Naturally, the team leaders of the existing maintenance crews being the most experienced were requisitioned, Ray among them. All trainers were called to a special meeting hosted personally by Pfeffer.
Ray felt terrified at the prospect of being in the same room as her. The only time she had seen her in person, other than at a distance, was during the speeches on the day the humans first arrived. She had seemed benign and friendly then, but it had become abundantly clear that her wide smile and friendly eyes were a veneer painted over a calculating, pitiless creature, completely devoid of empathy.
Recently her reputation among Dianians was bordering on Satanic. A cold, intractable demon crunching over the bones of the Dianians with all the empathy of the great earth movers carving gashes into the forest to make way for Life2 habitats.
Ray and the dozen other Dianian experts sat in a small meeting room wide-eyed, confused, and fearful. After a time, Pfeffer strode primly up to the front. Her smile instantly lowering the temperature in the room by several degrees. Jager, Aymes and another marine that Ray didn’t recognize, followed several steps behind scanning the room in their practiced manner. Jager was looking for something to eat as usual. Ray noticed Jager separate himself from Aymes so that he was slightly in front of Pfeffer, leaning against the side wall. Ray realized that this was the first time she been this close to Jager, another sobering and terrifying thought.
Unlike other recent meetings, nobody carried weapons which made Ray at least a little hopeful that they were not about to get very bad news. Pfeffer conversed briefly with Aymes and then turned to face the motley assembly of just over a dozen Dianian remote signals specialists. As she looked up her eyes encountered Ray’s as she sat in the front row.
Pfeffer froze. Ray felt her stomach lurch at the direct eye contact. A spike of terror consumed her as if she had been singled out for execution. Pfeffer’s eyes flicked involuntarily towards Jager, Rays eyes following. Ray imagined she saw Jager shake his head once, his eyes intense with warning. Pfeffer returned her attention to the room, visibly forcing her gaze away from Ray. She had to look back down at her screen to gather herself before she spoke.
The prickle of warning that spread up Ray’s spine and into the skin of her face was almost overwhelming. Ray had to physically hold on to the seat of her chair to stop herself from getting up and running out of the room. Pfeffer had clearly recognized her. Pfeffer knew who she was, and it appeared Jager did too. Immediately Ray’s mind turned back to the incident at the lake. Had the guards described her red hair? Or worse, had there been cameras mounted around the compound as she ran past?
All of Ray’s fears about the incident resurfaced. Her heart was pounding, and she could feel the skin prickle turning into a telltale rash on her face. She struggled to focus on what Pfeffer was saying, thinking only about how she could run escape. Pfeffer was now casting her gaze around and talking directly to each of the Dianians in the room. Her eyes, however, never returned to Ray’s which served only to compound her fear.
Ray forced herself to focus on Pfeffer’s words. She was saying that the group in this room were elite among the Dianians and were to perform in a special roll in CDSE signals operations. Pfeffer’s smile had returned but her eyes still looked haunted.
With their unique knowledge of local equipment and conditions they were to be retained in signals for the foreseeable future. There would be one Dianian specialist per CDSE crew. Each crew paired with a two-man UN security detail to be assigned by Master Sergeant Aymes.
At Pfeffer’s mention of Aymes, many eyes in the room turned towards her, including Ray’s. Aymes looked right back at Ray, her face unreadable. Pfeffer read through her list of names pairing Ray and the other Dianians with several CDSE specialists. Ray recognized none of the names in her crew. Pfeffer finished with instructions to assemble ready for a two-week tour, Thursday 0800 sharp.
As Pfeffer and Jager left the room Ray sat staring straight ahead. Everything in her body told her this was bad Jager paused inside the door and took a last look at Ray’s profile before turning to leave. Ray clearly saw Aymes extrapolate Jager’s eye-line and turn her head to look. Ray thought she detected a barely perceptible twitch of Aymes eyebrow in her otherwise impassive face. It had to be Aymes. Maybe she could have taken an ordinary marine. Maybe delivered one decent hit to distract him before she bolted. But Aymes? No chance.
