People nearby were making a great show of not noticing the passing parade of spangles, feathers, slits, and peekaboos. Plus codpieces, muscle shirts, the hawk hats that made a woman look like a predator.

Some visiting Earther had a dog on a leash that closely resembled a breakfast pastry with yellow hair. The dog was lapping up the Earther’s vomit. Others were laughing at the sight.

Apparently most of the party was having a better time than Rachel was.

Amid the jammed bodies swaying to some ignorable music came a face she knew: Ruby. Not her fave gal, no. But in the press Rachel nodded and listened as the big woman did some light patter, oddly ingratiating, and gave a too-long hello hug. Loud music in the new Raw-Ruckus style floated on the air. A brassy crowd was drinking gawdawful peach schnapps. Cat was eyeing a huge guy with a powerful bad-boy jaw. Ruby went on, giving her usual huggy grasping come-on. Plus a tweak-sting of the new kind, giving a lifto burst that dissipated in quicky, joyful seconds. And a cheek smack-kiss.

Ruby wrapped an arm around her neck and her ring irked a spot there. Rachel thought, Ugh, and then Ruby whispered, “Honey… horny?”

More ugh… “No!” Her neck itched. She pushed Ruby away. Walked off… feeling a bit woozy… loud braying music…

Then she felt a lilt in her mood when she saw Kane coming toward them. He had his horny-swagger on, plus eyes trained on her—always a good sign.

Welcome rescue! Her psyche broke out the champagne, promising a far better mood for the rest of the evening. She brushed off Ruby with a smile and whispered to Kane, “Thanks!” They exchanged looks, and she said, “Make mine chocolate. And while you’re at it, splash on the über-rum and light it on fire.”

Later on, the lights-out included a dash of honesty with Kane. She kept him hopeful without committing to anything. That was easier with alcohol and sniffers, too, toward the end.

If there was an end, beyond waking up next to him as the alarm went off. The world is too much with us… she thought. She partied to ignore that brute fact, but it came rushing back in morning light. Ythri were coming…

She sighed, snuggled, then struggled forth. All seemed lush, vibrant, livid… ah!

Sunny, sunrise seconds shimmered, then snapped away—leaving a lagging fatigue. She sat up. Noise jangled in her mind, stuttered recollections, like smashed pottery. Moments snapped into focus, then drained away.

Which was how she knew her mind had been somehow tampered with.

PART 6 SHADOWS OF ETERNITY

When on some gilded cloud or flower

My gazing soul would dwell an houre,

And in those weaker glories spy

Some shadows of eternity.

—HENRY VAUGHAN, “THE RETREATE,” 1650

1.

Falling in. Fast.

She felt somehow the gossamer sailcraft’s long nose-dive into the red star’s grav potential. The rippling whole-body sensation came as if her own body were there, plunging arrow-quick, dozens of light-years away.