“Well, Einar wanted you to meet his fiancée—she’s a biologist and worked with Knightwood on the Elphoran plants—her name’s—”
“Dr. Yuko Hanashiro,” Erin interrupted. “We’ve met already.” Erin added, suppressing her own resentments towards the scientists.
Ho-ling glanced between the two of them. Sensing Erin’s sudden reticence, she decided not to push her. “Well, I haven’t seen her yet—I hear she’s not only smart but very pretty as well. I’m going to go meet her. I’ll see you two later?”
“Sure,” Erin said, nodding.
A minute later, Nikolai sat down by Erin on the cushioned alien panel that resembled a couch. He reached out to hold the tiny fingers of little Hans, who appeared content to sleep in Erin’s arms.
“I—have you spoken to Erik yet?” Nikolai asked, and swallowed. He had told himself he wasn’t going to interfere, but at the same time had known he wouldn’t hold to his own advice.
“Not since before we landed on Tiernan, if you can believe it. It’s hard to imagine not seeing someone in so long with so few of us here.” Erin watched as he let go of the small hand.
“Well, you’ve been pretty hard to find—though it’s understandable.” He coughed. “I’m not saying I agreed with how the scientists treated you, but—”
“It’s all right. I understand. But the information had to be obtained.” Erin repeated the phrase she’d both been using herself and hearing a lot recently and sighed.
“Even so, it must have been hell,” Nikolai said and looked away. “We all worried about you,” he added quickly. “It’s strange. Do you remember that first time when the Blue Stripes Sky Hawks came through here? We wondered how you knew where you were going. I thought it was intuition—but now it seems unfair that some alien creatures think they have the right to take over your mind and invade your privacy—not once but twice.” Nikolai referred to a popular opinion among the Blue Stripes Sky Hawks, that Erin had been the beacon for an alien force still present on board, one that guided the ship.
Erin flinched. He thought it was just the painful memory of the experiences she had and apologized for bringing it up.
“Anyway, I know Erik’s anxious to talk to you—but of course he’s not going to come over here.” He added.
“Nikolai—” Erin began but stopped. “I think I’ll take little Hans back to his mother.”
“I don’t know—he looks happy where he is,” Nikolai said.
“He certainly does, but it’s time for one little boy to go to bed,” Hans’ voluble voice suddenly interrupted them.
“So, congratulations, Hans,” Nikolai slapped him on the back.
“Thanks. I’m glad you could all be here. I’ll just take the little guy to his room and I’ll meet you two over there in a minute. We’re about to have dessert. And I want Erin on my team for space stratego.”
“That old game?” Nikolai smiled.
“Ah, but it’s new and improved. Some of the new questions involve alien history.”
“I see,” Nikolai said, winking at Erin.
“I’m the host—so I’ll pick my partners.” Hans said. “Sorry, Nikolai, but I haven’t forgotten the good old days at the UESRC...” his jovial voice drifted off as he disappeared into the other room of the couple’s new quarters.
“No, I never was very good at history.” Nikolai admitted.
Erin and Nikolai laughed and went to join the others.
* * * * *
“Catherine,” Scott Dimitriev called out, and the name echoed in the laboratory. He turned around the intersection into the adjoining room, where the lovely young woman who was his fiancée sat, her eyes bent to a microscanner.
Dr. Catherine Cresson looked up and smiled, tucking a blond strand behind her ear.
“Hey, stranger,” she laughed. “Where have you been?”
Scott shrugged and sat down, picking up a writing instrument and fingering the end thoughtfully.
“You forgot to come back at 1100.” Catherine continued, looking into the microscanner. “How many more times are you going to start over with that experiment, hmm?” She asked, presenting him with a roguish smile, then seeing his expression, she stopped. “You know Knightwood and Zhdanov need anyone with scientific degrees to help out.” She admonished, then paused. “So, what’s on your mind?” She asked a moment later.
