YEAR: 25

Braheton City, Central Tharsis, Mars

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Alex spent most of the next day registering for classes; due to dealing with things after his family's accident, he'd missed the original deadline, necessitating that he beg professors in person for a place in already-filled courses. At the university store, he winced at the cost of the school supplies he had to purchase. He had to be careful. He had used much of the money his parents had left him on the notoriously pricey Kepler tuition, and a check of the cost-of-living expenses in Braheton soon confirmed the remainder of his credit wouldn't last long if he spent rashly. As his father had often pointed out, however, if there was anything Alex was good at it was being careful.

He returned to the dorm room to find Ric engaged in a sword battle with an unseen opponent. Ric, noting his presence, ceased his exercises and lowered to his side the long blade he held.

"Hello, Alex," he said. He seemed unaffected by Alex's bewilderment at this new oddity. "Are you done your choring, then?"

"My… oh, right. I have everything I need." He eyed the weapon with some dismay. It resembled something out of an ancient history book. "Is that real?"

"It's real enough. I'm teaching a fighting class this semester. Of course, the students and I will use dummy swords. This is just for show."

"You're teaching a class?"

Ric shrugged. "It's only worth half a course credit. My da was a professor here before I was born, and he knows one of the deans, so they arranged it between themselves. Da's always worrying himself that I'll get into trouble if I've got nothing extra to occupy my time." He slid the sword into a long leather scabbard, then placed it gently in the back of the closet. The ebony and polished brass of the hilt gleamed in the shadows.

"I thought you played G-ball," said Alex.

Ric snorted. "Not on Kepler's time I don't. Last year the captain of the G-ball team and I had a wee disagreement. It seems the lady in my bed failed to identify herself as his fiancée."

"They kicked you off the team for that?"

"Aye well, not for that precisely." Ric tugged at his hair, looking rueful. "The man waited until the next game to let me know of his feelings—by throwing the ball at the back of my head. I'd no have minded so much if he'd aimed for my face, but I can't abide a man who skulks. If he'd wished a fair fight, I'd have given him one, only not in the middle of a G-ball court. He knew that, of course." He paused, wearing an indignant look. "Have you ever been hit in the back of the head with a G-ball, Alex?"

"Not yet." He felt a grin pulling at his lips. He had the feeling it would be hard to feel sorry for himself with Ric around, which was just what he needed.

"Aye, well, it hurts like hell. But what's worse is that after I went down, the man rushed over to me as though he were concerned and whispered in my ear, 'Leave my fiancée alone or next time will be worse.' Now, being half-conscious, I couldn't puzzle out which girl he was meaning, but I assumed she wasn't a woman of great discretion. I could hardly let the man get away with throwing G-balls at the back of every man who crossed him, could I now?"

"No?" guessed Alex. Loath to interrupt the flow of the story, he didn't point out Ric's own lack of discretion.

"Of course not. So I marshaled my resources, and… well, to make a long story short, the man's much better at aiming a G-ball than he is his punches."

"Good thing you didn't have the sword with you then."

"I wasn't needing one. He went down rather quickly. I suspect he was faking it for the referees. You know how quick they are to call a red light these days."

"Actually, I've never seen a game. Not in person, at any rate."

"No? We'll have to remedy that. The pro season starts in a couple of weeks."

Although his first instinct was to decline the offer, Alex checked himself and nodded his assent. He knew he needed to start being social again. "Where did you learn to use a sword, anyway?" He doubted it was at Kepler; although it ranked high in academics, the school wasn't known for sports aside from its apparently infamous G-ball team.

"At home, on Copernicus." The night before, at Alex's query, Ric had given him a poetic description of his forested home planet. "Darius taught me."

"Darius, who's that?"

"He's my tutor, my friend… like a second father, really." Ric's eyes shone with something halfway between hero worship and down-to-earth affection. "He came to Ruy years ago to do research work and never left. I think he'd like you, Alex. You're both utterly sensible."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Ric grinned. "It's meant as one. Perhaps living with you will knock some sense into me."

Before Alex could reply to this dubious sentiment, a tone sounded from the door panel. Ric opened it and leapt backwards as a petite brown-haired girl burst into the room, chattering at a speed that put an F-L drive to shame. Ric, looking less than enthused, cut her off mid-stream.

"Reenie," he said, holding up his hands as though to block the onslaught of words, "Slow down. We've got all year to chat, you know."

