The Outback Stars (53 page)

“If you're beside me, yes,” he said, with no hesitation in his voice. “Will you?”

The trip back to Fortune. More personnel problems. Politics as usual, reports and paperwork, the gossiping and backstabbing. She didn't think she would ever rest completely easy until she knew why her memory had been blocked and what had happened to Osherman and Ishikawa, but it had been weeks since she had thought about the
Yangtze
. The happiness she had found with Myell could be with her every day, as permanent a part of her life as much as anything could be considered permanent in such a day and age.

“Yes,” Jodenny said. The golden hawk dipped its head, let out a sharp cry, and flapped away into the clear sky. “I will.”

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

THE OUTBACK STARS

Copyright © 2007 by Sandra McDonald

All rights reserved.

Edited by James D. Macdonald.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McDonald, Sandra.

The outback stars / Sandra McDonald.—1st ed.

      p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-765-31643-1

ISBN-10: 0-765-31643-9

1. Title.

PS3613.C3874 098 2007

813/.63—dc22          2006102630

First Edition: April 2007

eISBN 9781466845848

First eBook edition: April 2013