“I—I guess things on the bridge have been pretty busy since we left the dark matter cloud.” He admitted. “I’m sorry we haven’t had more time together.”
“Hey, you want to hear something funny?” Catherine suddenly asked, her expression deliberately detached as she handled several printsheets on the table in front of her. “You know your old friend, that Mathieson girl everyone’s been talking about? Well, Kansier won’t let us talk to her or give her an evaluation unless she’s willing to have one herself.”
“I agree with him,” Scott said firmly. “Though I think she should submit to it, everyone on board has certain rights—certainly the right to his—or her—own privacy, not to be poked and prodded. Moreover, she says she isn’t up to it yet, but told Knightwood she might at some point. I think she’s been through so many interviews that she’s quite afraid of a full medical analysis at this point. And Until Kansier orders it, she won’t do it.” He shook his head, stood, and turned away.
“But I didn’t come here to talk about all that, Catherine. I—” he paused. “I thought we might go somewhere today, just you and me. It would give us time to talk, and—” he turned around, but Catherine had returned to study the view through her microscanner.
“I’m sorry, but I just don’t have the time right now, Scott,” she said, still looking down. “But you could do something to help me out. Will you find your Mathieson friend and ask her if I might talk to her? I asked her to meet me here this afternoon, but she was leaving for flight practice and didn’t give me an answer. I’m having a little trouble with some of these Elphoran specimens.”
“Scott? Is something wrong?” Catherine looked up a moment later when no answer came. She stood, and headed over to him, reaching her arms around his waist and burying her head against his chest.
“You’re so handsome. I’m a lucky woman.” She said and sighed, but Scott hesitated a moment before holding her. As he encircled her with his arms, he looked down and began playing with a loose blond strand across her labcoat that had fallen from her hairclip.
Suddenly Catherine broke free with a smile.
“I’ve got to get back to work, darling. I’ll see you tonight for dinner?” She added and turned to her microscanner without waiting for an answer.
Scott stared at his open hand, then left the room.
* * * * *
Not long afterward, Scott approached Erin in the Great Bay that held the Stargazer. Kansier had reassigned flight training to all of the fighter squadrons now that they had entered a new galaxy, and several of the Blue team Sky Hawk squadrons had taken advantage of their stationary position to head out for practice.
“Major Dimitriev,” Erin pulled off her helmet and stopped when she saw him. “What are you doing here?”
Scott’s eyes narrowed. Her formal manner of address had put a distance between them.
“Looking for you,” he replied coolly.
“Actually, I’m busy right now. My friend Helen’s expecting me. She has a physical today, and I promised to take little Hans to one of the hydrogardens.” Erin turned to leave.
“Wait a minute, Erin,” he called after her, and took hold of her sleeve. She stopped but did not turn back around. “I just needed to ask you—” he faltered, feeling her irritation without understanding it.
In the past year, he had seen more of Erin and the other member of the primary bridge crew than his own fiancée; since they left Tiernan, however, he had seen little of either Erin or Catherine. The time alone had been ideal for contemplation, but nothing had really changed.
However, holding on to Erin’s arm, he suddenly realized there
were other things he wanted to say.
We pretend to love other people, and now I see just how wrong that is! he thought. My deception caused misery all around. Can’t you see that I’m trying not to care for you? Erik and Catherine feel it as much as we do; they know it—they can’t help but comprehend what is going on. They understand the power of our feelings more than we ourselves do—
“I know.” Erin shook her head and pulled herself free. “Or at least I can guess. Dr. Cresson wants to run some tests on me or with me. Fine. I’m off duty tomorrow at 1600. Tell her I’ll be there.”
“What?” Scott said, stepping back as though he’d been slapped. “How did you hear—”
“She was part of Dr. Koslov’s team in the analysis.” Erin explained. “I could tell she wasn’t very happy about Kansier’s decision not to probe my brain further. But look, I have to go. So, if you’ll excuse me, sir,” she said and turned. She gave hom a quick salute.
