Lake Bergman if you like. Ideally, we'd prefer to start tapping the water about mid-season, once the rivers are full. All this water in the atmosphere is gradually building into clouds, which will come along any day now and dump a load of rain on the base, and then the rivers will fill up again and we can relax. If you want to know more about how the weather works on Loki, you can always talk to our chief meteorologist Maya."

"Is that your wife the alien?" said Ling Ling, her black eyes round with surprise in spite of the sunlight.

Tony decided that, as Ling Ling was a woman, and pregnant as well, there would be no excuse for him to sock her for referring to Maya as "his wife the alien".

"Yes, Maya is a Psychon and we're very fortunate that she is able to work on Loki's meteorological data," he said, putting on what he thought of as his 'pompous ass' persona. It was a good way of deflecting further questions regarding Maya's alienness. "You see, weather is all important when you're working with plants as we are here. Not everything can be grown in greenhouses, and certainly not in the quantities needed to keep the entire population of Dover, Alpha and Ceres II going. The slightest unexpected variation in the weather can lead to the loss of an entire crop, which in turn has repercussions on the whole population. This has happened in the past, and part of our work here at Dover is ensuring that it never happens again."

That seemed to have cured the off-worlders of the desire to ask further questions for the moment. They were probably afraid Tony would bore them with more details. Every growing season brought a number of off-worlders desirous to live at Dover permanently, so it wasn't as if Tony needed to make new recruits. Anyway, that would be proselytising. Tony smiled at the private joke.

Tony continued to tell them about Dover and pointed out the various peaks and bays which were landmarks of the area, from Heathcliff in the south to the Northern Peak beyond Desarak. Becky came to join them just as they were heading back to the Dover bay after visiting the greenhouses.

Observing Becky as she approached, Tony reflected that it was sometimes difficult to believe that she was such a wild child. She kept her appearance sober when she was on duty, though the unbecoming Alphan uniform was a great help. Her naturally straight, brown hair was bleached and curled, but she tied it back into a short ponytail when she was working. She also wore less makeup, even though that was still more than most of the women at Dover wore. Tony had a feeling Becky was very insecure, trying to hide her true self behind the artifices of chemical cosmetics. He sometimes regretted that there was nothing he could do to help her, beyond showing that he trusted her on a professional level.

Becky had once assiduously pursued Tony, an obsession which had him completely baffled, since he was old enough to be her grandfather. With his grey beard and shorn hair, he was hardly the type of man a pretty young girl like Becky would be expected to pursue. The thought did occur that this hadn't stopped Emma Koenig in her pursuit of Alan Carter, but Tony's situation was different. Aside from anything else, he was married to Maya.

Becky handed out the hats and sunglasses to the visitors and then accompanied Tony as he led the group to the back of the bay. Most of the flat area in the Dover bay was taken up by the children's playground, with its miniature football field. The children were playing there under the watchful eye of Louisa Martinez and Derek Worcester; the recently-married couple were Dover's new teachers.

Tony greeted the schoolchildren with friendly embraces as he entered the school yard and they trotted over to welcome him. At some point in the second generation, the Habibi children's habit of calling him Zio Antonio -- Uncle Tony -- had spread to other children and the tradition was now passed on to the third generation. The little things even had the right accent: "dzio antonio," they chirped as they crowded around. Tony had earned their favour by frequent appearances at the school's major events, where he would distribute Kosher ice-cream imported from Alpha's Catering Service.

Having welcomed him, most of the children lost interest and returned to their games. The third generation at Dover were all under five years old, but the oldest had already started schooling under the supervision of the old headmaster Rachid Habibi, with Louisa and Derek as their second generation educators. Generation was all important at this point in time, when each generation was distinct, separated from the others by well defined gaps. But Tony knew the distinctions would probably be blurred by the time a fourth and fifth generation came around. After that, the population would be large enough for matters of generation to be insignificant. It was gratifying to see the children and realise that the Alphans were unlikely to die out.

The off-worlders started fussing over the children or admiring the makeshift sports equipment, so Tony allowed them a moment's rest before walking them up the hill. The cliff sloped down at the back of the bay, so the Alphans had built a winding road up to the Heights; Tony enjoyed the invigorating climb and always made a point of getting the off-worlders to make the effort as well, if only to show them that life at Dover was often more physically demanding than on Alpha.

Tony was having a fascinating, if slightly limited, conversation about today's lesson on tomatoes with Karim's four-year-old daughter Sophie when Becky approached him.

