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    Across the Stars: Book Three of Seeds of a Fallen Empire
    Across the Stars: Book Three of Seeds of a Fallen Empire
    Across the Stars: Book Three of Seeds of a Fallen Empire
    Ebook521 pages8 hours

    Across the Stars: Book Three of Seeds of a Fallen Empire

    By Anne Spackman

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    About this ebook

    In Across the Stars, the Earth is recovering from an assault by a group of aliens known as the Orians. The Earth conscripts an alien spaceship on a journey across space... which leads them eventually to the home star system of the Orian race. On their journey, the Earthlings discover that one of their crew is an alien in disguise.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnne Spackman
    Release dateJun 23, 2012
    ISBN9781476491677
    Across the Stars: Book Three of Seeds of a Fallen Empire
    Author

    Anne Spackman

    At the current time, I am a gymnastics coach and a writer of many types of fiction. I have a BA in English language and literature from the University of Chicago. I am half-American and half-Scottish. I spent many summers as a girl in Scotland, and moved to England at 16 where I finished high school at Bedford High School in Bedfordshire, England.My first novel, The Last Immortal, I wrote more than twenty years ago. It is the first of six novels in the "Seeds of a Fallen Empire" series that was finished in 2000 and finally published as an e-book in 2010-2014 after many years of trying the traditional publishing route. I have also written one fantasy novel, Curse of the Dragon Kings, which was written in 1997 and published as an e-book in 2010.As a writer, I started out writing mostly science fiction and also fantasy as I so much loved J.R.R. Tolkien as a girl. I also really enjoy historical fiction set in the days of ancient Rome, (and Egypt.) I am now writing more romantic and historical short stories.

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      Book preview

      Across the Stars - Anne Spackman

      Across the Stars

      By

      Anne Spackman

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2012 by Anne Spackman

      All Rights Reserved.

      Cover Art by Boris Rasin

      Chapter One

      The aliens were here already.

      And a battle for the Earth of 3084 had been waging for fifteen years.

      The aliens were Orians, from a planet far away in the Rigell system, near the belt of Orion known as the Osiris Stars. A gray-skinned humanoid race, the Orians had begun an assault of the Earth, trying to recapture an ancient starship called the Selesta. The Orians’ purpose in coming to the Sol system remained unknown to the Earth.

      The Earth space fleet had recently attacked the Orians out at Pluto where their great spaceship Enlil was. For a moment, the Earth assault squadrons thought they had destroyed the alien vessel. But then, as the blaze surrounding the Orian’s ship ceased in the vacuum of space, the alien ship remained in tact, with a great gaping hole in the side. Somehow, the Orians had survived…

      * * * * *

      Heavy losses it looks like, the Earth pilot Erik Ross thought, looking at the image in his monitor. He was, for the moment, overjoyed to still be alive. Unlucky pilots who had been killed now decorated the space outside the ship, along with the debris of legions of destroyed fighter planes.

      Glad to be home, he thought. But damn it, why couldn’t the mission have been a success? Why couldn’t they have blown the alien mothership to smithereens?

      He was a part of the infiltration team that had so recently invaded the alien mother ship. Now they were docked safely in the fighter bay of a small space vessel called the Stargazer, returning to the warmth and safety of the flagship Stargazer from the deathly cold around the planetoid Pluto and its twin planetoid, Charon.

      Hmmm, John Fraser, too, Erik Ross’ monitor began to flash the losses from his squadron over and over, a bright light that segmented reality into disjointed split-second images.

      I can’t take any more, he said, shaking his head again. He stopped looking at the names and numbers of the fallen, vaulted from the cockpit, yanked off his helmet, and let it drop to his side. He held on to it with tired, swollen fingers, though his arm felt like lead. As he stood in front of his fighter, the cold air of the docking bay seeped through the damp brown hair at the nape of his neck, chilling him.

      Shit, man, never was so glad to see you, said his friend Hans.

      You either, Erik threw back. They were overjoyed to be back.

      Slowly, the rest of the Earth’s infiltration team who had escaped from inside what they called the Charon aliens’ spaceship began to disembark from their fighters. The fourteen survivors now gathered quietly in the docking bay, long after the other pilots had returned to their quarters. They could not join together in quite the same jubilant celebration, like the other squadrons returning to the flagship, the Stargazer.

      No one knew yet the full extent of the battle’s casualties, how many more comrades had been lost in the territory around the alien mothership.

