The Peacemakers - pg7

          “What is?”
          “Are you coming in?” Taggart’s dad’s voice sliced through the workshop.
          Taggart jerked round startled.
          “You don’t look well.” his dad said “Come on. Let’s get you two a couple of cold drinks.”
          The two boys exchanged surprised looks and followed into the house where Taggart’s mom, Christine, met them with a wide, excited grin and a tray of pale green Antaran sumac.
          Taggart’s mouth watered anticipating the sweet tangy liquid, perhaps the most delicious concoction he’d ever tasted. It certainly was the most exotic, made from fruit grown on a planet forty odd light years away. They so rarely ever had sumac because, well, Antara was forty light years away and there were limits to what luxuries even his parents’ prominence could afford them. Space commerce may be taken for granted now, but Antara still wasn’t exactly like going to the moon. “So, what’s the special occasion?”
          John Taggart took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “Well son,” he began. “You know your mother and I have dedicated much of our lives to research…” he paused and smiled at his son. “I’ve spent so much time out there,” he said, drawing his hand in a wide arc gesturing upwards. “I could see the hurt in you every time you asked to go with me into space and I said no.”