Nathan stepped back out onto the front porch of Tug’s house. He had spent the last two hours telling Tug all about the Earth-from how they had first colonized the core systems, to the bio-digital plague that nearly destroyed all of humanity. He had told him about the centuries of despair that had followed the great plague, and about how the Earth had gone through a rapid development spurt since the Data Ark had been discovered a century ago.
Tug had hung on his every word, like a child being told a magical story of a faraway land. The entire time, Nathan couldn’t help but feel like he was solving a mystery in Tug’s mind, like it was the piece to a puzzle that he had been missing all his life, preventing him from finding true satisfaction. It had been an unexpected experience, for the both of them. By the time they had finished, Tug surely knew more about Earth than any native in the entire quadrant.
Nathan wondered if he had told Tug too much. Had Jessica been there, he was sure she would’ve thought so. But Tug had wanted the information and more. Nathan couldn’t quite figure out why the knowledge of Earth had been so important to the farmer. He wondered how many more people Tug would eventually share his knowledge of Earth with. These people had no understanding of their true origins. They had myths. They had stories. They had legends. But no truths. In some small measure, Nathan felt he had done this world a bit of justice.
Nathan stretched and took in a deep breath. The air was different out here in the country night. It was still thick and humid, and it still smelled of molo. But the smell of machine oils and thrust exhausts and all the other aromas one usually found amongst civilization were absent, as were the sounds. It was quiet out here, almost too quiet. On Earth, there were always sounds. Even in the wilderness, there were always the sounds of hundreds of creatures big and small, as they went about the business of life. On this reformed moon, however, those creatures were almost non-existent, as were their sounds. The silence was… peaceful.
He looked about the compound, spotting Jessica a short distance away, squatting on the ground as she assembled the tight-beam comm-array dish used to communicate privately with the Aurora.
“Jess,” he called, walking out to meet her. “Contact the ship yet?”
“Just getting ready to.”
Nathan walked the last few steps over to her. “You get a good look around?”
“What makes you think I was looking around?”
“Why do you think I made you my security chief?”
“Cuz I was one of the few people on board that you actually knew by name?”
“What did you find out?”
Jessica stood up, having finished assembling the array. “There’s something not right about this place,” she said.
“What do you mean, not right? It looks pretty normal to me.”
“Yeah, it does. But I found a few things that don’t add up.”
“Such as?”
“Such as why is there only one vehicle? You’d think with this many greenhouses there would be more than one vehicle to haul his harvest to market.”
“He can only drive one vehicle at a time, Jess.”
“He must have help from time to time. Otherwise, why would he have a bunkhouse out back? Even if he was the only driver, you’d think there would at least be a trailer.”
Nathan thought about it for a moment. Jessica had a naturally suspicious mind, which is why she was perfect for the job. “Maybe it gets picked up?”
“Maybe. But there’s more. Considering the amount of harvest he should be producing, you’d think he’d be a little wealthier. Either he’s stashing his money away, or he’s giving his crops away on the cheap.”
“That just makes him either a smart businessman, or a really bad one.”
“Okay, then how about all the emitters?”
“Emitters?” That got Nathan’s attention.
“They’re implanted into the sides of the sinkhole walls all the way around the compound, nearly up to ground level.”
“What kind of emitters?”
“Couldn’t tell. But they’ve got to be either shield emitters or some kind of sensor scattering field.”
“Maybe they’re just to repel insects?” Nathan chuckled.
“Yeah, right. Laugh it up. But, you know that damaged fighter of his? The one he supposedly scavenged over the years? Well it’s not as damaged as he led us to believe. It looks old and beaten up all right. And it’s obviously been in one hell of a fire fight. But Vlad thinks the battle damage is recent. And get this-he also thinks it’s still space-worthy.”
“I thought he said he sold the reactor to buy this farm?”
“Maybe he did? Maybe he replaced it later? Maybe that’s what he spent all his money on? But the ship’s got two, now, and they’re both still good. Vlad thinks you could light them up and take off in minutes.” Jessica waited for Nathan to poke holes in her final report.
“Okay, that is odd.”
“And one other thing, Nathan. The markings on the ship. I’m pretty sure they’re the same ones I saw on the uniforms of that boarding party we fought off down on C deck.”
“Are you sure?”
“Five-point star inside a circle. Kind of hard to mistake. I think that’s a Ta’Akar fighter in there.”
“He did say that there were mass defections amongst the troops. Maybe he was one of them?”
“Or maybe he’s a spy?” Jessica suggested.
