"What do you want me to say?"
"Come here, Laura."
Dad, she thought. It's for you. Alan, Alan, where are you? She walked to where Keifer was sitting.
"Sit down, Laura."
She sat.
"You still don't like me," he said, as if it were both regretted and unexpected. "But you're all alone now. I've given you the opportunity to start a new life here with me. Your father can't help you. And Alan Tremaine—"
"What about Alan?" Laura asked eagerly.
"I want ours to be a frank relationship. No lies. No deceits. Alan Tremaine is dead."
"What—what did you say?" Laura cried.
"Tremaine is dead. I got word this afternoon. An accident at the warp-station."