It seemed dawn when Martin awoke, that moment when the sun breaks over the whole of the Rift valley and every bit of dew is instantly evaporated. He blinked his eyes clear of sleep and felt the dry warmth of the bed and room, the so slight movement of mosquito netting over him. The bed, he turned in, a sturdy cot of wood and twine and decorative inlay of ivory on the headboard, it had to be antique. And the sheets felt so like the Egyptian cotton ones he recalled from home.

But he couldn't be home, and yet this warm quiet place where birds called from without, and monkeys: it was at once just like home and like familiar longed for childhood memories of Safaris in the National Park. Wasn't he supposed to be on Mars?

Martin pulled himself up, was clearly aware of his nakedness beneath the sheet. The room, walls of some sort of plaster and cream-colored paint finish, small collection of art, all too familiar: water color sketches of trees at noon and dusky lionesses, woven cloth with elephant figures marching across it. There was beside the low bed a chair with back made of two long antelope horns and carved bone on which some clothing was laid out. Across the room a bureau contrived of rough boards and punched metal screens stood and on it a earthenware plate and pitcher.

? ? ?

Where Etan woke it was cool and dark, soft touch of thick feather-filled bedding and distinctive smell of a lit fire. Sitting up quickly, Etan found himself in a large sleigh bed piled high with soft black bed sheets and intricate quilt of red, gold and black patches. They were Goth colors, the colors of his nation's flag, of wedding attire among his people. And there was clothing here.

Etan looked about the room cautiously had a sense of wellness about him as he quickly dressed. The garments were a perfect fit, lean black leather pants, large white dress shirt that seemed like the bed clothes to be made of fabric woven from hemp fiber, fitted wool vest and thick socks and tall lace-up vinyl boots.

So quiet. The walls all stone but hung with intricate tapestries of eagles and unicorns and maidens in white. Here and there across the floor lay rugs of fur or woven fabric. There was a low stool beside the fireplace on which some fried eggs and sausage sat upon a piece of toasted homemade bread. Just as Etan wondered if there was anything to drink he heard the whistle of the kettle on the crane as the fire heated the water inside to the boiling point.

Etan was hungry, did not have any sense of imminent danger, but he was afraid. Etan knew he should be on Mars, and this room, it seemed so much like home. It did not seem like Mars. "Don't be afraid, Etan," said a voice that sent a shiver down Etan's spine it was so exactly something remembered from childhood.

"Daniel?" Etan asked. As soon as the name was spoken the boy became visible to Etan, quite a young man dressed in dusty old velvet clothing such as persons in antique paintings, sleek auburn hair, pale skin, bright violet eyes. "It is you!" Etan said, excitedly, the memories of happiness and safety with this childhood friend obscuring all fear and suspicion.

"Of course, Silly," Daniel giggled. He was not a real boy, something more like a ghost. Etan remembered him as a person he had spoken to quite naturally as a child but then outgrown. Etan's mother had seen Daniel, or at least pretended to for Etan's sake.

"But I must be going mad, oxygen deprivation, death...a hallucination, perhaps heaven?" Etan said to himself, eyed the plate of food again.

"Eat your breakfast," Daniel said always straightforward and very casual just as Etan remembered him. Etan took the plate and carried it to the far window with him. He peered through the diamond-shaped panes of glass. Snow!

Etan felt himself looking down from a mountainside onto snowy slopes dotted with evergreen trees. There was a small cabin within his view, among some trees. It appeared such that it might be almost a kilometer away. And that was all, hardly a red rock to be seen but for those that peeked out from under slopes where sheets of snow must have recently fallen, and such picturesque trees that the landscape seemed a photo-realistic painting rather than a real landscape.

Then the hot shiver down his spine, these electric feelings always accompanied the inexplicable appearance of knowledge in his mind. Some of those trees and snow had been painted.

? ? ?

Martin was finished with his meal of hot cereal and juice. He walked about the single room he seemed to be confined to, went to the window again. A large outcropping of red rock rose up from a grassy plain dotted with shade trees and single water hole. There were elephants there, zebra, horned animals, and large cats. More distantly martin spied what he thought dwellings, adobe style homes cut into the slightly concave cliff-face and others built beside them on tall framework of wood, covered in mud, roofed with dried grass.

He saw humanoid figures walking along the high narrow bridges and paths and climbing the ladders from one level to another. "Hello!" he called. It seemed a few of them paused and turned to face him. "Can anyone tell me what has happened? There was another man with me, has anyone seen him?"

The door opened behind him, Martin heard its faint squeak. There was a woman there, dark skinned, hair in braids, very human it seemed to him, loose thin dress purple in color. "Where am I?"

"You are still on Mars," she spoke...she spoke Swahili to him. "My name is Mara," she said switching to English, "I've come to ask if you feel you require medical attention?"

"I don't understand?" Martin said. He tried to look into the area past the door. It seemed there was a narrow passage there with similar decorations; a brown skinned woman in green wrap-around garment.

"This is Io's house," Mara said, "I am a doctor."

"I would feel better if you would tell me what has happened!"

Mara walked closer, looked Martin over. He looked well; it was the surroundings, not brain damage that caused him to act out. "What were you doing here?" she asked.

"We-who are you really?"

"Please relax, Martin," Mara said, "My name is Mara and I am human just like you. Your friend Etan is being seen to also. You were both found in the Hellas passage. Iolanthe brought you in after overcoming the initial shock of seeing you. If you are feeling well I will leave you with Io. She will see to your needs until we can arrange to send you on your way. Our technicians need some time to acquaint themselves with your machines so they might repair them."

