Esther stood behind Iolana in the long line of those waiting to be presented to the king. She was only too conscious of the fact that those behind her left a good seven or eight feet between them, and that two royal guardsmen stood nearby, keeping their eyes fixed on her. She was sure that Iolana must have noticed too, but she feigned not to. Both Esther and Iolana had new dresses, very expensive and the height of fashion. Iolana’s was a white flowing gown, cut for a small bustle, as was the most recent style in the capital. Long waves of lace stretched down to the ground and down her arms to her white gloves, and technically the dress featured a high collar that went clear to her chin, but the top was a white gauzy silk which left much of her chest and all of her back exposed. Esther’s dress was similar in that it was mostly white lace, but with short sleeves and a plunging neckline, and of course a hole cut out in back for her tail. They both wore large round hats topped with sprays of feathers and flowers.

A man in a pristine black suit with a grey waistcoat came down the line, finally reaching Iolana and Esther. His carefully waxed mustache emphasized his thin-lipped smile.

“This is the procedure,” he said. “When you hear your names, you will step forward and stop at the yellow dot on the floor in front of the throne. Your name will be called, and you will curtsy. Then you will exit through the opposite door. If the king asks you a question, you will answer in as few words as possible, finishing with ‘Your Majesty’. If either of the princes should address you, the same applies, but in their case, it is ‘Your Royal Highness’.”

“Of course,” replied Iolana.

“I was told you understood Brech?” said the man to Esther.

“She does,” said Iolana.

“Then, there will be no surprises?”

“No sssurprises,” said Esther.

The line moved slowly onward. They were afforded a view of the royals long before it was their turn to stand before them. His Majesty King Tybalt III was a tall, thin man who, though his red uniform seemed to hang on him, was still quite spry for his sixty-four years. His thinning hair and mutton chops were still more blond than grey. Behind the throne, on either side, stood the two princes, dressed, like their father, in red uniforms filled with medals. Twenty-four-year-old Crown Prince Tybalt was on the left, looking completely bored. His fifteen-year-old half-brother, Prince Clitus, looked more nervous than anything else.

When she was close enough to actually hear the king’s conversation, Esther paid close attention to the exchanges.

“Lord Winsdall and his daughter Lady Ewa Windsdall,” droned the announcer.

“Good day, Lord Winsdall,” said the king. “This can’t be your daughter. There has to be some kind of mistake. Why, your daughter was only this big,” he held his thumb and forefinger about two inches apart, “when last I saw her.”

“They do grow up fast, Your Majesty.”

“Tell me, young lady, do you shoot? My son is a great shot.” He waved toward Prince Tybalt.”

“I don’t, Your Majesty, but I’d love to see him shoot.”

Prince Tybalt glanced down at the young woman the way a street sweeper looks at a pile of horse dung, sniffed, and turned away.

“Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Van Josen,” called the announcer, signaling that Lord Winsdall’s time was over.

“You’re the fellow that laid the trans-ocean telegraph line, aren’t you?” asked the king.

Prince Clitus looked interested. His older brother still looked bored.

“I was the chief engineer, Your Majesty. It was a team effort.”

“Quite, quite. You should all be congratulated, and you will be. We are sure to see your name on the list for the Order of St. Ulixes.”

Mr. Van Josen bowed. Prince Clitus looked as though he wanted to say something, but held his tongue.

“And how are you finding Brech City, Mrs. Van Josen?”

“Ser gute, Majesty.”

“Sir Redry Moorn, Lady Honoria Moorn, and Lady Hortence Moorn,” called the announcer, as the Van Josens stepped away.

Prince Tybalt was suddenly interested, particularly in Lady Honoria, who was a lovely young woman in a lavender gown. Both young women batted their eyelashes at him, but he was oblivious to Lady Hortence who was pretty enough, though not in her sister’s class. He leaned over and whispered something in his father’s ear.

“Sir Redry. These are your daughters?”

“Step-daughters, Your Majesty, though they are as dear to me as if they were my own.”

“You are in the city for a few days?”

“A fortnight, Your Majesty.”

“Very good. We shall see that they are invited to the Crown Prince’s tea.”

Sir Redry bowed curtly.

“Lady Iolana Dechantagne Staff and Esther… Ssaharranah of Birmisia.”

