which

he wouldn't do that to Yalena or himself. Or Captain Brisbane.
By the time he reached the spaceport and parked his groundcar, he had a serious case of jitters. He didn't know which was worse: dreading the reunion with his daughter—and the lie he must tell her, about Kafari—or the difficulties he would face during Yalena's adjustment, which would be tough on them both. He stopped at a small gift shop and bought a bouquet of flowers, following the old Russian custom handed down through his family generation after generation. The Khrustinovs who'd left Terra had carried that tradition from one star system to another as they spread out and made homes for themselves on distant, scattered worlds.
He hoped the custom would earn a smile, at least. He wanted to see a smile, even a half smile, on his daughter's face before he told her about her mother's death. He reached Gate Seventeen with scant minutes to spare. He had barely settled into a chair when the shuttle landed, sliding gracefully into the docking bay he could see through the tall glass windows. The engines cut off. Simon rose to his feet, clutching the flowers in one hand, and waited, not quite sure what to expect.
Then he caught sight of her. The teen-aged girl who stepped off the Star of Mali's shuttle was no longer a child. She