"Thank you, but that is sophisticated equipment, you should allow me to see my crewmate and we will make repairs."

"We are hospitable people, but not fools. Our technicians will become familiar with your machines, we will arrange for your return to your own people. I will leave you now. You may ask Io your questions, but do ask nicely, your accent will be strange to her." At this Mara turned and left the room.

Io and Mara stood in the hallway, Martin watching and listening. "He is no risk, give him what he wants if his request is reasonable. You may show him around the den," Mara said but to Martin it was all gibberish, spoken in a very fast abbreviated manner farther removed from English than American was."

Mara was gone and Io approached martin cautiously. "Dija enjya food?"

"The food? Yes, I did enjoy it."

Io smiled. "D'ya tink B Den isla ke Tanzania?" she asked quickly.

"Beeden? Is that what this place is called?" Martin asked with gesture to their surroundings.

"B Den, we have many dens," Io said slowly and traced the letter in the air: B. Martin did not understand how she would know he had not understood B was a letter preceding the word den just from hearing him say the phrase.

"How many Dens?" Martin asked.

"Six," Io said with accompanying shape drawn in the air.

Martin recalled the aerial photographs they had studied. "There is a pyramid above?" Martin asked.

Io sighed remembering the task it had been to cover the glass of all six pyramids before the satellite would pass over and catch them. And it had not worked well enough. "Yes, pyramids," she said finally.

? ? ?

There was a knock at the door to Etan's room. "Who is it?" he asked Daniel, the ghostly figure that appeared to be sitting on the bed. The boy smiled.

"Blath comes."

"Come in, Blath," Etan called out. Slowly the door opened and a face peered around the edge of the door. She seemed an adult woman, light skinned without being so pale as Etan, long red hair in waves about her shoulders but for a single braided blonde lovelock at her left temple.

"I see you are dressed and have eaten," she said in familiar tongue, somewhat Germanic, but mostly American, as much of Etan's family were. She stepped into the room, let the door of vertical planks fall closed behind her. "The clothes of my mate fit you well," she said, something like humor in her voice.

Blath's own clothing consisted of dress of heavy cloth cinched just below the breast and slim leggings and boots visible just below the low hemline, indigo blue. "Are you well?" she asked.

Etan looked to Daniel.

"Tell him he can trust me, Daniel," Blath said. It shocked Etan, quite obviously that she saw the boy, more that she called him by name. "Oh, most of us know Daniel," Blath said, "Strange that you seem to think him nothing more than a child's imaginary companion."

"You are a witch," Etan said flatly as he turned to this woman. He was familiar with witches; quite a few of his family were witches on his mother's side.

"Not feeling any ill effects then?" Blath asked, curious look directly into Etan's eyes. "No? Questions are all you have on your mind."

"Quite a few," Etan said and did his best to hold his ground. He wished at that moment he'd allowed his mother to teach him more, but Etan had taken after his father, had been bored by stories of magic and bloodlines. He'd often chosen to spend a night drinking with Aunt Eva than to sit at home with his mother. "Tell me what you know about Daniel."

"You do not wish to ask me where you are or what has become of your friend?"

"I figured that out," Etan said quickly, "We are within a Martian settlement, precisely in a large shaft with artificial mountain slopes and machine made snow, oh, and painted tress to make the real ones seem less sparse. I am certain Martin is well, in some room chosen to remind him of those places he has felt most comfortable and safe."

Blath smiled. "You are a witch also, Etan...my younger half-brother is named Etan and is also a witch."

"You're Jewels, All of you!" Etan gasped as he realized this.

"All except for two," Blath said. For a moment both were silent. Etan and Blath both wondered what should be said next, felt Daniel's departure as one does a cold wind. "I think," began Blath, "that I should consult others...my father will know what to say better than I."

"You will let us go back?" Etan asked.

"Oh, to your crewmates in Eden?" Blath asked in innocent tone, "Of course, just as soon as we are sure your equipment has been repaired. Please wait here, I will fetch my father." She left quickly, not allowing protest.

Etan was alone for several minutes, looked out the window again. He noticed that where some painted trees had stood there was now a circular opening that revealed a passage. He could see some figures moving out from it. He watched as they hurried over the steep snowy road toward the building he was in.

Another couple minutes passed. Etan could not see Daniel or any of the strange locals about. Then as he was about to try the door himself he sensed he was being watched. Someone giggled. Several voices spoke without the doorway in rushed quiet manner. Etan had the feeling that children were spying in at him through keyhole or flaw in the boards the door was made of.

"Who is there?" Etan called.

The door swung open just slightly. A girl was pushed into the room by others' hands. "Gutentag," she giggled.

"Hello," Etan said. She seemed girlish, but did not look like a child. But perhaps like Part-Angels could be this girl had grown fast in few years. Outside there were whispers.

"How old are you?" the girl asked. She was very tall, taller than Etan by some small amount. She seemed dressed for warmer climate, barely dressed beneath the open coat she wore.

"I'm 28," Etan said."

"In Earthling years?" she asked, attempting arithmetic in her head. "I suppose we're almost as old as that."

"Your friends there?" Etan asked, moving towards the door.

She darted toward the door, put her body between it and Etan. "My name is Caith," she said, "Do you really live on the surface there?"

"Yes," Etan said plainly. The girl had been born here. He wondered how many there were on Mars, these people that Caith and Blath belonged to.

"My father says three-quarters of your world is covered in water. It must be very easy to grow things. It is winter here now and very dry, we have to truck ice in from Cydonia...you broke our tunnel."

"So you do have people in Cydonia," Etan said.