"I thought you might like to know Kate and Karim are back from Alpha, sir," she informed him nonchalantly. Tony knew that Becky disliked both of them, though Kate's illness had made her more moderated in her criticism in recent months. "Also, Commander Koenig has sent you a message asking you to call him back. I tell you, it was so weird talking to him. And there I was beginning to think he was a figment of your imagination!"

Becky saucily lifted a finely plucked eyebrow and Tony chuckled. John hadn't been to Dover for a few years.

"Zio Antonio!" exclaimed Sophie, tugging at his trouser leg. "Do you have any ice-cream?"

"Um, no, Sophie, I don't."

"Why not?"

Tony exchanged an amused glance with Becky and then looked down at Sophie. She was the very stereotype of a half-caste child, with tawny skin, wide black eyes and soft curly hair. On Earth, Tony would have taken her for a Brazilian, the sort of beautiful girl they always showed in documentaries. Maybe this was what future generations of Alphans would be like, a mixture of black, white, Asian, true members of the entire human race.

With some effort, Tony crouched down to face Sophie. "I don't have any ice-cream because I'm not an ice-cream dispenser. Anyway, I only give ice-cream to good little girls at parties, not to naughty little girls who come up and demand it."

"I'm not naughty," said Sophie, frowning at the suggestion.

"No, you're not. And you know why I know?" he said. "Because you're going to go and play with your friends and not bother Zio Antonio anymore. All right?"

Without waiting for an answer, Tony straightened up again. The sudden movement made him dizzy. He took off his hat to wipe the sweat off his forehead; even in the shade, the hot muggy air was stifling.

Derek was calling the children back into the school, so Sophie trotted off to join them.

"Well, let's get this lot shown around, and then I can call John back later," said Tony, heading towards the gate.

"I could do the tour myself if you wanted to call him now," suggested Becky as she followed him. "You... you look tired."

After walking around the bay and the Flats for an hour, Tony did feel tired, but he wasn't about to admit that to Becky.

"No, I'll be fine," he promised. He signalled to the off-worlders as he left the school yard and lead the way up the road to the Heights above. "Follow me everyone, you can admire the children again later! We have quite a few of those down here."

"There are children everywhere," said Ling Ling cheerfully, trotting alongside him.

"Speaking of which, you might find this climb a bit trying," said Tony, stopping. "You might be better off going up on the lift."

Ling Ling looked up the road and nodded. "I... Yes, I think I'll pass."

"Can I go up in the lift too?" asked Ahmed Ofori.

Tony turned to him with a dubious expression. "Are you pregnant? No, so you're walking up with us."

As Ling Ling walked back to the bottom of the hill, to the entrance of the base, Tony continued to lead the off-worlders upwards. He suspected that he wouldn't see Ling Ling again until later. She looked like a bright girl, and she would no doubt seize the opportunity to go and rest or explore Dover on her own. In any case, she was probably best not to exert herself too much.

As he walked up the hill, Tony became gradually aware of a pain in his chest. It felt like indigestion, and he optimistically dismissed it as such. A few steps later, he had to admit to himself that he was being too hopeful. He was feeling dizzy and the pain had spread to his left arm. Even though he had never felt this sensation before, Tony knew what this was, and he realised he would have to interrupt the tour and go to the Medical Centre before he keeled over.

The doorbell on the downstairs entrance startled Maya as it was relayed by her commsystem. She had been working on the latest data from the autonomous meteorological stations scattered in the southern hemisphere; their readings strongly suggested that a storm was building up to the east which would reach Dover in the next couple of days. Rain at last: Tony would be pleased.

Leaving her work for the moment, Maya clambered down the iron staircase to answer the door. The staircase led down to a narrow corridor with the main entrance at one end; the four rooms on the lower floor opened off the corridor. This arrangement was apparently made necessary by the airlock, but Maya appreciated the added privacy it gave her. This way, she could talk to unwanted guests at her door without them seeing straight into her living-room. A commsystem like the one on Alpha would have been even better, but that system hadn't been installed at Dover to save resources.

The person at the door was Giovanna, who had come to return Tony's English-Italian dictionary. Maya let her in and offered her a drink in the kitchen. Although she didn't usually encourage company, Maya always enjoyed talking to Giovanna. The old woman was Dover's best source of gossip; she knew everyone in the settlement and, now that she was retired, she cultivated her acquaintances by visiting people frequently. Giovanna was one of the rare people who could drop in uninvited on Maya and still expect an hour or so of conversation.

