[capnq]

CEO Cunsi Davdi watched the vidfeed with mixed emotions. I really should be celebrating, he thought to himself. The initial public offering for Pilda Shipyards had broken several records; the "New World, New Life" promotional campaign had drawn over two hundred and fifty-five million entries; speculators had sold their berths on the _Consumer Confidence_ for as much as eight times what they'd paid for them. It had been the Eifralo Conglomerate's most successful project so far during his tenure as CEO.

Yet all Davdi could think about as the hulking colony ship prepared to break orbit was that the woman he loved was leaving with it. Talro hadn't even told him that she'd entered the sweepstakes, and when she announced that she'd won one of the non-specialist slots, he was stunned that she actually intended to go, rather than resell her ticket. They'd never actually discussed a household merger, but Davdi had assumed that they'd spend the rest of their lives together. If that was going to happen at all now, it wouldn't be until he retired; he couldn't run the Conglomerate from a frontier branch office, and the Conglomerate needed him more than Talro did.

And that was the crux of it. Talro didn't need him at all. How much did he need her?

"There you are," his thoughts were interrupted. Retla Gurse, Vice President of Construction, bounced into the room. Besides being in charge of Pilda Shipyards' day-to-day operations, Gurse was also Davdi's closest friend. "Public Relations has been looking for you for a soundbite about the launch."

"I know, that's why I ducked in here," Davdi grinned. "Needed some time alone to compose something catchy enough to make the early newsfeed."

"Better get out there, then, before you get upstaged. The drive flare when all five engines throttle up is pretty impressive. And stop worrying about Talro; you know as well as I do that she'll be fine."

"You know me too well, old friend. Let's go give the customers the show that they came for."