“And the prints definitely didn’t belong to the remains we found.”
“Right,” she said decisively. “Those remains have been there for years. Those tracks we found were recent. Very recent.”
Shawn nodded, then looked up to Second Earth’s gleaming sun, its warm rays a welcome comfort from the simulated sunlight on the Rhea. Truly, he thought, there was nothing quite like the feel of the real thing. He looked out across the desolate street and, on a corner on the far side of the thoroughfare, he saw what appeared to be the remains of a small coffee shop. He began slowly walking toward the structure, not really caring if Melissa was following him or not. It wasn’t until he was within a few paces of the large storefront window that he saw Melissa’s reflection right behind him.
As he stepped closer, Shawn wiped away a thin layer of grime from the glass edifice and peered inside. He noticed the empty tables and booths, the abandoned beverage equipment, and video monitors that had long stopped displaying whatever broadcasts or menus they had been used for. On the table nearest the window, the remains of a discarded newspaper and a single, empty coffee cup lay where they had last been placed. Of all the similar shops in Crystal City, had his wife ever come to this place? Sylvia had been an avid fan of coffee since she had started college, nearly dragging Shawn to every barista stand in the quadrant in search of “the perfect blend” while they were dating.
When the Kafarans arrived to decimate Second Earth, Sylvia had already been missing for some time. At last report, she had been headed in this direction when her transport ship disappeared. Communications, even traveling near the speed of light, took some time to journey across the expanse of Beta Sector. It was possible her ship had traveled this far, only to be destroyed in orbit. It was also possible that she’d made it to the surface, only to end up a casualty of whatever had happened down here. In that case, her body could very well have been one of the hundreds lying here in the city, or one of the thousands near Delta Base.
Still staring into the dilapidated coffee house, Shawn’s mind conjured up a spectral image of his wife, sitting in one of the long-abandoned booths. He watched as Sylvia sipped at a cup of coffee, lost in a daydream of her own. His wife turned, looking out the same window he was looking in, and their eyes locked.
In Shawn’s mind, the scenery changed in the blink of an eye. Sylvia looked radiant; she was standing atop a small grassy hill, silhouetted against the unimaginably blue sky behind her. There wasn’t a single cloud to draw his eye away from her form. Her white dress was billowing softly in the cool summer breeze, her deep brown hair pulled casually back behind her head. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds and her alabaster skin was like freshly poured milk. Something in his mind told Shawn this would be the last time he saw her before he went off to fight the war. They had planned the picnic weeks in advance, and this day was turning out to be blessedly beautiful. He slowly walked toward her outstretched arms, eagerly searching for the warmth and love of her embrace one final time.
“Shawn.” It was Sylvia’s melodic voice. It sounded as lovely as the first time he had heard it, but for some reason it also appeared alien to him. “Shawn.” The word was distant, and seemed to echo off every vertical surface as it washed past his ears. “Shawn, it’s time to go.”
Time to go? To go where? No. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you.
Seeing the commander lost in thought, Melissa reached out a gentle hand and placed it on his shoulder. He flinched, then turned around in surprise as he took in the destruction of the city. He had a faraway look in his eyes, one that Melissa had seen in him before, and she decided she’d bring it up with him later.
“Shawn, I said it’s time to go.”
“What?”
Melissa cocked her head over her left shoulder. “Raven’s here with the transport.” She looked at him with concern. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
He pivoted back to the empty booth inside the coffee shop, seeing the blue- and gray-striped synthetic material of the seat still caked in a thick layer of dust. She hadn’t been there; she was never there. It had all been in his mind. Shaking the remnants of the daydream out of his head, he turned back to Melissa and offered her a weak smile. “Yeah…yeah. I’m…good.”
She gave him a questionable glance. “You don’t look it.”
“Must be that latent radiation affecting my mind.”
Melissa smiled. “Well, I don’t think you’re going to end up crazy like Cal Vross, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Good.” He forced a smile that Melissa had little faith in. “I’m okay, really.”
She hooked her arm around his and smiled warmly at him. Her gesture was rewarded with a genuinely friendly smile. “Come on, Commander. We’ve got a ship to catch.”
Shawn regarded the coffee shop once more, then turned and left the storefront.
* * *
As the small personnel carrier skimmed effortlessly above the ragged streets of Crystal City, Melissa couldn’t help but wonder what had so preoccupied Shawn near the remains of the café. She had attempted to elicit the information from him once they were well on their way out of downtown, but he had simply smiled and told her they could talk about it some other time. Melissa smiled inwardly at the irony of that statement, realizing that however their relationship was going to be defined, it seemed to always hinge on information that needed to be disclosed at a later time. In a way, she could relate to that, as she was used to keeping secrets in her duties with the OSI.
In fact, it was a job necessity.
Now, however, she was beginning to feel as if she needed to tell someone everything about her past. The disappearance of her father—and the looming perception that she might not ever find him—had been the catalyst that provided the epiphany to her that life was too short. The moments she thought would last forever were now dangerously close to becoming fond memories she would never be able to relive. Melissa knew she needed to hold onto something, something good and true in a universe on the brink of chaos, and the gnawing at the edge of her conscience to receive absolution from someone for the sins of her past became more overwhelming each day. What has it all been for, and for what purpose?