Ray closed her eyes, expecting Aymes huge hands to close on her arm any second. She waited for what seemed like an eternity. When the touch on her arm did finally come she lowered her face in defeat and waited for the instruction she knew was coming. “Come with me miss, Lieutenant Commander Jager needs to speak with you.”
But those instructions never came. Eventually, Ray looked up confused. Boots, one of the other Dianian specialists, was holding her arm looking concerned. As Ray opened her eyes he signed,
“Are you OK?”
Ray looked around. There was no sign of Pfeffer, Jager or Aymes and the rest of the Dianians had either already left or were filing out of the small meeting room. Ray looked back at Boots frowning.
“I thought…,” she began.
“You thought what?”
“…I thought Jager was…,” Ray looked back at the door fully expecting Jager and Aymes to be there again or coming towards her. No…they were definitely gone.
Boots frowned at Ray.
“Are you sure you’re OK?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing,” Ray grimaced an apologetic smile, “that man just gives me the creeps.”
“You’re not alone there,” Boots concurred.
Ray stood and made her way out of the room casually, fighting the urge to run.
CHAPTER 18
Ray sat with Bones, Sparks, and Nettle around her mother’s dinner table. It had been a while since everybody had eaten together and Ray felt sad it wasn’t under happier circumstances. Ray had delivered her news about the Dianian signals specialists and her new trainer role with CDSE. Now Sparks was delivering a sermon.
“This is our home. This is our planet, our land. If anybody owns it, it’s us. It’s crazy that CDSE can turn up now and say, sorry but we bought this. Thanks for looking after it but fuck off! How could Earth have done this to us?”
Nettle nodded, “I’m not going to be a fucking maid for some rich Earth prick,” she added, “and if I grow any food, I’m going to fucking well eat it myself.”
“And did you hear,” Sparks added, getting more agitated, “The first Life2s are arriving next week? Why are we always the last to know? They must have been in transit for years.”
“There are too many of us,” Nettle signed punctuating her speech with sharp angry jabs, “If they piss us off too much they will have a revolt on their hands, and I would be in the front line. I’d love to grab that slimy Pfeffer by her grinning lips and shove the whole lot up her skinny arse. If they are keeping secrets, they are keeping them because they know we are not going to like them. They are keeping secrets because they don’t want us to blow them all the fucking way back to Earth.”
Bones looked uneasily at Nettle and then at Ray as if considering them.
“What?” Ray signed seeing her mother’s look.
Bones surprised Ray, “Nettle’s right.”
“About what?” Ray asked.
“About keeping secrets.” She turned from Ray and spoke to the table. “I don’t trust CDSE and I don’t believe they have our best interests at heart. I hear what Nettle is saying and I agree, they are scared to tell us everything in case we cause problems for them.” She turned and looked meaningfully at Ray again.
“I have other reasons to distrust them as well. Reasons that I will tell you about when the time is right.”
Ray interjected, “Maybe we can make the best of this. We have always worked for the humans. Maybe they are just coming down heavy at the beginning but eventually they will relax. Forget to watch us so closely. Most of them are OK? The humans I mean. Besides, surely the UN are
here to maintain Earth laws, right? To make sure CDSE don’t overstep?”
Nettle looked at Ray directly, “Don’t be blind. It’s not just Pfeffer and Jager and their crew. These new humans that are coming are different. They are the lords of the Earth. They have money, wealth, and power the likes of which you cannot even imagine. If you thought Pritchard and his goons were bad this lot will be worse. They are the ones that consumed the Earth to the point of killing it, they take whatever they want and don’t give a shit about the consequences. They will come here in their thousands upon thousands. We will be less to them than the mud that will stick to their shoes. They will consume Diana and they will consume all of us. We will exist only so that they do not have to see the fucking weeds that grow in their gardens or where their food comes from.”
Sparks was nodding in agreement and Bones didn’t argue. Nettle continued.
