by Jake Elwood
Alice smiled, and Tom smiled back. Bridger was saying something about the chair and how they should get one installed on their next battleship. Tom barely heard him, and after a moment Bridger excused himself. Tom glanced at him long enough to see Bridger smirking as he walked away.
He couldn't quite get the chair around the end of the bench, so Alice shifted position and turned sideways until she could face him. She leaned over and laid her hand on top of his. “Tom. How are you feeling?”
He shrugged. “You wouldn't believe how annoying this chair is. Still, it's nice to finally get outside.” He looked her over. “How are you?”
She let go of his hand, reaching up to touch her cheek. She had a spectacular shiner. “I know I look bad.” She grinned. “But I'm okay.”
He tried to nod, but the brackets on his head prevented him. “What's the word with the Prairie Dogs?”
That wiped the smile from her face. “What a mess. Half of them are relieved that Sharpe is dead. The other half are devastated. All of them are rudderless.” She shook her head, frowning. “She was a strong leader. She'll be hard to replace.”
“I've heard rumors,” said Tom.
She tried to keep frowning, but she couldn't quite pull it off. Even sitting still she became animated, a sparkle appearing in her eyes. “It doesn't seem right.” The expression on her face made a lie of the words.
“That you should be the new leader?” Tom said. “It seems right to me.”
“It seems like it should be one of them.” She shrugged. “But none of them are stepping up. It's like she was the only natural leader they had left.”
“I think you'll be a brilliant resistance leader,” said Tom.
Her brow furrowed. “I'm supposed to be part of the Free Neorome Navy, remember?” She pointed at the sky. “I'm supposed to be up there. I should be trying to find a ship.”
“You were a valuable spacer,” Tom said. “But there's a lot of good spacers in the Navy. You'll be a lot more valuable down here.”
She didn't argue, and he could see the truth in her face. She was back on Novograd. Where she was needed. Where she belonged.
A minute or two passed in a companionable silence. Voices spoke in the distance, and Alice turned quickly, looking at something behind Tom. Whatever she saw must have reassured her, because she relaxed. Then she laid her hand once again on Tom's. “You can't stay here,” she said. “I hate to say it, but you're not safe.” She scowled, looking suddenly fierce. “You should be safe. You've done more than anyone to break the Dawn Alliance's stranglehold. We're well on our way to liberating the planet because of you.”
Tom shrugged.
“They don't blame me for what happened,” she said. “It was my fault, but you get all the blame.”
“It was Sharpe's fault, not yours.”
“At any rate, you're the scapegoat, and it isn't fair.”
He didn't want to move the hand that she was holding, so he lifted his other hand and gave a dismissive wave. “So I have to get back into space. I needed to do that anyway.”
“I thought …” Her hand tightened on his. “I imagined you staying here with me for a while. While he recovered, you know? And maybe for a while after. You could help me coordinate the resistance with the Free Neorome Navy and the United Worlds. You could teach me about leadership. You could help me get the Prairie Dogs organized, maybe link up with other resistance groups.” She turned away, staring into the distance so he couldn't see her expression. “But you can't. Someone will try to kill you. You'll be a symbol of division and distrust.”
They lapsed into silence.
“Besides, you're right.” She turned and looked at him, and there were tears on her cheeks. She jerked her head upward, indicating the sky. “You belong up there.”
There didn't seem to be much to say about that. He lapsed into silence, and they sat there, gazing into the distance. He pointed at a rounded shape poking up like a blister on the horizon. “Is that a volcano?”
“Kind of looks like one, doesn't it?” She smiled. “That's actually the Echo Machine.”
Tom blinked. “It echoes?”
Alice giggled. “No. There's ten of them, and they're named Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and so on. They're terraforming machines. We went on a field trip to Echo when I was in school. You can't imagine the size of it, not really. Not until you're standing right beside it.” She shook her head, remembering. “It seems amazing that humanity could ever build something so huge. But there were ten of them, and that's just on Novograd.”
“What did it do?”
“It baked the planetary crust,” she said. “Not near the surface. There's a layer about ten kilometers deep with ilmen … What do you call it?” Her forehead scrunched up as she searched her memory. “Iron-titanium oxide, anyway. I forget the name. Lamenite or something. Anyway, you heat it up and it releases oxygen. Do it on a large enough scale, and after a hundred years or so you've got a breathable atmosphere.” She grinned. “You should visit. It's really something.”
Tom squinted at the distant shape, trying to imagine the scale of it.
“Echo makes me feel like I'm home,” said Alice. Her voice turned wistful. “I didn't live here. I grew up in Stratus. That's on the other side of the crater. But you could see Echo from the edge of town.”
“Crater?”
“We're on the rim of a crater,” she said. “It's so big you can't see it from the ground. Look at photos from orbit, though, and you can see the circle shape. They put Echo right in the middle.”
A distant rumble caught Tom's attention, and he tensed, scanning the sky. If it's an attack, it'll take me ten minutes to reach cover. I might as well stay here and enjoy a front-row seat. If I can persuade Alice to leave me behind.
“There,” she said, and pointed. He followed the direction of her finger and spotted three dark specks low in the sky. The distant aircraft raced across the crater, banked, and screamed past almost directly overhead. Sleek and fast, the planes were painted dark blue.
“United Worlds,” said Tom. The UW had half a dozen ships in orbit, not enough to repel a determined counter-attack, but enough to control the system for now. They hadn't landed a full-scale invasion force. They'd sent down equipment and Special Forces teams, and apparently some aircraft as well. The liberation of Novograd, however, was in the hands of its citizens.
“If they can keep the DA grounded,” said Alice, “it'll give us a huge edge.” She mused for a moment. “Or at least, it'll take away a huge edge the Dawn Alliance had until now.”
“I wish I could stay,” said Tom. “I wish I could help you liberate the planet.”
“You'll help,” she said. “You'll tie them in knots, out there between the stars. You'll keep them so busy, they'll never be able to put a fleet together to retake the system. So long as the United Worlds holds the sky, we can win the war on the ground.”
Tom said, “The war won't last forever. I'll come back to Novograd.”
Her hand tightened on his. “You belong up there, Tom. But that's okay. So do I. When you come back, when Novograd is free, I'll be ready to leave.
“With you.”
Author Notes
Tom and Alice will return.
Jake Elwood is a Canadian writer of science fiction, especially adventurous space opera with a dash of humor. When he's not at a keyboard he likes hiking and biking and sometimes kayaking on the Bow River. He is also the author of the Hive Invasion trilogy, beginning with Starship Alexander.
For more titles and releases by Jake Elwood check out his website. Sign up for his mailing list and get a free book: http://jakeelwoodwriter.com/
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