Sweet Starfire by Jayne Ann Krentz Read Free Book Online

had been deprived of much of the technology that should have been their heritage. The need to dig in and establish a foothold on a new planet without the aid of the machines that would have made the task relatively simple had bred a rugged sense of independence in the colonists. That sense of independence had even permeated the Harmonic contingent of the culture, where it was quietly accepted that each individual had both the privilege and the responsibility of achieving success on his own.
    Technology had developed erratically from the bits and pieces of information left in the heavily damaged data banks after the crash of the colony ship. Regaining spaceflight had been of paramount importance because the human population was intent on establishing itself throughout the Stanza Nine system. After finding the remains of the Ghosts it had become even more important to determine if humans were going to have to share Stanza Nine with anyone or anything else. It had taken a hundred and fifty Lovelady years to get back into space, and the secret of the faster-than-light speeds that had brought the colonists to Lovelady had still not been found.
    The majority of the population, the Wolves, respected the levels to which the Harmonics raised human virtues because the seed of those virtues lay in all humans. When a Wolf viewed a Harmonic, he saw the best of himself; he saw the most valuable essence of his own nature developed and channeled.
    Intelligence, integrity, honesty, serenity, and an appreciation for every element of the universe were traits to be protected and respected. Every human knew this. Not every human reacted in a positive manner to the knowledge, but none could avoid it.

    Cidra drew the first deep breath she'd allowed herself since the man called Scates had lied his way into her hotel room. She was tired, but the adrenaline was still flowing through her system. Through the cabin window she could see the white disc of Lovelady's single moon, Gigolo. That small, dead world was also shining on Lovelady's southern town of Cle-mentia. Her home was a serene, protected landscape of beauty and order. There lay everything she understood and loved. For a moment her heart yearned for another glimpse of the delicate fountains and the formal gardens that lined the white stone paths. But she had never been truly a citizen of Clementia. The magic of it had been denied her, even though she had been raised in its midst and taught its ways. Her own shortcomings had been pointed out quite graphically this evening.
    Severance finished one last procedure at the command console and then swung around in his seat to face her.
    "You look exhausted. Maybe you'd better grab a nap before we reach Lovelorn."
    "I couldn't possibly sleep."
    "Still seeing Scates coming at you?" he asked gruffly. "Don't worry. You're safe now."
    "It's not that." She glanced out into the darkness and then back at Severance. "Do you realize that tonight was the first time in my life I've done violence to another human being?"
    "You've led a sheltered life."
    "It's not funny, Severance."
    He sighed. "I know. But it's not the end of the universe, either."
    "Perhaps not, but it worries me."
    "Listen, Cidra, you want to worry? Worry about what would have happened if you hadn't had all that fancy Moonlight and Mirrors training. Now that's something to fret about."
    "You don't understand," she snapped. "I sTiould be begging for a shot of oblivo. I should be flat out on the floor, half catatonic."
    "And instead you're just sitting there shaking like a leaf?" "Don't laugh at me, Teague Severance." She was near tears now, and the knowledge infuriated her. Quickly she used her years of training to regain her self-control. "I want to be one of them. All my life I have been trained in the ways of the Serene path.
    Surely I have some Harmonic sensitivity in me. I was born to Harmonics. Yet tonight I used the ways of a beautiful dance to hurt someone else."
    "Who was trying to hurt