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Back The Skies of Pern
Chapters (64)
  1. Other titles by Anne McCaffreyPublished by Ballantine Books:
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  7. INTRODUCTION
  8. PROLOGUE
  9. At a Gather—6.15.30
  10. Part 1
  11. Turnover at Landing—1.1.31 Present Pass Aivas—Aivas Adjusted Turn 2553
  12. Benden Weyr—1.1.31
  13. Southern Hold—1.1.31
  14. Healer Hall—1.1.31
  15. Back at Landing—1.2.31
  16. Fort Hold—late night—1.1.31
  17. Fort Hold Runner Station—1.2.31
  18. Keroon Printer Hall—1.3.31
  19. Benden Weyr—midday—1.3.31
  20. Monaco Bay Weyr—five days later—1.8.31
  21. Part 2
  22. Ruatha Hold—local time 12:04 in the morning—1.9.31
  23. Telgar Weyr—local time 4:04 in the morning—1.9.31
  24. Benden Weyr—local time 6:04 in the morning—1.9.31
  25. Harper Hall—local time 1:00 in the morning—1.9.31
  26. Landing—local time 10:12 mid-morning—1.9.31
  27. In the Conference Room at Landing—1.9.31
  28. Monaco Weyr—10:22 in the morning—Timing it
  29. In the Conference Room at Landing—local time 1:10–1.9.31
  30. Sunrise Cliff Seahold—timed-back
  31. In the Conference Room—local time 2:12 at Landing—1.9.31
  32. Back at Landing—local time—3:40
  33. Harper Hall—5:00 in the morning, and Southern Hold—2:00 in the morning–1.9.31
  34. Landing—late afternoon—1.9.31
  35. Same time at Keroon Printer Hall—local time 11:15—1.9.31
  36. Later, on an unusually bright evening at Landing, Sunrise Cliff, and Honshu Hold—1.9.31
  37. Part 3
  38. Honshu—1.10.31
  39. Circle Runner Station—1.18.31
  40. Harper Hall
  41. Benden Weyr—
  42. Benini Hold—east Monaco and Honshu—1.20.31
  43. Harper Hall—1.28.31
  44. Honshu Hold—2.1.31
  45. Fort Hold—2.13.31
  46. Printer Hall at Wide Bay—same night
  47. Honshu Hold—2.9.31
  48. Night at Wide Bay—2.9.31
  49. Ruatha Hold—late evening—2.9.31
  50. Core Hold—two days before Council Meeting—2.26.31
  51. Part 4
  52. Honshu Weyrhold—2.26–27.31
  53. Council Meeting at Telgar Hold—3.1.31
  54. Honshu Weyrhold—3.01.31
  55. Interim at Benden and elsewhere
  56. Honshu Weyrhold—time passing slowly
  57. Landing—3.21.31
  58. Honshu Weyrhold—3.21.31
  59. Southern Hold—3.23.31
  60. Honshu Weyrhold—3.27.31
  61. Benden Weyr—3.27.31
  62. Cove Hold—same day, same approximate time
  63. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  64. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Ah, now, there’s a possibility.” He shrugged out of his jacket and would have dropped it on the chair but Lessa pointed sternly at it and then at the hooks where she had hung her fur. He grinned, scooped it up, and hung it with exaggerated care.

“Go on,” she urged him, knowing he was going to tease her before he answered.

He got two glasses from the cabinet and deftly poured wine from one of Morilton’s elegantly carved glass bottles. He handed her a glass, then stepped backward until he was close enough to feel the heat from the radiating unit on his legs.

“That meteorite—the metallic one that everyone in the Smithcrafthall is going on about—smacked a good-sized hole in the prisoners’ quarters and broke one man’s leg. It wasn’t until evening that a count was taken. One was missing. One of those—” F’lar’s lips thinned with remembered anger. “—who were involved in that attack on Aivas. He was deafened. Big man. Should be easy to find. He’s missing the tip of his first finger on his left hand.”

He took a sip of his wine, savoring it. Lessa allowed him that enjoyment.

“But he hasn’t been found yet, has he?” she asked at length.

With a wave of his wineglass, F’lar dismissed the problem. “Telgar, High Reaches, and Fort Weyrs have been alerted. Runners carried the news along their traces and warned the traders.”

Lessa gave a cynical snort. “Some of the traders are not above harboring a holdless man.”

“According to the Mine Master, this man kept himself to himself. Seemed to dislike new things.”

“Made by Aivas, of course,” she said in a caustic tone.

F’lar raised his eyebrows. “By Aivas, of course.”

“Do you think this one man is responsible for all those thefts and vandalism? Too wide a spread.”

“Quite right, but there are enough people with petty grievances against hold and hall who might delight in causing trouble here and there.” He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, relishing the warmth. “I don’t consider that as serious a problem as deciding what more refinements”—he pointed to the heating unit—“we can safely introduce.”

“No one has objected to having better lighting and heat,” Lessa said. “After all, solar panels came with the Ancients. So did hydro-engineering and generators. We just have to speed up the education process to produce the necessary improvements that will reduce drudgery After.”

“I don’t approve of life being made too easy,” F’lar remarked.

“You were never a drudge,” she said caustically, reminding him of her ten Turns spent as one.

“Don’t forget that this Weyr was scarcely luxurious until Thread started falling again.”

“How could I?” She grinned at him, her eyes alight with laughter. “But that doesn’t mean an indiscriminate release of technology. The Crafthalls are the worst offenders there.”