Iolana shot Esther an annoyed glance before turning her attention to the royal family.

“Lady Iolana,” said the king. “We were sorry to hear of the death of your father Sir Radley. We found him to be a fine man.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Rachel Carson students were each assigned one of eight Programs of Focus. It was not all that different from having a major in college. Though the students inevitably just referred to them by their number, the programs were Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Formal Sciences, Language Arts, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Leadership, and Kinesthetics. Astrid and Christopher were both in Program One. Of course every student’s course of study was tailored specifically for him. Even though Christopher and Astrid were both in the same program, each of their studies were weighted toward different areas, which was why they only shared one class together. Each program had a team room, and inside each team room was a lounge area and two locker rooms, one for girls and one for boys. Astrid and Christopher walked into the Program One team room, and then into their respective locker rooms. Astrid pulled her books and digital tablet from her backpack and then placed it in her locker.

She was headed to her first class when she found herself walking along next to Mark McGovern.

“Hello, Nerd,” he said.

“Hello, Mark,” she said brightly. “How does it feel to be a junior?”

“Pretty cool,” he said, adding a little swagger to his step.

“What class do you have now?”

“Why do you care?” he demanded.

“Just wondering.”

“I have Advanced Orchestra, but you’d better not make fun of it.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” said Astrid, but Mark hurried ahead before she could add that she was on her way to the same class.

Astrid had not had a music class since Junior High, but she had been able to place into Advanced Orchestra because of her regular practice at home. She retrieved her oboe from the cabinet and took her place, to find that she was seated right next to Mark. They were, in fact, the only two oboes in the orchestra. She looked around for a friendly face, knowing that Austin played viola, but he apparently wasn’t part of the class. She spotted quite a few faces that she knew, but nobody she knew well. With a shrug, she turned her attention to Mrs. Werner, the instructor.

“Boy am I glad to see you, Austin,” she said, upon arriving at her second class.

“Oh? Why?”

“I hardly know anyone in my orchestra class. It’s good to see a friendly face. How come you aren’t in that class with me?”

“I have Concert Orchestra third period,” he explained. “This year is going to suck! This is the only class I have with any of my friends.”

“That may not be completely true,” said Astrid.

“All right, class,” said Miss Gracie. “Take your positions. We’re going to start out with some basic moves.”

When Astrid got to her third period class, there were only two students sitting in class, one boy and one girl, neither of whom she had ever seen before. Astrid took her seat and waited, but no one else showed up to fill any of the remaining seats.

“Hi. I’m Astrid,” she said.

“We know who you are,” said the boy. “I can’t believe we have a class with you. My dad said we might.”

“I’m Michelle,” said the girl, “and this is my brother Artie.”

“Arthur,” he corrected. “We just moved here from Alaska.”

“Our dad is going to be the new chief of the Maxxim Fabrication facility.”

“Oh yeah,” said Astrid. “Mr. Gortner is moving to Detroit to work with my uncle. So, you two are brother and sister?”

“We’re twins,” said Michelle.

“Not identical, obviously,” added Arthur.

“You guys must be really smart,” said Astrid. “This is an advanced class. Where did you go to school before?”

“We’ve never gone to a regular school,” said Michelle. “We’ve always been home schooled.”

“That’s mostly because we lived in the Arctic, and there wasn’t a school close,” added her brother.

At that moment, Dr. Born entered from the door at the back of the class.

“Welcome to the wonderful world of Materials Management,” he said.

“What do you guys have next?” asked Astrid at the end of class.

“Calculus IV,” said Michelle. “My dad says we might be the only ones in the class.”

“Nope,” said Astrid. “We don’t have to go anywhere, because it’s the same classroom and the same teacher.”

“That’s good,” said Arthur. “I hate having to fight the crowd.”

Astrid didn’t point out that Rachel Carson High School had much less crowded halls than any school she had ever heard of.

“It must be weird going to school with so many people,” she said.

“It’s weird seeing so many people at all,” said Arthur. “Our town in Alaska only had eighty-five people.”

Christopher walked into the room and sat down, completing the class compliment.

“Hello,” he said. “You two were in my Medieval History class.”

“This is Michelle and Arthur,” introduced Astrid. “I didn’t catch your last name.”

“Pennington,” they said together.

Dr. Born stood up from his desk and started with a warm up activity involving vector operations.

