Dozens of moons shepherded the giant along in its orbit, and four of the larger ones were visible.The wormhole was six hours away, and the leading sco...ts had transited to the next system, performed a short survey, and returned to report the wormhole was safe for transit. The transports would follow the scouts, then the repair ships, and finally the remaining warships would transit.That was just as well, because the Terran task force had transited the wormhole behind them three days before. They. ”“Pa, please don’t be mad at Ramie.” That was a new voice. Caitlin and Phile were standing in the door. “We know we’re not supposed to lie, and that was wrong of Ramie. But please don’t send the horses away. We gotta help them.”Way to go, Phile! I had a sudden and unexpected burst of love and pride for my younger sibs. Over the past summer, since I begged Pa to let us go get the two Pinto draft horses, the brats had changed into ... well, almost into human beings. At thirteen they were. I sat back waiting for him to say something."He had an alibi for the night she was killed," he said without looking up. "I don't know if it was checked out thoroughly. He didn't give us the usual 'home in bed' routine, so I'll check and see if anyone followed up on his statement."I had another thought. "Was there any DNA evidence on Diane ... you know ... other than her own. Did she have sex that evening?" Yes and no," he answered. "Yes, we did find some DNA from someone other than your wife.. She told the two pilots to resume their places and conveyed the directed sequence to her new husband. Then for a while they were both busy hurrying the Edenites up the ramps and into the landers.It was, she soon realized, going to be a fairly tight fit, something on the order of a crowded public commuter vehicle back on Earth. But the Edenites behaved in a far more orderly fashion than human commuters, readily accepting instructions to "squeeze in" and "tighten up," and in short order they had.