He crashed into the ground with a thud, and was picked up from either end with a firm grip around his ankles and shoulders. With surprising delicacy, he was placed down on something else, and he began to move.

  The surrounding silence disappeared, and a cacophony of noise rang out around him. A warmness washed over him, too, along with a bright light that shone through the sack.

  I’m outside… But where?

  There seemed only one logical explanation. He was on the surface of Tadrosia. And by the sound of it he was being wheeled through a large crowd of people. In the background there was even the noise of machines.

  He struggled to break free again but was pushed back down with a pair of hands. The sounds diminished, and silence again returned. No longer did the sun keep his body warm; instead, the coolness of night rocked him to his core.

  Fatigue took hold, but just before he fell into slumber, he was placed into an upright position, and the rope around his sack loosened. His hood came off, and he put his hands up to shield his vision against a bright artificial light source above his head. When his eyes adjusted, he got to look at the faces of his captors.

  They were the aliens from Valkeris station. The ones who keenly observed him. They all stared at him with the same curious expressions he’d seen in orbit. Beside him, Kevin Rycroft was similarly unwrapped from his own sack. Kione breathed a sigh of relief and tried to say something. But his gag stopped him. An alien removed the incumbrance so he could finally speak.

  “Are you okay?” he asked Kevin.

  His comrade nodded, and Kione faced one of the aliens in a maroon robe with a large four-starred crystalline pendant around his neck. “Who are you? What do you want with us?”

  The male alien handed him a tatty old leather-bound book and opened it, directing him to an illustration. At the center of the image was a figure. A person. A being.

  One that looked just like Kione.

  Forty-Three

  The alien closed the book and instructed his people to finish taking the ropes off Kione and Kevin. “My name’s Lahtala. You’re guests here. I assure you, there’s nothing to fear.”

  Kione furrowed his brow. “Is this how you treat all your guests?”

  “We don’t get many, and those that we do usually have weapons pointed at us.” He bowed his head. “I apologize for the way we took you from Valkeris Station, but it was necessary. The Tadrosians would never have allowed you to come here.”

  “Maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing,” Kevin gazed around their rocky surroundings. “Where are we?”

  “The technical term is a subterranean vista, but we call them pits.”

  “I can see how one might prefer that determination,” Kevin quipped.

  Kione wanted to chuckle, but he had too many questions. “Tell us what we’re doing here. All I’ve seen so far is an illustration in a book. What’s it got to do with me?”

  Lahtala smiled and put out his hand, gesturing toward the exit. “Please come. While we lack the décor of Valkeris Station, we can offer you much more in terms of hospitality. If you’ll allow us to show you our home, I can explain everything. I’m sure that interests you.”

  Kione would be lying if it didn’t. “What do you think?” he asked Kevin.

  “We’re here now. We might as well see what they have to say.”

  Kione nodded, and Lahtala led them out onto a catwalk. He looked down into a massive pit at least two hundred meters in diameter. Around the inside were entry points leading into makeshift housing carved out of the rock. A dome enclosed the habitat at the top.

  “These pits were once open-cut mines,” Lahtala explained. “After being stripped bare, they’re transformed into a subterranean habitat for my people and capped with a dome to keep the weather out.”

  “And this is safe?” Kevin asked.

  “It’s safer than living on the surface. The effects of lurilius-ze mining has been catastrophic to the Tadrosian biosphere.”

  “Yes, we’ve noticed.”

  “And who are you?” Kione wondered. “If you’re not Tadrosians, then what are you doing on their world?”

  “This world is as much ours as it is theirs. The Huugli evolved alongside the Tadrosians.”

  Kevin raised his eyebrows. “You evolved on the same planet? How’s that possible?”

  “The Tadrosians developed on the northern continent, while we formed our civilization on the southern.”

  It was unusual, but Kione had a theory. “On Earth, several species existed at one point or another. The most famous was the Neanderthal. When they came into contact with homo-sapiens, only one could survive. It was ultimately your predecessors who won. Earth’s landmasses are connected, so contact was inevitable. Here, however, if the two large masses were split by a vast sea, the Huugli and the Tadrosians could’ve lived apart for millions of years.”

  “That’s correct,” Lahtala said. “The Great Equatorial Sea separated us, until the Age of Expansion. The Tadrosians came across on their wooden ships and destroyed the Huugli way of life, which was much more primitive in comparison. Though our species lived on, we became little more than their servants.”

  He explained to them how Tadrosia’s industrial revolution began when lurilius-ze was discovered. The southern continent was rich in the mineral, and the Huugli were used to mine it. “Centuries later, our planet finally said no more. The Tadrosians had no choice but to flee and build the stations you’ve seen in orbit.”

  “But they didn’t take the Huugli with them,” Kione surmised. “I guess they needed someone to continue working the lurilius-ze mines.”

  Lahtala nodded. “Our species is much more resilient to the rigors of our dying world.”

  “I can’t fathom how your race has survived.”