“But that is not what scares me the most. Out here we are far from the governing laws of Earth, far from help should we need it. And why would they help even if we could send a message? They no longer need us to keep them alive, to provide oxygen for them, or clean their stinking air. The people that are coming will have desires that they will expect us to meet and they will believe that there are no laws to keep them in check. This world and all of us will be their play things. They are coming here to become gods and I don’t believe that the UN will have the numbers or inclination to stop them.”
Sparks banged his fist on the tables, “We must fight this. We must stop them.”
Ray found herself nodding. Nettle had a way of saying things so that they felt true. Her words scared Ray badly. She was already sure that once her new trainer role was done she was going to be shoved out of signals work, probably to pick carrots in a field for the rest of her life or scrub some wrinkled monstrosity’s floor.
Bones nodded at Sparks and paused to look around the table,
“Yes, we could fight. We might even win. We might even drive them all out. “
Nettle was nodding enthusiastically. Bones held up her finger for attention, “But,” she signed,” Eventually we will lose.” She held each pair of eyes in turn. “Remember that we only survive here by the grace of Earth and now by the grace of CDSE. Even if we drive them out never to return, our race is doomed within one generation. Without the lung implants our children need to survive all our children will die, just like the first child, and in one hundred years we will be gone.” Every eye at the table followed Bones as she looked down at her calloused hands. “Our only chance to survive is to stay quiet and work for the humans…”
The silence was profound until Sparks banged the table once again,
“There has got to be another way.” Everybody stared at Sparks or at their hands, wishing for divine inspiration. Slowly an idea occurred to Ray.
“Hostages,” She finally signed. Nettle frowned confused.
“Hostages? Who?”
“All of them Ray replied.” Right now, we outnumber them. If it came to a straight up fight we would have a chance. In the long run, they have the advantage because they can just keep coming. Sending more and more people until we are overwhelmed. If we can close the gates so nobody else can come here, then we keep those that are already here as hostages. Force CDSE and Earth to cooperate. How are the life2s getting here? What do we know about the ships?”
“Nothing,” Nettle answered. “Nothing at all. The first one hasn’t arrived yet and CDSE don’t let Dianian tug pilots anywhere near their interstellar ships. I’ve never even got a chance to sneak a look at one of the monitors. We need more info? How many can they carry? How fast can they go? Everything. “
Nettle stopped mid flow and her face went slack as a new idea filtered across her face. Everybody stopped and waited. Nettle resumed, “We don’t need to stop the interstellar ships, ... just the shuttles.”
“How would we do that?” Sparks asked looking doubtful.
“With the nets. Close the shuttle channels through the nets. If we could get into Town Hall. Take control and lock CDSE out we could close the shuttle routes. They could fly here but they couldn’t land.”
“And nobody could leave either,” Ray added, “Nodding at the brutal simplicity of Nettle’s plan.” We don’t need to drive them out, we just need control of Town Hall.”
“And we need a Net map,” Nettle added.” We need someone who can get close to the either the CDSE personnel or the marines. Find things out. Download a current Net map.”
“What about Rose?” Ray suggested, “She is always with the humans. Maybe she knows things already.”
Nettle shook her head. “Rose is too selfish and lacks self-control, we need to be absolutely silent about this. If CDSE get wind of what is going on they will stop us for certain.”
“We could get a message to Earth,” Ray suggested. “We would have to get into Comms somehow. CDSE have confiscated all of the private ComPorts.”
Nettle and Sparks shared a look.
“That’s not entirely accurate,” Sparks signed towards Ray. “Before the humans arrived I hid mine. Sometimes paranoia pays off huh? It’s hidden out in the forest with a solar collector. The only problem is, if CDSE are paying attention, and I bet that they are, they will almost certainly detect any communication we send and find the ComPort. If we use it we may only get to use it once.”
“So, any message we send better be good,” Nettle joined in. “When we use it, we need to have enough evidence to hang CDSE. What they are doing seems unfair but maybe it’s legal. I’m not sure at all what our rights are anymore or how to enforce them. Anyway, help from Earth would be years away.”
