GABRIEL (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 4) Read Free Page A

don't have authorization to make the trip. I'll compose a communication to the Ruling Tribunal tonight, relaying Lantana's warnings. I'll add a request for permission for someone to make the trip he advised, if the tempometer can be figured out. But, as Lantana mentioned, no one knows precisely what effect time travel might have, so I doubt if the Tribunal would allow such a risk. At any rate, we have to leave the final decision up to them."
    Shara frowned but said nothing. At least he hadn't personally refused her outright. It seemed obvious to her that every avenue, even one against the law or with a high risk factor, should be investigated to prevent the disaster Lantana warned them of. But no one could predict how the Tribunal would respond. As she helped her family recall Lantana's description of the future, she leafed through the pages of the research monograph he had brought her.
    It took only a quick scan to confirm that this was indeed her work and that completion of the genetic tracking program she had been struggling with was now in her hands. While they awaited the Tribunal's decision, she would go ahead with her research. When approval for the time travel came through, she wanted to be ready to go.
    It was inconceivable to her that the Tribunal would refuse permission when the future of both Norona and Terra depended on it. It was also beyond her imagination that they could turn down her request to go when she was so close to proving her theories about the memory molecule firsthand. No one needed to know that her research had a personal as well as scientific basis.
    She was only a child when she had set her goal and it was one of her classmates who had pushed her toward it. The little boy had called her a Terran and made an awful face when he said it. Shara had asked her teacher what the word meant, but the definition—a human born on the surface of the planet and whose ancestors were also Outerworld natives—did not seem to apply to her. Nor did she understand why being a Terran, even if she was one, would cause the boy to sneer at her.
    When, a few days later, that same boy had made up a cruel song about Shara being a "mixed-breed" and encouraged the other children to join in the fun, Shara asked her parents to explain. That day she learned the truth. Her father was pure Noronian but her mother was a Terran, an inferior species of humanoids. In order for Shara to understand, her parents had explained how they had met.
    When the Noronians first established their mining colony in the center of the Terra, they had considered the fact that the native Terrans being humanoid like themselves was an advantage, since a group of Noronians were to be left on the surface. They could easily integrate with the primitive inhabitants. It was never intended for any Terrans to be brought into Innerworld, however.
    Tunnels were bored through Terra's twelve magnetic fields for the Noronian ships to travel in and out. Unfortunately, as Terra's population grew, accidents occurred. Because of the magnetism, a Terran vessel occasionally moved into a tunnel doorway undetected just as the doorway was being opened and the people on board were transported into Innerworld. The Noronians considered these Terrans dangerous and inferior but they could not risk revealing their presence by sending them back.
    Aster Mackenzie arrived in Innerworld because of one of those accidents but fate had surely had a hand in it.
    At the time Aster arrived, there was a strong taboo against Noronian Innerworlders fraternizing with the transplanted Terrans. Nevertheless, Romulus, who had just been nominated for the Governorship of the colony, was irresistibly drawn to Aster and she to him. When they were both stricken by the Noronian mating fever, Romulus knew they were destined to be together. But merely being together was not enough to satisfy the fiery craving of the fever. Although there was no record of it ever happening before between a Noronian and a