" What is it?" Shawna asked, intent on the screen."Marcus just sent Bri a text, 'NV — Debenhams'."Shawna's face dropped, and she ran for the bedroom... abandoning the game."HOPE!" she called to the kitchen, not slowing for the reply."What?" Hope appeared, butter-knife still in one hand, watching the fleeing figure depart."No idea," Elspeth said. "Marcus sends Bri some weird text, and she's off like a rocket." Marcus sent you a text?" Hope put the knife down, frowning. "He doesn't normally use his. I'm sure I can get it back. I just have to concentrate." But I thought it was taken away from you."Melissa just stared."Last night ... that's what you said. It was hard to understand you since you were crying so much, but..." I'm sure I can get it back," Melissa said. The casual tone of her voice was unnerving."Melissa..." I just have to concentrate. I almost had it. I'm sure I did."Kathy looked stricken.Melissa turned her eyes back to her glass of water. "Let me concentrate now. I'm sure I can. Gus replied to Percy"You are going to have to deal with Chencon and the Midams. The Chencons are feeling population pressure and their agents are very active in Paracelcus — their problem is that the central Chencon government wants to retain control of any colony it settles and that won't run even in as limited a space as this corner of the galaxy. The Midams have delusions of their pre Columbus glory and want to do to other planets what Cortes and his thugs did to them, getting rich in the. “I was sure the Sa’arm would turn up in numbers.”“I’m sure they are here,” I said as I watched Admiral Redmill’s trio of corvettes dart through the asteroid field. “And that worries me. Our sensors can’t see past the asteroid field with any accuracy. If they are on the outside of that field, they can trap us.”“They can even if they aren’t,” Captain Prescott said. “Or at least they can trap Zulu. That ship is slow on the helm and doesn’t have any defenses worth noting.”“If we abandon our mission.