Homefront

by Scott James Magner

  When she opened her eyes, Serene was snuggled up against her while the Omegas stood guard. It would have been a touching moment were Mira not wearing full body armor, but Serene’s aura of happiness chased away the worst of the pain.

  And I wonder how all this looked to our friend on the other end of that video feed?

  Jantine’s relief was easy to pick out from the conflicting emotions on the other side of the Omegas, and Mira had the distinct impression she was being shielded from the more powerful thoughts aimed in her direction.

  She kissed the top of Serene’s head and helped her to stand up, resolving again to get the girl some real clothes at the earliest possible opportunity. It wasn’t so much that she looked bad wearing cut-down uniforms, but her grass-stained knees and bare feet made her look like almost feral, and whoever was coming to meet them from underground would likely wonder why she wasn’t armed and armored like the rest of the mods.

  Once Serene was standing on her own, Mira rolled to her feet and sent another thank you to the Omegas. Jason was as happy as ever to feel the touch of her thoughts, but O-6913 surprised her by offering his own satisfaction.

  Why, you old softy.

  Mira smiled and pushed her way through to the others with Serene clinging to one of her gauntleted hands. She sent a wordless acknowledgement to Jantine, who then returned her attention to JonB.

  Mira was about to say something when she detected a shift in the almost-forgotten emotions of the guards in the tunnels below. It was as if they were paying more attention to something, and although their minds had the same oily feel as Captain Martin’s, she got a strong sense of respect mixed with wary preparedness.

  "Get ready, everyone. They’re coming up."

  Mira drew her slugthrower then realized she had no direction other than "down" to aim it at. As if sensing her need, Jason lent her his eyes, and a complex web of power lines drew itself across the ground. There was a glowing network of them forming around a section of faded tile work, and she relayed the location to Jantine, Katra and Artemus.

  Then a new mind appeared on her mental landscape, one completely free of worry or distractions. It was the eye of the storm in the emotional hurricane surrounding her, and she felt vaguely guilty about the gun in her hand.

  The tiles split into a dozen triangular sections, each of which drew back slightly and fell away into darkness. From the hole they revealed came the sound of a whirring motor, and Jason’s eyes supplied a power usage curve Mira recognized as a telescoping engineering platform. The top of a bright red safety cage emerged from the hole, followed by a shock of white hair framing one of the most striking male faces Mira had ever seen.

  A wave of alarm ran through all of the mods save Serene, whose only reaction was to hold on tighter to Mira’s free hand. Mira took a step in front of the child, and the girl shifted her hands around to the back of Mira’s armored left leg.

  The man in front of her was the source of the calm thoughts, and Mira borrowed as much of Jason’s vision as she could to study his face. As if he’d orchestrated it, the rising sun was eclipsed by his wild halo of hair, making it hard to see him clearly.

  The cream-colored eyepatch was easy enough to make out, as was the wide smile that formed as he took in the assembled mods. His skin was a shade darker than Tommy’s, but that didn’t mean all that much in the Reclamation. What was most interesting about him was that Mira detected no apprehension whatsoever about the guns pointed in his direction, or even how many hands were holding them.

  Instead, she felt waves of pure joy radiating from his perfect awareness of the scene, which brought to mind Serene’s initial moments of consciousness after emerging from suspended animation.

  "Marvelous. Simply marvelous. You have no idea how glad I am you’ve come into my life."

  The man stepped off the platform, and Mira noticed he was using a cane. One of his legs was alive with energy, and she was impressed by the sophisticated prosthetic. The skin on his right hand was mottled, and though she recognized the signs of long-healed burns, the fingers were strong and healthy.

  "Lieutenant Harlan, how is Aloysius? I was expecting a message from him a few days ago, and I am very surprised to find you on my doorstep in his stead."

  ‘Lieutenant’ . . . He doesn’t know! Why, I bet no one knows, and that’s got to be good for us.

  "Captain Martin sends his regrets. He wanted to be here, believe me, and . . ."

