By accident, he stumbled upon planetary files for the primarily Islamic world of Ramah. He hesitated before he remembered why the name sounded familiar. Long ago, his father had fled there, running away from wife and family, never to be heard from again.

Curious to test how much freedom he really had, Raymond pulled up detailed population records for Ramah. On the entire planet he saw no listing for a man named Esteban Aguerra. Ramah’s relatively small population observed a traditional Islamic way of life, and the world was not high on anyone’s list of memorable Hanseatic colonies. When he realized that nearly all of the names were of Arabic extraction, he wondered if his father had changed his name. In that case, Raymond would have no way of finding him.

After further thought, however, he recalled the month and year his father had left home, after Esteban and Rita Aguerra had spent the night arguing and shouting. From there, it was a simple matter to discover which colony recruitment ship had departed for Ramah in that time frame.

Next, he acquired the passenger manifest and the colonist number assigned to Esteban Aguerra, which allowed Raymond to track his father through the number instead of his name. Following him to Ramah, Raymond discovered that Esteban Aguerra had converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Mohammed Ahmani.

Delighted with his cleverness, the young man then went back to the Ramah population records and tracked where his father had lived with moderate success as a metal worker. Raymond frowned when he learned that Abdul Mohammed Ahmani had remarried and fathered two more children.

Much more unsettling, though, was the discovery that his father had died recently. He stared at the record, feeling strange and unsettled, trying to remember the man. Raymond had never much cared for his father, but now he had reached a dead end. Esteban had been killed in a backstreet brawl, apparently by muggers who had never been caught. The case had been closed, drawing little attention whatsoever.

Suddenly Raymond realized that the date of his father’s death was within days of the apartment fire that had claimed the lives of his mother and brothers. The young man sat back heavily, feeling cold prickles of sweat on his back. A coincidence? Perhaps, but an awfully big one.

He remained motionless for several minutes, feeling weak. When he finally returned to the database, he began to address the questions he had dreaded asking all along.