After class, the four of them walked to the quad together. They stepped into the lunch line and received their lunches, which consisted of roasted swordfish, grilled asparagus with lemon pesto, French beans with heirloom tomatoes and hot cherry peppers, and for dessert, roasted pears with mascarpone.

Kieran Baxter smiled across the table at his wife. Between them, arrayed across Café Idella’s yellow springtime tablecloth were two sets of fine silverware and two white porcelain teacups with saucers and a matching teapot. In the center of the table was a yellow rose in a crystal budvase. When he noticed that she didn’t return his smile, his face began to fall.

“What’s the matter? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong exactly. It’s just that this is such an expense. I could make you tea at home.”

“But I wanted to treat you.” He frowned. “And you should take it easy in your condition.”

“Did you see the prices on the menu by the door?”

“We can afford it.”

“You must think me terribly ungrateful,” she said, looking down.

“Yes I do, but I’ll forgive you this once.”

“Well, if it isn’t the Baxters?” said Aalwijn Finkler, stopping beside their table, picking up the teapot, and filling their cups. “I don’t often see you in my establishments. I was beginning to think that you had something against me.”

“No, of course not,” said Bryony. “It’s just that, well, the price…”

“The lady is frugal,” said Baxter, with a wave.

“There is nothing wrong with that. Mind your pfennigs and your marks will follow. Still, there’s also nothing wrong with treating oneself now and again. You spend your days catering to your husbands needs. Let someone cater to yours, just for today.” The restaurateur turned to Baxter. “Will you leave yourselves in my hands.”

“Of course.”

“Oh, nothing too much!” Bryony called after him, as he turned and stepped quickly toward the back.

“I think you’ll find Mr. Finkler knows his business,” said her husband.

“Does he know our pocketbook?”

“Our pocketbook is just fine. In fact, I think we can afford that new furniture you wanted.”

“Oh, I don’t really want that at all. I was just daydreaming.”

Two waiters arrived with a tray and began setting out small plates, each with its own little pile of sandwiches. The taller of the two described them.

“We have ham with Freedonian mustard on whole grain bread, sharp cheese with mango chutney on tomato bread, cucumber and parsley cream with dill on white bread, and egg mayonnaise with chopped shallots and cress on sourdough bread.”

“Oh my,” said Bryony.

“And here we have freshly baked scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves.” He stopped and topped off their teacups. “Can I bring you anything else?”

“That’s all for now, I think,” said Baxter.

“Well, I suppose I must try something of everything, mustn’t I?” Bryony carefully took the topmost sandwich quarter from each pile.”

“I think you must.” He carefully cut a scone and dressed it before reaching over to place it on her plate.

“This is quite good,” she said, holding a sandwich in one hand and using the other to cover her mouth. “Mind, I think that with Mrs. Finkler’s bread, any such creation would be well-received.”

“It’s no better than your tea. The whole point isn’t that it would be. The point is that you don’t have to make it.”

“I do like the clotted cream. Do you suppose we could find out where they get theirs?”

“I imagine they make it. Maybe they sell it.”

She nodded, stuffing more scone into her mouth.

Baxter leaned back and smiled as he watched her eat. He took a sip of his tea. “So, you said you had something you wanted to talk about?”

She nodded and then swallowed what was in her mouth. “We simply must decide upon a name for our forthcoming addition, but…”

“We have plenty of time. You’re barely showing.”

Bryony’s face flushed and she looked around. “But, I certainly wasn’t planning on having such a conversation in public.”

“Nobody is paying any attention to us, but as I said, we don’t have to worry about that yet.”

“It’s a decision that should ideally have been made before matrimony,” she said. “Certainly before the um… fait accompli.”

“My father was called Rory,” he said. “I was thinking that was a good name for a boy.”

“No. He must be Kieran Junior for a boy.”

“I was never that fond of my Kafiran name.”

“Well it is more dear to me than any other name,” she said fiercely. “I’ll have no other for a boy.”

“Well, hopefully then, it will be a girl.”

“And what name would you pick for our daughter?”

“Bryony Junior?”

“Oh, pooh!” she said. “You’re not at all approaching this with the appropriate gravity.”

