Outside the viewscreen, the shuttle-bay doors opened on the black of space dotted with a sprinkling of stars. It had been far too long since I had the opportunity to fly the personal royal spacecraft. Not since— My shoulders tightened, my lips pulling back from my teeth. Not since before the humans had released their virus. I had flown down to the surface of Sagittarian One to oversee the construction of the first few buildings of our new city, Jelva. I had named it in honor of my mother, who had been queen before me. The day had been fair, with the planet’s typical storms raging across
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