ck, transparent
tube along one wall provided the heat. Light came down from three very
ordinary fixtures, hung from the ceiling some twelve feet above. This
main chamber, neither large nor small, ran back into a narrow arch, the
shadows of which did not seem to go much farther. There was a table,
long and low, a wooden bench and two chairs. Several large packs,
three strange instrument panels stood against the far wall. Something
dark and small was huddled among them. To her surprise she saw that it
was a child: a small boy, dressed in blue.

"Hello," she said. "What's your name?" He gave no answer, but studied
her with dark, shining eyes.

"I'm afraid you won't get much out of that one. He's still a bit shook
up." The man put down his pack, leaned his weapon against the edge of
the table. "Found him away north this afternoon. His mother told him
just to run and keep running. He did..... You want coffee?"

"Yes, please." He returned from the back a moment later with a
steaming cup, and a plate of some synthesized food. "Thank you." He
pulled a chair and sat down across from her, watching her eat.

"So what's YOUR name?" he said at length, and the kind older man was
submerged.

"Elonna Dorsett."

"You're not all black, are you, Elonna?"

"No. My grandmother was white. Is that important?"

"Not necessarily." A pause. "So how many did you lose?"

She glared at him, then softened. "Only one. My husband."

He got up and paced, then stood squarely before her.

"So tell me this, Elonna Dorsett. What do you plan to do about it?"
She hesitated.

"Anything I can." She had a strange sensation as she said the words: a
sand castle on a beach, broken and swept away by the waves. But maybe
if there was a stone in its center, hard and sharp and black.....

"Well, at least you're no spy." He said it matter-of-factly, as if the
question had been understood between them. "And you've a bit of spunk.
Not much perhaps, but a bit." He winked at her halfheartedly, the
graying father once more. "You must be tired."

"Yes."

He led her to the second chamber, gave her a thin mat against the hard
floor, which he placed a short distance from his own. Then he fetched
the boy out from between consoles, and set him on the mat beside her.
He extinguished all but a soft bluish light, and lay down himself. He
turned away.

"Who are you?" she asked quietly.

"I used to be a minister." Again the sho