Troy - A Space Opera Colonization Adventure (Aeon 14: Building New Canaan Book 3)
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Out of her peripheral vision, she could see an enemy soldier striding forward to deliver the killing shot. She screamed in her mind, finally getting an arm to respond, her hand barely grasping the butt of her rifle.
What happened to Landfall’s defenses? Where’s the surface Marine division?
It was their job to protect the SATC. Where were they? They had to be arriving soon.
Erin hoped that somehow, Martin and Isa and Jude would be saved.
A boot lashed out and kicked her weak arm away from her rifle. Then the end of a barrel tapped against her visor.
Everything went black.
CHAPTER TWO
STELLAR DATE: 04.07.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Landfall, Knossos Island
REGION: Carthage, New Canaan System
Erin opened her eyes and sat up. She blinked, and the interior of the small booth at Landfall’s military training facility came into focus.
It always took her a few moments to return to reality after participating in an invasion sim.
Walter replied,
Erin continued peevishly,
Erin opened the sim booth door and went out into the corridor, which was lined with closed doors that led to similar booths. The training facility was full as usual. Tanis had mandated that every New Canaan citizen complete a schedule of simulated and live training sessions to prepare them for an invasion.
Everyone knew an attack was coming. They just didn’t know when, and Tanis wasn’t taking any chances.
Erin fully understood the need for the extensive training. In the years that had passed since the Intrepid’s arrival, individuals who had once been space-hardened had become accustomed to a soft life planetside. What was more, many of New Canaan’s settlers had never even seen combat, due to spending most of their long journey in stasis. Yet they were all sitting on a ticking bomb, and that bomb went by the name of picotech.
There was no question that, one day, the Transcend would return to claim the prize—if not them, then some other greedy, jealous, fearful enemy.
In all honesty, the Transcend had never left…a fleet had been guarding the system’s perimeter since the day the Intrepid had crossed the heliopause.
It was entirely right that Tanis should force everyone to prepare for an invasion. Erin didn’t enjoy the training, but she accepted the need for it. Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same way. Complaints in the media from ordinary civilians and prominent individuals alike had been loud. Erin was glad she wasn’t governor. Building massive shipyards concealed in moons and space stations had to be far easier than dealing with millions of opinionated citizens.
On her way to the lobby, Erin passed the training facility’s control center. The door was open, and she spotted a familiar figure in the room, talking to the seated training staff.
“Hey,” Erin said, leaning on the doorjamb and poking her head into the room, “Major Usef.”
The major was taking up most of the available space as he stood over two seated controllers.
Usef glanced back at Erin impassively, only lifting his eyebrows to acknowledge her presence.
“It’s good to see you,” she continued, ignoring his cold response. “I didn’t know you worked here.”
Usef replied, “It’s only a supervisory visit. I recently took over responsibility for the civilian invasion training schedule.”
“You did?” said Erin. “That makes a lot of sense, the session just now was brutal. This is the first time I’ve actually died in a training sim. I’m guessing I couldn’t have survived no matter what I did?”
“That’s right, ma’am,” said Usef. “When I reviewed the selection, I noticed there weren’t any no-win scenarios. It’s essential to expose civilians to the entire range of possibilities they could experience in the event of an invasion, including the inevitability of their own deaths. Everyone must become accustomed to feelings of despair, hopelessness, and utter desperation, and learn to continue to fight anyway. We can’t have people giving up just because it seems like we’ve lost the battle and everyone’s going to die.” He spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
“No, I suppose not,” Erin replied, wondering at Usef’s calm attitude toward the prospect of New Canaanites fighting to the very end despite apparently impossible odds. “So, considering that I was always going to die,” she said, “how did I do?”
“You’ll receive your report as usual,” Usef replied stiffly, but then he appeared to loosen up. “Unofficially, you didn’t do too bad—barring your desperate charge at the end. However, for your next session, I’d like you to take part in a military exercise, not a civilian one.” He paused a beat and added, “I want to see if you can follow orders this time.”
“Whoa! Hold a grudge much, Usef? That was years ago.”
Above the heads of his oblivious subordinates, the major gave her a subtle wink.
Erin rolled her eyes and walked out, deciding that her time would be better spent in finding a surprise for Isa than talking further with Usef.
CHAPTER THREE
STELLAR DATE: 04.07.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Marine Eco Station #14, Knossos Island
REGION: Carthage, New Canaan System
When Martin arrived at the beach house with Isa and Erin that evening, their home looked just as it had during the training sim. He supposed that Malcolm had set the windows to fully opaque; no light shone out from within the building. The low rectangular shape was little more than a dark shadow against the black backdrop of the cliff face.
