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That was not an answer, and I suspected my mate had become entirely too comfortable conspiring with people behind my back. We headed towards the landing area together, with the children gathering around us, curious about the arriving shuttle.

"Who's on that one?" Evan asked, peering up at it.

"Is it another spaceship?" Matt wanted to know. "Can we go and see?"

I glanced at the message on my data pad. Bob had just confirmed the arrival, and I was still trying to absorb the implications.

"Grandma and Grandpa are on that shuttle," I told them.

Both boys stared at me.

"Grandma and Grandpa are here?" Evan asked.

"Here on New Haven?" Matt added, his voice rising with excitement.

"Yes. And before you start pestering me with a hundred questions, let's let them get off the shuttle first."

That lasted about ten seconds. The moment the hatch opened and my parents appeared, the boys were off, calling to them and waving their arms. I hurried forward to meet them.

"Mom! Dad!"

My mother came down the ramp and wrapped her arms around me. She hugged me tightly, then pulled back to look at my face as though she needed to confirm I was really there. My father embraced me next, clapping a hand against my back.

"Oh, sweetheart," Mom said, her eyes shining. "Look at you!"

"I'm fine, Mom."

"I can see that."

She hugged me again anyway. Then she spotted the children and promptly forgot about me, crouching to gather Evan and Matt into her arms while Dad leaned over to greet Laura in her stroller. Skye was wagging so hard that her entire back end seemed to be involved, and Dad made sure she received her fair share of attention, too.

For a few moments, there was nothing but hugs, questions, laughter, and the boys talking over each other about spaceships and the enormous ship we'd come aboard. Then I remembered something.

"Why are you here already? I thought you were going to visit once we'd settled in!"

Dad straightened, still scratching Skye behind the ears. "Well, while we were talking to Xero, he suggested that since your minivan conversion was on this flight, we should join it."

I stared at him. "My what?"

"Your minivan conversion."

I looked at Mom. She smiled innocently.

"And he put us in touch with a lovely woman who'd just been matched to a Mylos testing-centre officer," Dad continued, as if he were explaining how they'd found a good local plumber. "She had a camper she was selling, so we bought that, too."

I stared at him some more. Tarek made a small noise beside me that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed laugh.

I turned slowly towards him. "You knew about this."

"I knew they were coming."

"And the minivan?"

"Bob was handling that."

I looked at the simulated sky above the landing area and briefly considered asking the universe why it had apparently decided my life needed more surprises.

"Bob?" I called.