"I have to go," Caith said quickly. "Maybe my father will let you come visit B Den. I saw your friend there-" The girl spun around and fled out the door. It was only seconds later that it opened again. There was a man there this time, very much Gotik in appearance.

"Hello, Etan," he said, "You can call me Astoric."

"Do you all have Gotik names?" Etan asked.

"Later," said Astoric and something about him made Etan uneasy. "We really do wish you no harm. Is it true none of your crew knew that we were here?"

Etan hesitated to answer, unsure he should give out this information. "I did not know," Etan said.

"No one on Earth speaks of anyone being sent to Mars?"

"No."

"Teena Marie is your mother isn't she?" Astoric asked.

"You knew my mother?"

"Yes...did you live in the castle?"

The castle? Etan thought Astoric must be referring to the castle in Frankfurt where each Leader of Goth kept residence. "No, but I have been there."

"Rozz is not still leader is he?"

"Marie Ste. Etienne, Rozz was Leader previous to her, My Aunt Eva is his daughter."

"Claudia? Did you know Claudia? She was Rozz's younger sister," Astoric asked passionately, betraying some concern for this woman.

"Not intimately, she lives in Paris," Etan replied slowly.

"Then she has not died yet?"

"No, she still lives there."

"She was married?"

"Several times I think," Etan said, "She is very much involved in the art scene there and in sponsoring young writers."

Astoric sighed. It was quite obvious he had known Claudia, a woman known to be quite eccentric, willful and beautiful even in Etan's lifetime. "Etan, I tell you this only because your blood is so close to ours: Five of us here lived on Earth and our coming here was something alike to banishment. Sixty years we have been here and all the others we loved we had to leave behind, and now I am afraid that many of them were not told the truth about our departure."

"I do not understand," Etan said.

Astoric shook his head. "It is quite obvious to me at this moment that though you are related to many of my family here you have not been told of our very existence, I have to wonder what this means. Did those who sent us here tell others we were dead? Or was there another story? Yet, it seems to me that some people who still hold power there must remember us, for I hardly think it is coincidence that the crew of your ship is known to us as well as it is."

"Brittany is a Jewel also."

"Yes, and a Jinnah, I knew both her parents vaguely, though some here knew them well. And is it true Rachael is with you?"

"Do you know her?" Etan asked.

Astoric shook his head, "I do not recall ever meeting her, but I am told she knows my father very well."

"You are not the oldest one?" Etan asked.

"My father and Mara are the oldest ones," Astoric said.

? ? ?

The first of the Martian constructions at the base was complete and furnished, housing large kitchen and pantry, a public room with fireplace, and above a small hidden sleeping loft. They had decided among the three of them that remained that this would be Brittany's. It was the name of the coffeehouse as well of its proprietor. She served her two crewmates re-hydrated coffee as they sat at one of the glass mosaic topped concrete pedestal tables.

They should have begun construction on the next building, there were long lists of tasks and they had less than a year to complete them all. Right now they could not be sure the other half of their team would return. Etan and Martin had missed their check-in almost fifteen hours ago and had responded to any attempts to contact them. The transponder in the trailer had gone from weak to dead signal.

Brittany, Rachael and Kei had spent their time inside the new building furnishing it. Now it had primitive yet functional furniture and appliances. Kei and Rachael had worked on the decorative front door. Robots had manufactured paints and colored glass from elements available to them. Brittany had painted. She and Kei had created the mosaics that decorated tables and sections of the floor. He had created some painted wall hangings using nylon and plant dyes from the garden. Brittany and Rachael had then furnished the loft with what warm soft materials they could find. To the task Rachael had given a number of tanned Rabbit hides.

"Tomorrow we start on the next building," Rachael said, "It's important we keep working, so make sure to get some sleep and dress any pressure bruises or frostnip with care." She pressed the palms of her hands to the hot coffee-filled mug. She would not drink it, but it warmed her hands. She knew Brittany was upset by the military tone of her voice.

Brittany was strong but she was not trained to be a soldier, did not take well to the abrupt unemotional manner in which one had to think when survival or the mission became higher priority than any one person's well being. "I better get back to the com station and report," Brittany said, "they should know what is going on."

"You can wait," Rachael said. She found Brittany gazing at her in most peculiar manner.

"You want me to keep them uninformed?" Brittany asked quietly.

Kei looked at Rachael, then at Brittany. "Our immediate superiors have our trust, but we both suspect there has been some manipulation of the chain of command. Until we know who's behind this, it is better not to tell them too much. Let them think everything is as we expected a while longer. We don't know who may be intercepting our transmissions."

They were silent a moment, Kei sipped at his mug.

"Brittany, I do not mean to pressure you, but your family is known for having many witches, psychics, can you sense anything?"

Brittany shook her head. She listened to be sure. "No, I am a Jewel, but I have not discovered any great talent within myself. My father did not seem to use his gifts much, except in his work...he and my grandmother were psychometrists."

"Those who can sense things psychically by touch?" Kei asked.

"Yes, I sometimes get impressions of people this way," Brittany said, "It is not much use in my work."

"Brittany, we do not have any archaeologists here, but we do have a fine astronomer who may have some psychometric talent within her. I think you should try examining the body we found. My medical training has found all it can and my telepathy doesn't seem to be doing much good, the planet is too sparsely populated to provide relays, Etan is beyond my reach."

Brittany folded her arms across her chest and thought on what Rachael had said. Back on Earth the Jewel family had been so well known for its wealth and its number of witches that to be one of the family was to always be suspect: to be hated, envied, or desired and never to be sure if it wasn't just because of your name, even if you were a mind reader. But here, it was different, Etan, distant cousin and friend, a member of their crew, could not be reached by radio or by telepathy alone. But if Brittany could touch that corpse and know it, she might deduce where Etan was.