The following morning, Eleanor and Océane took the speedboat into Tahiti. Astrid and Penelope spent most of the morning helping Adeline clean up the damage from the hurricane. The few trees had lost many of their branches and the young women soon had a pile of wood for which to make future beach bonfires. Some of roof tiles had been damaged and they did what they could to repair it with the single hammer, box of nails and one tube of roof cement.

They went swimming in the lagoon in the afternoon, but the dolphins did not put in an appearance. Afterwards the young women warmed themselves on the beach. Penelope had just suggested going inside, when the speedboat sailed into the lagoon.

“We brought take-away!” called Océane, as the boat touched the sandy beach.

“Take-away what?” wondered Astrid.

“That’s what Europeans call takeout,” said Penelope.

“Yes,” continued Océane, hopping down from the boat’s side. “Chinese food!”

“Yay!” Astrid shouted, suddenly realizing just how hungry she was.

After pulling the boat onto the sand and tying it down, they all went inside to eat, leaving the unloading of supplies until after.

“We got Dinner B for five,” said Océane excitedly. “It’s my favorite. We have won ton soup, egg rolls, fried shrimp, steamed rice, cashew chicken, and sweet and sour pork. And because the two of you are here, we also got egg foo young and sesame chicken.”

“I’m glad we could be helpful,” said Penelope.

They all filled their plates with heaps of Chinese food. Feeling like they had been underfed for the past few days, they ate until they could eat no more. Then they lay back to let their food settle.

It wasn’t long before Astrid dozed off. When she woke up, the others had already finished unloading the supplies. It was too late to take the boat out by then, so the girl inventor used the time to check over her equipment. Aunt Penelope talked her in to going back out to the beach and playing in the surf for a while. For dinner, they ate the remains of the Chinese food, which was fine, since nobody was really very hungry anymore.

For breakfast the next morning, they had toaster pastries that were not toasted, which to Astrid’s mind, made them almost inedible. Eleanor turned on the generator long enough to check the status of the new replacement generator online. Astrid used the opportunity to recharge everything. Then the whole crew climbed into the speedboat and headed out into the ocean.

Adeline knew of several locations the dolphins frequented for hunting. They tried two of them with no luck before spotting several dorsal fins cutting through the waves between two tiny atolls.

“This is tricky diving here,” said Eleanor, as she threw the anchor over the side. “The pass here has a fairly strong current.”

“This is also a popular hunting spot for sharks as well as dolphins,” added Océane.

“I always kind of wanted to swim with sharks,” said Penelope.

Eleanor stayed topside, while the other four young women donned their scuba gear and dropped one by one into the azure blue water. Astrid followed the others down into the depths, holding the translator gear in her right hand. The visibility was amazing.

It didn’t take long before they found the dolphins. One shot right past Astrid’s shoulder. She thought it was Catherine, but she wasn’t sure. It didn’t take long before she spotted sharks either. There were dozens of black tip sharks cutting through the water in formation. She could see more sharks down in the depths but couldn’t make out just what species. A large fish shot just by her left, and it took a moment before Astrid recognized it as a yellow fin tuna.

It wasn’t long before the girl inventor saw what was drawing all the hunters. A large school of anchovies was being herded upwards by the dolphins. The sharks and the tuna were taking advantage of the situation by shooting into the cloud of small fish from the sides.

Astrid could hear the clicks and whistles of the dolphins, but nothing came out of the translator. The microphone must not have been able to pick up the calls from the distance between her and the marine animals. She dove down deeper and moved closer to the action. Finally, the translator offered a hint at the conversation in the depths.

“John hunt!” came the words from the device. “Anchovies up.”

Astrid saw two very large dolphins shoot up and into the cloud of bait fish. She didn’t need the machine to tell her that it was John and Alister. Carefully aiming the microphone around, she could pick up the calls from the other dolphins.

“Rachel anchovies! Catherine down around! James hunt!”

Suddenly the translator spat out another word.

“Alister, Adaline!”

Astrid looked around. She saw Océane and Penelope just to her left, but she didn’t see Adeline at first. Then she spotted her, she had been caught by the current in the pass and had been swept across the reef. She had managed to stop herself but was now swimming in a cloud of what looked suspiciously like blood. Worse, there were a dozen black tip sharks circling around her.

“Alister! Sharks!” the translator said again.