      They stood there together for just a few moments, waiting for confirmation of their return, while each was lost in his own separate thoughts.

      Jason, my friend, Erik Ross thought with an involuntary shudder, remembering lieutenant Donnelly’s crash inside the alien ship. His mind replayed the images of that fight, but at last it lingered on an image of Jason’s plummeting fighter falling ever closer to the ground. What couldn’t he get that image out of his mind? Had Jason been alive then, or no more than–

      Erik’s stomach suddenly lurched, but with an effort, he managed to shake off the combination of nausea and pangs of anxiety washing over him. How many others had given their lives today defending the Stargazer? he wondered, his thoughts turning bitter.

      And for what? To fail??!! For that was what had happened. No matter what valuable information the infiltration team had obtained, they hadn’t managed to blow up the alien ship and send the aliens to eternity. The black monolith haunting Charon, Plutos’ twin planetoid, was still out there, and to Erik, this was the same thing as failure. Unreasonable as it was to have ever expected an Earth victory, he didn’t care.

      It kind of makes you feel ashamed to be one of the survivors. But really he felt ashamed to have returned without accomplishing what they had set out to the ends of the solar system to do. "Well, at least we learned some things," Erik said out loud, still standing by his fighter as he and Hans talked.

      And one thing that the infiltration unit had learned was that the creatures threatening the human race were almost human themselves.

      Can you believe all we saw? Hans said, nodding. The aliens aren’t too much like us, but they’re humanoid! Hans said with a shudder. I never expected that.

      I know what you mean, neither did I! I wonder what the Top Brass will do with this information.

      Me, too.

      Erik recalled the brief images of the creatures below as he had flown through the enemy ship; he knew he was not mistaken. There was no question about what the team had seen. Granted, they were grey and taller and such, but they were humanoids!

      So the aliens from both ships are humanoid. Think they’re the same—I mean, they look it, don’t they! said Hans.

      Another, abandoned alien ship had crashed to the Earth nearly twenty years before, and it had been buried by an avalanche. However, it had remained hidden until recently. Six months after it came to the Earth, the Charon aliens had arrived in the solar system, possibly to claim it, or the Earth itself. No one really knew what the Charon aliens wanted, but they had begun a destructive assault against the Earth.

      It was a good question—were the aliens one and the same, or were they different? Erik didn’t know. No one knew—yet.

      For the former occupants of the grounded alien vessel on Earth had seemingly vanished without a trace. Many people thought that if there had been any aliens inside it that they had been killed by the crash to Earth. But, recently, it had opened and the Earth had explored it, finding evidence of humanoid aliens that had once lived inside.

      They look… so human, Erik thought again in wonder. In all of his imagination, Erik had never once even thought that the Charon aliens would seem so close in form to his own.

      Yeah, you know, you think any species as violent and vicious as the Charon aliens wouldn’t be humanoid—but then again, said Hans. The human race isn’t exactly innocent of war in its past.

      No… Erik said. But did they come here to take our world? Wonder if we’ll ever know.

      Who knows? agreed Hans.

      Meanwhile, the other members of the infiltration team were also talking.

      They better not want the Earth to live on, Erik thought. In agitation, he balled a fist against the smooth surface of his Sky Hawk fighter. He drew back suddenly, temporarily drawing eyes with the abrupt intrusion of the unwanted sound. The fighter, warm only moments ago, was already encrusted with ice in the frigid cold of the docking bay; it was going to take a while for the heat to rise to normal levels. Erik pulled off his flight gloves as if to check his raw knuckles beneath, rupturing the air-tight seal of his uniform, and then stared at the lines inside his palm.

      They were the same as they had always been, not marked in any way that might betray what he had done, not stained with alien—with humanoid blood. However, he did not regret killing the aliens so much as how it had affected him to do it. The aliens deserved what they got, Erik thought, but at the same time, he regretted how their deaths made him necessarily a killer.

      We should be going soon. Said Hans. I don’t know why Captain Kansier hasn’t contacted us yet.

      Yeah, someone should have by now. Erik said, looking up and noticing suddenly that Erin Mathieson-Blair had survived!

      The girl he loved. Nothing seemed real anymore, with the line between truth and impossibility hopelessly muddled, but the concrete security that they had both survived now began to lift his mind from desolate thoughts. Erik regarded Erin a moment longer, then forcefully suppressed a sudden desire to hold her, for after the troubled chaos of battle and their frenzied mission through the alien spaceship, he wanted something permanent, something stable to hold on to.

