by Ken Lozito
Bull pulled away from Lenora and swung his head toward Connor. The berwolf cub took a few steps toward him but kept his hindquarters leaning against Lenora. Gobs of drool hung from its chops as it peered at Connor.
If this thing charged him, Connor had little chance of deflecting it before getting mauled.
Connor met its gaze and stuck out his hand. “You could have warned me about your new friend,” he said.
Lenora grinned. “And miss the look on your face?”
Bull charged. The movement was so sudden that Connor didn’t have time to react before the berwolf had him pinned to the ground under two giant paws. The berwolf closed its mouth and lowered its snout to sniff him. Connor heard the shuffling of feet behind him and hoped Sean and the rest of the protective detail didn’t do anything stupid to set the creature off.
Connor looked into the berwolf’s gaze. “Alright, what now, buddy?”
He reached up and gave the creature a light scratch under its chin. A deep growl rumbled from its massive chest, and Connor slowly moved his hands away.
“I’d like to be friends, but if you don’t get off me one of us is going to get hurt,” Connor said in a calm voice and started reaching for his sidearm.
Lenora came to Bull’s side and nudged him. The berwolf decided to allow Connor to live and pushed himself off. Lenora helped him to his feet.
“Is this how he greets everyone?” Connor asked and dusted himself off.
“He mostly ignores people. That’s the first time I’ve seen him do something like that. Must be your animal magnetism,” Lenora said.
“Berwolfs aren’t pets,” Connor said.
“I don’t keep him locked up. He leaves and comes back on his own,” Lenora said.
She climbed into one of the ATVs, and Connor got in on the other side. The engineering team, as well as his security forces, divided up and rode in the passenger compartments. Lenora drove away and Connor watched as Bull trotted along beside them, easily keeping up with the ATVs.
“Bull isn’t the first berwolf cub to be found. I’m sure he’ll wander off when he’s ready. I checked with the field biologists’ office and they confirmed that since I’d found him so young he’d probably developed an attachment to me,” Lenora said.
Not the first male to fall under her spell but definitely the first berwolf ever to do so.
“So, he just follows you to whatever dig site you happen to be on out here?” Connor asked.
“Pretty much. He actually helped us find the power station—the general area at least,” Lenora answered.
She drove them toward a series of alien structures. The rounded architecture had twisted metallic pieces on the top. There were ramps that went up the sides of each building. For some strange reason the ancient aliens that built this place hadn’t built stairs and instead constructed wide ramps to get to the upper levels.
Lenora stopped the vehicle and they climbed out. Bull came to a stop a few feet outside Connor’s door, and he thought about waiting inside the vehicle for the berwolf to move. The creature looked at him as if he were waiting to see what Connor was going to do. Connor opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. He knew that making eye contact with certain pack animals was the equal of challenging them, so he met the berwolf’s gaze and then continued toward Lenora. Hopefully, the berwolf cub wouldn’t take it as a sign of submission on Connor’s part.
Lenora walked ahead and Bull trotted to her side.
“Looks like you’ve been replaced,” Sean said.
“Seems that way,” Connor said.
The path toward the building angled downward, revealing a complex of buildings that had been hidden under the dirt. The parts of the buildings that were exposed all had ramps to the upper levels.
Connor walked over to Lenora, who was directing the engineering team down into the site so they could check the power source.
“Doesn’t look like they believed in making stairs,” Connor said.
Lenora shook her head. “Just like the other city, though this site seems to predate that one.”
Connor frowned. “How can you tell?”
“Well, the other one was built underground and then extended out into the valley. The architectural design was sparse, as if they didn’t have time for all the ornamentation we have with these buildings,” Lenora said.
Connor glanced around and could see her point. He’d always been fascinated by the things Lenora was able to find.
“Do you want me to take you down inside?” Lenora asked.
“Maybe. I’d like to hear what Ramirez and the others have to say first,” Connor replied.
He used his implants to connect to the research base’s computer systems and pulled the survey data for the site. The data compiled and an overlay appeared on his internal heads-up display, showing him the vast alien city with only a few buildings aboveground. Connor gasped and took a few steps away from Lenora as he peeked through a synthetic window to another time. The aliens that lived here had constructed almost everything into a smooth, curved surface without any seams so the appearance was of one continuous piece. Multilevel pathways ran to and fro in an elaborate framework that connected all the buildings in the city.
Lenora peered at him curiously. “You see it, don’t you?”
“It’s amazing,” Connor said in awe.
He almost hated to turn off the overlay on his HUD, but it wasn’t something he could have on and safely walk around.
“So Mallory thinks you can use what we learn here as an alternative power source?” Lenora asked.
Connor told Lenora about his request for additional resources being denied for the space station.
“I see their point,” Lenora said.
“Don’t tell me you doubt the warning now, too,” Connor replied.
“Something bad did happen to Earth. I don’t doubt that, but why would it come all the way here? What kind of living entity does that?”
Connor shrugged. “Understanding is not a prerequisite for us to take action to defend the colony.”
