CHAPTER 8Darkside was the face of the moon that never saw the Earth. A torn and devastated landscape formed of craters and rifts and soaring peaks as jagged as broken glass. During the day it suffered the burning heat of the sun; at night it stared at the remote brilliance of distant stars. There was an observatory, scientific establishments, a missile testing ground and, well isolated at the base of a mountain, the training area where Varl had his volunteers.
Edallia came to meet him as they passed through the airlocks and into the sealed caverns gouged into the rock. She was drawn, a bruise on one cheek, her hair lacking its normal, golden sheen. In her office she made her report.
“Two murders. A dozen beatings. Three reported rapes.”
“Reported?”
“There have been more. All the victim