  “Faith. When the trans-space gateway was built, it brought commerce and trade, but it also brought something else.” The Huugli leader presented him with his tatty old book once again. “Missionaries saw the plight of our people and gave us this.”

  Kione took the book and flicked through the first lot of pages. It was mostly text, but laced throughout were illustrations similar to the one they’d shown him earlier. “Who were these missionaries?”

  “They never told us their names, but they came deep beyond Alliance space.”

  “So, they’re not Alliance members?”

  “They have no need for such trivialities. They follow the word of the Firstborns. As do we.” He pointed to the book. “It’s transformed the way we live our life. If it weren’t for their teachings, the Huugli people would’ve perished long ago.”

  “And how is Kione connected to all of this?” Kevin asked. “You obviously hold him in some regard.”

  “The teachings of the Firstborns tell us they were here millions of years before anyone else. It’s also written that to assist those who have come after them, they’ll send Guardians to protect us from evil.”

  “And you think he’s one of these Guardians?”

  Lahtala opened the page up once again. “Do you deny a similarity between your friend and this image?”

  Kevin glanced at it then looked at Kione. “While it’s too crude to say for sure it’s Kione, it appears like someone of the same species.”

  Kione couldn’t take his eyes from the picture. Was it the first clue he’d had about his people since his encounter with the sphere, or just a huge coincidence? “You think I’m here to assist you in your plight against the Tadrosians?”

  “I have faith that it’s the will of the Firstborns, yes.” Lahtala closed the book. “Will you help us?”

  Forty-Four

  Valkeris Station

  “Getting to the surface of Tadrosia is no easy feat.”

  Hesitation appeared in Quetren’s voice. The confident merchant who’d bragged about his business was gone and replaced with a timid man.

  Aly leaned over the bar of the crowded tavern. “I really need your help,” she whispered, understanding how her dad had felt when Darius Lok kidnapped her.

  “Are you sure the Huugli took them?” Quetren asked. “Even with everything that’s happened to them, they’re known as a gentle people. It seems so unlike them to—”

  “The security footage confirmed it,” Jason interrupted him. “They kidnapped them from this very bar.”

  “And let me guess. The Tadrosians refused your request to go down to the surface to find them?”

  Both Aly and Jason nodded.

  “They’re consistent at least.” Quetren frowned. “No one other than the Tadrosians have officially ventured to their planet for hundreds of years.”

  Aly raised an eyebrow. “Officially?”

  Quetren pulled the pair in closer. “This is a dangerous subject to discuss.”

  “If this is about money,” Jason began. “We can—”

  “Money is the furthest consideration,” the man from Qoortalaraban said. “You need to understand the lengths the Tadrosians take to protect their privacy. The other aliens you see around this station are allowed here because of its benefit to the Tadrosian economy. To be licensed by their government is an exhaustive process. To risk having it revoked—”

  “We’re not asking you to come with us, but if there’s a way, I want to know.” A tear ran down Aly’s cheek. “They have my father down there…”

  Quetren gazed around the tavern and sighed. “All right, I’ll see what I can do.”

  The containers weren’t as large as Aly had hoped. The empty crates, which were to be loaded aboard a vessel bound for the surface of Tadrosia, were the perfect cover for smugglers but hardly ideal for the transport of humans.

  Quetren had organized the delivery of the crate containing her and Jason with a friend who worked in the dispatch bay on Valkeris Station. Now it was just a matter of getting inside it. The one-and-a-half-meter-square box sat on the deck before them.

  “Do you want to get in?” Jason glanced at Aly warily.

  “Maybe you go first,” she said, hoping the journey would be a quick one.

  Jason shrugged and hopped in, while Aly, with the help of Quetren, stepped in and squeezed beside him.

  “This container will be taken directly to the transport ship and be conveniently waived of inspection,” Quetren told them. “Once the vessel lands, the crate will be hauled off into a stabling area. My contact on the surface will then sneak you out. After that, you’re on your own, and if you’re discovered, we never met. Do you understand?”

  Aly nodded and took Quetren’s hand. “Thank you.”

  He placed the lid over their heads, bathing her and Jason in darkness. Aly tried to find more space, but there was none available with her hips locked between one side of the container and Jason’s legs.

  To be stuck in here with him, of all people…

  She was missing her father horribly but was still trying to get over the revelation Marissa was pregnant with his child. She’d had no clue the pair had rekindled the flame between them. Which seemed odd because whenever anything happened on the Argo, everyone knew about it. What she found most peculiar of all was Marissa’s request that she not tell Jason.

  How could she not tell him?

  Regardless, they were questions Aly had to put aside. It was none of her business. She had to feel happy for Jason. With everything that had happened since his father’s death and what he’d seen during the war, he deserved a break in life.

  Then why can’t I feel happy for him?

  Tadrosia

  With the lid of the container finally off, Jason stared upward at the light beaming in. A young Huugli man peered down at him and reached inside.

  “You first,” Jason told Aly.

  She took the alien’s hand and heaved herself out. Jason followed, unfolding himself out of the awkward crate. His back ached, and his legs were numb. “That’s not an experience I want to repeat anytime soon.”