      Neither he, nor any one on Earth except Dr. Cameron knew that she was an alien in disguise. Not even she herself knew it.

      Erin looked around the room.

      You ok, buddy? A hand on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts. Erik looked over to where lieutenant Susumu Kusao had joined him and Hans, eyebrows drawn together in concern. Erik wondered what inner thoughts he had given away in his unguarded expression and nodded that all was well.

      ‘Well, all right, then." Kusao nodded back, but his eyes said that he understood. They did not know each other well, Erik thought, but it didn’t matter. Every face in the room had been burned into his memory; he would never again think of them as strangers; whenever he saw them again, he would live this day again. This day bound them all together for life.

      Suddenly a signal on their wriststrap communicators interrupted the informal memorial. It was a transmission from Colonel Kansier, captain of the Stargazer.

      Welcome home, infiltration team, Kansier greeted them in his familiar baritone, yet this time in tones of pride and relief. If only Kansier knew how strange his voice sounded to them now! How distant they all felt from the world around them...

      All the survivors of the infiltration unit are requested to report to the Tactical Analysis Room immediately. Kansier ordered.

      Message received, sir, Lieutenant Cabrel, a dark-haired, lanky man of twenty-three clipped, responding automatically.

      Erik exhaled quickly and braced himself to leave the fighter bay.

      * * * * *

      The spaceship Selesta, grounded on the planet Earth, had been invaded twice. First, by a group of Earth soldiers, and secondly, by a lone man who had injected some of Selerael’s blood into his own body: Dr. Faulkner. Known as Erin Mathieson to the Earthlings, Selerael was an alien being in disguise–daughter of Alessia, a Seynorynaelian immortal woman, and the Orian man Eiron Erlenkov, who had died millennia ago on the planet Tiasenne.

      When Selesta crash landed on the Earth, Selerael had escaped–actually, she had been set free in order to look for the Enorian singularity, a remnant of exotic matter that could be used to alter the fabric of spacetime; it was supposedly on Earth. The singularity was infinitely precious as a tool for universal conquest or redemption. Selerael had grown up on the Earth, adopted by parents Richard Mathieson and Adam Blair. She did not even know that she was an alien.

      Ornenkai, the living spirit housed within the main computer of Selesta, had once been the Vice-Emperor of most of the known universe. He had sacrificed his own body to haunt the ship and guide its owner to his own redemption, for only if Ornenkai could defeat and dethrone the evil emperor Marankeil could he atone for his own sins and crimes against life in the universe.

      The second intruder into Ornenkai’s world was a lone Earthling, who, after injecting blood from Selerael into his own system, was beginning to undergo the metamorphosis. Whether or not he would survive and become an immortal had yet to be seen. Thirty-three alone of thousands of Seynorynaelian humanoids had survived, and they were far superior to the Earth and its creatures.

      Ornenkai had easily subdued the intruder into his realm, the human Aidan Faulkner, the foolish creature who had injected himself with Selerael’s blood.

      All of this helped Ornenkai to realize several things. First, Ornenkai knew at last that Hinev’s serum did flow in Selerael’s veins, for Ornenkai had seen Hinev’s serum at work before, and he had also seen the metamorphosis fail. Even when it failed, none were exempt from the agony of the poison; in truth, those who rejected the serum or who were denied an adequate dose merely suffered longer.

      The foolish man wanted to gain immortality somehow, he had discovered the truth, and he knew what he was doing when he injected Selerael’s blood into his own body.

      Well, Ornenkai had dealt with Faulkner, had drawn the man to the ship and contained him before he could do any more harm in the outside world, but now Ornenkai’s anger turned towards the people of Earth. Where had they hidden the Enorian singularity? He wondered to no avail; in all this time, Selerael had not been able to find it, though, under his guidance, she had long unwittingly searched the leading science centers of Earth.

      She had found something else, and it was clear to him through his connection to her that she had somehow found an ancient Enorian lyra seed—and injested it. What is had done to her he didn’t entirely know. For lyra seeds had never been seen before. The lyra forest on his own home world never produced seeds, and once dead, the lyra, planted by the Enorians, were gone forever.

      As for the singularity, Ornenkai just couldn’t believe it wasn’t there, even though, had he admitted it to himself, he had nothing more than an Enorian legend to justify his belief that it was here. Yet he had believed in the legend of the Enorian singularity for thousands of years so faithfully–how could it not be here?