She was a short, stocky woman with swarthy skin and a large mole on her cheek. Her hair had once been long and black, but it was now iron grey and cut short. Giovanna was the only human woman Maya had ever known who actually had a moustache; in earlier years, she used to dye it so that the hairs were blond and less noticeable, but Giovanna had abandoned this practice in her advancing old age. Tony said it was a characteristic of some Mediterranean women, including Southern Italians. Tony and Giovanna both liked to remind Maya that they were from different parts of Italy. Tony jokingly accused the Sicilians of being North Africans in disguise, while Giovanna had been known to make comments about Northern Italians being "cold as Englishmen", which made Maya laugh. She had noticed similar attitudes in other people -- the humans were all from different backgrounds and they were proud of their differences.

"Ah, Maya, I was out in the bay and so hot!" exclaimed Giovanna in her thick accented English, as she sat down at the table in the kitchen. "That crazy husband of yours is running around with those poor Alphans. He will have them killed in this heat. Oh, Maya, tell me we have cold weather to come."

"We do, as a matter of fact," said Maya as she set out two glasses on the counter. "There's a storm coming this way in the next couple of days. We'll have some rain for a few weeks, and then things will be a bit cooler."

"Rain," repeated Giovanna, rolling her R as she raised her eyes and hands dramatically to the ceiling. "Never did I see so much rain as here. But in truth, it brings us good crops, and for that I'm grateful."

Maya handed Giovanna a Morrow cocktail -- plonk thinned with strawberry juice and warm water -- and then sat down opposite her.

"I can imagine it's a change," said Maya. "I believe you didn't get much rain in Algeria."

Maya knew very little about Algeria beyond what she had heard from Giovanna and Rachid, but she knew Giovanna was fond of talking about her adoptive country.

Before moving to Alpha, the Habibis had worked as nuclear technicians at the ESA centre in the Algerian desert. Although according to Giovanna, they were only overseeing the safe expedition of nuclear waste to Alpha, Maya could tell that both Rachid and Giovanna had fond memories of their time in Algeria. They had been young and in love, and parents to two small children, Souad and Ahmed. Giovanna had once told Maya that the offer to work on Alpha had seemed a further blessing at the time. But it had all turned sour when Breakaway separated the Habibis from their children, left behind on Earth. Maya could only imagine the heartache the couple must have suffered; the idea of being so permanently separated from Salvatore made her shudder.

"Ah, Algeria is a long time ago," said Giovanna dreamily. "I sometimes think I would like to take my children to Algers. That was my favourite city; so European on the surface, but so Oriental underneath. But all I can do is tell my children stories about Algeria and Italy, and hope they will tell their children too so that the memory of our ancestors won't be lost. I hope you are telling Salvatore about Psychon too."

Maya nodded noncommittally, even though the truth was that she rarely told Salvatore anything about Psychon. The memories were too painful, and recalling them seemed so futile now that her species was all but extinct. Now that she was getting older and wiser, Maya knew that she still wasn't over the trauma of watching her father die, of seeing her planet destroyed. She had never allowed herself to feel grief, because to feel it would be to acknowledge what had happened -- and how it had happened. In her deepest soul, Maya had never been able to reconcile the thought that the Alphans who were her saviours, were also those who had destroyed her planet.

"Talking about Salvatore," continued Giovanna, opening the dictionary she had brought back, "I found something amusing in this book."

She held out a piece of paper. Taking it, Maya found that it was one of the recycled computer printouts which Tony gave Salvatore to draw on. Salvatore was a keen draughtsman and sketch artist; the walls of his room were covered in various views of Eagles, meticulous reproductions of Earth animals, and even a few portraits of his family and friends. The Collinses had tried to persuade him to take up botany, since his drawing skills would be useful there, but Salvatore only seemed interested in drawing what he wanted to draw.

This picture was a caricature apparently based on The Wizard Of Oz. It represented a scene early in the film, with Dorothy holding her dog Toto while the wicked woman in the black dress tried to take him away. Maya was surprised to recognise the woman, a well rendered caricature of Helena Koenig.

"He has a gift for caricature," said Giovanna appreciatively.

"He's a very naughty boy," said Maya, shaking her head as she put the drawing down. "It's not kind to draw a picture to make fun of someone."

Giovanna shrugged her shoulders. "You told me he doesn't like his tests. In truth, I think he is working out his feelings. I'm surprised he didn't draw Ben. But perhaps Dr Koenig was better for the idea of a witch."

Observing the drawing again, Maya smiled involuntarily. "I see I've been cast as Dorothy. She seems to have some bumpy eyebrows I don't remember in the film. Well," she concluded airily, "I suppose he's at an age when he doesn't like anything. The tests are just something else to complain about."

Although Maya actually sympathised with the feelings Salvatore expressed in the drawing, she wasn't about to share her thoughts with Giovanna.

