The Salesman

Six of the seven planets in the Khazar system were uninhabitable. Two were too hot to sustain human life, three were too cold, and of the two within tolerable temperature ranges, one had an atmosphere too toxic to inhale.

The seventh was called Milorad, a temperate planet that was pocked with small, densely vegetated islands. The images the First Landing robots had sent back to the Waystation had sent tremors of excitement through the populations in the home system, had distracted them from their fears of the Khazar system, of the lawless pilots, of their skimmers. The promise of a colonizable world, of something new, had been enough.

It was on Milorad that Danilo hoped Seira’s skimmer had crashed.

As soon as the dispatchers relayed the news that the Marek had reported extreme distress and had severed contact while in the Milorad orbital, Danilo’s heart fell. He had warned her it was too dangerous right now; there was too much debris, the electric disturbance was too strong, too likely to disrupt the navigation systems. She hadn’t listened; her pride was too great—it always had been.

“She should have been all right,” Danilo muttered, his voice echoing softly through the empty locker room. He shrugged into his pilot’s jacket and his fingers lingered briefly on the Federation’s insignia with its embroidered condor. He glanced around quickly, but there was no one; at the news of distress, all off-duty pilots had rushed to the mess hall to listen anxiously to updates.

• As soon as the dispatchers relayed the news that the Marek
• had reported extreme distress and had severed contact
• He glanced around quickly, but there was no one; at the news of distress
• they could not afford to expend manpower in rescue operations.
• all off-duty pilots had rushed to the mess hall to

In deep space, as the Khazar system was classified, rescues were not attempted. They were too dangerous, and pilots too valuable. The Federation was a single tiny colony isolated from the home system; they could not afford to expend manpower in rescue operations.