Then he told Captain Lee everything.
“That’s... quite a story,” the captain said once he was done. “I’d like to ask you a few questions, but there’s no time now. We have several recon craft covering the area, and a transport is coming in a couple of minutes. So let’s get ready.” Dave got to his feet, still uneasy with the proximity to the Rift, but he saw the soldiers stood alert and at the ready.
“Don’t worry, son, we have the entire area covered. There’s a Covenant team on their way, but they won’t be here in time to stop us. They’re not the only ones who have the Rift area covered with motion detectors, you know,” he said, grinning.
“Sir, actually...” Dave said, stopping to clear his throat. “I actually thought this side of the Rift was Buchanan territory.” The captain shook his head.
“Well, the Rift marks the border of Covenant territory, that’s for sure, but this is no-man’s-land. Buchanan is way further west. The transport will take us across the dead zone, a journey that would have taken us at least a week on foot. Safer to cross it from above, trust me.”
“What’s the dead zone?”
“It is this place,” he said, motioning with his hands to encompass the surroundings.
“The dead zone is an arid, hostile place, jammed in between the Covenant and Buchanan. It’s a place you definitely wouldn’t walk across. It’s got radiation zones, lawless tribes, and every so often, epidemics break out. Nasty diseases.” Dave thought of the people he’d seen. When he thought he and the other Wardens were protecting the Covenant from monsters, they were actually shooting at refugees. He said as much, and the captain nodded.
“Yes, some people live in this place. You know, you’d be surprised at all the hostile places people are born, grow up, and try to fend for themselves and their families. But sometimes, the epidemics and the tribal wars force some of them to flee their homes. Some end up coming west, and we try to settle them as best we can. It’s not always easy, since most don’t have the skills needed to be productive members of society, but we have a program in place to school them and get them work and so on. Others go east, and... Well, it seems you know all about that, I suspect. I wasn’t aware it was that bad, but it doesn’t surprise me.” The captain got a dark look in his eyes, but there was no more time to talk.
As soon as the transport arrived, they embarked. Soldiers covered them as they entered the hull of the great craft, while drones, which must be the recon craft the captain had mentioned, covered them from the air. Soon they were on their way, and Dave finally relaxed. He realized he hadn’t relaxed like that since back at Mayor Robertson’s house. Perhaps not even then. He listened to the low buzzing sound of the craft’s engines, and laid his head back on the soft headrest. He made sure his pack lay safely across his lap, and dozed off.
Renee
The military vehicle drove up the long driveway, between tall maples that formed a canopy above, and parked next to four civilian cars that stood along the side of the courtyard. The log cabin was large, probably big enough to house twenty people comfortably, and sat overlooking an empty valley. They were deep in the mountains west of Buchanan, and it had taken them most of the day to drive here. Renee stepped out of the vehicle, and walked over to the door. The driver walked off to make a call, and she entered the cabin.
A handful of people were gathered inside, most wearing civilian clothes, but also a few in uniform. There was no conversation going on, and she was greeted with only a brief nod from a few, after which a man approached and asked if she’d like a cup of coffee. Two military, a man and a woman, and a man in a civilian suit stood by the fireplace, off by themselves. They seemed to be watching the others, and Renee got the impression they were in charge, even though no one said so. She accepted the coffee and stood sipping it when she heard another car outside. A moment later, the door opened, and Captain Lee entered, wearing his uniform. She hadn’t expected him to be here, but apparently, the rangers worked closely with military intelligence, and in some instances, ranger officers were military intelligence. She nodded a quick greeting, and he nodded back, before he went to stand with the others by the fireplace. The civilian stepped forward and addressed the room.
“Welcome to the cabin. I’m Mike, and I will be in charge of this selection weekend,” he said. So this was about testing. Renee had expected as much.
“During the weekend, we will test you all in various skills, and if we choose to go any further after that, we’ll be in touch. You all have different skill sets and personalities, and there are a variety of tasks that need filling. We represent different branches, both military and civilian, and sometimes, there’s not much difference.” That brought a few chuckles.
“We may choose to keep one of you, or some, or everyone. Or we may choose none of you. You will not be informed of what happens to anyone other than yourselves. But let me inform you that we have more than just this particular selection weekend, so if none of you is a good fit, well, we’ll just have to hope the next batch is a better match. You have , however, already been selected to come here, which means you’re already deemed to have the capacity to go further. So don’t disappoint us.”
“Good luck to you all. You’re going to need it.”
Evan
Evan looked out the huge panorama window and watched the shuttle rise through the opening in the shuttleport ceiling. It would take Sue back home, to her loved ones. He wondered for a moment... Had he felt something for her, something more than just friendship and the loyalty of a superior to a subordinate? He shook his head. It was futile. They lived in completely different worlds. She could never understand; in fact, she had gotten it all wrong. That, more than anything, told him that there could never be anything more between them. His loyalty lay with his people, and the way he saw it, loyalty also meant speaking up when those he loved were wrong.