“Okay, that’s a scary thought,” Nathan admitted.
“To be honest,” Jessica admitted, “it doesn’t add up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean using this farming gig as a cover. For a spy, it’s a lousy choice. You spend far more time on the farm than in town. And when you are in town, you’re stuck in a street market? Not gonna gather much intel that way. But then again, maybe he’s not supposed to. Maybe he’s just here in case they need an operative.”
“You’re not making me feel any better, Jess.”
“I recommend we keep a watch during the night, just to be safe.”
“Agreed. Update the Aurora. I’m going to go and have a look at that ship for myself.”
“We made contact with Tobin,” Cameron told Jessica over the comm-link. “Claims he was subjected to a surprise inspection of his ship by the port authority and had to shut down his comms for awhile.”
“You believe him?”
“Sounds logical enough. But he was off the air for several hours. Seems like a rather lengthy inspection. But he agreed it was safer for you to spend the night there rather than raise suspicion with a late night pick-up, especially after the surprise inspection.”
“Okay then. We’ll check back in four hours. Nash out.”
Cameron motioned for the comm officer to close the channel. The landing party had been gone for eight hours, which was considerably longer than any of them had expected. And now they were going to be gone at least another fourteen hours. It had been relatively uneventful, with the harvesting operations running smoothly. The workers had already ferried three full loads of ore to the surface to be sold at market, which Tobin assured her was enough to pay the harvesters their fees and expenses. And since the workers intended to continue through the night, they would have more than enough to pay for the food Nathan was purchasing the next day.
“Kaylah, it’s going to be a long night, and you’ve got a lot of traffic to monitor. So why don’t you take a break, maybe take a catnap or something. I’ll cover your station until you get back.”
“What about you, sir?” Kaylah asked. “You’ve been on duty just as long.”
“I’m good,” Cameron assured her. “I don’t sleep much anyway. Besides, I’ll crash out in the ready room when you return. Now go, before I change my mind.”
“Yes, sir,” Kaylah said as she rose to take leave.
Cameron sat down in Kayla’s place, taking a good long look at the sensor display. It was a sea of contacts-a mixture of rock and ice, interspersed with ships of various sizes. The smaller ones, probably harvesters, were darting about, while the larger sat in or near the rings as they waited for their harvesters to feed their holds. It was a mass of confusion and very difficult to track with so much activity. She shook her head, making a mental note to herself-if Kaylah was going to double as their sensor officer for a time, she was going to need some additional training in how to better configure her displays. She immediately began color coding the contacts, assigning green to non-threats and orange to contacts to be watched. There were only two contacts that warranted a red color, both of which were local patrol ships owned by the family. They had both been patrolling just outside the rings the entire time. Cameron could not determine their intent, but as they were the only vessels with any significant offensive weaponry, they would have to be watched at all times. Cameron knew that if either of those two patrol ships got close enough to get a good look at them, they would quickly realize that they were not a Volonese cargo ship. That was a possibility that she didn’t like to think about.
Ensign Mendez sat on a packing crate along the side of the hangar bay, observing the harvesting operations. His eyelids were drooping, his fatigue evident as struggled to stay alert. Marcus, the harvesting crew foreman approached. Mendez straightened up, forcing his eyes to open wider and appear more alert. He didn’t much care for the old man, especially after watching him berate his workers the entire time they had been on board.
Marcus was wide awake, and was happily gnawing away on something that resembled a small, ugly carrot. “Past your bedtime, boy?”
“Just wish I had some coffee,” Marcus muttered.
“What’s coffee?”
“A hot beverage that helps keep you awake.”
“Well go get yourself some. We ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
“Can’t. We ran out.”
“Too bad. You say it keeps you awake?”
“Yeah.”
“Here.” Marcus pulled another of the strange looking tubers from his pocket and tossed it to Mendez. “Munch on that awhile.”
Mendez barely managed to catch the tuber as it struck his chest. “What is it?”
“Just think of it as coffee on a stick,” Marcus laughed. “You can thank me later,” he added as he returned to his work.
Mendez held the scraggly looking tuber up in front of his face. On closer inspection, it didn’t appear to be a tuber at all. It was actually a small twig covered with a densely compacted collection of gelatinous drops, mostly colored pale oranges and yellows. He sniffed it but found no noticeable aroma. He tried pinching one of the drops but found it was firmer than it looked. He pulled one of them off, and after inspection, decided to give it a try. It was crunchy, the texture reminiscent of a peanut. It had a rather bitter taste to it, which although tolerable was not pleasant. Having survived the first taste, he repeated the process until he had devoured nearly half the stick.