Melissa turned her emerald eyes to Shawn, who was gazing out of the side of the carrier, seemingly lost in thought. Not yet realizing he was being watched, he sighed heavily as he slowly took off his gloves and then placed them in his pocket. He brought his hand to his mouth, rubbing the short growth of hair surrounding his lips. His eyes returned to the view outside, his mind reaching out to a point beyond the confines of their present universe. Melissa could see on his face the internal struggle that his emotions must have been waging. The sudden recollection of the loss of his wife during the war, and of the good friend who was currently missing, would understandably tax anyone’s emotions. Add to that the fact that Shawn had only recently been plucked from his peaceful life on Minos and pressed back into the service of Sector Command, and it made his situation all the less enjoyable.
Melissa could tell he was trying hard to be a model officer, despite whatever paucities he’d faced in the process. Shawn handled his people well, and his squadron mates seemed to accept him as their new leader rather effortlessly. He and Captain Richard Krif appeared to be at one another’s throats more often than not, but even she had to admit that Shawn Kestrel could be difficult to get along with at times. As far as Melissa herself was concerned, Shawn had more than made up for any lack he was ridiculed over when she’d first met him.
Reluctantly, he had agreed to aid her in her search for her father when even trusted colleagues had turned her down. He further decided to remain on board the Rhea to continue that quest when almost anyone else would have tucked tail and run. And he had unquestionably saved her life while they were investigating the Icarus. To deny, especially to herself, that she cared for him would have been an outright lie. Despite his obvious bravery and dedication to the people he cared about the most, in this moment all Meliss
a could feel from him was despondency. It was then that the revelation hit her like a thunderbolt: Shawn Kestrel deserved better than that.
Not really sure of what she was doing until she had done it, she slid next to Shawn and curled her arm around his elbow once more. He didn’t resist, nor did he seem to approve. He also didn’t offer a single word as she leaned over and rested a tired head against his exceedingly hospitable shoulder. Before she realized it, she had fallen fast asleep.
Shawn didn’t avert his gaze from the outside world until her heard the soft rhythmic breathing of the passenger beside him. He turned his head to see Melissa lying comfortably against his shoulder, her head slumped somewhat forward as she snored lightly. When had she moved closer to him? And, more importantly, why hadn’t he noticed? In the open air of the transport, a strand of her hair blew across his nose, giving him a slight itch he instinctively scratched. He reached out his free hand to smooth her hair down, to which she responded by tightening her hold of his right arm. As he finished primping her hair he lightly kissed the top of her head, praying silently that they would both be reunited with her father soon, and that this entire ordeal would come to an end. Looking to the Marines in the front seat, then out to the war-torn city, and finally down to his uniform, he wished to be back at The Old Flamingo’s office on Minos, staring at a stack of unpaid bills, with Sylvia’s Delight fueled and ready to go at a moment’s notice. It was then that Melissa tightened her grip on his arm. He looked to her again, watching her sleep peacefully in his arms, and he knew without a doubt that whether his wish would ever be granted or not, he was glad he was here at this moment.
Twenty minutes later, the carrier was back at the makeshift camp the Marines had set up on Delta Base near Addison Field’s decimated runway. With a slight jolt, the hovering craft came to a halt just behind the cargo hatch for Sylvia’s Delight. Shawn noticed that Melissa didn’t even stir. Private Montoya was the first to exit, followed by Raven, who gave an understanding look to Shawn and his weary companion. Turning her head, Raven then looked out at the Marines who were just finishing loading their supplies into the VTOL ships that had brought them down. She looked back to Shawn, giving him a gesture with her thumb that told him that she would not be returning to the Rhea on board the Mark-IV. He nodded and smiled, to which Raven gave a slight bow of her torso. As she bounded off to the waiting Marine transport, Shawn slowly began to withdraw his arm from Melissa’s tight embrace. This had the desired effect he was hoping for.
“Oh dear,” she said through half-open eyes. “I must have…fallen asleep.”
“It’s understandable,” he offered graciously. “It’s been an eventful day.”
“You’re too kind.” She realized then that her hand was still loosely trapped beneath Shawn’s arm. “I’m sorry. It’s not like…not like me to—” She stared into his deep blue eyes as they looked into hers. “We should…get going. Don’t you think?”
He smiled that same dashing smile she had first received on Minos when she came knocking at the doorstep of The Old Flamingo. “Unless you’d like to stay here and do some more sightseeing?”
“Actually, now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind getting a closer look at that large crater.”
“More samples?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
Melissa nodded. “I’ll need them to compare with the organic remains we’ve found. I want to know what killed these people.”
“As do I,” he agreed somberly before turning to Sergeant Adams, who was still behind the controls of the carrier. “Adams, let’s get to that crater, shall we?”
Adams nodded curtly. “Yes, sir.”
Considering the diameter of the crater, the trip from Addison Field to the outer rim took only a few minutes. A large portion of Delta Base had extended into what was now an empty hole, and the road the skimmer had traveled down abruptly fell off into the vastness of the place. Standing on the rim of the eight-hundred-foot-wide formation, the trio took in the enormity of their surroundings.