The place had been Martin’s home ever since his arrival at New Canaan. It felt odd to think that this night would be the last he would spend there for the foreseeable future.
The autocab that had brought them home closed its doors and sped away, leaving Martin, Isa, and Erin standing on the beach. The two women seemed to be feeling the same as Martin. Everyone was quiet and still. Then Isa shivered, though the temperature was balmy. Martin wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “The Transcend isn’t waiting for us inside. It’ll only be Malcolm and Jude. Malcolm can only kill us with his cooking skills, and Jude’s too small to do any real damage.”
“Yeah, I do know that the enemy isn’t waiting on our doorstep,” Isa replied sardonically. “But sometimes I wish we didn’t have to do those drills. They’re so realistic.”
“They’re a sad necessity,” said Erin. “But it’s all over now, right? Let’s go in and eat. I hope Jude didn’t keep Malcolm too busy for him to start dinner.”
They trudged through the loose sand up to the door, which was unlocked as always. The beach was off limits to visitors, ostensibly due to the sensitivity of Martin’s ocean seeding site, but mainly due to the nearby presence of the SATC.
Inside the house, Malcolm was already preparing the evening meal.
“Hey, you’re back,” Malcolm said as they appeared. “How’d it go?”
“He’s been great,” Malcolm replied. “He went into his crib about an hour ago and he’s been sleeping like a baby ever since.”
“Not surprising,” Erin said, “considering he is one. How’s the food coming? I’m starving.”
“Errr, our son isn’t a baby any longer,” Martin said. “As one of his mothers, you should probably get your terms right. He really hasn’t even been a toddler for a while now.”
“Baby, toddler, what’s the difference?” she asked. “He’s a beautiful bundle of smiles and hugs who I miss too much every time I have to go away.”
“Yeah, that’s been hard on everyone,” Martin said. “I’m glad your long absences for work have finally come to an end. No more months-long projects at the heliopause. The governor promised us that, and I’m going to hold her to it.”
Erin snorted. “Good luck. You know with Tanis the colony comes before any single person’s needs or wishes, including her own. But I think we’ll be OK, for a few years at least.”
“Take your seats, ladies and gentleman,” said Malcolm. “Dinner is served.”
“Oh, sorry, I forgot,” said Erin. “We brought some soup dumplings from Landfall. Could you put them in the steamer, Malcolm?”
“Soup dumplings? Yum,” he replied. “No problem. Pass them over. They’ll only take a few minutes.” He took the bag that Erin handed him and returned to the kitchenette.
“And I’ll pour us some wine,” said Martin.
Erin said, “I’d rather have—”
“Cream soda?” Martin interrupted. “Are you sure, Erin? I thought since it’s our last night here….”
“No wine for me. I never really liked it, and nowadays, it just reminds me of visiting every single one of Samuel Jefferson’s empty vineyards on Tyre, complete with their complimentary antimatter bombs. But I’ll have a beer.”
“Beer it is,” Martin said. As he fixed the drinks to accompany their last dinner at the beach house, he skirted around Malcolm in the small space. The young man left, carrying out a dish.
said Martin.
Erin had already sat down. She’d helped herself to a plate and cutlery and was in the process of lifting a large heap of noodles out of a serving dish with tongs.
Malcolm and Martin joined forces in staring at her wordlessly.
She had lifted a forkful of noodles halfway to her open mouth before she noticed them.
“Is there a problem?”
“Can’t you wait five minutes?” asked Martin. “No one else has even sat down yet.”
“But I’m ravenous,” Erin replied. “I was running and swimming all over the place today during that sim training. And I died, don’t forget. That’s hungry work.”
Martin tilted his head. “We all died, remember?”
“I know. It’s just…. Oh, all right.” Erin put down her fork. “I guess I’m still operating on shipside manners.”
Isa took a seat. “The soup dumplings were a fantastic idea, Erin. We haven’t had these in ages.”
“Yeah, good idea, Erin,” said Martin as he also sat down. He glanced at Isa. “She had them delivered to the training center while we were waiting for you to finish your sim.”
“You mean while I was defending our child from evil attackers who threatened to hurt him in order to make me reveal secret information?” Isa asked. “Information that I don’t even know? Is that the sim you mean?” She lifted the lid off a dish.
“Erm, yes,” said Erin. “That one.” She pulled an ‘uh-oh’ face at Martin.
Catching the look, Isa sighed and said, “It’s OK. I’m over it now. But, please, let’s forget about today, and just eat. Pass me a dumpling, Erin.”
“Sure,” she said. “Though I better admit to you that these were Walter’s idea, or he’s going to sulk.”
