“By Any Other Name” – Chapter 4

The events of this story take place in the Starstuff Universe some years before (or after?) those of the Starstuff Trilogy.

The crowd was silent. I was standing with my mouth open.

Balta, the legend of PMC-117 was a woman. An old one at that. And crazy.

Only now did I stop and take her in completely. Her hair was gray, rather wild, like her steely eyes. Her face was a map of rivers, valleys and canyons, the deepest of which were over her nose and forehead. They gave her a perpe...