Melissa was the first to navigate the rim on her way down. Rounding several large boulders that had been pushed to the surface by the impact, she began sliding down the crater wall with abandon.
Adams turned his dark face toward Shawn when Melissa was out of earshot. “She really throws caution to the wind at times, doesn’t she, sir?”
Shawn smiled at the remark. “I’ve come to the conclusion that the word ‘caution’ isn’t in her internal dictionary. Keep an eye on things up here, Sergeant. I’ll watch over Agent Graves.”
Getting an acknowledging nod from the Marine, Shawn began sliding down into the crater behind Melissa. She was halfway to the floor by the time Shawn neared her position. The two continued down for another ten minutes as the wall began a gentle slope toward the floor. When they neared the edge of the central uplift, Melissa knelt down and began taking samples.
Shawn looked around, in awe over the sheer size of the hole. His attention was drawn back to Melissa as the handheld sampling device began to chime audibly.
“What does it mean when it does that?” he asked.
“It means the scanner has already analyzed some of the rudimentary particles. However, there also appears to be some exotic material here that it can’t discern.”
“Exotic?” he asked with surprise. “You mean, something not normally associated with a formation like this?”
“I mean something not normally encountered by my scanner. That in itself is odd, considering I should be able to read almost anything we’d see here. Craters like this are normally formed by asteroid impacts or, in some cases, by weapons detonations.” Melissa stood and wiped away some dust that had clung to the knees of her pants. “Visually speaking, discerning between the two can be difficult, but they both have significantly different readings when scanned. While I admit that the storage capacity of the device is limited, the scanner contains records of pretty much every type of phenomena that could do this, as well as all the minerals and isotopes on this planet.”
“And the exotic material?”
“It’s throwing off the readings,” she said with resignation. “In other words, I have no idea what could have done this.”
“And that bothers you? You know, not being able to figure something out?”
Melissa scowled. “I’m not admitting defeat just yet, Commander. As with everything else we’ve collected, we simply need to get it back to the Rhea. I have no doubts that the ship’s computer will be able to rectify my scanner’s deficiencies.”
Shawn chuckled. “You obviously haven’t met the computer terminal near the Rhea’s observation lounge.”
“The what?”
“Never mind,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I’m sure you’ll eventually find out. Are we done here?”
Melissa regarded the crater one final time, taking in the magnitude of the terrestrial bowl in which the two found themselves. “I intend to find out what happened here.” She said the words aloud, but Shawn got the impression she was speaking to whatever unseen force had done this, and not to him. Then she turned and began walking back toward the crater wall.
By the time Adams had ferried them back to the remains of Addison Field’s landing strip, the first of the two Marines’ VTOL craft was already lifting free of the surface under the high-pitched whine of its fusion engines.
“You going back to the Rhea the way you came down?” he asked as they neared the final VTOL craft.
Melissa regarded the awkward but well-built craft. She could see Lieutenant Burgess, the platoon commander, sitting at the controls and waiting for her to climb aboard. “I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you, Commander.”
Shawn couldn’t help but smile as he inclined his head toward Sylvia’s Delight. “I’ll even let you sit up front.”
“Well, a gentleman is always supposed to make sure the lady gets back home safely.”
He gave her a quizzical look. “I think that was three compliments in one sentence.
Looks like I’m not the only one having a change of heart around here,” he said as the two walked toward the craft.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, first you call me a ‘gentleman,’ and then you make the implications that both my piloting and my ship are safe.”
As she stepped up to the cargo ramp, she craned her head over her shoulder to speak to Shawn who was close behind. “Don’t read too far into it, Commander.”
Shawn closed the hatch and walked to her side in the middle of the cargo hold. “So, the truth comes out: you still don’t think I’m safe.”
She moved closer to him, as close as she’d ever come without kissing him. “I’m not sure I’d like it so much if you were safe.” She then stepped back and sauntered up to the control deck without another word, leaving Shawn’s mouth a half-gaping mess.
Chapter 5
With Sylvia’s Delight stowed safely back in her assigned docking bay, the human remains Raven and her team had acquired were on their way to one of the dozens of science labs for examination. Shawn and Melissa were ordered to report directly to Captain Krif’s at-space office for an official debriefing, and as the two looked at one another after exiting D, they each had the distinct impression that other didn’t seemed particularly overjoyed to do so. After what they had seen on the surface of the planet, each knew that they needed to get their minds on something more pleasant before having to deal with the Rhea’s gruff captain.
They reveled in taking their time to get to his cabin, deciding to take the long way and enjoy what little scenery was afforded them before they got back to life aboard the carrier. Neither of them spoke very much during their journey around the ship, save for the occasional courtesy offered to a passing officer or crewmember. They passed through the hangar from stem to stern, made their way leisurely through the galley and recreation spaces, and finally ended up at the ship’s arboretum.
As the duo rounded a corner on the path that was flanked on either side by enormous, white-tipped willow trees, Melissa silently reach for Shawn’s hand. The fumbled clumsily for a grasp on one another, until finally getting a firm grip a moment later.
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