A few moments later, Mendez found himself up and walking around, unable to sit still with his new-found energy coursing through his veins. He looked at Marcus as he passed by, nodding his thanks. Marcus smiled and laughed. “Don’t eat too much! You’ll be climbing the walls!”
“This little ship is amazing,” Vladimir said. Nathan hadn’t seen his friend so excited since he first learned of the jump drive the special projects team had installed on board the Aurora. He stood at the doorway of the barn in which the ship was housed. It was smaller than he had thought, only about twenty meters long and maybe ten meters wide at the most. It resembled an old flying wing design and looked like a stretched out, flattened triangle, with two massive engine pods sitting on its wings on either side of the cigar-shaped fuselage that only protruded slightly ahead of the main wing shape. The cockpit canopy was only a slight protrusion sticking up from the fuselage with view ports cut into its front and sides.
Nathan followed Vladimir up the boarding ladder to the cockpit. From ground level, Nathan had only seen the top of one flight seat, but once he made it to the top of the ladder, he could see that there was a second seat tucked in behind the first.
“There is so much packed into this little ship,” Vladimir explained. “Energy and projectile weapons, reflective and ablative shielding, anti-gravity lift systems, inertial dampeners.” Vladimir had to stop to catch his breath. “Nathan, it even has limited FTL capabilities.”
“This ship has FTL?”
“Yes. But even without the FTL, it can still outrun the Aurora’s sub-light drive.”
“What kind of propulsion system does it use?”
“The reactors are fusion. That much I know. But the main propulsion systems-I have no idea.”
“Doesn’t Danik know?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe he does, maybe not. I do not fully understand everything he says as yet,” Vladimir admitted.
Nathan wondered if Danik was as difficult to get information out of as Jalea had been. It would make sense, with both of them being from the same organization. It might be doctrine not to reveal too much information. It certainly was Jessica’s preferred method of operation. And it was a skill Nathan had yet to master.
Nathan stepped back down the ladder, backing away from the ship as he stepped back onto the dirt. The ship had several impact marks where it had obviously been struck with weapons fire. There was also charring around the nearest engine pod, probably from an internal fire. “And you think this thing is still space-worthy?”
“Yes, I am almost certain of this.”
“You think the technology on this little ship would be of value to us?”
“The compact nature of her FTL systems alone would be of great value. Maybe not to us, but definitely to the Fleet.”
“I wonder if Tug would be willing to sell it to us?”
“Oh, Nathan,” Vladimir drooled. “Do not tease me.”
Nathan entered the small bunkhouse behind the main house. It was a simple building of wood, clay, and rock construction similar to the others. The floor, although it looked like dirt, was fused solid and smooth in a way that Nathan had never seen. There were ten modest beds of wood-frame construction, a pair on each side of the main entrance, with six more along the back wall. Each bed was covered with a heavy woven-cloth blanket.
Nathan entered the bunkhouse, turning to his right to head toward what he hoped was a door to the bathroom at the far end. The room was lit with softly glowing pale-white lighting panels above the head of each bed, casting a soft and relaxing glow in semi-circles around them. There were larger, overhead lighting panels spread across the beamed-ceiling of the room, however these were not lit.
The room appeared relaxing and comfortable, despite its overall rustic nature, and Nathan looked forward to getting some rest after a long and somewhat emotionally exhausting day. He came to the end of the room and reached out to take hold of the doorknob to what he assumed was the bathroom door, when it suddenly swung open away from him, startling him.
“Oh, Nathan,” Jalea said, a bit surprised herself. “I didn’t realize anyone else was here yet.”
Nathan stepped back out of surprise. Jalea had removed much of her outer clothing and was dressed only in a tight-fitting body suit that was rolled down to a few centimeters below her navel and an old, worn undershirt that covered most of her upper torso. Nathan had always been captivated by Jalea’s eyes. In fact, their effect on him had caused him to question his own decisions to place trust in her from time to time. As she had always been dressed in loosely fitted clothing, he had not noticed her voluptuous figure until now.
“Excuse me, I didn’t mean to intrude,” Nathan apologized. For some reason, he was embarrassed, despite the fact that she was still fully dressed. Nathan turned and stepped over to the nearest bed, taking off his cloak and dropping it on the bed.
Jalea moved past him, turning down the bed next to his. Nathan watched her out of the corner of his eye. The skin on her lower back was the same olive complexion as her face. She was not like most of the women he had known. For the last four years, Nathan had only dated classmates from the Fleet academy. Most of them had been the athletic type, all toned and muscled from the hours of intense physical training that they were subjected to during their time on campus. This woman was softer, more curvaceous than he could ever remember seeing.