"You are right to suggest it, Rachael," Brittany said. "I feel I should try to rest, maybe just a few hours, to meditate at least, then I will try. I won't report anything new to NS1 unless we all agree on it."

"You will have my support," Kei said, "I do not have gifts such as yours, but I am glad you have them and will help us all by using them."

"Would you like some more coffee?"

Kei smiled while Rachael broke a wide grin. "I'm glad for your coffee also," Kei said, "That's what we should send in our report. We haven't found any signs of life, the cold, air pressure, atmosphere and radiation are horrible but there's a nice coffee house if you'd like to come visit."

? ? ?

Astoric climbed the snowy road that spiraled upward and imperceptibly outward along the interior walls of the den to the high road. Once he reached this he swung his leg over the bar of his bicycle and kicked off toward B Den. The door, sensing the proximity of a bicycle opened and Astoric pedaled into the tunnel between dens. Again a door opened for him and a rush of hot dry air met him, made Astoric instantly uncomfortable in his leather pants and sweater.

His young twin daughters Caith and Eleria lived in one of the houses that stood below on stilts along with two of their cousins. Astoric's granddaughter Maudlin's daughters all lived in another house and Io and Kien, children of two of those daughters of Maudlin had mated and lived together in another house. The family was inbred, not entirely by choice but by refusal to give up on continuing their species.

Astoric continued on the high road, passing the turn off that would take him down the spiraling road to the contrived savanna below. Astoric wanted C Den. He soon came to the door, passed through another passage and then as the next door opened entered C Den and it's cool, damp ocean air.

This was Astoric's home, a sea approximately a kilometer in diameter and two kilometers deep and the small villa that stood on the sliver of beach constructed from gray volcanic sand and red concrete forms. The gauzy curtains that hung from the trellises on the rooftop patio, under the thick tinted glass of the pyramid that shielded C Den from the Martian surface environment wavered in the artificial breeze. A silhouette was projected on the drapes as light from the glass wall beyond passed through it, but not through Sadian.

Astoric pulled of the high road onto the beach. Above, on the rooftop of one section of their home Sadian came from behind the curtains. Her expression was stern in such a way that Astoric had not seen in quite some time. There was a part of his sister and lifemate that was demanding, calculating, and stern yet there was also the Sadian who had fallen deeply in love with Astoric and could feel jealousy.

She was still out on the patio when Astoric came from the topmost room that was their bedroom. Their home was a smaller version of a villa in Karachi they had loved while on Earth, but their villa had no pool built onto the roof, just this patio with bamboo trellises which vines grew over and its handmade drapes that kept out the sunlight.

"You spoke to a Jewel that come to us recently from Earth and you asked him about Claudia?"

"Obviously," Astoric said. He did not wish to hurt Sadian, he loved her, but he found that it was often best to keep to amusing one-liners. She got to say her piece but Astoric did not have to acknowledge what he knew his telepathic sister would know. Everything Astoric would say or do Sadian would eventually know, and so he never did anything that he would ever have need to hide from her. So, he had asked about Claudia, Sadian had expected this. But it was Sadian he was with, by choice.

She scanned him now, gazing at him for effect as Astoric took a seat at their patio table. One of the housecats leapt into his lap. "Blath and Mara have scanned our two visitors."

"Apparently without their knowing," Astoric added.

"Father is almost finished with supervising repairs of their gear."

"Is he?" Astoric asked.

"I said so."

Astoric smiled. Sometimes language was a waste. Sadian had been communicating with both her parents before her birth, their father being the first of a kind, a mutant. Mara, Sadian's mother was of course a witch. Astoric's superhuman abilities came to him from their father only, his mother had been human and mortal. Sadian had become accustomed to repeating what she heard without ears to Astoric, too often assuming he had not heard because his abilities were less than hers. So, they spoke.

"He's Teena's son, his father is that swimmer she and Eva used to fight over. But he doesn't seem to know his own talent. I expected he would. He's one eighth angel on top of witch."

Sadian was silent, in communication, no doubt reaching for Blath and for Mara. Astoric already knew what Blath knew on the subject. "He sees Daniel," Astoric said.

"Is he pretty?" Sadian asked.

"Yes," Astoric said, "Simply GAF as father would say. I noticed it seemed he had some lovelocks but he is growing them out of late."

Sadian brushed a braid over her shoulder, deliberate gesture meant to look unconscious though Astoric would just know it wasn't. He appreciated the effort anyway. "Xmanda asked me to give her Dewin's child, he has no interest in doing it himself...but since we've learned of these Earthlings come to our planet I question my plans."

"You cannot have any more children," Astoric said, tried to sound as compassionate as he could.

Sadian frowned. "You see what I mean, though."

"Of course," Astoric said, "This reaffirms my belief that all Jewels are inexplicably attracted to other Jewels."

Astoric could tease because he was not himself a Jewel. Sadian knew of his theory, might even support it. Even on Earth there had been several cousins who married. "It is instinct, a witch longs to mate with another witch, it is the same reason I pursued you, Brother, it's the best way to ensure the desired genes are carried on. The fact that they send us two distantly related members of the family of opposite gender cannot be coincidence."

"Thierry?" Astoric asked. Sadian's uncle had in some way been responsible for their births and had actually fathered Sadian's half-siblings Jesu and Yera.

"Perhaps." A pause. "These lovelocks?"

"Spent a year in a trailer with a boyfriend and girlfriend."

