brand new colony

Gadriet arrives back in Temple Bay as the night is finally starting to give way to the first suggestion of light. His fear of and his urge to defy his mother have been struggling in him ever since he got the call, and the first thing he did when he got out of stasis was to take a shot of general anesthetic; his eyes are cloudy and distant, but he seems relatively steady when he gets off the bullet train at the country estate.

A maid lets him into the house when he knocks, and he goes up to his old room, where everything is as he left it when he went to vetacad. In here it's as if time has been keeping still. He lies down on top of the soft blue coverlet of his bed and stares up at the ceiling.

He's glad he gave himself the shot. If he hadn't, he thinks, he'd be screaming.

When he signs off it's well past midnight, and even in Til Tomeil it's gotten late. Medraut goes to bed, for what sleep he can manage, and in the morning sends word to Galman that he's going to be late today. Then he takes a deep breath, and sits down with the comm. It's going to be a long day.