The World Before
Chapter One
The Federal European Union greatly regrets the loss of life on Bezer'ej and the deaths of Superintendent Frankland and her ussissi aide. We condemn the actions of Commander Neville. Let me restate our position: we did not and would not sanction first-use of nuclear devices. As we have no effective military structure left on Umeh, there is no direct disciplinary action we can take against Commander Neville or the troops under her command; but they are now dismissed the service, and in the absence of FEU enforcement, they fall properly within the scope of your own judicial system as the protectors of the bezeri. Our representative Dr. Mohan Rayat will offer every cooperation.
Birsen Ertegun,
Foreign Minister, Federal European Union,
in a statement to the matriarchs of F'nar
F'nar, on Wess'ej, August 2376
Ade Bennett clung to his schedule twenty-five light-years from home in an alien city that was coated entirely in pearl.
He ran ten kilometers every morning at dawn and there was no reason to stop doing it just because t ... read full excerpt from: The World Before ebook
