Jordan by Susan Kearney Page A

skepticism. He had no idea if she believed him. But he suspected any ground
     he’d gained by telling her his history had just been lost. He realized he’d made another mistake. “I’m sorry. I should have
     explained before I left you on the bridge.”
    “You should have.”
    “I’ll do better next time,” he promised.
    But he wasn’t going to tell her that when the Staff lost power, or when it was out of his possession, he didn’t have the energy
     to maintain his human form, couldn’t protect her, couldn’t fight the Tribes.
    Until he’d been tricked out of his Staff, he’d never once let it out of his sight. That error had cost him centuries. Centuries
     the Tribes had used to increase their domination over the galaxy. He had to remain human. Had to stop them. Had to make her
     understand they were on the same side.
    But he didn’t have a clue how to do that. Sensing she didn’t want his touch, he fell back on normal conversation. “We should
     be orbiting the dark world within the hour. If you’re up to it, I’d like your opinion on where we should set down.”
    “I gave Lyle busywork to keep him out of my hair.” She cocked her head and pursed her lips. “Is that what you’re now doing
     with me?”
    “Hey.” He took her hand, pleased when she didn’t withdraw. “You saved the
Draco.
We all owe our lives to your quick thinking.”
    “You mean my plea for mercy?”
    He grinned. “I would never have thought of that tactic, and it worked. You were brilliant.”
    He recalled her picking the lock to feed the hungry kids. She’d always been resourceful.
    “And you were brave to offer your own life to save everyone.”
    Although he was sincere, she wasn’t buying it.
    “We were dying anyway. I had nothing to lose.”
    Standing, he strode to the door. “I’m glad you’re better.”
    He shut the door behind him, shocked to find his hand shaking. Apparently all that warming her up had made him cold.
    He clenched his hands into fists a few times and the tremble receded before he reached the bridge. As always, he would do
     what must be done, but sometimes he wished he didn’t have to put the mission first.
    Sean and Tennison looked relieved to see Jordan walk onto the bridge. Sean was at command, Tennison at the science station.
     Neither man had suffered from hyperthermia, thanks to the protection of the spacesuits. And while Jordan had nursed Vivianne,
     they’d pitched in, repairing frozen transistors.
    “Status report,” Jordan requested.
    “Gravity and life support are stable,” Tennison reported. “Darren and Knox are preparing lunch.”
    “Good.” Jordan swung around to Sean. “What’s up with the dark planet?”
    Taking up a third of the viewscreen, the Shadow planet didn’t look promising. The land was blackened as if singed by fire,
     and the brown sea looked mudlike.
    “The good news is that Shadow appears to be uninhabited,” Tennison said. “And the bad news is that the planet appears to be
     uninhabited. No sign of plant or animal life.”
    “Do we even want to land?” Sean asked.
    “How’s the air down there?” Jordan stared at the polar cap of white ice.
    “Breathable. No poisonous trace elements.”
    “Then we land.” Jordan hated to waste fuel, time, and energy. But they might find algae in the mud, protein in the ice. And
     they’d come too far not to go down and see if they could find food.
    Vivianne, with George on her heels, stepped onto the bridge. “Have we scanned to see what else is nearby?”
    Jordan nodded. “We either find food down there or we jump blindly into hyperspace and pray we come out near an Earthlike planet.”
    She peered at the data stream on the science monitor. “Have we figured out where we are?”
    “Darren’s been working on it,” Tennison said.
    “How?” Vivianne asked.
    “He’s assuming we’re in the Milky Way Galaxy, and by calculating the rate the stars are moving, their speed should give us
     our approximate