Sadian smiled. "Befriend him, Astoric."

"It won't be a problem, I'm dying for a chance to be charming to someone new, you were no effort." He winked in case the telepathy did not convey his humor. Astoric had charmed Yera, and Sadian had suggested that. It had made Sadian jealous, but she was charming Jesu at the same time. And as Blath was result of being charming to Yera Astoric had been pleased, he loved all his children, but he was quite fond of Blath.

"And when we meet Brittany will you be charming to her?"

"Perhaps," Sadian said quietly, "Did you catch a glimpse of her from Etan? Did she look like her mother?"

"Oh, she's beautiful, result of a lovely relationship between Your Brittany Jinnah and Malik Jewel begun after they were both kidnapped and held together just to piss Father off."

"Then it is entirely fitting we get her now," Sadian said, "And I'm sure Father will love to see Rachael."

"What about the others?"

"We can always use men, it's no risk to them you know. We'll just have to see what they think when they meet us."

Astoric smiled. His Sadian was very calculating, and Mara and Father would not try to stop her, they had given up long ago. They just kept their protest to occasional announcements of their opinion that it was dangerous and unnatural what Sadian was doing.

But it had been Thierry Jewel's dangerous and unnatural work that had begun their species...and Father and Mara had not stopped him.

? ? ?

Iolanthe who had discovered Martin and Etan in the tunnel had come to her mother's house where Martin was being forced to accept hospitality. She had been introduced to Martin, and then her sister Begh, both similar in appearance, having light brown skin and gold or copper highlights in their hair. Iolanthe had green eyes. They had brought their husbands, Ebrian and Irais, both distantly related in some way. The men too were brown of skin, their hair more red, eyes also green.

Io took Martin outside onto a sort of catwalk constructed of lashed lengths of bamboo that like the house was some 20 meters off the ground. "The catscan jumpretty high," Io said quickly as she saw Martin looking over the edge of the path. Across the den a group of lions lounged on a high promontory of rock, or perhaps concrete construction made to simulate rock. There was another house, similar to Io's, a round hut constructed mainly of plant fibers, more bamboo...Martin was not a botanist but he thought the huts might partly be made of corn stalk or hemp stalk.

One of the above ground paths led to houses constructed as part of the Den walls, these were the adobe type houses he had seen from the bedroom window. Io led Martin past the freestanding house where the path sloped upward slightly and connected with a narrow steeply sloped road. There were some girls here, three of them, and a young man, and Etan was with them.

"Etan!" Martin called, waved his hand.

Etan stood still, smiled as he waited for Martin to join them. Io did not seem interested in following or to protest Martin's going ahead. Martin came to the road in just a moment. The strangers were dressed in lightweight clothing as Io and those she had introduced had been. Etan was beginning to look hot, carried a jacket in his arms. "Are you all right?" Etan asked.

"Better now, where did they have you? Are you OK?"

Etan nodded. "Our hosts have been friendly so far," he said, "The twins are named Caith and Eleria, the other young lady is Ethe, and this Zetjan," Etan said with polite gestures of the arm to point each out. "I did pronounce it properly?" he asked Zetjan.

"Ja," said the tall boy. Martin thought for a moment he was giving the pronunciation but he was only affirming Etan's, in German. Martin's family was partly German, from some generations back, in the area of Tanzania he had grown up in there were a number of people who spoke the language as well as Swahili. The boy, Zetjan, looked German.

"Could we speak in private?" Martin asked.

"I'm afraid almost all of them read minds," Etan said, "And they aren't taught to keep from doing it here."

Martin frowned slightly as he looked at the twin girls who each draped themselves against one of Etan's sides. "I asked to see you before and to see our gear and I was not allowed."

"It's inconvenient, even suspicious, but I've given up on worrying. They did save us after all."

Martin nodded. "I met the ones who brought us in. Iolanthe was the name of the woman." He looked at the twins and then at the girl Ethe. "They seem to be in charge here, at first I thought there were no men."

"This is Sinai, not Amazonis Terra," laughed one of the twins, it was Eleria thought Martin could not presently tell them apart. She moved from Etan's side and took Martin's hand.

"Why is it you don't speak in the dialect Io and her family do?" he asked.

"How do they speak?" Etan asked.

Ethe and Caith went into an imitation of the speech. Then Caith said, "even though we are young we belong to an older generation. Io's great grandfather's were born here and all her family in between. Our mothers came from Earth." She gestured to the girls and herself, "Zetjan is our nephew."

"It's a matter of which dialect you first heard spoken in your home," Zetjan said, "Io's daughters live in Hellas, they'll soon have an accent."

"You can come to our house also, Martin," Eleria said. They walked ahead, allowing Martin and Etan to speak. If they wanted to listen, they could.

"They call them Dens," Martin said.

"I was in A Den, it looks like a miniature version of the Alps."

"This is B Den, I have not been allowed to leave it yet," Martin said, "How many do you think there are, six?"

"Yes, like on your map."

"That's what I figured, there is so much..."

"I know," Etan said. He was finding it hard to concentrate on Martin, or on getting back to the base. Etan wanted to stay and learn. Imagine them all being related to him, he wondered if Martin knew.

They came to the house that the four young natives shared. Ethe said they would all prepare supper. It was getting late by then. Late or not they entered the public room of the small house which was lined with mud or plaster, corners rounded. Like Io's house it had handcrafted furnishings, only these seemed less African in theme. The chairs, small computer terminal, low table, musical instruments, paintings and wall fabrics depicted or were made from things Martin had not seen in B Den. There was a painting of a brightly colored parrot, and feathers decorating some objects. There were seashells imbedded in the plaster in a line all around the top of the wall.