Sparks frowned to himself. “Nettle is right. We must stop anybody else coming. Trapping CDSE and the marines here will be dangerous with them having all the weapons. Will the rest of the Dianians help fight?
Nettle answered, “Some will some won’t. The most important thing is that we involve as few people as possible in the meantime. Invite only those that we absolutely need. I am sure that CDSE will not hesitate to silence anybody that they suspect is going to cause any sort of problem, First Child forbid an uprising. We have no weapons and very little protection. We need to be sure that when we are ready to attack CDSE cannot stop us, and anybody who chooses to is free help us.” Nettle turned to Ray, “First though, we need to get access to Town Hall and we need somebody on the inside. Ray, it hast to be you. You need to reconnect with Jonah.”
Ray looked at Bones and then Sparks and then back at Bones, her fingers flexing. Everybody waited.
She hadn’t thought about him for a while. The idea of talking to him made her stomach lurch. She didn’t know whether it was nerves or excitement.
Finally, Bones broke the silence, “We all know you guys got on well. We need to find out what the marines know, if anything. It may also give you a chance to get closer to the CDSE paramilitary units or ground staff. Anyone who can tell us about Town Hall and get us close to downloading a Netmap.”
Ray looked at her hands resting on the table. Of course, Bones was right. Her hesitation made no sense. And she actually wanted to talk to Jonah anyway. She had wanted to for months now.
Nettle straightened, “I don’t think Bones is asking you to fall in love with him.”
“Shut up Nettle,” Ray responded, “Want to spar tonight?”
Nettle clapped her on the back. “Good girl, we could even ask him to teach us some of that ground fighting the marines do. Then you’d get to roll around on the floor with him.”
That earned Nettle her second punch in the arm for the day which she didn’t avoid so adroitly being trapped between the bench and the table. She grasped her bicep, “that’s gonna bruise bitch. What will the ladies in my weaving circle think?”
Sparks laughed, “If you were in a weaving circle, I’m pretty sure they would all assume you deserved a punch in the arm and probably wish they had done it first. “That earned Sparks a vicious punch to the arm that sent him tripping back over the benc
h. The bench toppled depositing Nettle on top of Sparks, adeptly landing with her forearm across his neck.
With Sparks momentarily disabled, Nettle pressed her advantage by licking her finger and trying to shove it in his ear. Bones and Ray laughed as Sparks struggled to avoid Nettle’s probing finger. Finally, he managed to roll her off and regain his feet, wiping a smear of Nettle’s spit off the side of face.
“Gross,” he signed, still grinning stupidly.
Ray, Sparks, and Nettle made to leave but Bones put her hand on Ray’s should to keep her for a moment. Bones waited until Nettle and Sparks had rounded the bend before she turned Ray to face her.
“I assume you have heard about the time I was injured? Before you were born?” she asked indicating the place where the livid scar ran up the side of her abdomen. Ray nodded.
“There are things about that time that still make very little sense to me, but I can’t help feeling that somehow they might be connected to what is happening now. I have almost no memory of what happened but whatever happened changed me somehow. It’s like there is wall between me and my memories. It hurts to try. I feel …” Bones broke off. Breathing hard her face suddenly shiny with sheen of perspiration.
Ray swallowed. The pain behind her mother’s eyes was evident. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
Bones checked behind as if someone might be looking on.
“I was lost for almost two months, right?” Bones halted again, her knees buckling slightly. She wiped away a stray tear with a hand shaking so badly that she struggled to direct it to her cheek.
Ray held Bones’ shoulder, “you don’t need to tell me this, it was a long time ago.”
Bones gripped Ray’s shoulders hard enough to cause pain. She managed to release one hand to continue talking.
“There is something out there. Something important. I try to remember but my mind … slips.” Bones grimaced as if in pain.” I used to have no fear. Now I full of it. I can’t go near the Sunset Ring. If I even think of it, I feel like this. It’s like a wall, a terrifying wall, stopping me from moving.
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