by Andre Norton
What was toughest was leaving in the first place.
Dane shook his head as he finished packing away his belongings. He looked around the bare cabin, wondering who would live there next, and how they’d feel about leaving wherever they were coming from—how they’d feel about the Solar Queen and her crew.
For him it had been easy. No family, no ties. This was it, his home.
In silence he joined the others, and helped push the baggage into the shuttle. Ali chattered happily, cracking jokes and singing snatches of song. Rip kept sending Dane glances of sympathy from his dark eyes, but he said nothing directly. Jasper just worked, as always keeping his thoughts to himself.
When the shuttle was ready to go, Rip made a business of checking over the com once more—and then he stopped, for a little blue figure bounded down the tube and flung herself in, clutching in her thin webbed fingers a ragged, bulging receptacle.
Dane grinned at her, and watched her drooping crest lift. No one was in sight on the dock; her good-byes had been said.
In silence the crew of the North Star made their way to their new ship. And not long after that, the two ships eased their way out of the great lock, and nosed out toward space.
Though there was plenty to do, Dane hovered near Tooe, watching. She stopped at the port, but her gaze was not back in the direction of the rapidly dwindling habitat.
As they built up speed for the jump to hyper, she turned and smiled out at the stars.
About the Authors
For over fifty years, Andre Norton, "one of the most distinguished living SF and fantasy writers" (Booklist), has been penning bestselling novels that have earned her a unique place in the hearts and minds of readers. Honored with a Life Achievement Award by the World Fantasy Convention and with the Grand Master Nebula Award by her peers in the Science Fiction Writers of America, her numerous science fiction and fantasy novels have garnered her millions of devoted readers across the globe. Works set in her fabled Witch World, as well as others, such as The Elvenbane (with Mercedes Lackey) and Black Trillium (with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Julian May), have made her "one of the most popular authors of our time" (Publishers Weekly). She lives in Winter Park, Florida. Sherwood Smith is the author of over a dozen novels, including Wren to the Rescue and two other Wren adventures. She is also the coauthor, with Dave Trowbridge, of the Exordium series of space opera novels. Smith lives in California.
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