      At long last, though, Ornenkai was now beginning to believe that he had been wrong, that the singularity was not to be found on Earth or that he had made some mistake in his interpretation of the Enorian legends.

      In but a fleeting moment in his long life, the hopes of ten thousand years had been dashed. He had made the long journey to Kiel3, to the Earth, for nothing at all. He had taken Selerael from her mother, Alessia, for nothing. This dredged bitterness from the depths of his soul! Was there nothing to be done to destroy the Emperor, once his best friend, and free their souls from damnation? Ornenkai knew the depths of that evil. He knew what power it would take for heaven to forgive him for having done all that he had as the Vice-Emperor.

      Now the careless creatures of Earth were intolerably invading his ship, invading Selesta with their barbaric teams of scientists. With all of their unconcealed poking about, it was certain to be only a matter of time now before Sargon, Great Leader of the Orians that the Earthlings called the Charon aliens, detected the ship and came to the Earth himself, despite the anti-radar cloak Ornenkai had engaged around the ship to safeguard its location.

      What if Sargon, that suffering near-immortal Orian Leader, were to find the singularity Ornenkai had failed to locate?–the Enorian singularity, the most powerful piece of exotic matter in the universe? The thought was too much to bear–he could set himself up as the next eternal emperor. And, without Selerael’s presence on board, the computer Ornenkai could not even keep Selesta from him; Ornenkai, once feared, once powerful, once respected Vice-Emperor of all the Seynorynaelian Empire, was now helpless.

      But if Selerael was now a true Immortal, then there was still hope, he reminded himself. She wouldn’t die within an ordinary lifetime–he had to believe that. He needed her to control Selesta fully, and he needed her to survive for the sake of his conscience.

      Ornenkai made a decision.

      It was time to give up the search. And time to return to Alessia, time to return to the Rigell system.

      * * * * *

      Anything wrong? asked Kansier.

      Major Scott Alexander Dimitriev was unaware that his present facial expression betrayed his mental distraction to those who knew him well, unaware that across the Stargazer’s bridge, Colonel Arthur Kansier was watching him closely.

      We failed to blow up the alien ship, he said. Do I look as upset as I feel?

      You do, said Kansier. But there’ll be another battle. It isn’t over yet.

      Kansier was a man of his word, highly observant, the sort who seldom gave up on a fight. He was ethical but tended to rate efficiency and integrity as the two greatest virtues. Kansier believed that attaining the good for the many mattered more than seeking his own personal glory. This of course, made him an excellent leader.

      I guess of course, you’re right, said Dimitriev.

      Kansier suppressed an instinct to make an inquiry about what was upsetting Dimitriev further, knowing it would do no good to pry. Kansier wasn’t ordinarily the sort to pry, anyway, and Dimitriev wasn’t the kind of man who exposed his problems to others or the kind to seek advice, though the advice he gave could generally be trusted. Of course, Kansier wouldn’t have promoted him had he not been a good officer and a fair man, as hard on himself as he was on others and more reliable than any one Kansier had ever known. Over the last two years, Kansier had sincerely come to believe that when Dimitriev gave his word, nothing short of injury kept the man from keeping it. More than a bit like himself, he thought in approval. Even though Dimitriev said that honor was only an illusion, the man clearly lived by honorable principles.

      Yet what if Dimitriev’s strange behavior today began to interfere with his duty as Co-Captain? Kansier wondered, as Scott shifted restlessly in his chair. Despite his concerns, Kansier was willing to give Dimitriev the benefit of the doubt and time to sort out whatever it was that was bothering him. Dimitriev had always been able to pull himself together when he was most needed.

      Kansier had tried his best to curb the younger man’s anger for revenge, to give his anger a constructive outlet by making him Co-Captain and laying the copious responsibilities of running a spaceship on his shoulders. Dimitriev’s underlying hatred of the aliens was a resource to be tamed and used productively, Kansier knew, despite the contrary opinions held by his fellow ship commanders.

      Kansier felt gratified that Dimitriev had vindicated Kansier’s faith on more than one occasion. Dimitriev was, understandably, afraid to let any one get close to him, after having suffered the loss of his entire family. Kansier knew that very few people understood what that kind of loss could do to a man, or to anyone.

      Anything on your mind you want to tell me about? asked Kansier.

      Nothing special sir, Dmitriev said, perhaps believing himself, but his expression suggested otherwise.