Scott stood a moment longer and watched her leave, stunned by her gesture, feeling anger rising in his throat. Why had Catherine bothered to ask him to relay the message if Erin already knew? He hadn’t even completely made up his mind to tell her, and yet now she thought he agreed with the others, the scientists who wanted to make her a guinea pig.
Well then, he thought, there was only one thing to do. He would make sure that Erin never arrived.
The opportunity you once let slip,
Eternity’ll not give you back again.
—Schiller
Chapter Eight
After so long, Erika Zirnenka, Iriken Zirnenka’s sister, had finally been transferred to the Great Leader’s Biological Functions Analysis Unit. Her own experience with the alien pilot of Kiel3 had launched her into a higher security team, a stepping off point, during which time she learned the detailed alien anatomy in preparation for future assignments.
Erika was not to concern herself with the fact that the evidence showed their Kiel3 humans to be genetically linked to their own race, though in a far distant past. Orians were also related to the extinct yahn creatures that they had once eaten for sustenance, before artificial synthesis of foods replaced the consumption of organic foods.
She had not seen Iriken since Enlil left the Kiel solar system.
Then all of a sudden, one day Iriken had appeared in the officer’s section lounge. He recognized her at once and came over to see how she had adjusted to the transition, but showed no excitement in their reunion. Erika remained a respectful distance from Iriken as he was now the new designate for chief advisor to the Great Leader, and she gave terse answers to his questions.
“What did you think of the planet Tiernan?” she suddenly asked. Her eyes widened as she realized her mistake. She had addressed him informally on a frivolous matter.
But Iriken responded with a curiously pensive expression. “The cruiser brought back many things of interest,” he said finally. He could not express the regret he actually felt that he had not been to the planet himself, for the Great Leader had not sent him. He could not regret that they had not stayed long enough in that system for him to learn more of the people that inhabited the strange world, for the Great Leader had taken them away quickly. There were so many things one could not say.
“Yes, we have had much to do.” Erika responded, nodding soberly. Inside her heart lifted, and she was glad for the chance to speak of simple things with him as they had during childhood.
Iriken scrutinized Erika’s face. He remembered her doubts before they left the Kiel system but saw with relief that she had amended her ways. He had probably inflated her discontent then beyond that which she had felt—but he was comforted to know that she was again happy and at peace.
He was glad that ambivalent thoughts did not trouble her.
As they did him.
* * * * *
“Keep them out there,” Major Dimitriev announced coolly over the videocom from his chair on the bridge.
“They’ve been practicing for several hours straight. Now how about letting them in for a break before they run out of fuel, huh?” One of the aircraft technicians in the Great Bay had called again to ask when the squadrons were coming back in. Kansier had gone back to his quarters to sleep and left the unofficial Co-Captain in charge.
But Dimitriev had his own agenda. Professor Cresson’s appointment would have to be canceled. Her patient Mathieson was still flying in circles outside the Discovery.
“Sir, as you know, radar reports we’re near a planetary system—spectral class F—a yellow star system. But Dr. Koslov has just sent us his analysis, and we’ve got it to review now,” one of the communications officers interrupted. “He predicts the second of the five planets might be able to support living creatures. Before we stopped, the ship was on a course that will take us right by it—what are your orders?”
“Bring the squadrons in but have them wait in the Great Bay,” Dimitriev reluctantly answered. “You’re probably right—I’ll bet the Discovery means to take us there. As soon as possible, patch in a visual of the second planet. How about transmissions?” He asked the bridge crew’s radar operator.
“None. If there’s intelligent life on the planet we’ve found, they haven’t figured out how to make a radio yet.” Lieutenant Meri Nilsson said.
Twenty minutes later, after the fighter crews reboarded the ship and the Discovery’s engines had engaged to bring the vessel to minimum speed, a visual appeared on the overhead holofield out of nowhere. As if the Discovery itself had been listening to Dimitriev’s orders, the ship produced its own magnification of the surface of a planet still two hundred thousand kilometers away. The sheer size of the holographic projection had awed them before, but it was the overwhelming beauty of the image it presented that brought out a collective gasp from the crew.
