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attempt he’d made should have been simple. Things just kept getting more and more complicated.
    But a colony planet was as good a place as any. A better place, in fact, considering the law was much laxer.
    Risciter had probably gone into town already. If Keirth hurried, maybe he could catch up to him in the woods, do it then. But if not, he’d simply have to find Risciter in town.
    He rushed to cover what was left of his spaceship and started down the path he’d sent Ariana on earlier.
     

 
     
    Chapter Four
    Ariana emerged from the forest sweaty and a little out of breath. She felt like she’d been walking for an eternity, but she had no way of measuring the time, so she wasn’t sure how long it had been. Outside the woods was what Keirth had called a town. To Ariana, it looked like four ugly pre-fab buildings made of concrete. The buildings were styled like the kinds of things she’d seen on documentaries about the colony worlds. Apparently, whenever colonists had gone out to the new planets originally, they’d been given a certain amount of building kits. And so all of the buildings looked alike. Ariana always had found their off-white walls, blank of any windows, very depressing.
    She was happy to be out of the forest however, no matter how pitiful the sight was that greeted her. She scurried away from the treeline and down to what passed as a street between the four buildings. No one was standing outside, and Ariana was momentarily frightened that the town was actually abandoned. Perhaps all the colonists had been killed by a disease or a wild animal or each other. She’d seen a documentary once about a group of people who’d gone out to a colony world. Only one man had gotten away. He’d said that once out there, they’d all gone mad and started killing each other.
    But then she heard the sounds of conversation from inside one of the buildings. Not abandoned then. And if she’d been paying attention, she would have noticed the rows of speeders parked along the outskirts of the buildings. She gazed at the signs on the doors of the buildings. One was a farming store. She supposed it must sell seeds and fertilizers and other things. Another was a trading post. Another was an inn, just as Keirth had said. And, as Keirth had also predicted, there was a tavern. That was the building that Ariana heard conversation coming from. It was also probably the place that would have a public comm. But Ariana held back before entering it. It wasn’t proper for women of her station to go into taverns alone. She’d be in considerable danger. And what would everyone say if they knew she’d...
    They’d say she was brave. This was more trauma thinking. Of course she had to go into the tavern. This was a desperate situation. She couldn’t be bothered with the proprieties of society right now. She had to save herself and get someone here to save Risciter. It was the most important thing.
    Taking a deep breath, Ariana pushed open the door to the tavern. Inside, it was dimly lit and so smoky she could only see a few feet ahead of her. The roar of conversation and laughter was louder here. Inside the door was the corner of a rough-hewn wooden bar top, with a few empty stools in front of it. She could also see a booth in the corner, filled with colonists. They wore the kind of homespun clothing she’d seen on documentaries. She peered through the smoke, trying to find the public comm, which she figured would be up against a wall or something.
    After frantic seconds of seeing nothing but smoke and booths of colonists, she finally spied it and darted to it. The thing was ancient—a screen built into the wall with a keyboard in front of it. The screen was blank and dark. She struck a few keys hoping the screen was just in power-down mode and would spring to life. Nothing happened. She gulped and then hit a few more keys, this time harder. The screen still didn’t respond. Was something wrong with it? Did it need to be turned on?