  The lie felt wrong on her tongue, but Mira didn’t know what else to do. She recognized the half-cape and brown and gold vestments of a senior Reclamation councilor, but she’d been away from Earth aboard the Valiant for a few years and had no idea who the man was. The clothing had a complicated sensor web built into the rich fabric, and when Jason clued her into the transmission beaming its way into his ear Mira knew this was no one she could hope to deceive for long.

  ". . . some kind of phased plasma weapons, but Harlan and the big one also have slugthrowers. I really wish you’d let me send the team up the accessway; I don’t care who you think sent her, that woman is bad news."

  Whoever the man was on the other end of the transmission, he wasn’t one of the guards below her. Their emotions were more or less constant—anticipation, boredom, and a dash of concern for the man at the top of the scaffolding. There was none of the focused attention evident in the unknown speaker’s voice.

  For his part, the old man just shook his head, waiting for her to continue. Then Jantine stepped forward, and Mira was surprised by the combined trepidation and . . . loathing? Jantine, what’s wrong?

  Mira realized she hadn’t actually sent the question to her when the Beta began speaking. The Jantine she’d come to know in the last two days was gone, at least temporarily, replaced by the battle commander who had blasted her way out of one of the most advanced warships of the fleet as if it was just another day at the office.

  "I am JTN-B34256-O, called Jantine. Who are you, and whom do you represent?"

  This did get a reaction out of the old man, and not the one she was respecting. Instead of surprise, it was relief, and a deep sense of longing.

  The voice on the other end of the transmission, though, was far from calm.

  "Mordecai, did I hear that right? Get out of there, get out of there right now!"

  Mira’s hand tightened on her pistol, but neither Jantine nor the old man was alarmed. Much to the consternation of the younger man on the other side of the transmission, he reached up his right hand to his ear and disconnected his associate in mid-sentence.

  "What are you doing? You can’t just—"

  The motion cemented for Mira what she’d suspected from the first moment she’d seen the man’s face—he was someone who made his own rules, and answered to no one.

  "I am Mordecai Harrison. Doctor Harrison, if it matters, but there are those who prefer to call me ‘Mister,’ ‘Councilor,’ or ‘that crazy old fool’ depending on who I’ve offended most of late. May I see your face, Jantine? I dislike anonymity, and given the company you keep I’m sure there’s no need to hide, yes?"

  Jantine turned her visored head to Mira, who nodded.

  "It’s all right. I think we can trust him."

  Mira wasn’t completely sure that was true, but since he was the only person she’d met in the last two days who didn’t make her head hurt, she was willing to take the chance.

  Jantine unsealed her helmet, exposing her flawless alien features to Harrison. Mira saw his eyes shift between Jantine and herself, and she sensed a hint of surprise in his thoughts that he squelched almost immediately.

  It took Mira a moment to figure out what it was, then she remembered that her own face had undergone changes when the virus turned her world upside down. Gone were the freckles Tommy used to tease her about, and her eyes had a more almond shape to them than before.

  And who am I now? What am I?

  "Fascinating. All of you, such wonderful diversity. Welcome, welcome to our world. And who is this, peekin
g at me from behind her fingers?"

  Harrison’s voice rose sharply at the end of his question, in an annoying tone Mira had last heard from one of her grandfathers. His smile was about as fatuous, but Mordecai Harrison’s thoughts contained none of the condescension Seamus Harlan had for his son’s offspring.

  Too bad Serene doesn’t realize what he’s doing, or she’d probably teach Mordecai a few new tricks . . .

  Mira hastily buried her thoughts, lest the barely trained empath clinging to her leg detect them and do something everyone would regret. Instead of introducing the girl, she tried steering the conversation in a different direction altogether.

  "Doctor Harrison, two of our party are in serious need of medical attention. Are you here to grant our request for asylum, or should we make other arrangements?"

  Harrison sighed, the deep exhalation of a man who’d known real disappointment. But his smile was still in place, and when he spoke it was without premeditation.