Astrid woke up to the sounds of rain coming down upon roof. It was a surprisingly comforting sound, and it took her a few minutes to figure out why. Then the realization suddenly hit her. The sound of the rain was present, but the sounds of wind that had seemed so oppressive for the previous two days, were now gone.

She got up and hurried into the main room, looking out the crack in the boarded up window. The rain was falling in torrents, but it was falling straight down, not blown to the side like it had been. Looking around the house, the girl inventor realized that she was the only one up so far, so she wrapped up in her sleeping bag and sat by the window, watching the falling precipitation.

It was past nine when Adeline joined Astrid in the waking world. The two of them began setting out breakfast, and when the other three women joined them they ate the last of their fruit, along with cold cereal and the last of the milk.

They spent the entire day indoors without power, but with the winds much reduced, the mood was lighter.

The next day, when the skies hadn’t changed, Astrid began to get antsy. She decided that she had been indoors long enough. The others seemed to feel the same way. Mid-day, they all decided to go outside and evaluate the storm damage. Adeline and Océane went to check on the boat, while Astrid and Eleanor examined the generator. Penelope was assigned to check out the house. They shared their findings when they returned to the house.

“The generator is a total loss,” said Eleanor. “It’s so old, I was keeping it together with bubble gum and hair pins anyway. But some flying debris hit it. It took out the whole top assembly. I honestly think it will be cheaper to buy a new one, but it’s going to be $4000 and probably more than that in shipping.”

“The money is no problem,” said Penelope. “We can order it online. In the meantime, we’ll shoot over to Tahiti and buy a gasoline generator to hold us over.”

“And that brings us to a bigger problem,” said Adeline. “The speed boat is completely up on the beach, and it’s upside down. It doesn’t look too badly damaged, thought it is hard to tell.”

“All right,” said Astrid. “Let’s make a list of everything we need to order online. Then we can make a few Internet calls.”

At dinner, the five young women felt satisfied that they had done everything that they could. They hand ordered a replacement generator, though it might take a month to arrive. They had also purchased a small gasoline generator in Tahiti, which would be delivered by a salvage team who would arrive to right the speedboat and return it to the water. That wouldn’t happen though until the storm had completely passed.

There were two more days of heavy rain. The ladies mostly stayed indoors and ate fruits and vegetables from cans. The following day, which was Sunday, started out just the same, but after breakfast the rainfall started to slow, and just after lunch, it stopped.

The young women quickly changed into their swimsuits and went to lie down on the sandy beach, taking in as much of the sun as the still cloudy sky would allow. Even Astrid, who generally didn’t believe in tanning, enjoyed the feeling of the warm rays bathing her body.

“Look!” called Penelope. “The dolphins are back in the lagoon! Can we swim out to them?”

Before anyone could answer, the rain started again. It was only a sprinkle at first, but the skies were growing dark again. The girls gathered their towels and made it to the house just before the downpour returned in earnest.

“If anybody had told me that I would spend all my time in French Polynesia huddled inside the house,” said Astrid, “I would have thought they were off their nut.”

Both Océane and Adeline gave her a puzzled look.

“I would have thought they were crazy,” translated Astrid.

On Monday, the skies were still full of clouds, but the rain was limited to very light intermittent showers and the wind was no stronger than that found in a typical tropical day. The dolphins were back that afternoon, and all five young women joined them.

Astrid cast a glance at the battery charge on her translation devices. The MX-360 had pretty good battery life compared to similar products, thanks to the batteries that Astrid had invented almost two years earlier. Still, they designed to be charged after use, and the ones that formed the basis of the translator hadn’t been. The reading on the one she carried was 29%. The girl inventor decided that she would use the translator as long as it lasted.

Astrid hadn’t even reached the center of the lagoon where the other young women were floating when a large grey form brushed past her.

“Alister! Alister!” the large male announced himself.

“Astrid, Astrid,” replied the girl, using her translator to produce the dolphin-like sound that she had chosen to be her cetacean name.

The dolphin made a sound that Astrid thought might be her name, but the translator didn’t indicate anything.

Alister sailed up next to her and she reached out to touch his dorsal fin. He didn’t do anything but roll over as if to make her reach easier, so she grabbed hold of it. He shot forward, pulling her through the water at tremendous speed. After about thirty feet, she lost her handhold, and Alister shot away, leaving her right next to Océane.