“Tug seems like a good man,” Nathan said, trying to distract himself from Jalea’s ample charms.
Jalea climbed into her bed, “Yes, he is that.” She pulled her blanket just up to her hips, making no effort to cover herself as she lay on her side facing him. “I believe he found your tales of Earth quite interesting,” she told him as she propped her head up on one hand, her elbow against the bed. “As did I.” She looked at him a long moment as he removed his jumpsuit, stripping down to just his standard-issue uniform pants and Fleet undershirt. “You seem to know a great deal of Earth history. Are all your people so knowledgeable?”
“It was my major,” he explained, realizing that she probably wouldn’t know what he meant. “It was my area of focus during my formal education.”
“A rather fortunate coincidence, as you have become an emissary for your world.”
“Yes, I suppose it is.”
“Did your engineer find Tug’s ship interesting?”
“Very much so,” Nathan told her. “Actually, I was thinking of asking Tug if he would be willing to part with it.”
“I doubt that would be the case,” she assured him.
“You wouldn’t think a farmer would have much use for a space fighter.”
“Perhaps,” she admitted. “But Tug is not your average molo-farmer.”
“How so?” Nathan asked, sitting on the side of his bed facing her.
“Do not misunderstand me, there are many like him. Men who have spent years fighting for the cause of others who then give it all up to lead a more simple life. I can cite many examples, albeit not on Haven, mind you. However, I would think that if the ship was of no use to him, he would have parted with it long ago.”
Nathan nodded agreement, having not thought that far yet. “You may be right.”
At that moment, the main door swung open and Jessica walked in. Jalea immediately pulled her blanket up to cover herself, laying her head down on her rolled up cloak. “I suppose it would not hurt to ask, however.”
Jessica eyed them both suspiciously as she approached. “I made contact with the ship,” she told him.
Nathan rose and headed for the bathroom, with Jessica following him. “You got them up to speed?”
“Yes, sir. Cameron said Tobin had some problem with the port authority, which put him out of contact for several hours.”
“Sound right to you?” Nathan asked as they entered the bathroom.
“Could be,” she said, following him into the bathroom. She fumbled around the faucet for a moment. “How the hell do you turn the water on?” Finally, after tapping the top of the faucet, the water began to run. “Something just isn’t right, Nathan,” she whispered, hoping the sound of the running water would mask their conversation.
“What do you mean?” Nathan whispered back.
“Why this world? Why Tobin? Why Tug? Oh, and Tug just happens to have a Ta’Akar fighter, and a compound equipped with emitters. And let us not forget the gun strapped to the underside of his dinner table.” Jessica looked at Nathan, waiting for him to put it together.
“What? You think this is all planned? By who?” Nathan stared at her, waiting for a response that never came. Instead, Jessica glanced back toward the door. “Jalea?” Nathan laughed.
“Who else?” Jessica asked.
“When did she have time to put this all together, Jess?”
“She had plenty of time alone with Tobin back on the Aurora. And they seemed a bit too buddy-buddy for just business acquaintances.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t you think you’re reaching a bit?”
“Oh, Nathan,” Jessica whispered in a mock-sexy voice. “Do not misunderstand me, Tug is a simple farmer. Good and honorable-”
“What were you doing, listening from outside the door?” Nathan’s eyes widened.
“Of course not,” she insisted. “I bugged the room more than an hour ago.”
“Jesus, Jess. Is this how all spec-ops operate?”
“The good ones, yeah. Just don’t let her fool you with her sexy green eyes and her big tits.”
“What?”
“Oh, you know what I’m talking about, Nathan.”
“What am I, sixteen?”
“No, but you are a guy. And all guys tend to think with their dicks.”
“I’m not that simple-minded,” Nathan defended.
“Bullshit. It took me all of three minutes to get your pants off, remember?” she told him as she rinsed her hands in the running water.
“I was drunk,” he reminded her.
“Maybe. But your dick wasn’t, and that’s my point. Just be wary, that’s all I’m saying. Jalea does everything for a reason, Nathan. And you need to keep that in mind at all times.” Jessica dried her hands off on her cloak as she spoke. “Now clear out. I’ve gotta use the can,” she ordered, pushing him toward the door.
“Just close the stall door,” he suggested, not quite ready to leave.
“That molo did not agree with me,” she warned. “Trust me. You wanna clear the room,” she added, pushing him toward the door.