  "I’m afraid that’s somewhat of a loaded term at the moment, Lieutenant. Jantine’s broadcast upset quite a few powerful people, and my own status in the Reclamation government works against me in this instance. As Private Citizen Harrison I can offer you every resource at my disposal, and do so gladly.

  "But Councilor Harrison cannot accept your request, especially not with so many guns pointed at him. Can we lower them for a while, or possibly put them away? I assure you, you have nothing to fear from an old man like me."

  Mira sent a burst of confirmation to the mods, wincing slightly as her perceptions brushed against Katra’s and Artemus’s thoughts. The Delta had half his weapons aimed down into the hole, but Katra’s pulser was pointed directly at the back of Harrison’s head, and Mira knew she never missed.

  "Is this really one of your leaders? How can you allow this to happen? Captain Martin was near the end of his usefulness, but at least he died a warrior. This. . . cripple. . . is there no one else we can talk to?"

  It took a moment for Mira to understand what Jantine had said. The loathing she’d felt from the Beta was now flavored with a dash of contempt Mira remembered from their first encounter.

  Mira was shocked by the intensity of Jantine’s disgust. The open-minded, tolerant friend for whom she’d risked her life had an ugliness in her that, for the first time, made Mira think of her as truly alien.

  Jason detected Mira’s confusion, and without prompting sent her a series of images from his life in the colonies. Dozens, hundreds of smiling faces, going about their lives in well-ordered patterns and working toward the good of all. It seemed like a perfect society, and Mira wasn’t sure she understood what the Omega was showing her.

  Then Jason "introduced" her to another few hundred faces, who performed much the same tasks with similar smiles. Then there were hundreds more, and hundreds after that. As a pair of dim stars spun across a green sky, she had the impression that many years were passing. Decades, in fact, and all the while Jason worked building fantastic structures impossible to imagine in Earth’s deep gravity well. The night sky’s stars changed subtly, and Mira witnessed with him the birth of O-6913, and then many years later that of Jantine.

  Dear Lord. Jason, are you telling me that. . .

  The Omega sent her a confirmation tinged with regret, one O-6913 echoed. She’d felt more maturity from Jason than any of the other mods, but she had no idea how to react to the fact that he’d lived so long that almost everyone he’d ever known was dead.

  And not one of mod faces he showed me was any older than my father’s. . .

  Mira swallowed the beginnings of something that might have been anger, were she still capable of that emotion. She’d just learned yet another damning truth about Colonial society, but this time it was something she could change. Choosing her words carefully, she tried to explain the truth of life on Earth to her friend.

  "Jantine, it is very common for people to live well past a century on Earth. Captain Martin was nearly sixty, with many more years ahead of him in the fleet. The fact that I was even considered for a command at my age is very unusual."

  Jantine’s response was incredulous, and immediate. She moved forward and grabbed Mira’s arm, leaning in close to her ear to whisper her next question. Serene shifted to the other side of Mira’s body but still clung tight to her legs.

  "But why is he so selfish? A Gamma should have scanned his knowledge into the crèche long ago, instead of letting him linger on in this state. How can the next generation improve upon his works if they cannot experience them first-hand?"

  "We have no Gammas, Jantine. We have respect for our elders, and the will to overcome adversity."

  ~But . . .~

  Mira shook her head and pulled away. What she had to say was for all the mods, and her head hurt far to much to even attempt linking them all in at once.

  "No buts. Not anymore. How do you think we survived the hunter-killers? Luck? I learned to fight them from a man almost as old as this one, who’s still alive and could probably teach Artemus a thing or two about strength. You’re not in the colonies anymore, and if you can’t control your prejudices, you should let me do the talking from now on."

  Jantine’s jaw closed with an audible snap, and Mira felt the Beta’s mental defenses go up. But not before a burst of annoyance smashed through her own, one strong enough to steal Mira’s sight for several seconds until Jason could pull it away and add another stone to her wall.

  When she could see again, Mira turned to face the man whose next words would decide the course of her future.

  "Doctor Harrison, thank you for understanding, and for your offer of assistance. I think we can definitely arrive at a mutually acceptable diplomatic fiction. But if possible, can we discuss it in your medical facilities?"