      Dimitriev was also the kind of person who might criticize outwardly what he did not always feel in his heart of hearts; he didn’t always say what he thought, to keep his mind and heart from being criticized by others. This observation was a logical deduction on Kansier’s part; whatever principles Dimitriev lived by, the secrets of them belonged to him and none other.

      Yet despite the years Kansier had known his subordinate officer, Kansier hadn’t been able to understand Dimitriev’s odd behavior just prior to and throughout the battle, though he didn’t have much time to reflect upon it until now, with the battle over. Now he realized that Dimitriev’s face had the look of a man who had sold his soul to the devil at the moment when the devil at last came to collect.

      I did something I shouldn’t have done, said Dimitriev at last.

      When the infiltration team returned just minutes ago, a moment of elation had swept over them all, but Dimitriev’s relief had been short-lived. If anything, he appeared more upset than elated by the news. Kansier didn’t ask him about it, though, figuring that Dimitriev would find whatever resolution he needed on his own.

      Meanwhile, Scott listened as Kansier made an announcement to Arnaud’s returning infiltration team, instructing them to head to the Tactical Analysis Room. Scott understood that it was his duty to make an appearance as well.

      How could he face Erin? He had been so cruel to her before they parted. He felt a horrible unease in the pit of his stomach.

      It wasn’t easy to recollect himself, but there was nothing else he could do.

      * * * * *

      Heading towards the door, Kansier turned to see if his Co-Captain was coming and took notice of Dimitriev’s sudden composure.

      All ready for debriefing, sir. The Major offered, cool and aloof.

      Such indifference now, Kansier thought in complete surprise, yet still quietly circumspect. From his tone of voice, Dimitriev might as well have been commenting on the weather!

      But Kansier wasn’t easily fooled.

      * * * * *

      The Stargazer had passed Neptune on its way home from the Charon front line, and all defense systems had returned to normal status, but the infiltration team’s conference with Colonel Kansier, Captain of the Stargazer, and his Co-Captain, Major Dimitriev, was just getting under way in the Tactical Analysis Room. When they had all been seated around the conference table, Kansier asked for a brief account of the mission’s progress in order that he could compile a concise but comprehensive report for the meetings back on Earth.

      One at a time, I’d like to hear some of your impressions of the alien mothership, Kansier motioned to his right with a wave of his hand, turning the conversation over to them.

      Beginning with the hull. Said Kansier, off-handedly. It would be very interesting to learn how their ship was constructed. I want to know how well-armored that thing is without their electromagnetic shields.

      The ploy they had used to allow the infiltration unit inside was not likely to work a second time; the Earth was going to have to figure out how to deactivate the enemy’s shields permanently if they ever hoped to survive, and if the hull itself was penetrable–the Earth just might have a chance, Kansier thought.

      Although nearing fifty, Kansier appeared scarcely older than he had at thirty, though there were perhaps a few more wrinkles around his bright hazel eyes; however, with the average life expectancy well over one hundred, Kansier was often heard to say that he would think about slowing down in another fifty years–if he was fortunate enough to live that long. The alien threat to Earth had, in recent years, substantially lowered the lifespan estimate.

      Well, sir, the outer hull is about ten meters, Lieutenant Ricna began with detachment, though such a high estimate effectively minimized any hopes of compromising the alien hull by any means available to the Earth.

      For a while, Mara Ricna had been leading the team, until Erik took over. Ricna was a tough woman of twenty, with ropy muscle and little grace, but with such an earnest face that few ever questioned her assessments.

      I see, Kansier nodded, a flicker of anxiety barely perceptible behind his eyes.

      Underneath there’s a kind of–you might call it a floating hull, Ricna continued.

      A ‘floating hull’? Kansier echoed, not bothering to conceal his skepticism.

      Well, yes. Ricna nodded thoughtfully, with a disconcerting air of certainty regarding her appraisal. We came into an area filled with electro-magnetically charged wires attached to another layer of loose hull plates just under the hull’s skin. My guess is that when the hull was breached, the wires brought one of the hull plates in to seal the gap, but I didn’t actually see it myself–the wires began to tighten in the channel you created for us, and we had to hurry to reach the far breach or be caught in the electromagnetic net. Otherwise our mission would have ended there.

      Let’s all be thankful for Arnaud’s new fighters. Kansier nodded. And then?

      Then we passed through the breach in an inner layer of plates that seals the second hull while heading for the interior–the plates there were also beginning to move as we made it through. Ricna continued. I suppose another few seconds and we’d have been crushed. As it was, there was no way back out the way we had come in.