"Oh yes," agreed Giovanna. "Layla didn't like anything when she was that age. She went through a time between 11 and 12 years old where everything was 'stupid'. Karim did a bit of the same when he was that age too. We had the two of them like that for two years."

"I remember," said Maya. "It was our first season at Dover, when Salvatore was born. I remember you said you wanted Layla and Karim to work in the fields so that they wouldn't sit at home complaining all the time. Salvatore is probably going through the same phase."

Or maybe he was genuinely distressed by the whole affair, thought Maya. It didn't necessarily follow that because Salvatore was half-human, his reactions would be the same as a human teenager's. What if he really couldn't stand the tests? What if there was some deeply-rooted psychological need for young Psychon boys to maintain their privacy? Salvatore's objections had become stronger in recent years and Maya could never be sure whether that was just because he was turning into a "sullen teenager", as the humans seemed to believe, or whether it was a true expression of an in-built need in Salvatore's Psychon nature.

"It's perhaps a sign of intelligence," said Giovanna. "Basma and Aisha have been little angels all their life, but though I love them dearly as my children, they are not ones to win Nobel Prizes. In truth, I think some rebellion shows an understanding that the ways of the world are not written in stone. There are different, perhaps better ways, and it is the intelligent who find them."

"I'm sure Karim will find new ways when he becomes Chief Administrator," said Maya. "Tony says he's very bright and not necessarily ready to slavishly follow established rules, which he thinks is a good thing for a community leader."

"In truth?"

Giovanna seemed surprised, although Maya suspected that she knew Tony's opinion of Karim already. Her use of the expression 'in truth' always amused Maya. It wasn't something the British or Americans would say, but Giovanna used it all the time when she spoke English. Tony said it was a direct translation of the Italian 'da vero', which should properly be translated as 'really'. There were some other strange constructions creeping into the language at Dover; Petra Droessler often said "for sure" instead of "absolutely", and there was a tendency among the younger generation to mispronounce the two "th" sounds of English as "d" and "s" respectively. A locution like "the thing" came out sounding like "de sing". The children would hear one of the adults saying things a certain way and then mimic it, if only to annoy their parents. Salvatore had even gone through a phase where he wanted to talk with a Scottish accent like Ralph Buchanan.

Maya was going to add something about Karim's leadership qualities when she was interrupted by the commchime. Surprised, she excused herself to Giovanna and crossed the corridor to the master bedroom, where the nearest commpost was. The person calling was a very distraught Becky Collins.

"Oh, Maya," she exclaimed. "You have to come to the Medical Centre. Tony's had a heart attack!"

Maya's mind was reeling. Tony -- a heart attack? As far as Maya knew, there was nothing wrong with his heart. He had always joked that Italians didn't get heart attacks because red wine and olive oil were cures for heart disease. Maya had always been afraid that Tony would develop cancer, like so many of his contemporaries, but heart attacks had never been a concern. As she hurried to the Medical Centre with Giovanna close behind, Maya was certain there must have been some mistake.

The Medical Centre took up most of the middle floor of the base beneath the Desarak peak. It had once occupied a smaller area in the Dover cliff, but the need for a larger maternity ward had prompted the move to more spacious quarters just before the Summer. This did mean that the Centre was harder to get to during the off-seasons, since visitors had to use the connecting tunnel between Dover and Desarak, which ran under the Heights further inland. But the new facilities apparently made the staff and patients a lot happier once they got there. Maya avoided the place, preferring to get Ben Vincent or Raul Nuñez -- and now Halima Ofori -- to come to her in her quarters if at all possible.

In this more hospitable season, the quickest way to the Medical Centre was through the Dover bay, so the two women had taken the elevator down to the ground floor and then hurried out of the airlock. Even though Maya knew the air was cooler now than it had been earlier that day, it still felt heavy and hot, the humidity weighing on her as she half ran towards Desarak. It was dark in the shade; Maya could see the lights from the new carbonite windows in the cliffs. The children were laughing and singing in the school, the sound escaping from the open airlock in the schoolroom at the bottom of the Desarak cliff. Desarak, once the home of Maya's ancestors, and now another element of the Alphans' new life on Loki. But all Maya could think of, all she could concentrate on was her concern for Tony.

The stench of fungicide hit Maya as she entered the Medical Centre's waiting-room with Giovanna. There were a few people there. Friedhelm Buchanan was no doubt there to visit his wife, who was expected to give birth some time in the next couple of days. But the others -- Becky, Halima's brother Ahmed and a young man Maya didn't recognise -- had no doubt accompanied Tony. Becky immediately came to greet Maya and Giovanna. Her little face was pale, her large hazel eyes red with crying.