"I'm going to have to go get some taro root from my mother," Ethe said, "we've only enough for tonight."

"I'll hike it with you tomorrow," Caith said, "my father promised we could go diving."

Martin raised an eyebrow as he looked toward Etan, in some other den they grew taro root, which was a tropical plant. And diving? But Etan didn't seem to be paying attention.

"You have a pool of some kind? I thought water was short during this season."

Caith smiled as if keeping a wonderful secret. "We do have something."

Eleria laughed. She dumped a pile of taro root in Etan's lap. She handed him a knife with more care. "You can peel," she said.

"My father was an Olympic swimmer, won Goth gold three times, he liked diving, but he was best at doing very fast laps." Etan took the knife blade to the small odd shaped roots.

"Our dad adores swimming," Caith said.

? ? ?

Cool, and wrinkled in texture, frail...incomplete...something metal, a homemade blade, a shiv, sharp and cuts and the way the sky looks at sunset on Mars, pyramids, rocks and then the information comes so quickly and without context that it hurts to know. "I can't," Brittany cried.

"Try again, try to focus on only what you want to know."

Brittany shook her head. "Rache, I do not know what I want to know."

"Ask how it died," Rachael suggested in patient soft voice. She watched as Brittany lay her hands on the body again.

"Something cold and sharp, metal...pain..."

"Quickly, don't dwell on the impression of pain, ask what caused the pain."

"Impact with a planet. A fall from a cliff."

"Go on, ask who died."

"Yrieix." Brittany opened her eyes, drew her hands back toward her chest. "This was a boy named Yrieix. Yera and Alix," Brittany said quietly.

"What?"

"His parents' names, Yera and Alix, and a Lives of the Saints."

"Can you get any other impressions, a location perhaps, other people that came in contact with him?"

Brittany gathered her courage and tried again. This time she lay her palms to the bony hands. A flood of images. Brittany fought to concentrate, to make one image form slowly and clearly in her mind. "Looks like some kind of stone cutting tool..." Brittany moved her hands to the stump of the neck where the head had been removed from the body. With some amount of trepidation she touched her fingers to the vertebrae. "Aedan. Aedan cutting off the head."

Brittany stopped again. "I'm trying, but I don't know if I can find anything that can help us find Etan and Martin."

"It's all right, if nothing else you know you can use this skill," Rachael said.

Brittany reached for the corpse's feet without word. She lay the palms of her hands against the bottom of each foot and closed her eyes. "Sinai, water, plowed soil, animal tracks, footprints...Eden."

"They're in Sinai and there is a settlement there," Rachael said.

"I need to wash my hands," Brittany whispered.

Rachael took Brittany's hands and wiped them in a cloth soaked with disinfectant liquid. "You did well, Britt."

Brittany said nothing. She only sat on the floor and let Rachael wash her hands.

? ? ?

Supper had ended and the inner and outer shutters on the pyramid above the den had been lowered so that looking up from the path before the hut there were wisps of clouds and a vast number of stars visible. Below, in a dry rocky area only slightly higher than the surrounding grassy plain there was a fire burning. Ethe had explained that it was only waste materials they burned nightly: inedible unused vegetable matter mostly, occasionally dung when it was composed mostly of grass, some animal remains.

Sometimes, with bone or selected pieces of wood they would use the material only after it had been charred or burned clean. Already it was obvious that like the most primitive cultures the used every bit of their resources without waste. Even the fire provided warmth and light. When sunlight was not enough there was fire, when that was too little they burned animal oils in lamps, or burned wax candles, when they did not provide enough light then they relied on electric light. It had not been explained yet to Etan or to Martin how electricity was generated.

They climbed down a series of ladders to this fire. Already there were some others here who had started the fire. Etan recognized Astoric. Martin had met Io and her family. Astoric introduced the others, Sadian, Maudlin their granddaughter and Deric who was Maudlin's one son. Soon the four women who lived in the adobe homes in this den came to the fire, bringing their households waste material. They were also Maudlin's children: Acyndia, Kiara, Lae and Aphi. Io soon made it clear that Acyndia was her mother.

The large group gathered before the fire, finding seats where they could on the ground. A few of the group had brought along mats or stools to sit on. Eleria had brought a blanket. But she was stretched out on this along with Zetjan and Ethe. Martin was approached again by Io and offered a mat, and so he accepted this. Etan found himself between Caith and Astoric, Sadian being on Astoric's other side.

"It is a pleasure to meet you finally, Etan," Sadian said. "I have a son Etan, he lives in A Den, did you meet him?"

"No, I did not meet everyone there. I saw there was a cabin, and there were rooms in the castle-like building I did not see."

"Perhaps you will see everything eventually," Sadian said. "Do you like our Tanzania?"

"It is fine, not that I've been to Earth's in person...but why Tanzania?"

Sadian and Astoric smiled knowingly but it was Caith who answered with a purr at Etan's ear. "My mother Sadian was conceived in Tanzania just as the first humans were. My sister Valor was conceived there, it seemed appropriate enough to support all our animals and plants that thrive in hot dry climates. Eleria and I were conceived right here."

"Yes," said Sadian as if the story bored her.

"They killed a lion together barehanded that night. Eleria and I each have a piece of it in our bed quilts."

Astoric spoke, "the repairs of your equipment are complete, if you get a night's rest you may leave tomorrow."

"You can stay," Caith said.

"We know you have tasks, a mission that has been important to you. Please, go back to your base if you like, tell your companions of us," Astoric said, "We invite you all to visit."

"But you hid from us."