      Just like the other one, Kansier muttered under his breath, thinking of the grounded alien dreadnought on Earth, with its many movable, overlapping hull layers and plates under the smooth outer hull.

      I don’t know what everyone else expected to come across, but that place was nothing like I imagined, sir, Lieutenant Etienne Charbonneau interrupted, shaking his head.

      I can imagine, Dimitriev agreed, scanning Charbonneau’s face. And I’m sure there is hardly a soul alive who wouldn’t like to know what the enemy we’re facing truly is. Can you describe what you saw?

      Kansier nodded to Charbonneau, who, at twenty-three, was about two years older than Dimitriev.

      I’ll try, sir, Charbonneau paused, reflecting, glancing between Kansier and Dimitriev. It was really antiseptic you might say, and cold. Definitely not organic, either. The walls and floors were completely seamless, dark blue or green metal alloys, and there weren’t any lights on. Most of the time the place looked deserted.

      Interesting, Kansier nodded. Ross, Mathieson, how do you think the interior compared with the ship here on Earth? Kansier asked, turning his gimlet hazel eyes to them. As part of the Blue Stripe Sky Hawk squadron, they were the only two of Arnaud’s infiltration team to have been inside the first alien ship, grounded on Earth.

      The coloration and architecture were completely different, sir. Erik shrugged, seeing where Kansier was going. But the air locks, cargo bay, and I guess even the walls were the same, he admitted.

      The same? Dimitriev repeated, though it was not really a question.

      Yes, sir. Still, there was one odd thing, Erik said, his eyes still on Kansier. There weren’t many doors. Almost none, actually. The few we saw weren’t like ours or like the ones in the first alien ship.

      How so? Kansier wondered.

      Well, sir, there were huge identification plates on them. Erik explained. We got footage of a few traveling at high speed. If you want my opinion, sir, I suggest we try to slow down the vidigital footage and isolate the writing–compare it to the samples we obtained in the ship on Earth.

      Kansier thought for a moment. He had yet to inform anyone of Knightwood’s assessment, that the alien script proved the aliens had been on Earth long ago, in that their writing had an Egyptian falcon hieroglyph in it, and type I cuneiform in the name plates. Kansier had yet to deal with the news. If the aliens were related to the ancient civilizations of the Earth, was the Earth an alien colony? And how were the aliens related to Earth people, if at all? No one yet knew the answer.

      Yes, we’re having the shipboard analysts copy and examine the alien script, Kansier said, recalling the countless sealed doors of the alien ship on Earth. Although the grounded alien ship had seemed abandoned and uninhabited after the recon teams explored it, the nature of its origin was still a burning question in everyone’s mind, and Kansier himself wasn’t entirely convinced that they were safe from that quarter, either.

      As interesting as that may prove to be, sir, Lieutenant Kusao interrupted, pushing his chair back casually and folding his arms across his chest, we found something I know that the UESRC, the United Earth Scientific Research Center, will want to know about as soon as possible.

      Do go on, Lieutenant, Kansier said, intrigued.

      Well, sir, we had gone a substantial way further inside the ship to an enormous area, a few miles wide, and several miles long, where it looked like they had recreated–an entire terrestrial city.

      Kansier listened attentively, showing no outward sign of surprise. His expression was fiercely concentrated, and they could see his eyes were working over the information. Then Major Dimitriev coughed, and Kansier looked up again, combing his hands through his hair to compose himself.

      There were mountains further ahead, and thousands of buildings below, sir. Kusao continued. We got a look at some trees unlike any I’ve ever seen. Then Erik managed to find the best passage to the power center up above the city, but at first it had been hidden by the artificial sky projection.

      Sky projection? Kansier repeated tonelessly.

      Yes, sir. I’ve never seen as many stars as were projected, Kusao finished.

      We’ll review the recorded material, Dimitriev added. And maybe if the projection correlates to known stellar coordinates, we can determine roughly where these aliens came from.

      You didn’t make it to the energy source, though, Kansier commented, masking his disappointment. One thing the infiltration unit had been sent to do was to incapacitate or even possibly blow the alien ship up from the inside if they could. The idea that they could blow up the alien ship from inside had been an optimistic dream.