"Oh Maya. I'm so sor... sorry," she hiccuped. "He said he was fine and... I should have insisted... but he said... he said..."

She interrupted herself as she started to cry again. Giovanna took Becky in her arms and patted her back soothingly, while indicating that Maya should continue into the medical ward.

Maya followed her suggestion, her mind still in shock at the thought of Tony having a heart attack. The doors swished open as she approached. They were Alpha-style automatic doors and their characteristic sound brought back a sudden flood of memories. Good ones -- memories of Tony and of a time when living with humans hadn't seemed so difficult.

Like most of the structures at Dover, the Medical Centre was a series of small rooms separated by thick walls of stone. Patrick Osgood had once explained to Maya that this made the caves stronger by preserving as much of the original rock as possible. The door off the waiting room lead into the consultation room, which in turn opened onto the maternity ward, the general ward and the CMO's office. The last time Maya had been in the consultation room was to have a broken tooth removed. This less pleasant memory made her shudder as she headed for the general ward.

The ward was a larger room, subdivided into half a dozen cubicles by cloth-covered partitions. A couple of the cubicles were obviously occupied; given a little concentration, Maya could have remembered who the patients were. But she continued to the Intensive Care unit, her heart now beating with dread. The ICU was where people died.

The first person Maya saw inside was the junior doctor, Halima Ofori. The young woman was putting away some kind of apparatus, but she turned when she heard Maya come in. As always, Maya was struck by Halima's resemblance to her mother Alibe. She had the same large eyes and button nose, although Halima's looks were marred by a smooth burn scar running down one side of her face, the result of a childhood accident.

Halima smiled widely when she saw Maya. "Maya! I see Becky called you. Don't worry, Tony will be fine," she said before the Psychon got a chance to ask.

Relieved, Maya didn't know what to say. She looked hopefully at the four cubicles in the room, but before Halima pointed out which one contained Tony, the door in one of the partitions opened and Ben Vincent leaned out.

"Ah Maya," he said gruffly, peering at her through his thick glasses. "I thought I heard something. Come to see the invalid? He's given us all a scare, I can tell you!"

Ben beckoned for her to come in. Tony was propped up on the bed, his bare chest and arms covered in tubes and shunts and his face half hidden by an oxygen mask. The wall above him was filled with instruments; the regular beeping of the heart monitor filled the cubicle. Maya was grateful that Halima had told her Tony would be all right; seeing him like this, she would have assumed that he was at death's door.

"I must admit I got into quite a panic when Halima called me," continued Ben. "She doesn't have that much experience of these things, you see. She probably thought it was safer to entrust the life of someone as important as Tony to me. I usually deal with the 'old fogies', while Halima here gets to take care of the pretty young things that come and give birth next door. But she has to learn about all these unpleasant things some day."

He waved at Tony, who frowned above his oxygen mask, evidently offended at being included in the "unpleasant things".

"What happened?" asked Maya. She put her hand on Tony's forehead, one of the rare places with no sensors attached to it. Tony looked up at her and lifted his eyebrows as if to apologise for ending up in the ICU.

"You probably got the story from little Becky," said Ben with a shrug. "He felt chest pains, so he rushed over here. Wise decision, too, I might add." He waved a colour printout at Maya, as if that would tell her anything. "Looks as if he might have had a little teensy heart attack. A very little one, fortunately, and his heart is pumping fine now, but it's a warning. He'll have to take medication for the rest of his life."

"All he needs," said Maya dryly.

Ben shook his head gravely. "I know you don't like doctors, Maya, but we do have some useful tricks up our sleeves. Those little pills I'm going to give him will probably be the only thing between him and a big one of these. Of course, I have to keep him under observation for the next couple of days to make sure everything is all right. Or rather, Halima and the youngsters will have to keep an eye on him. But I think he'll be right as rain this time around."

"Are you sure he'll have to take pills?" asked Maya. There was evidently no end to the ways in which doctors could insinuate themselves into her family life.

"Oh yes. No doubt whatsoever," declared Ben. Maya automatically looked at Halima; the young woman nodded, but with a reassuring smile. "He will also have to have regular check-ups," continued Ben. "He and Salvatore can come and see us together. It might make that son of yours a bit happier about coming to visit his old friend Ben. At least Tony has something wrong with him now, so there will be no excuses there."

"But he'll be all right?" asked Maya.

"Oh yes. He'll be up and drinking his Morrow mushroom sauce in no time," said Ben cheerfully. "He's no spring chicken, but he's in pretty good shape for his age."

