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were ringing, she could not
hear them.
    Always remember this, Margaret. No matter how bad the winter, spring
is always right around the corner
    The girl nodded, smiled, let Marcus Surina fold her in his arms for
a last embrace. Better to leave him with this memory of hope at the
top of the world than to shower him with cold truths. Spring might
always be right around the corner, she thought. But there's always another
winter behind it.

    2
    Lieutenant Magan Kai Lee stood at the window of a Falcon hoverbird
and watched the Potomac scroll away until it was lost in the snow.
December of 359 had proven an exceptionally good month for snow.
    The pilot quietly veered off the established flight path, leaving the
sparse morning traffic behind while they plowed through the mist a
dozen meters above the river's froth and foam. Today, at least, the hoverbird's egg-white finish made decent camouflage.
    Magan looked out the port window and saw the Shenandoah River
slide into view. "Ulterior admission," he said quietly. Full stop.
    It was a small craft, designed by Defense and Wellness Council
engineers for first-response situations. Twelve could fit here with comfort, and today there were only three. The pilot could hear his superior
officer's command just fine. "Impulse open and locked," he replied in
acknowledgment. Full stop. Seconds later, Magan could hear the
decrescendo of engines shutting down and the ethereal whir of antigrav kicking in. The hoverbird came to rest twenty meters above the
treetops.
    Within the space of a heartbeat, the illicit advertising began dribbling in to Magan's mental inbox. Guerrilla messages, automated,
probably keyed in to the whoosh of the hoverbird's vapor exhaust.
COZY WINTER GETAWAYS on the SHENANDOAH:
    Affordable Prices!
    Hoverbird in Need of a Boost? Read Our Special Report
    THE MAKERS OF CHAIQUOKE SALUTE THE SHENANDOAH COMMUTER
    The hoverbird's third occupant blocked the flow with an irritated
tsk.
    Rey Gonerev, the Defense and Wellness Council's chief solicitor, rose from her seat and stood at Magan's side. She parted her long
braided hair to reveal a thin face with skin of deepest cocoa. Magan
could feel the neural tug of her ConfidentialWhisper request. "You
sure we're not overdoing this?" she asked, her words appearing silently
in his mind like adjuncts of his own thought process.

    Magan ignored her and watched the skyline. His mind was sifting
through combinatorial possibilities in preparation for their mission.
Rey Gonerev had no place in his reflections at the moment.
    The solicitor pursed her lips. "Lieutenant?" Receiving no response,
she shrugged and retreated to her seat, keeping the ConfidentialWhisper channel open just in case.
    Magan turned his attention to the circular table that comprised
most of the hoverbird's rear section. He waved his hand over the surface, causing a holographic map to blink into existence. It was an
example of true Defense and Wellness Council austerity: the meeting
of two rivers reduced to a handful of intersecting vectors, with the hoverbird itself nothing more than a triangle of canary yellow. As Magan
studied the hilly terrain with a critical eye, four more yellow triangles
arced into the display and halted in formation alongside them. He
looked out the window and surveyed the line of sleek white hovercraft
floating above the Shenandoah, silent as vultures. The lieutenant noted
approvingly that the noses of the hoverbirds were in perfect alignment.
    There was a momentary squawk of pilots confirming their rendezvous and their mission number. Then one craft broke off from the
rest and took a vanguard position. A blue dot on the map indicated the
presence of the team leader: Ridgello, a veteran from the Pharisee front
lines and one of Magan's most trusted subordinates.
    The team leader opened a voice channel to the rest of the troops.
"Broad strokes imply a declension of purpose, and such things cannot
be ascertained with