Just as Terra had Luna, so Ge had Selene: a rugged natural moon one-fourth Ge’s diameter, with huge asphalt-black maria dominating its mouse-gray face. Chris Alan had spent his earliest years and his late teens there, and was used to watching Ge in a pitch-black sky. Selene was many times dimmer from Ge than Ge was from Selene, but at full phase it was still dazzling; and the sky glow that surrounded it added both illumination and a sense of mystery. No wonder so many poets had connected Selene with romance – and that some distant ancestor of Autumn had adopted its name for his descendants. To Chris Alan, Selene from Ge seemed the embodiment of Autumn’s bright smile and twinkling eyes – just as to Autumn, Ge from Selene seemed the embodiment of Chris Alan’s complex, ever-changing yet ever-unchanged personality.

The room where Chris Alan and Autumn stayed had a balcony that faced south down the valley. The valley’s western wall blocked the view of the Evening Stars (the Delphis/Piscis and Hematite/Caloris planet-moon pairs), just as its eastern wall blocked the view of the Morning Stars (the Teknon/Teknion and Phosphoros/Carbo planet-moon pairs), but it gave a good view of Selene once it had risen high enough. After dinner, Chris Alan went out to the balcony and watched Selene rise over the eastern wall until midnight. With the aid of Rafael’s Contact Lens Mode, he amused himself – or perhaps more accurately, distracted himself from his cares – by watching inbound and outbound space traffic pass in front of Selene.

At length, Chris Alan smiled to himself. “I still feel it, Rafael.”

“Feel what, Chris Alan?”

“Oh, sorry: I feel Nodus. It’s down below my feet and behind me, where Helios is.” The artificial planet-moon pair Nodus/Nexus (also called simply the Node and the Nexus) orbited Helios in opposition to Ge/Selene. They completed the sextet of planet-moon pairs called the Homeworld Rosette, put together by the Lord at the Founding of the Sphere. “Why should I know that?”

“Perhaps it is the Lord’s way of reassuring you that you have not been forsaken by Him. Your perception of the Power that flows from the Node has always been unique, even among Lightchildren. Retaining that perception should give you a sense of stability.”