  If the journey hadn’t been bad enough, taking it with Aly had been strange to say the least. While he understood she was on edge because of Kevin’s kidnapping, Jason couldn’t remember a time she’d remained silent for so long. He decided it was a riddle for another day. They’d come to Tadrosia for one reason and they’d needed their wits about them to bring Kevin and Kione home.

  Quetren’s Huugli contact led them out of the stabling yard and through a large gate into the bleakness that was one of the vast mining settlements scattered across Tadrosia. It wasn’t the cityscape he’d envisioned. He knew it would be bad, but it was worse than he could have possibly comprehended.

  Open-cut mines stretched out before them along with domed structures dotted throughout. In amongst it all, Huugli miners went to work digging up the precious lurilius-ze mineral from the ground. The clouds were as brown as the color of the dirt and the air rancid to breathe. Jason could taste it on the tip of his tongue.

  “This is grotesque,” Aly said. “What makes people do this to their own world?”

  “Greed.” Jason shook his head. “To think as a civilization only a few hundred years ago, we almost transformed our home into a wasteland like this. Imagine what’d be left of Earth if we hadn’t seen the error of our ways before it was too late.”

  With hoods over their heads, they walked through the masses of workers so they wouldn’t be discovered by the general population. The last thing they needed was for their cover to be blown.

  They passed by a queue of miners heading down one of the numerous shafts, while another group appeared from the other direction. They looked like hell and were obviously very sick. Tadrosian guards watched over everything in protective suits and elaborate masks, while the Huugli went about their business in little more than tattered rags.

  Aly led the way up a small rise and stopped in her tracks. The settlement continued toward the horizon and beyond for dozens of kilometers. She turned to Jason glumly. “Where are we going to start?”

  Forty-Five

  Valkeris Station

  Marissa assumed she was fit. Even during the busiest times at the Tribune she’d gone to the gym at least three times a week. But after the months she’d spent on the Argo and the fact she had another person growing inside her, she was finding herself more than a little puffed.

  The trek from the docking bay to the bowels of the station was a long one. The bottom levels were surprisingly clean. In her experiences visiting civilian stations, they all followed a consistent pattern. The tops decks were the shiniest, while the lower decks the grungiest. The only difference she could tell on Valkeris were the lack of Tadrosians. Off-world traders and merchants combined as the largest segments of its population.

  The room Kirahvin took them to was much nicer than the one they’d gone through during quarantine. The walls were colored in the same earthy tones, matching the rest of the station, while the harsh bright lights were replaced with soft illumination.

  Marissa lay on the bed, and Kirahvin and her two assistants made her comfortable.

  “Is there a reason we’ve come to the lower levels when your medical facilities are towards the top of Valkeris Station?” Tai said, moving herself beside Marissa.

  “There is something I haven’t divulged yet.” The Tadrosian doctor shared an uneasy look with her staff. “The medical board doesn’t sanction what we’re doing here.”

  “For what reason?” Marissa asked.

  “As I told you earlier, after the disease spread through our population, our doctors and scientists tried everything to reverse its effects. Of late, that hasn’t been the case.”

  “Why?”

  “Unfortunately, our distrust of outsiders has grown over time, and the thought of being cured with the DNA of another race repulses those segments of society that believe in a Tadrosian purity.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Do they expect technology to lengthen their lives indefinitely?” Tai said.

  “Trust me, it’s an ongoing argument.” Kirahvin sighed. “I can assure you, my colleagues and I don’t share those feelings. We’re so thankful you’ve decided to help us.”

  Her assistant handed her a small medical probe. “Are you ready to proceed?”

  “I’ve come this far.” Marissa nodded and took Doctor Tai by the hand. She closed her eyes, and all the fears she’d had disappeared.

  When her eyes reopened, Kirahvin and the two other Tadrosians were gone. “Did I fall asleep?”

  “For an hour at least.” Tai took hold of her hand. “The doctor’s checking the results now.”

  “Let’s hope they find something they can use.” Marissa touched her stomach and glanced at Tai who was smiling at her. “You knew, didn’t you?”

  “Hmm?”

  “That the baby was Jason’s. How could you not? You’d have seen his DNA readings when you took my scans.”

  Tai shook her head. “Under medical law, the first DNA scans are taken at birth upon the baby’s data entry into the commonwealth database. That is unless I get parental consent to do so earlier or if I suspect genetic irregularities.”

  “Oh…”

  “With that said, I had my suspicions.”

  Marissa chuckled at the smirk on Tai’s face. But her mood quickly changed. “I have to tell him, don’t I?”

  Tai took a moment to choose her words. “Don’t you think he’ll be happy?”

  It was something she’d asked herself time and time again. “I’m not sure.”

  “Yet, you’ve told me that you knew him well?”

  “I thought I did. And I guess I do.” Marissa closed her eyes in frustration. “I suppose I just… If I tell him…well, he has a lot on his plate at the moment. This news will be a burden to him.”

  Tai raised her eyebrows. “Do you truly believe that?”

 

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