“Hold up a minute,” said Martin. “Before we start eating, let’s have a toast.” He lifted his glass of wine into the air.
Malcolm and Isa followed suit. Erin lifted up her beer.
“To new beginnings,” Martin said.
“New beginnings,” the others echoed as they clinked glasses.
Erin held out the dish of steaming dumplings for Isa before taking a couple for her own plate.
Isa scooped her dumpling up in a spoon and used chopsticks to carefully tear a hole in the dough to allow the steam to escape. While waiting for her food to cool, she said, “But let’s not forget—first, Athens! Cocktails, late nights, and decadent pleasure.”
Erin swallowed before replying, “Yes, Athens! I can’t believe it’s taken us four years to return there and finish our vacation.”
“You can’t?” Martin asked. “It isn’t so remarkable. Athens is hardly the place to take a child. In fact, I’d prefer to wait another year or two before vacationing there. It isn’t like the planet’s going anywhere. It can wait.”
“Oh, loosen up,” Erin said. “Remember the tsunami surfing? Usef’s waiting on a return match.”
“And after three years of being a mom, I need to let my hair down,” said Isa.
“Yeah, you do deserve a break, Isa,” Martin said. “It’s only that I think Jude is still a little too young to leave behind with someone else. That was why I suggested you two should go without me. I don’t mind staying here with Jude while you enjoy yourselves.”
“No way,” Erin protested. “It won’t be the same without you. Anyway, everything’s arranged. First thing tomorrow, we send all our stuff to the new place on Troy. Then we drop off Jude at Tanis and Joe’s, and finally we’ll head to the spaceport to catch the shuttle to the Odyssey. When we’ve had our amazing vacation, we’ll pick up our sweet little boy and fly straight to Troy. You can start helping your friend with her underwater safari park, Isa can open her art gallery, and I finally get to build a space station. Yes!” Erin made a fist and pulled down, tucking her elbow in by her side. “It’s all decided. Right, Isa?”
Isa was sipping wine. She put down her glass. “Right.”
They both looked at Martin. Malcolm stifled a smile and looked at his plate.
Martin replied doubtfully, “OK.”
“There’s absolutely no need to worry about Jude,” said Isa. “He’s going to have a whale of a time. Cary and Saanvi adore him, and Tanis and Joe are very happy to have him around. And he’s so used to being at their lakehouse, he probably won’t even notice we’re gone.”
“I know, but….” said Martin.
“But what?” asked Erin.
Martin didn’t have an answer.
CHAPTER FOUR
STELLAR DATE: 04.08.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Tanis’s Lakehouse, Knossos Island
REGION: Carthage, New Canaan System
Erin held Jude’s hand as they climbed the wooden steps that led up to the front door of Tanis and Joe’s lakehouse. Her son’s little legs could only take the steps one at a time, so progress was slow. Behi
nd her, in the driveway, Isa and Martin were lifting several bags out of the trunk of the autocab. Erin had been amazed by the number of things one small child required for a stay of only a couple weeks.
As she reached the top of the stairs, the door opened.
“Auntie Tanis!” Jude exclaimed when he saw the tall, blonde woman standing in the doorway.
He clambered up the remaining stairs with added vigor, almost tripping over the top tread, then pulled his hand out of Erin’s to run to the door.
Tanis laughed and squatted down, holding out her arms to the little boy, who launched himself into them. As she stood up, Jude hugged her neck and wriggled with excitement.
“Auntie Tanis!” he said again.
“And how is Auntie Tanis?” Erin asked, laughing. She crossed the threshold and followed the Governor of New Canaan into her home.
“Pretty good,” Tanis replied. “Glad to be home?”
“You bet,” said Erin. “I’m even more glad to be going back to Athens with Martin and Isa. Thanks for offering to look after Jude for us. What’s been happening with you?”
Tanis’s eyes crinkled as she let out a rueful laugh. “Do you want the long boring story or the short boring story?”
“Uh, the short one?”
Angela interjected.
“Ang, you’ll scare them off,” said Tanis. “Come around to the back deck. Isa and Martin will know where to find us.”
While they were waiting for the others to bring in Jude’s things, Tanis gave Erin a brief account of the political machinations she was dealing with. It all sounded tedious and irritating, and Erin was glad she was only hearing the short version.
Before long, Joe came up from the barn. Jude was clearly very familiar with ‘Uncle Joe’ too. He climbed down from Tanis’s lap, ran over to him, and grabbed his legs.
“Hey, little fella,” Joe said.
Then two people Jude seemed to like best of all ran up onto the deck. The minute he saw Cary and Saanvi, Jude lost all interest in Joe and jumped up and down, saying, “Let’s play fishing. I want to play fishing!”