Author: Pat Gibson

Awakened power, understanding, begrudging acceptance…     Mandy found her there in the morning. She was curled up on the ground just under the awning by the hall door. Mandy was frightened. No other buffer woman had ever left the bedroom like this. Spacer was still asleep, sprawled on the bed in the bedroom. It was…

Main house, assault, a role to play…     Sarita realized she had been singled out by the woman asking the questions, but she’d not been questioned. The young woman motioned to her to follow, and Sarita felt her use some compulsion on her. She started to tell her it was not necessary but found herself…

Higgins World, Port Settlement, Main House…     Spacer was drunk again. Mandy heard him coming and opened the door. Every time the executive officer and leader of Port lost his buffer woman, he got drunk and stayed that way until Mandy could find him another. When he was drunk, he could not hear the others’…

A telling meeting, a trouble revealed…     Francos Morales, Overload of the Humanos Verdaderos, was not looking forward to a visit from El Poh Grande, head of the Iglesia Humanos Verdaderos. The old man was pompous, long winded, and usually boring. Francos attended services in his private chapel whenever he could, and only went to…

The inspector arrives…     “What do you mean, the girl is gone?” Inspector Charlotte Rhody’s voice penetrated Simon’s skull like a knife. “You were ordered to confine her and insure she had no contact with any one from Refugio, were you not?”     The woman’s gaze made Simon want to turn and run, but he…

Deceived, captured, and abused…   “How long will they be out?” Mack Gunson, the ship’s captain, asked the cook.     “I don’t want to give them too much at once. You can taste it if it is too strong, but it will stay in their systems. By tomorrow afternoon when we rendezvous with Blackie, they’ll be…

Farm twenty-two, the quarantine rooms, a leaving…     “Deirdre, for the last time you cannot see Sarita.” Morianan was becoming more and more annoyed with the whinny, simpering woman.     “But we have little to do in the packing plant right now. It would release one of the Healers to their own duties.”     “Sarita…

The Residency, a message, hope…     Serept showed Carlos Bethal into the Overlord’s office without ceremony. He could see the man was excited and would not wait. Carlos asked him to fetch Megal to the meeting as well. Francos rose to greet his father-in-law.     “You have good news, I gather?”     “I do, but…

A way out, a way home, a plan…     “So, this order from the Overlord will be the exact cover I need to go home,” Tony explained to Simon over the voicecom. “All we will need to do is get Sarita, Nathan and Rhonda here to the port and we can leave for Refugio.”    …