Island in a Sea of Stars Read Online Free

functioned. He hammered on the activation panel, got a faint blip of light in response, then nothing.
    Around him, the bloaters were quiescent again. Garrison could already feel the cold settling in through his suit, though the insulation should have protected him for much longer.
    His breathing sounded loud in his helmet. With gloved hands he fumbled with the access plate beneath the useless controls and managed to trigger the manual override, forcing the airlock door open. Garrison pulled himself inside, manually sealed the outer door, then used the chamber’s emergency canisters for an air dump that equalized the pressure enough for him to open the inner door.
    Seth grabbed him as he reentered the main cabin, helping him to unseal the helmet. The boy was worried, with good reason. Garrison reassured him. “I’m all right … but I wouldn’t want to be outside during another one of those flare-ups.”
    â€œDid you find what caused the static signal?”
    â€œYes, it was…” He paused, pondering how much he should say. “It was a device someone placed on our ship back at Sheol. Could be just a standard Iswander tracking device.”
    The boy frowned. “Or maybe Mother put it there.”
    Garrison hadn’t realized it before, but Seth always called him “Dad,” while he referred to Elisa with the more formal “Mother.”
    Garrison stretched the truth, though it wasn’t an outright lie. “I don’t know who put it there, but it’s gone now.” He cracked his knuckles. “We’d better get to work. After that flash, we’ve got repairs to make. It could take days. Then, after we run a full check, I don’t think we should stay here much longer.”

4
    LEE ISWANDER
    Managing the dangerous operations on Sheol was a tremendous challenge, but becoming Speaker for the Roamer clans was an even greater one. With Elisa Reeves gone, Iswander left the lava-processing facility in Deputy Alec Pannebaker’s capable hands and headed off to Newstation.
    Iswander never stopped looking at the big picture. Considering the business possibilities in the Confederation, opportunities that even the most imaginative Roamer clans had only begun to explore, he concluded that the united clans needed someone with vision to lead them into the future. He could fill that role.
    He guided his personal cruiser toward the bustling station—and his future headquarters, if all went well. His cruiser was equipped with the best Ildiran stardrive, plenty of ekti fuel, a well-appointed interior, and redundant systems, but at first glance it looked like any normal ship. Iswander had plenty of wealth, but he found no advantage in flaunting it.
    In re-forming their government, the clans had chosen Newstation as their cultural and administrative center: a giant, newly constructed space habitat orbiting a planet. Meanwhile, clan Reeves and their stubborn leader persisted in trying to rebuild the old asteroid complex of Rendezvous, but few people paid attention to them. Lee Iswander certainly didn’t.
    His cruiser glided up toward the giant toroidal space complex. Newstation rotated like a giant wheel in space, an old-fashioned but serviceable design. Plenty of traffic flitted around the station: cargo vessels, passenger yachts, diplomatic shuttles. The place was vibrant, and Iswander loved it. And Newstation was just the tip of what could be a very large iceberg.
    He logged his arrival on the traffic band, asked for appropriate positioning and a docking slot. The traffic attendant recognized his voice. “Mr. Iswander! Right away, sir. I’ll see that you get a priority berth.”
    He flew his cruiser to the appropriate landing bay and his assigned ship berth. Before he disembarked, Iswander combed his hair and made sure his clothes were unrumpled. Even though he would not be addressing the gathered representatives until tomorrow, he couldn’t be