Chapter 15
Ship’s-leader Rafalyi’s career had been filled with controversy, and he was not above using it blatantly to further his ambitions. The controversy had started at his very birth, with accusations around the Gene Hall that he was really of half-caste descent. His mother firmly denied the rumors of her association with a high-ranking member of Ideation, and his father had proudly registered the birth as recognized and legitimate, so no direct action could be taken by the Pure Caste Council. But the rumors and the suspicions persisted, and his career had always been more closely scrutinized than most.
Whether the suspicions were true or not, Rafalyi had no way of knowing. But it was a fact that he was blessed—or perhaps cursed—with a quality of imagination generally absent from ot