"I'm not dead yet."

Surprised, Maya turned to look at her husband. Tony was holding the oxygen mask away from his face and was observing Ben and Maya with amusement.

"This is ridiculous," he said drowsily. "I can hear what you're saying, so you might as well speak to me, instead of talking to each other as if I'm not here."

"Mister Verdeschi, you should keep the mask on," admonished Halima, approaching as if to put it back on herself. "Your body was momentarily deprived of oxygen when you had the attack. That's why you need to breathe deeply and get some more into your bloodstream."

"If us talking here is interfering with your breathing, Tony, I'm sure Maya and I can go and chat somewhere else," said Ben with an indulgent smile. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. Maya, we can talk in the office; there are a number of things I want to discuss --"

A sudden change in the beeping of the heart monitor above Tony made Ben stop in mid-sentence.

"Doctor!" exclaimed Halima, immediately busying herself with the instruments embedded in the walls.

"Halima, get the rest of the staff in here and call Alpha," said Ben. "If this gets bad, I'm going to need a few nurses to order around."

He took Halima's place at the machines while the young woman led Maya outside. "I'm sorry, Mrs Verdeschi," said Halima briskly. "I'll take you back to the office and I'll get a nurse to sit with you."

Maya wondered why she would need a nurse when Tony was the one who was dying. Tony... dying? The thought hit her like a rock falling from a cliff. Maya couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening. Not when Salvatore was so young. Not when Dover and Alpha still needed him so much. When Maya still needed him so much.

Halima was talking into her slate as they went back toward the waiting room. "Calling all medical staff, this is an emergency. Please report to ICU cubicle 1. Heart attack, possible surgery necessary."

"Surgery?" exclaimed Maya.

"He might need a bypass operation," said Halima as the two women crossed the consultation room. Maya indicated she would prefer to return to the waiting-room rather than sit alone in the office. Halima smiled reassuringly as they went into the waiting-room. She had evidently inherited her mother's ability to stay calm in a crisis situation.

"Don't worry, Maya," she said gently. "Ben might be a grumpy old man, but he's a good doctor. And in particular, he spent years monitoring Michelle Osgood's heart condition. He's the best heart specialist we have."

"He's the only heart specialist we have," said Maya dully. Aside from Raul Nuñez, who did all Dover's lab work, the only doctors were second generation trainees like Halima.

Most of the medical staff had already arrived by the time Maya entered the waiting-room. Halima reassured Maya once more that everything would be all right and then led the medics back to the ICU. Nurse Astrid Buchanan stayed behind to keep company with the people waiting in the room; she occasionally went to the ICU to get news and keep Maya and the others informed.

There was a sudden silence in the waiting room when all the medical staff had gone. Becky and Giovanna were still there; the men had apparently left to get some refreshments. Astrid's brother Friedhelm had also stayed, even though his visit to his wife was over. As time passed, more and more people congregated into the little room, curious to hear news of Tony's health or desirous to give Maya some words of comfort.

Becky seemed to have calmed down, but she still looked upset. Maya felt sorry for her; even though Becky was probably as worried about Tony as she was herself, she would get little sympathy, having no "legitimate" reason for her worry. Maya went and sat down beside her.

"What... What's happening?" asked Becky hesitantly, as if she was afraid to hear the truth. "They... all of a sudden, the other medics started arriving..."

"I think Tony has had another heart attack," said Maya gently, placing a reassuring hand on Becky's. "But he'll be all right. Ben's an excellent doctor. He's the best heart specialist we have."

Now that the first impact of the news was over, Maya felt a lot calmer. There was no need to make a scene and cry and weep; there would be plenty of time for that if Tony died. In the meantime, all she could do was sit and wait.

"Poor Ben," said Giovanna quietly. "He is having a very busy day. Everyone from our generation is old and gets sick."

Maya felt a pang of guilt. "Oh, I didn't even think to ask about Kate!" she exclaimed. "Poor Ben. I was so busy thinking about Tony that I completely forgot."

"I was with Kate just now," volunteered Astrid. "She seemed in good spirits. She's very tired and pale, though. But she was full of her usual jokes, you know."

"What did they do to her up on Alpha for all this time anyway?" asked Becky.

"She was getting treatment for her breast cancer," said Giovanna. "Wasn't she?"

"Aye," said Astrid. "They tried everything. Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery, but even Doctor Koenig up on Alpha couldn't do enough for her. They give her one or two months to live at most. So she's come back here."

"To die," completed Becky. She lowered her eyes and frowned, as if she was trying to stop herself from crying again. "Oh, I've been so mean to her. I don't even dare go see her."

