Chapter 2 (2/?)

I blinked rapidly. I wasn't going to cry, not in front of this stranger. I handled the state to mom so she can read it, too. Jun's letters to us had been few and far between. The Thousands Worlds lacked faster-than-light communication technology, so all interstellar messages had to be delivered by courier. I couldn't bear the idea that this might be the last we ever heard from my brother. The investigator had to be wrong.

Still, the messages contests gave me hope. There was a hidden meaning in there, all right. Jun had never complained about chores the whole time we were growing up. He was trying to tell me something was wrong. Who were the "friends"? Were they really friends, or troublemakers he'd fallen in with? Why hadn't he included any of there names?

The most worrying clue was his mention of Dad. For one thing, our dad had died seven years ago, when I was six. And for another, he had never been and explorer. According to Mom, he'd been a skilled technician. What was jun trying to imply?

How much of this did I want to reveal to the investigator, though? I didn't trust the man. After all, I didn't know anything about him or his motives. On the other hand, I couldn't thwart him too obviously. That might get my family in trouble, and if he decided to investigate us further, our secret that we were fox spirits might be exposed.

I'd hesitated too long. "Min," the investigator said in a disturbing quiet voice, "can you tell me anything about this?"

"He'd just complaining," I said, foing my best not to sound grudging or concerned.

"He's gaze captured mine. "That's not the whole story is it?"

I wasn't going to rat Jun out to some stranger. "I don't know what you mean."

I smelled an extra whiff of worry from my Mom. She wanted me to do something in response, but what?

"Many powerful people are interested in the Dragon Pearl," the investigator said, as if I couldn't have guessed that. "If it has resurfaced, it is imperative that it be recovered by the Space Forces and not some unscrupulous person."

I understand why that was important. According to the legend, the pearl could transform an entire planet in a day. Dragons controlled terraforming magic, but they were not that nearly as fast and efficient, it took years for teams of trained workers to make a world fully lush and hospitable. As a citizen on Jinju, I was especially aware if that fact. Jun was, too.