“Yeah, but at what cost? Do we stop building medical facilities in favor of outfitting a space station or whatever war machine the CDF can come up with for a threat that might never manifest? There has to be a balance.”
Connor shook his head, not believing what she was saying.
“Look at yourself. I can see it written all over your face. Anyone who doesn’t agree with you is dooming the colony and everyone in it,” Lenora said.
Connor took a steadying breath. “You don’t understand. Whatever this thing is wiped out all the militaries back home. Wilkinson sent us that warning so we could prepare ourselves to face what’s coming.”
“And you have. For the past seven years you’ve worked yourself and everyone around you mercilessly. We have defense platforms, some godawful monstrosity of a space station equipped to fight off an armada, and the last chunk of the Ark is devoted to building another ship for the CDF to use. You’ve never once stopped and thought about what would happen if those things never showed up. What if they don’t come for another forty or fifty years? How long can you keep this up?” Lenora asked.
“For as long as I have to until the job is done and you’re safe,” Connor replied.
Lenora pointed her finger at him like a knife. “Don’t you dare say you’re doing this for me. I didn’t ask you to give up your life in order to work tirelessly for something that might never happen. You’re doing this because you love the challenge. It’s right up your alley—an intangible obstacle that you have to figure out how to overcome. That’s why you’re doing this.”
“So defending the colony isn’t a good enough reason?”
“Who are you fighting for?” Lenora shot back, holding her arms out wide. “Who is it? I want to know. You don’t have me; you have the soldiers who report to you. So who is it that you fight for? What is it that drives you so hard?”
Connor snarled and turned away from her. Bull twisted his head to t
he side, looking at him curiously. Lenora came around to his other side so he had to face her.
“The mere thought of this threat not being real scares you more than anything else because it would mean you might have to move forward with your life without a war to fight. We’re sixty light years from Earth and the pattern is just the same. You devoted yourself to stopping the Syndicate and you were willing to put everyone else aside, and you’re doing the same thing again here,” Lenora said.
“No, I’m not,” Connor replied.
Lenora drew back in mock surprise. “Is that so? Then give up the Colonial Defense Force. Let someone else take command and stay here and explore these ruins with me. Right here. Right now. Do it.”
Connor’s heart pounded in his chest. His thoughts couldn’t keep up with his emotions. “No one else can—” he began to say.
“Do what? Oversee the armed space station or train soldiers? Yes, they can. Your old platoon was on the Ark too, and Kasey Douglass is quite capable, as you’ve said on more than one occasion,” Lenora said.
Her gaze bored mercilessly into his. Connor clenched his hands into fists. “I can’t,” he said, his voice sounding raw. “I can’t sit by and let others fight, knowing there’s something I could have done to help.”
“You can help. You can stay here,” Lenora said.
Connor glared at her. “You don’t want me here.”
“No, I never said that. You walked away from me. Remember?”
Connor swallowed hard and his throat felt thick. “There was too much to do.”
“You’ve done enough. Let it go,” Lenora said, and Connor heard the pleading in her tone.
She wasn’t one for showing much of her feelings, but he could see it in her eyes. She must have been thinking of these things for a long time.
Connor glanced around and was thankful they were far enough away from other people that they couldn’t be overheard. Then he saw Sean, who was pointedly looking away. The security detail assigned to Connor had to stay near him.
Suddenly, there were shouts coming up from inside the dig site, and Ramirez came running over to them.
“Sir, this place is amazing! There’s a significant power source here,” Ramirez said.
“Is there anything we can take with us?” Connor asked, his voice sounding husky.
Ramirez shook his head. “We need to run some extensive analyses of the systems before we start figuring out how to take it apart. We might be able to use the materials here and convert them as a base for our own power stations, but I’ll need more than this small team to figure that out.” Ramirez looked at Lenora with excitement. “This is an unbelievable find. My heartiest congratulations to you, Dr. Bishop.”
Lenora thanked him.
Ramirez headed back to the research base, saying he needed to send a preliminary report back to Sierra.
Connor stepped closer to Lenora, and she stiffened. “I have to go,” he said, hating the words.
Lenora narrowed her gaze. “Go then. Be with your squads, your platoons, your fleets, where you’re in charge and can quell any argument anyone makes. Run away, Connor, just like you’ve always done. Run away from living a life worth remembering,” Lenora said and stalked away from him.
Connor watched her go, at a complete loss for words. Bull walked next to her, following her into the dig site. Part of him wanted to lash out at her and scream how she was wrong about everything, especially him, but the words wouldn’t come. Deep in the pit of his stomach a gnawing fear uncoiled inside him, whispering that Lenora’s words were truer than he was willing to admit.
Chapter Six
Connor sat alone, brooding in the back of the combat shuttle. The CDF soldiers occupying the area closer to the cockpit spoke in hushed tones. They’d just left the archaeological dig site. He glared at the blank console in front of him. The harder he tried to push everything Lenora had said from his mind, the more he dwelled on it. He could hear echoes of his arguments with his ex-wife, though Lenora had done a much better job at getting to the point.
Reisman left his seat near the front of the shuttle and walked toward him. The former Ghost eyed him with an arched brow. “So, what’d you do this time?”