Maya remembered Tony relaying some complaints from both parties back in the days when Kate was still healthy enough to work. He had always tried to keep a balanced view on their feud, even though he had admitted the temptation was strong to side with their friend Kate. Maya decided she should apply the same equanimity in the present conversation.

"Maybe you should go and see her while you still have the chance," she said. "Now is the time to talk to her."

"I know," said Becky, nodding miserably. "But... it's hard to admit you might have been wrong. I mean... You know, you get into an argument with someone and you think... you know you're right at that point. And then it escalates, and you might start thinking differently than you first did, but it's too hard to back down, because the other person is mad at you too, and you're both... stuck, you know?"

"Yes, I know," said Maya with a sigh. "It's sometimes hard to get unstuck."

Not impossible, though. Maya glanced up at the photograph of Helena Koenig which adorned the waiting-room wall. Most sections displayed a portrait of their Alphan head; Tony always said it was a simple but effective way to remind the Doverians that they were part of a whole. The habit made Maya think of the book 1984 -- as if the section heads were miniature Big Brothers keeping an eye on Dover. She dismissed the thought as Shermeen came to join them and asked for news of Tony.

It wasn't long before the crowd in the waiting-room began to weigh on Maya. They all wanted to talk to her, to tell her how worried they were about Tony. She was touched by their display of concern, and proud to think that her husband had succeeded so well in earning their affection. But the news was spreading and too many people were crowding into the little room; try as it might, it could only comfortably hold a dozen people at a time.

Maya was grateful when Astrid approached her and offered to let her wait in the office next door. Maya's dislike of crowds wasn't exactly public knowledge, but she suspected that enough people knew for the suggestion to have filtered down to Astrid.

The office was definitely quieter. It was only a small room, but it shared part of the consultation room's window, offering a low view on the Flats and the thin line of Lake Bergman in the distance. The office was visibly Ben's reserved domain. Pictures of Kate, their four children and their numerous grandchildren adorned the desk and there was some kind of African mask on the wall. Observing it, it occurred to Maya that this could just as well be Halima's contribution to the decoration. But she thought it was more likely to be Ben's.

Looking for something to do to take her mind off the present situation, Maya picked up the nearest picture of Kate. It was evidently a picture taken at their wedding; Maya recognised the converted sheet which she herself had worn as a wedding gown a few years later. The memory brought a sudden, unexpected lump to her throat and Maya put down the picture frame as if it were burning her hand. She took a deep breath and turned to the window, fighting to keep her control. Even though she was alone, there was no need for violent displays of grief. Tony was going to live, and even if he didn't, there was no point worrying about that until it actually happened.

But the memory persisted, one image pushing its way to the top of her consciousness even though she didn't want it to. An image of Tony kneeling on the floor of the excavated room which was now Dover's little exercise room, the delight on his face as he discovered the henna tattoo on her thigh. This memory led to another one; Tony kneeling on the floor again, but on Alpha this time, his face serious as he searched for a bulge on Maya's stomach when she was expecting Angelo. Or later, Tony bringing her Salvatore on the Eagle, allowing her to finally hold her son in her arms again... even though they had been torn from the nest she had given birth in up at the meteorological station... even though Helena was fretting about Salvatore being sickly and needing to be in an incubator. Tony had known then that what Salvatore needed was his mother... Thoughts of medical treatment made her mind wander even further back, to a time when Tony's hair was black and everything was simpler... "Um, Maya, you know all that wild garbage that I handed you..."

Maya lifted her head and swallowed hard, willing the tears to stay away just a bit longer. It was silly to get so emotional when Tony would probably pull through. Ben himself had said that Tony was strong. He had over-exerted himself today, but that was hardly going to kill him. But there was a new voice in Maya's mind, a little voice of panic which was starting to feed her all sorts of negative scenarios. Maybe Tony was already dead. Maybe they didn't want to tell her because they were afraid she would turn into a monster. Maya dismissed that ludicrous thought. Her days of turning into monsters had gone with Salvatore's birth; the best she could manage nowadays would be a large dog of some kind. In any case, she knew she could trust Ben to tell her if the worst had happened. Kate always said that Ben delighted in telling people bad news.

Lost in her thoughts as she was, Maya was startled when her slate beeped. After a couple of deep breaths to regain her composure, Maya pulled the slate up so that it would give a good view of herself and then switched it on to answer the call.

"Helena!"

"Maya, are you all right?" asked Helena's tiny face on the screen.

The question surprised Maya; she wondered for a moment if she had cried without knowing it or if she was otherwise disarrayed in a fashion which would make Helena wonder about her health.