  Harrison gave the entire group another look.

  "Of course," he said, "of course. But I’m afraid that the lift can’t accommodate everyone at once, and your Type 6 and Type 30s may well be too much for it to handle. But I’m willing to—"

  Jantine’s anger boiled over, and this time she didn’t bother to hide it.

  "No, Earther. We go together, or not at all."

  "Jantine, what are you doing! We can trust him."

  "I will not let JonB and Katra out of my sight. Too many have been lost, and he cannot speak for all who dwell below."

  "Jantine, Katra is going to die soon. We both know it, and so does she. This is not a negotiating tactic, because there are no more options. She needs help, and he can give it to us."

  "Not without an escort. You need to stay with the Omegas, and Serene is certainly not going anywhere without one of us. Do you propose to send Carlton in there? Alone? Even he cannot be spared."

  Mira stared at Jantine, not bothering to hide her annoyance. The Beta was staring daggers at Harrison, whose face and mind were still blissfully calm. Serene sent a confused feeler in her direction, but Mira didn’t want to involve the Alpha just yet. Besides, Jantine was not so hard-headed that she’d let Katra, or even JonB die. Sooner or later, she’d have to realize that. . .

  Serene’s next sending was not a request, and pushed through both the Omega’s shields and her own meager defense with no difficulty. It wasn’t a shout, but it chased the rest of Mira’s thoughts away with a question she should have thought of herself.

  ~Mira, I don’t understand. The machine he used to reach the surface is bigger than the hole, and he knows that. Where are the other entrances?~

  A moment after the pain faded, Mira felt like kicking herself. Jantine hadn’t let Harrison finish, and although Serene didn’t understand everything that was happening, she was still at least as intelligent as the Betas, and she had a dozen lifetimes of insight to draw upon.

  ~Bless you, child, for keeping a straight head. You’ve given her a way out.~

  "Doctor Harrison, I believe you were about to mention an alternative to the lift?"

  Now Harrison smiled even wider, and there was definitely a grandfatherly twinkle in his eye.


  "Yes, well, I meant to say that I was willing to offer myself as a guarantee of sorts, while my assistant arranges for a closed transport to ferry us all inside. I think we can come up with something fairly easily to fit Miss Jantine’s needs."

  Despite his pleasant tone, Harrison’s words did nothing to settle Jantine’s fears. If anything, they just made her angrier.

  "Commander Jantine. And I accept your parole on one condition."

  Harrison cocked an eyebrow, a gesture that might have completely disarmed his smile if it weren’t for his eyepatch. But Jantine’s emotions were near the boiling point, and Mira wasn’t sure that the Beta would accept any further compromises.

  "Yes, what is it then?"

  Mira could feel satisfaction from both Jantine and Harrison, and she was relieved that he was willing to at least listen. His assistant, on the other hand, was shouting into the transmitter as if mere willpower could reactivate it.

  "Are you out of your mind? I’m sending up the team now! Hold on, Mordecai, I’m coming to get you!"

  Mira felt the guards below go from practiced disinterest to focused alert in a heartbeat. Still trying to defuse the situation, Mira shook herself loose from Serene and turned her face toward the securcam. She was about to tell Harrison’s assistant to stand down when Jantine dropped the proverbial other shoe.

  "That you offer your unconditional surrender to my force, and place yourself under the dominion of The Outer Colonies. You and your institute are now prisoners of war, Councilor Harrison, and as such are bound by the terms of the Interstellar Compact and the Magellan Accords."

  Jantine

  "NO," JONB SAID.

  Jantine turned to look at him, furious at his interruption. Mordecai Harrison remained where he was, neither accepting nor refusing her terms. The old man smiled his too-old smile and put more weight on the rod in his right hand, which Jantine still suspected was a new kind of weapon.

  ~Mira, relay. JonB, this is not the time.~

  Mira did not comply, at least not in a way Jantine could detect. But JonB struggled to his feet with Carlton’s help. His face was even paler than it had been last night, when he was screaming in pain at the full realization of his injury.