She had mixed feelings about the project sponsored by Earth Government to transform the surface. Something about the harsh terrain, the ever-changing reds and golds of the desert, and the jagged peaks of the mountains against the pale sky appealed to her. Perhaps because they reflected her own inner barrenness, she thought with a familiar pang.
Carrington had resumed his complaints, but she tuned them out as the rover trundled down the path that had been the source of so much difficulty in order to reach the hidden passage to the new city. He finally stopped talking when the rock face slid aside and revealed the tunnel. When the rover emerged at the far end to overlook the huge cavern and the neat grid of luxurious residences set amidst plantings of specially bred mosses, he actually nodded approvingly.
“This is more like it. Which one is mine?”
“The residence at the far side, overlooking the crater below. Those are of course the most prestigious homes,” she added smoothly.
He gave a satisfied nod. “Of course. It is one of the perks I expected as the first.”
She donned her breathing mask, ignoring his supercilious smirk, and they climbed out of the rover. Her bodyguards, Alan and Jose, accompanied them. Although they were also GenCon employees, the two big men had proven loyal to her interests and she made sure that they were paid well in excess of their listed job titles.
Carrington opened his mouth and took a deep breath, then smiled triumphantly. “At least this part of the process is successful.”
He headed down the broad avenue, and once again she noted how quickly he moved despite his awkward steps. Apparently, the company had managed to get some things right. But his appearance… She suppressed a shudder.
Carrington found little to complain about with his residence aside from the minimal furnishings. The company had done an excellent job of anticipating the surroundings a wealthy client would expect. After promising to arrange a 3D replicator that would allow him to manufacture additional furnishings, she left him ensconced in his new home.
“He didn’t seem worried about being the only… person in this whole city,” Jose muttered as they climbed back into the rover.
“I seriously doubt he has ever been concerned about anyone other than himself,” she said dryly. “We’ll see how long it takes before he finds something else to complain about.”
That night, Serena dreamed. She dreamed she was back on the sidewalk as the rain fell down over her and mingled with the blood. She awoke with tears on her face, alone as always. While she still occasionally took a man to bed—for amusement or profit—she never allowed one to spend the night. There was too much chance that the pain she managed to bury during the day would emerge.
Dashing the tears from her cheeks, she threw on an expensive silk robe and padded across the thick carpet to stand at the window. Her rooms were located on the top floor of the GenCon building. Below her, the town of New Arcadia sprawled on both sides of a wide dirt street, a ragtag collection of buildings made out of everything from prefab panels to discarded ship parts. Ignoring the familiar disorder below, she looked out through the great dome that covered the town to the desert beyond. The vast emptiness soothed her.
Is my settler out there? she wondered before she could stop herself.
No. Angelica might once have been swayed by an attractive man, but that part of her was long dead. She had reinvented herself as Serena, using her intelligence, her looks, and her ruthless determination to claw her way out of the slums where she’d been thrown like abandoned garbage. The price she had paid destroyed what little has been left of her soul, and she was not going to lose focus now.
But as she returned to her lavish bed and finally drifted off to sleep, her last thoughts were of a big, silent figure, alone by a campfire.
Chapter Four
Six months later…
J-100 finished recording his message and signed off. Because of the transmission delays between Earth and Mars, there was no reason to attempt live communication. His duty completed, he tried to decide what to do with the rest of his day. From force of long habit, his habitat was already neat and tidy. Although he could spend some time prospecting, the thought didn’t appeal to him. The small collection of ore he gathered made a nice little supplement to the funds he received from the government, but he didn’t really need the income. He paced to the window and back, unusually restless.
Had it been a mistake to choose a mining claim over a homestead? At the time, he had liked the idea of the isolation it provided and the freedom to move around and investigate. He had been correct about his ability to explore—and the result of his latest explorations had been the subject of today’s message to the general. But the isolation had not proven as satisfactory as he had anticipated. Although he had always been a loner, he hadn’t realized until he was alone on his claim how accustomed he was to the presence of other people.
He might not fit in with them and he frequently found them annoying, but he was used to them being around.
At the thought of other people, his mind inevitably traveled to Serena. The one glance he’d had of her on the landing field had stayed with him and he frequently found himself thinking about her despite the amount of time that had passed. He knew it was ridiculous—he knew nothing about her other than that she was in charge of the organization the general so distrusted. But every time he tried to convince himself that he couldn’t possibly be interested in someone like that, he remembered the haunted look he had seen in those blue eyes and