"I'm fine," she said automatically. "But Tony's had a heart attack."

"I know, that's why I'm calling. John just got a message from Karim Habibi. Have you heard any news? I tried Ben, but I guess he's in surgery. Are they doing a coronary bypass? I mean, are they operating?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Astrid said they were... doing something else." The exact wording seemed to have dropped straight out of Maya's head.

"Well, I'm sure Ben is taking good care of him. He's a good doctor --"

"He's the best heart specialist we have," completed Maya with a smile, amused by the constant repetition about Ben being a good doctor.

"Yes... Yes, he is," said Helena. It was difficult to make out her exact expression on the little flickering image, but Maya thought she looked rather puzzled.

"How's Salvatore?" asked Helena.

"He's making pasta," said Maya.

Helena was definitely looking worried. "Maya, are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Maya nodded vigorously to get the point across. She was uncomfortable with the conversation and was hoping it would soon end.

"Maya... I want to discuss this with John, but maybe we can come down and see you. We're on Ceres II right now -- you know Richard is getting married -- but we could come and see you afterwards. All counted, we could come to Loki at the end of next week."

Maya couldn't see what good it would do for the Koenigs to come down to Dover. But if they wanted to come, Maya wasn't going to stop them.

"I'm sure Tony will be happy to see you," she said diplomatically. "He's always saying you don't spend enough time here. But the weather's going to be dreadful then; we're probably going to have some storms by the end of the week. Maybe you should come when the weather is nicer. On the other hand, the storms should be pretty spectacular. They were last season."

"Well, we'll certainly look into coming to visit. Give Tony and Salvatore our regards, and tell Tony we hope he'll get well soon."

"Regards to all your family... Do send Richard our best wishes and to Suzi, too. I hope I'll get to meet Suzi in person some day."

"I'm sure you will," said Helena with a polite smile.

She signed off and Maya drew a sigh of relief. Helena had called at a bad time, and Maya made a mental note to call her back perhaps the next day, and have a more coherent conversation with her.

Maya was still sitting at the desk wondering if the Koenigs would actually come to Dover when there was a discreet knock on the door. Before she would answer, the door opened; it was Astrid and she had her arm around a very upset little Salvatore.

"Mamma!" he cried out as he ran over to her. "What happened to Babbo? We heard he was ill. Helena got a call from Karim and we came over as quickly as we could but it still took us all this time because we had to wait for the shuttle because she's pregnant and she couldn't walk so far. We were so worried and then everyone is here and they were all talking at me and I couldn't find you until Astrid got me and brought me in here. What happened to Babbo? Is he going to be all right?"

"Yes, of course he is."

"Really?"

Salvatore's eyes were so wide with fear that they seemed to have doubled in volume. Maya put her arms around him, hugging him gently and kissing him on the cheek. He didn't often allow her to do this, and she had a feeling it was a privilege he would grant less often as time went on. Another four or five years and he would probably be getting some other woman to hug and kiss him. Her face still leaning on Salvatore's shoulder, Maya allowed herself a smile at that thought.

"He'll be all right," she said. "Ben and the other doctors are taking care of him right now. All we can do now is sit and wait."

Having spent the evening reassuring other people that Tony would be all right, and hearing dozens of other people tell her the same thing, Maya was pleased to hear that all these promises were fulfilled in the end.

Ben finally emerged from the ICU and came to tell her that Tony would be fine. They had dissolved two blood clots which were restricting the flow of blood into his heart, but once that was done, the veins seemed healthy and his heart was in pretty good condition too, despite some minor damage from the two heart attacks. A couple of weeks in hospital and a batch of pills a day for the rest of his life, and Tony would be as good as new.

Salvatore, who was present when all this good news was given out, was so delighted he got up and hopped up and down. Maya's reaction was more reserved, but she was relieved as well. For all her determined display of stoicism, she had been under a great deal of strain ever since Becky first called her, and the relief was so intense that she nearly felt like crying. Ben, predictably, offered her a sedative -- evidently the answer to all ills according to Earth's medical profession -- but Maya decided she could deal with her emotions without artificial aid.

Maya sat alone in the office a while longer, while Ben and Salvatore went to announce the good news to everyone in the waiting-room. Salvatore usually professed intense dislike of Ben, because of the tests, but he didn't seem to mind the doctor's company under these circumstances. Everyone was probably right; maybe Salvatore's aversion to medical tests was nothing to worry about.

But Maya's preoccupation in that moment was with Tony. He was going to live, and even if it turned out that this incident marked the beginning of the end, she was determined that she and Tony would live that end to the full.