"I know!" she said, her gray eyes lighting. "Isn't it great? I missed you so much! I looked you up in the directory—I hope you don't mind. How was your summer? You must have so many adventures to tell me about." She plopped down on Ric's bed and grinned up at him, reminding Alex of an eager puppy. Her small, upturned nose and the ponytail bouncing on the back of her head completed the image.

"Do sit down," said Ric. "I—"

"Who's this?" Reenie cut him off, having caught sight of Alex. She jumped up off the bed towards Alex, who resisted the urge to back away. Ric threw him an apologetic glance.

"Alex, this is Caterina… Reenie… and Reenie, this is Alex, my roommate."

Her eyes widened. "Ric has a roommate? That's a first. Did you two already know each other? Look at you, you're almost as big as Ric!"

Ric burst into a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Alex cast about for a neutral topic that wouldn't aggravate Ric's sudden ailment. "So, what are you studying, Reenie?"

"Economics. The same as Ric! That's how we met. What about you? You look like the sensitive type… an art major?"

Alex winced. He knew he didn't hide his feelings well, but he hadn't thought his whole personality was so easy to read. "I was an art history major, but I changed to geology."

Ric abruptly stopped coughing. "I didn't know that, Alex. When did you switch?"

"When I transferred here."

"Because of your da?"

"Something like that," he said, hedging. He didn't want to get into it with Reenie close at hand. It seemed best to give her as little conversation fodder as possible.

"Who's your dad?" she asked. "Someone famous? Did he go here too?"

"He did go here, but he's not famous. At all."

"Oh." She sounded disappointed, but perked up the next second. "What was his name? Maybe my father remembers him."

"His name was Ben Sharma, but…" He glanced helplessly at Ric, who supplied the missing information.

"Her father is Flanders Starkey. The dean I mentioned earlier."

Before Alex could take this in, Reenie started talking again. "You're not from Mars, are you? I just assumed you were because of the way you look, but I bet you're from Earth. Am I right?" She eyed him with more interest than he would have liked, and smiled brightly when he acknowledged she was right. "I knew it! That's one of my talents, guessing things about people. When Ric and I first met, he was amazed at how good I was at it. Remember, Ric?"

"How could I forget?" said Ric from where he leaned against the desk, arms crossed.

Unmindful of the sarcasm, she turned back to Alex. "What part of Earth are you from? I have relatives near Boston."

"Never been there," said Alex, inspiring Ric to turn aborted laughter into a reasonable impression of throat clearing.

"Well, Reenie, I hate to cut this short, but Alex here has a wee touch of gate lag. He's too polite to mention it, but he was just about to have himself a nap."

Alex mustered up a yawn and did his best to give the bed a longing look.

Reenie peered at Alex. "You do look tired. Well, I'm over on thirteen-B if you want to stop by later."

"All right, then." Ric opened the door for her. "I'll be seeing you later, I suppose."

"Great! Don't forget to bring Alex with you."

"Oh, I wouldn't think of leaving him behind." As soon as the door closed behind her, he leaned against it and rubbed a hand over his face. "Good Lord, that girl is exhausting. She could talk the stripe off a skunk."

"She'd be cute if she shut up for a few seconds. She's not bad looking."

Ric's eyes widened in horror. "You'd better hope she never hears you say that. I think she likes you."

"Very funny." The idea was flattering but not exactly appealing.

"It won't be funny months from now when she's still after you. By the way, you're the worst liar I've ever seen. 'Never been there,' indeed. Only Reenie would fall for that."

"Yeah, I'm not too good at making things up. I'm surprised she didn't catch it."

"She's not big on subtleties. I had to stop going places with her because she was ready to declare us a couple."

"So you've dated?"

"No. Aye well, we've been out with other people as a group, but that doesn't count as a date surely."

"It might to her."

Ric shrugged this off, his expression unreadable. "She got the message eventually, it's just that it took two years."

"In two years, I'll be in another star system, hopefully."

"That's right, you planetary geologists travel quite often. There's nothing holding you to Earth, then?"

"Not really. I have relatives in India and Spain, but I barely know most of them. I never had a reason to travel, but now… well, I've never been anywhere. I'm sure you're much better traveled than I am."

"Actually, I've only been to a few planets myself." A conspiratorial grin lit Ric's features. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm no as jaded as I make myself out to be. I've never even been to Earth."

