“Blaze, with your serried columns!
I will not bend the knee!
The shackles ne’er again shall bind
The arm which now is free.”
—George Washington Patten
Monday dawntine
The communiqué arrived at the moment the Brightstar entered Earth orbit. The Security Council would meet with the Sarran Trade Delegation in secret at ten.
The room was dimly lit. The walls and the bed linens were all various shades of green and gold. An opaque green sheet with a gold satin border laid carelessly half over Mark and half over the bed.
“Why the deception? The Earthen people already know about us.” Dr. Mark Stern, now known as Prince Mark of EarthClan, sprawled in the huge hexagonal bed. Mark’s head lay in his Bonded’s lap. He shifted in the bed, unable to get comfortable. Thoughts of Earth and the life