      More than that though, Arnaud wanted information about the aliens, information that might reveal how best to defeat them, just in case some unknown ship number three or four or five ever appeared in the Sol system. The last attempted nuclear attack on the Charon aliens’ ship had only succeeded in destroying the surface of nearby Pluto; the aliens had a kind of shield barrier protecting their ship that made it impenetrable–except during an attack, when they deployed their own fighters. That had been the weakness that allowed the infiltration team inside the Charon aliens’ vessel, but Arnaud had had no idea what to expect inside. No one had. It seemed even a nuclear bomb had been somehow isolated and kept from doing more than intensive damage to a limited region of their ship.

      No, sir, we couldn’t find any power source, Kusao shook his head. That is, we couldn’t get to many of the main power areas. The corridors were too tight for us to maneuver. And by the time we reached one of the higher energy areas, our infiltration had been discovered. I think maybe someone in the city heard our fighters above them. In any case, we ended up being chased away from the engine area and down a wide corridor in the open air, with buildings over twenty meters high to our right and left. Kusao finished.

      Erik leaned forward. We were flying down that corridor when we lost Lieutenant Donnelley, sir. We were hemmed in, but it seemed the fighters we encountered were protecting some of the creatures below us.

      Creatures, you say? Kansier’s hazel eyes flickered with sudden interest. Did you get a look at them, lieutenant?

      Yes, sir. Erik shook his head affirmatively, then raised his eyes to give Kansier a meaningful stare. "They appeared to be humanoid, sir. Grey-skinned, with more, well, bird-like heads than us. Hard to describe it otherwise, but they were like humanoids with more pointed heads, I guess you would say."

      Kansier remained silent, his hands folded together under his chin, his head partially bowed, elbows resting on the table.

      Dimitriev shifted in his chair; the muscle beneath his left eye twitched. Humanoid?

      Yes, Erik said, squarely facing the Major, as though savoring Dimitriev’s reaction.

      You saw the creature in the picture from the alien ship that landed on Earth. Any similarities? Kansier demanded.

      I thought so, sir. Erik looked to the viewscreen, regarding it thoughtfully. The only difference as far as I could tell was that these aliens had blond hair, almost white really.

      "They weren’t the same," Erin interjected quietly.

      Oh? Kansier responded, turning to her curiously; the others had also turned. It was clear that they didn’t agree with her statement. How so?

      Well, sir, when you get the footage, just look at their eyes. Erin offered. There’re so–pardon me sir, but they’re so damned catatonic, like they are clones or some other species with less intelligence.

      Don’t be ridiculous. They are both humanoids, with grey skin, Ricna laughed, summarily dismissing Erin’s argument. She had heard that the girl was suppose to be a genius of some kind, but this kind of statement gave Ricna serious cause to doubt rumor. Remember that they share some similarities visually—but I guess we can’t say for sure unless we get DNA samples.

      Hmmm, Kansier said, pondering Erin’s words and remembering conversations he had shared with Knightwood and Zhdanov just after their return from the ship buried on Earth. During the mission, he had seen relays of the brief footage taken by the recon team as the Blue Stripes Sky Hawks emerged from the alien vessel, footage the visual experts were now segmenting together in proper order. Erin Mathieson’s instincts concerning the aliens had been so integral to their discoveries that he was not entirely ready to dismiss her argument yet.

      The eyes are a mirror to the soul, Kansier said thoughtfully a moment later.

      What was that, sir? Dimitriev asked.

      It’s nothing. Kansier shrugged. Don’t be too hasty to dismiss any ideas here, lieutenant Ricna. We still need the DNA, anyway, Kansier turned back to lieutenant Ross.

      Let’s leave out conjectures about the aliens, though. He said. Right now I just want the facts, without any amateur conclusions. We’ll leave those up to the experts. All I want is to proceed quickly with this debriefing. I’m sure you all need some time to recuperate and compile your reports.

      * * * * *

      After the long session with Kansier, Erin trailed behind the others as they left the conference room. She was tired. They had been on duty for too long. Only at home was there a time for play, usually when Squeaky the siamese cat came over to be pet and cuddled.

      But, as time went by, Erin was becoming more and more dissatisfied with living for the future, for tomorrow, and with ignoring the growing part within her that wished more than anything for someone to share things with, to enjoy life with today. For so long, she had thought Scott Dimitriev was certain to be the right person for that, and since he had dispelled her illusion just a short time ago, she felt hollow inside. She had begun recently to feel that very little mattered any more, except doing what had to be done, except doing her duty.

      Erin watched Erik disappear around an intersection ahead, but while the others parted ways down their own corridors, groaning about sore muscles and fatigue, trying to drown their sorrow in conversation, Erin felt too anxious for sleep.