"Only because we were not sure of your intentions," Astoric said.

Etan did not have to use speech. They knew what he thought. Once they had gotten him among them, and Martin also, they had been able to scan their minds for all the information they wanted.

"I'd like to meet Brittany," Sadian spoke up, "Please tell her when you see her that I would like to see her if she would be comfortable with that. I knew her mother well."

"What was she like?" Etan asked.

"Another time," Sadian said. "The fire has been started, Astoric and I may leave, and he owes me something before the day ends."

Etan wondered as Sadian quietly left the fire. "I hope to see you again, Etan," Astoric said, grasped his hand. A shock of fear went through Etan as Astoric was kissing his daughter goodnight. "I have to go or I will never get to sleep." Astoric jogged from the fire out into the darkness.

"You felt it?" Caith asked.

"What was that?"

"The fear. Some of us have it. none of us want it."

Etan took in a breath slowly. It was feeling colder. "Forgive me but why does Astoric have to go?"

Caith laughed, "Why forgive? It's just a question. He hurt her feelings today, they can't sleep until they find a way to make up or forgive."

"It was Claudia," Etan said to himself.

"He hasn't seen Claudia today, Pops has been using her."

"Excuse me?"

"Astoric wasn't with our computer today."

"My mistake," Etan said slowly and tried not to think about it. Caith twirled a finger through his hair.

"It was longer once," she said

"I had to cut it above the shoulders for the trip, it's growing back some."

"You had some locks."

"I took the braid out."

"You were going to wear one for Brittany."

"Yes."

"I could braid it for you in the morning before you leave," Caith offered. "You're scared, I've never been told I have the fear..."

"It's different," Etan said.

"I don't understand the feelings I get from you. How do you live for such long periods of time with no intimacy?"

"We just do."

"You fear rejection? Differentness?"

"Caith, the way a person is among their friends is one thing, but when you have a job to do you can't always have your best friends and lovers around. You have to go without them. It takes time to make friends. I have this feeling that you expect me to go be warm in bed with you, whatever, and that makes me feel bad, because it sounds like a good idea but it also sounds like something that could keep me from doing my job."

She looked at Etan so curiously. "Why can't you work alongside those you love, or love those you work with?"

"Sometimes a person could, but it does not always work out."

"Why? And why do you think my silent offer to keep you warm suspect? You injure me."

"Forgive me, Caith, I see that here you all share something, share everything, love everyone. On Earth you would have your heart broken. You would be different."

"We would be saints of evil," Caith whispered. "Trip says this is why we cannot go there. We can't go see the oceans or the whales, or the big surface cities. Now I understand. Earthlings can't read minds, and so they can't be so intimate so quickly as we can. It takes them so long to trust they hurt."

Etan nodded. "Yes."

"Our planet is cold, if you come into my house and keep me warm I will forgive you my injury and we can sleep. I will still braid your hair if you like."

"Let's go," Etan said with lopsided smile.

? ? ?

Eleria had crawled into bed with her twin sister as usual even though Etan was there. To them there was no such thing as sleeping alone, this had no direct relation to their inbred blood line or to sexual attraction on any level, for Eleria, Caith and all their people another body to sleep next to had always meant safety and warmth, especially to the older ones who remembered when their climate control system had more than a few bugs in it.

Caith woke, looked over Etan's shoulder sleepily at her sister. She licked her lips, thought a greeting and in her mind felt Eleria's. Both looked at Etan who remained asleep. They thought him warm and they thought him cute. But Caith had silently claimed Etan, not really as property, but in a way that Eleria and she knew that if Etan was going to be anything to either of them it would be to Caith before Eleria. And if Etan was to ever be houseguest, enemy, best friend, business partner, lover or acquaintance to anyone of their people it would be to Caith's household before any of the others. They had left him with Blath, but he had followed Caith from Blath's household, eaten at her house, and slept in her bed. If Blath wanted him she would have to go through her half-sisters Caith and Eleria both.

Silently Caith and her twin thought that their father Astoric seemed quite interested in this guest. He was desirable, being pretty in general, apparently being humorous and fun, adventurous. Etan was a Jewel who was both witch and part angel, almost part of their family. He had soft blonde hair and swimmer's figure, rather like Astoric, but he did not look like Astoric. Etan had less Elven features.

Caith snuggled close to Etan's back, laughed softly as she looked up at Eleria from the corners of her eyes. "Pops said earthlings might come here someday, but I always thought we would have to fight them, do you think Etan really likes us?"

"So far so good," Eleria whispered, "I like his eyelashes."

"He smells good, smell his hair," Caith whispered.

Eleria bowed her head and took a breath. "definitely not bad." She giggled. "He's awake."

"Etan, are you awake?" Caith asked through laughter.

"Ja," Etan murmured sleepily. He opened his eyes, saw Eleria.

"Can you tell us apart?"

"I think this one is Caith," Etan said with turn of his head that brought her into view, "She's so close."

"Guten Morgen," Caith said, tolerable German.

Etan rolled his body so that he faced her. "I slept frighteningly well."

"Afraid you'd like to stay here all day?" Eleria asked.

"We never let ourselves do that, Etan," Caith said, "we have work to do. Zetjan's got machines to repair, Ethe's got farming to do, Eleria and I have medicinal plants to collect and process, studies to work on. You've got to go to your Earthling Mars Base and think of something to report back to Earth, haven't you?"

"Yes," Etan said.

"It's early, let's get dressed and get Ethe, you can walk over to D den with us, or at least as far as C Den, I'm sure no one will mind your being with us," Caith said.

? ? ?

