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Maggie frowned. "Leave?"
"Alex?" said Mrs. Rogan.
He kissed her gently on one cheek, nodded.
"I have to, Mom. I promised. You heard Grig. I have a job to do. An important job. And I'm the only
one who can do it."
She sighed. "I always knew you'd leave here, Alex. I just never wanted to face that moment. I don't
imagine any mother does. Still, I guess it's not so very different from going off to the University. What are
you going to do about your studies?"
He grinned, waving toward the star-filled sky. Just like his mom, trying to couch the impossible in
everyday terms.
"Somehow spending four years preparing to be a computer technician doesn't seem quite as important as
it once did, Mom. Don't worry. I've got plenty to learn, out there."
"Yes, I suppose that you would." She looked meaningfully toward Grig. "You'll watch after him, won't
you?"
He nodded. "It will be a pleasure. I hope only to do one-tenth as good a job as you have done."
For the second time that night Jane Rogan found herself speechless.
"Gee, can I come too, Alex?" Louis wondered, staring worshipfully up at his brother.
Alex knelt until they were eye to eye. "Sorry, squirt. But I'll be back to visit, lots of times. You didn't
think I was going away forever, did you? But you can't come." He gestured back at the gunstar. "There's
only room for me, Grig, and Maggie."
Maggie swallowed. "Me?"
"Of course." He took a step toward the gunstar, but she held back, uncertain, and he turned to her again.
"Why else do you think I came back? I told you that we'd always be together."
"Yeah. Together here, or at school, or in the city. Not . . . out there, Alex."
"You always told me you wanted to travel and see faraway places."
She didn't meet his eyes for a moment. "I meant San Diego, or maybe someday New York. This Rylos
of yours . . . you can't even see it from here."
"You can't see New York, but you can see Rylos, Maggie." He put his arm around her, turned her so
they both faced the sky, and he pointed. "There it is . . . right there."
"Oh. It's bright."
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"You gotta come with me, Maggie. I'll be back, but I don't know when. Setting up this training program's
going to be a lot of work, and I promised. Don't you see? This is our big chance. It's like Otis said.
When it comes, you gotta grab it with both hands and hold tight. I can learn a lot and help a lot of good
people at the same time. It's something I have to do."
"What about Granny?"
Alex gave her a look easily interpreted to mean, "Not that old excuse again," and she knew that he knew
what she really meant. So why continue hiding it?
"You're right, Alex. I'm scared of leaving here. I'm scared of leaving this trailer park, for all my big talk
about traveling and seeing the world, never mind other worlds. Why can't you stay? Someone else could
start that school."
"It's not just that, Maggie. Don't you see? I'm not just a kid from a trailer park up there. I'm a Starfighter.
I'm the Starfighter, and I've got new friends who are counting on me. I can't let them down. This is . . .
Maggie, this is a lot bigger than me, or even you and me. It's bigger than anything."
From inside the ship a voice sounded over a speaker, gentle but insistent. "Alex."
He whirled and replied almost angrily, though Grig would know it was only Alex's frustration speaking.
"Just a minute!" A low whine rose as the drive was activated.
"I can't talk anymore," he told Maggie. "Anyway, I've said everything. I gotta go."
He hugged her hard, forced himself to move on to his mother, to Louis. Then he waved goodbye to the
others, the assembled faces he'd known since childhood. They stared back at him reassuringly, solid as
the desert, alive with the light from the gunstar.
He turned and headed for the waiting lift.
Haze filled the air as the ship's drive disturbed the atmosphere and irritated dust particles swirled above
the parking lot. Granny held Maggie tight, saying nothing. It wasn't her place to. No t this time.
Finally Maggie looked anxiously into that weathered face. "Granny?"
The old woman smiled knowingly and ran her fingers through her granddaughter's hair. Once for luck,
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