      She knew others who would get no sleep that night. In the recent battle, Lieutenant Grayson of the Ural Base’s bagrovii team had lost her fiancé, lieutenant Gibson of the UESRC’s orange team of three years ago. He had recently returned to join the infiltration unit from two years at the Ganymede orbit near Jupiter on board the Carolian. Grayson was a short, slightly round girl with rosy cheeks, bright lovely brown eyes, and a mass of curly brown tendrils, yet at the moment her eyes were dull and hollow from fatigue and grief. Yet Grayson refused to be comforted by anyone in the infiltration team; Erin decided it was just as well. She wasn’t sure how much comfort she would have been to anyone right now.

      Scott hadn’t spoken a word to her during the debriefing or given any sign to indicate that he was relieved to see her; his detachment disappointed her, but after her clumsy confession in the hours before the battle, it no longer surprised her. He felt nothing for her, that much was clear, and though she knew she had been mistaken about a great many things regarding his character and behavior, she had analyzed herself, and she knew she still loved him. She had meant what she said, that she understood that difficult circumstances had brought him to his present state of mind, but she could still remember what he had once been in late childhood and would always love him for that, no matter what his present opinion of her was.

      She didn’t expect anything from him, and she was not about to feel sorry for herself. She had never believed in mythical white knights on war horses or that one would ever come to save her or solve her problems for her. She had only ever wanted to rely upon herself, to be independent and yet to have something more than that: someone else to love. However, during the long wait before the infiltration team was deployed, she had found ample time to sort out her feelings.

      She found it easy to think about turning herself into a hard unfeeling stone and found she rather liked it. It was much better than the embarassment of confessions of love.

      Erin was so fully convinced of this that on the way to the debriefing, she had decided to give Dmitriev up at last. That did not mean she would give up her love for him. That would have been impossible, as she had told him it would be, even if he had demanded her to do so. She could just be herself. Yet she expected nothing and nothing from him.

      A few minutes later, she was about to activate the door panel when she remembered that she had promised Nathalie a match of chess before the unexpected transmission had arrived from Earth to deploy the fighters; it was still only mid-afternoon, though time was an artificial imposition here, where the sun’s light barely reached them.

      Retreating her steps and making a right at the last intersection, Erin found the decorated door of her squadron mate and good friend. She knocked softly on the door and announced herself, even though the computerized door screener would have already signaled that she was there.

      So the prodigal returns at last! Nathalie Quinn declared affectionately, drawing her inside and giving her a fierce hug. The short, fiery French-Canadian girl with sharp emerald eyes was usually reserved about such displays of affection; even as she came inside, Erin suspected something might be wrong.

      Aside from the brief moment of animation, Nathalie seemed unusually lethargic; she had yet to take off her flightsuit from the recent battle, even though it was quite warm in the crew’s quarters.

      Ho-ling Chen, their close friend, remained seated on her chair, busy reading a book on her electronic notebook. Ho-ling had put on a sleeveless shirt that exposed her sinewy arms and sat with her feet carelessly propped up on the table.

      We’re glad to see you, Nathalie continued, tucking her dark curls behind her ears. They told us Arnaud’s team had returned with heavy casualties, but they wouldn’t say yet who made it back safely. And–Erik? Nathalie added.

      Yes, he’s back in his quarters. Erin nodded. Nathalie shrugged and looked down, then began to fidget with her sleeve.

      So what happened out there? Ho-ling asked, finally turning to them, breaking her farce of composure and indifference. There was a disturbing quality of hidden pain in her eyes. Erin waited to determine what had been the cause of it.

      I really don’t know if we’re supposed to talk about the mission until we’ve given the information to the Earth Security Force Council. Erin admitted.

      Oh, Nathalie said, disappointed.

      But then again, Erin continued, Kansier’s sending some information to Knightwood and Zhdanov so they can prepare their arguments. And he didn’t order us to keep quiet. Besides, you were both in the other alien ship, and who else are you going to tell?

      Don’t get yourself into trouble on our account, Ho-ling protested, turning away abruptly, but Nathalie was having none of it.

      Forget her, she shrugged, and let us know what the aliens look like. Did you see any? Are they disgusting? How many heads and arms and do they have? Or–if they’re really awful, maybe I don’t want to know.

      Erin laughed. "You’re in for an even bigger surprise than you imagine. I think we should wait until Katrin gets here. I’d hate to have to repeat

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