There was a disturbance in the air as the door between C Den and the tunnel opened. The girls had brought Etan in with them. Sadian moved through the drapes to have a look. Astoric came from their bedroom to stand just behind her. "She's quite attached to him already," he said.

"I can see that," Sadian said. Caith was leading Etan by the hand.

"I think I'll go down for a quick swim," Astoric said. He kissed Sadian goodbye and walked through the bedroom, taking a pair of swim shorts from the wardrobe as he went. There was a short curved narrow flight of stairs between their bedroom and the second floor hall. The stairs to the first level of the small villa were halfway down this hall. Astoric passed quickly through the entrance hall and out the front door.

He could see Ethe already in the water. Eleria was wading about in the tide pools that were refilled again from their sea every twelve hours or so as pumps raised and lowered the water's level within the den. Caith had stripped down to undergarments, pale cotton shirt and shorts. Astoric came to the dock of fiberboard planks just as Caith was diving from the end.

Etan turned around and saw Astoric, smiled. "Guten Morgen," he said.

Astoric returned the smile. "sleep well?"

"Mmmmn," Etan murmured, "quite."

Astoric came to Etan's side. "Think you can swim to the floats there and back?" he asked pointing out the red objects that floated in line along a rope that marked half the distance of the den's small artificial sea.

"Water's cold?" Etan asked, "uniformly deep?"

"Yes."

"I can swim it."

"Care to race?" the girls were calling from the water, one of the dolphins, Einstein, under Ethe's arm.

"We're going to race," Etan called. He and Astoric stood alongside each other close to the end of the dock. Caith called for them to get on their marks. Both men positioned themselves for a dive and when Caith called for them to start the race they were instantly in the water.

They kept the water cool, to match deep-sea water they also kept it salinated and in motion. Etan and Astoric were both good swimmers, cutting smoothly through the water, just under the surface and taking breaths every so often by turning their heads up to one side.

Of course Etan had not even seen this much water in nearly a year and Astoric swam this particular body of it every day. The very feel of the water, the sensation of swimming on the strange planet was distracting to Etan. The dolphins that swam beside and beneath him and the seaweed that had broken from the beds further underwater tripped him up so that Etan lost his rhythm.

Astoric came up out of the water and pulled himself up onto the dock in one fluid movement, swatted wet hair from his face and turned to see Etan just coming to the edge of the dock. Etan rested his arms and head on the dock, looked up breathlessly, "I'm very much out of practice."

Astoric lent a hand and helped Etan out of the water. "Home-sea advantage," Astoric explained. He looked up to see Caith and Ethe splashing about. "Care to breakfast with us?"

"I am hungry," Etan said.

Astoric put an arm about Etan's shoulders and led him into the house through a side door. The room they had entered was designed for entrance by those wet from the sea or carrying wet things. The floor sloped toward a drain in the center of the room and along one sidewall there was a showerhead. The girls came in just as they were washing off. Caith made sure to throw her arms about Etan as if to announce she wasn't Eleria.

When they had dressed in clothing stored there the group went into a narrow hall and then into the kitchen. Maudlin was there frying some cakes in a pan over a gas burner. She greeted Ethe first, her half-sister. "More mouths to feed," she said at once defiant and seductive, or that was her aim.

"C'nya use any help, Maude?" Ethe asked.

"No, Dearie," Maudlin sang. She flipped a cake in the pan then turned quickly to face Etan and Caith who was again draped against him. "sleep well?"

"Yes."

Caith slipped in front of Etan just as Maudlin attempted to press against him, as it was she glared at him over Caith's shoulder. "Where ya been all my life?"

Caith hissed at her and Maudlin backed away.

They moved into the next room that was a dining room with view through the glass pyramid and its tinted interior shutters. Sadian was there and Deric. Sadian tapping away and occasionally making hand sign before a computer of alien design, to Etan. They took seats and soon Maudlin carried a tray into the room. She set a plate before each person.

Astoric announced that they would say thanks for the food. Silently this was done. Forks were taken up after a moment's silence, though Sadian still stared at the machine before her. Etan felt Caith nudge his arm with her elbow. He dropped his fork at her gaze. Caith switched plates with him. "Go on," she said.

"What?"

"Maudlin's a little insane, I'm sure she poisoned your plate," Caith said.

? ? ?

"You're very friendly with them," Martin said after he had watched Etan's new friend kiss him goodbye. They were in their own suits again, had checked over their gear. Whoever had done the repairs had done a good job, had even added a few devices. Astoric was the one who came into the trailer to point these out but did not seem to be the one to have worked on them.

"This display here will show your progress along the tunnel roads. You'll be taking our Cydonia tunnel most of the way. there is a side tunnel that will take you to the surface at beacon 50."

"Does the radio work?" Martin asked.

"everything is working as far as I know. You will be able to radio your base as soon as you get out into the tunnel," Astoric said. "We've also given you some of our gear, this portable unit here can link into our communications system for voice, video or data transfer. You've got a readme with your passcodes, limited access of course."

"Thank you," Etan said.

"We have some other gifts," Astoric said, made gesture to the side hatch. Martin reached it first. Blath, Io and Sadian and a few family members were there, most of them had taken their leave already to go to their chores. The few left carried baskets and sacks.

"For your garden," Sadian said. Etan and Martin both stood watching as bags and hand-woven baskets of soil, young plants and seeds were brought into the trailer. There were also in just a few baskets vegetables and fruit already ripened.

"are you sure you can spare all this?" Etan asked.

Astoric answered for them, "we've been through harder times, you are welcome to take all of this with you. We really hope we can all live here peacefully."

"I hope so too," Etan said.