Alex smiled, finding it funny that Ric wanted to visit the one place he'd been. "It's not that exciting, really. A lot like Mars, except not so red. Which planets have you been to?"

"Well, my own and Mars, of course. A few times to Galileo with my father for Assembly, and a few times to Normandy."

"You've been to Normandy?" said Alex with interest. All he knew of Normandy came from the Feed and a few sketchy mentions in history class. The most populated planet in Independent Space, it was notorious for its fierce independence and lax laws that set it apart from the Republic.

"I've been with Darius. It's an experience."

"Are there really that many—"

"Brothels? Aye. At least in Normandy City. Perhaps we'll visit there someday."

"I don't think so." Alex tried to pretend he wasn't embarrassed that Ric had anticipated the question.

"Come now, Earthie. It's no as if the entire planet is overrun by prostitutes and pirates. There are plenty of more sedate neighborhoods for prudes like yourself."

"I'm not a prude."

"Sure you are. But it's all right. I come from a place that places a high value on noble prudery, so you make me feel at home."

Alex let it drop. For now, it seemed easier to let Ric believe what he liked. Besides, for the past six months he'd been playing the self-enforced role of a monk, so Ric's assumption wasn't that far off the mark. Comfortably numb, as Aunt Isha had put it the last time he'd spoken to her. He watched in silence as Ric rearranged the items on his already messy desk. A variety of trinkets, odd bits of paper, gadgets, and vintage holochips littered the galinium surface. Alex swore they'd bred overnight.

"So, what were you planning to do with an art history degree?" Ric asked over his shoulder. He was stacking the tiny holochips as a child would blocks. The technology, long outdated, had recently come back into vogue as a collector's item. Ric, however, treated them more as toys than valuable objects.

"I don't know."

The tower of chips tumbled into an unruly pile. Ric swept them into an open drawer, then turned to Alex with a curious expression. "You don't know? Why did you study it, then?"

"It was interesting."

Ric gave him a level look. "Don't go giving away all your secrets at once, Alex. A bit of mystery adds to a man's character, you know."

"There's nothing secretive about it. It just wasn't my main interest, as it turned out."

"Geology was your real interest, then. Why didn't you do that in the first place?"

Alex was growing uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. "There were reasons that seemed good at the time."

"Aha," said Ric. His reply held a shadow of understanding that Alex hadn't expected.

"What are you doing with an economics degree?" he asked, steering talk away from himself.

Ric shrugged. "I need it to run a country."

"Run a country?"

"Aye. My da's a governor. I'm next in line."

"A hereditary monarchy? Didn't those go out with steam engines?" He wondered if Ric would ever stop surprising him.

"It's an elected position, no a monarchy."

"Then how do you know you're next in line?"

Ric sighed. "Because MacKinnons always win. It's a family trait."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself." Alex couldn't keep the skepticism from his voice, but Ric didn't seem to take offense. In fact, he answered with a patience that bordered on weariness.

"I'd no say it if I weren't sure. Barring disaster or death, I'll be the next governor. After my father retires, of course."

"Doesn't anyone else run for the position?"

"Sometimes. But they always lose."

"But it's possible you won't be elected."

"Anything's possible. I suppose God could have other plans for me." At this he glanced briefly upwards, as though he'd come to a personal understanding with the Almighty. "But it's no likely."

"Okay." Alex was unconvinced and a bit put off, but didn't want to start an argument. Noting the time, he nodded at the door. "I'd better go grab dinner before they close. You want to come along?"

Ric gave him an appraising look. "You think I'm an arrogant bastard, don't you?"

"A little," he said, opting for honesty, and Ric laughed.

"All right, I'm put in my place. I'll go with you, then. We'll most likely bump into people I know, and I can introduce you, help you make some connections."

"Oh, that's okay," said Alex, holding back a grimace. He didn't want to be treated like a project. "You don't need to go to any trouble."

"It's no trouble at all. In fact, I received a notification this morning that if I don't force you to network, Kepler will take away my status as an arrogant bastard. You wouldn't wish that on me, would you?"

"I suppose I wouldn't want that on my conscience," Alex said, laughing despite himself.

"Of course you wouldn't." Ric opened the door and clapped him on the shoulder, grinning. "I think we'll be good friends, Alex. What did I tell you? It's fate we met the way we did."

"You mean when your G-ball almost took my head off."

"God works in mysterious ways," said Ric, and strode out of the room, leaving Alex to wonder how serious he was.