Damn this ship, it must have a mind of its own, and something on board is alive and aware of us, I’ll bet my life on that.
“Can we take the ship into an orbit?” Dimitriev asked. Erik Ross, one of the current bridge navigators, paused a moment to check the helm control.
“Hmmm. I think she’ll allow us to take her in.”
“Good.” Dimitriev nodded. “Then send out the squadrons once we’ve achieved orbit.”
* * * * *
Lieutenant Kusao’s plane dipped low, skimming the surface of a beautiful blue mountain lake. The squadrons had fanned out over the surface, searching for signs of life.
Even on the surface, the planet reminded Kusao of his old home on Earth. As they left the Great Bay behind, an enormous blue and white world had awaited them, bringing tears to their eyes. Their journey from Earth could have been a dream.
But the continents of this world were not arranged in a familiar pattern, and their scanners showed that the mass and surface gravity were slightly less than on Earth, the average temperature cooler, the seasons longer, the sunlight brighter.
The illusion of Earth faded, but the planet’s appeal did not.
They found no sign of intelligent civilizations, no artificial pollutants in the atmosphere, nothing except an array of small, graceful animal-like creatures and an infinite variety of greenery. Flowering plants suffused the surface of the land mass divided into three main continents—the visual showed only small deserts and dormant volcanoes.
“Beautiful,” Kusao said quietly.
Discovery relayed relevant information to the team as they flew over the surface—a magnetosphere and ozone layer like that of Earth protected the planet from cosmic radiation; in turn the squadrons relayed surface measurements, that the atmosphere would have been thin but most likely breathable.
Kusao was about ready to pitch his tent down there.
However, Erin Mathieson didn’t share the team’s enthusiasm; as she looked at the visuals, she tried to suppress a pang of anxiety about this strange world, but the feeling wouldn’t go away.
“I’d like to disembark to take some of these creatures up and take a look around.” Kusao said over the
communication network to the bridge, eyeing the rise of a nearby scopulus, a scarp twenty meters high from which he imagined himself surveying the wide horizon.
“Think that’s a good idea?” asked Erin Mathieson.
“If we’ve lost our alien friends,” returned Kusao, “then we might consider living here for a while—the crew needs this, sir—fresh air and nature as far as the eye can see. We can’t live forever in that ship. It may be a while before we get back to the Earth.” Kusao had contacted the bridge, and the other squadron members listening on the net made sounds of approval.
“Wait a minute,” Erin interrupted. “Don’t do anything yet. Have we checked for poisonous gases, toxins—microorganisms?”
“The analyzer says all systems normal,” Kusao said and presented her with a puzzled expression in the videocom window.
“Let’s bring down the more complex equipment to be sure,” Erin advised.
“Zhdanov’s on his way.” Dimitriev said over the intercom.
* * * * *
I’ve got you at last. The sibilant alien voice resonated throughout Enlil.
The pilots paused a moment as they prepared to launch. The only fear they knew was to displease their Great Leader.
Nearly ten thousand of them stood poised to initiate the Great Leader’s Plan, an unprecedented assembly in their history. The Great Leader had amassed more than two thirds of his fighters, though a hundred thousand pilots had been left behind. Those that had been chosen knew the honor they had been given.
Then, like a swarm of insects, they emerged from Enlil to converge upon the surface.
* * * * *
“It appears that lieutenant Mathieson had good reason to be cautious, sir.” Zhdanov spoke from the shuttle that had joined several of the squadron fighters on the surface, now flying over a large body of water flanked to either side by Erin Mathieson and Einar Suffield-Andersen. Kansier had reappeared on the bridge moments before the scientist’s transmission and now watched the monitor from his command chair as the Ukrainian scientist in the holomonitor shook his head in disappointment.