Reisman had known him too long to stand on ceremony, and he sat down in the seat next to him.
Connor sighed. “I work too much and I have control issues.”
Reisman nodded.
Each of the former members of the Ghosts had experienced varied reactions when they were brought out of stasis aboard the Ark, but most of them had reacted much better than Connor.
“Do you ever think about everyone you left behind?” Connor asked.
“Of course, all the time,” Reisman said. “Did I ever tell you about what my brother Jamie and I did camping one summer?”
Connor shook his head.
“There were eight of us, but since me and Jamie were so close in age, we stuck together. Strength in numbers. Anyway, one night we kept finding all these frogs roaming around the campground. It was like someone sent out a signal and frogs were everywhere. So we got one of those big five-gallon buckets and started tossing them in. No plan. We just kept catching them and tossing them in the bucket. Eventually, we caught so many frogs we had to drape a towel over the top to keep them from escaping. The bucket became so overloaded we could hardly carry it anymore, so we put it down. Some people walked by, coming from the communal showers. It was nighttime,” Reisman said, frowning. “Not sure if I mentioned that or not. Me and Jamie looked up at the bathrooms and then back at our bucket of frogs at the same time.” Reisman started laughing. “We knew better than to head directly toward it, so we circled around, using the woods for cover, and ended up on the women’s side of the bathroom. We waited until the coast was clear and bolted to the door. We could hear the girls in the stalls and showers, but no one saw us in the doorway. We each took a side of the bucket and heaved it back like a battering ram. My little brother Jamie pulled the towel off at the last second and we must have sent hundreds of frogs into the bathroom,” Reisman said, breaking off in fits of laughter, and Connor joined in.
“We hauled ass out of there so fast I think we lost the bucket. Within a minute or two we heard shrieking from the women’s bathroom and then the park ranger came driving up to investigate. God, that was so much fun,” Reisman said and sighed.
“Did they ever figure out it was you guys?” Connor asked.
Reisman shook his head. “Well, the next morning my dad asked us about the bucket that had gone missing, but before Jamie or I could make something up, he said something about hearing raccoons coming through the campsite the night before. He winked at us and kept whipping up some eggs for breakfast. We got some extra bacon that morning.”
Connor snorted.
“So that’s what I think of when I think about home,” Reisman said, and he became somber. “It beats thinking about that other stuff . . . you know, the virus.”
Connor nodded. He’d obsessed over that mysterious message Tobias had shown them all those years ago. They’d hoped that perhaps there were remnant pieces of the detailed data that was alluded to in the message on one of the buoys. They were wrong. Despite their resident tech genius, Noah Barker, and a number of other engineers’ valiant attempts to extract data, it turned out to be simply and irrevocably gone.
“What about you? Do you ever think about home?” Reisman asked.
“Sometimes, but as the time goes by it gets harder to remember any of their faces, and it’s not like the Ark had any of our personal files, since we weren’t supposed to be here in the first place,” Connor replied.
Not all the Ghosts had adapted well to colony life. Eventually, they’d joined the CDF, and at the time Connor was just happy to have their help. He should have realized that their willingness to devote themselves to this fight went hand in hand with their unwillingness to let go of everything they’d been forced to leave behind. Could he ever walk away from the CDF and leave its fate to someone
else?
“General, we’re starting our final approach to board the Vigilant,” Sean’s voice said over the speakers.
“Acknowledged,” Connor replied, letting his own musings dissipate.
“Time to get back to work,” Reisman said. All evidence of former mirth was erased.
“When we get aboard the ship, can you check that the updated targeting protocols for the missile-defense platforms have been pushed out across the system?” Connor asked.
“Yes, sir,” Reisman said.
The Vigilant was their only heavy cruiser and was orbiting New Earth. Connor had no idea how the NA Alliance military had been convinced to give up a heavy cruiser and two Starwolf-class destroyers for the Ark’s mission, but he was glad they had or their defense of New Earth would have been primarily near the planet itself.
An immediate sense of familiarity came over Connor as he made his way from the Vigilant’s main hangar to the bridge. The stark gray battle-steel walls were a reminder of Connor’s time in the Alliance military, although the uniforms were different. The colony’s selection committee recruitment process did ensure that the people recruited had the skill sets to fly these ships, but they had the bare minimum experience to make them proficient at their jobs. The Colonial Defense Force was an amalgamation of the NA Alliance military branches since their numbers barely scraped above ten thousand soldiers, and even then the actual infantry was only a small portion of the CDF as a whole. They were relying heavily on automated defense platforms and drones. When putting the CDF together, Connor had tried to leverage every asset the colony had available, which made them significantly different than the militaries of old. He hoped it would be enough.
He entered the bridge and the ship’s computer announced his presence. Colonel Ian Howe rose from the commander’s chair on the raised platform central to the bridge. Like most of the higher-ranked officers in the CDF, he had the rank because he was the most experienced. However, Connor wasn’t fooled. No matter how you sliced it, he commanded the most inexperienced military forces in the history of humankind.