He knew he might have to face some heat for saving Sue, and he probably deserved it. But she had been his friend and comrade in arms, and she had served the Covenant well. She didn’t deserve the fate Ivanov and his lackeys had laid out for her. Now, he had made sure she would remain safe. She would never become a citizen, but she would be with her family, to take care of her little brother once her mother reached her fifty years, which couldn’t be far away.
She had learned some secrets that were too dangerous to carry, but Bliss would take care of that. Once Susan reached Earth, his contact would make sure she got the first dose. After that, the doctors in Charlestown would see to it that the dosages were fine-tuned to take just what was necessary, but leave the rest of her memories unharmed. In fact, if everything went according to plan, most of her memories of him would be erased. Then he would have no greater place in Susan’s memory than as a tough drill instructor who had taught her how to survive in a harsh environment.
The paperwork would keep her safe from Ivanov, and after the treatment, she should have no memory of anything particularly sensitive. Hopefully, she would live out her life as if nothing had happened, a Janissary wounded in battle, and honorably discharged back to her hometown, with head trauma causing memory loss being the explanation. She would hold a revered place among her people, and though she hadn’t served long enough for citizenship, Evan hoped she would be able to think of herself as someone who did her duty and served well. After everything she had gone through, he imagined that would be about the best she could have hoped for.
He turned and went to get ready for his own flight. It was time to make some changes.
Chapter 16
Mark
Mark Novak worried. He hadn’t heard from Evan since he notified him of Sue being on Luna, and now he was on his way here, to Earth. The news of Carl Hordvik’s unfortunate death was beginning to spread, and Mark would have liked to be able to tell Evan the news himself. Not the truth, of course; that burden was for Mark alone to carry.
He sipped his drink, watching his friend do the same, as they sat together in silence. Tomorrow, Evan Hordvik w
ould take his late father’s place on the council, and Mark expected him to be more receptive to his ideas for reforms in the Covenant. He also expected the younger Hordvik to be more careful about starting something there was no turning back from, and not gambling the entire existence of the Covenant away in a war that could have no true winners. Annihilating the French was one thing; taking on Buchanan, armed with nuclear weapons and almost equal in conventional strength, would be something entirely different.
Alexej Lunde leaned back and yawned.
“So, what do you think? Will Evan Hordvik side with us?” he said. Mark nodded, and for a moment, he felt bad for his friend. If everything worked out, Evan would side with Lunde on the issue of war. But Head Servant Lunde was not a man to lead the Covenant through desperately needed reform, and Mark knew that must come first. It was a half lie, not entirely true, but not entirely untrue, either.
“I believe so,” he said. “The time to look to the West is coming, sooner or later. But we need to be ready, or we may destroy ourselves in the process.” Mark felt like he had to reassure his friend that they thought alike, although neither of them had ever stood on opposite sides of anything.
Even so, he could never be too careful. That was the reason he had sent a communication device with young Wagner, to make sure he always had a direct line to Buchanan, should the need arise. He had just received word from one of his agents that Wagner had safely arrived in Buchanan, and that he was being debriefed at the moment. He would test the device soon. There were only two of them, and he had one in his apartment. It was completely detection safe, and there was no way to breach the levels of security built into it.
“Any word on our two fugitives?” Lunde said. The question took Mark by surprise. Not so much the question itself, but his friend’s tone. He seemed to know more than he should.
“Atlas was caught by the Corpus. Wagner is still on the run,” he said. Lunde didn’t reply, so he went on.
“I got Atlas picked up from the Corpus. They would have destroyed her, and we both know that whatever else she is, she is known by the public as a hero. So I sent her to Luna.” The head servant smacked his lips, and then he stood up from the chair.
“Okay, so I take it she’s under control then. Let’s keep it that way,” he said and walked over to the window. He looked out over Legacy, and Mark wished he could convince his friend to see the need for reform, to be part of the future, instead of an obstacle of the past.
“Wagner was on a yet-unidentified aircraft, about to cross the Rift,” he said. Mark tried to look surprised; he still didn’t know how much Lunde knew.
“One of our scramjets managed to shoot it down, but it seems Wagner escaped. They have him now.”
“Let them have him then,” Mark replied. “We have neutralized the North, and once we’re ready, we’ll take the West. We’re beyond worrying about keeping secrets from our enemies. As long as he’s away from the Covenant, his potential for damage is minimal.” Lunde turned around. He had the look of a man whose worries threatened to overwhelm him, yet when he spoke, his voice was steady as rock.
“The storm is coming, my friend. And if we’re wrong about young Hordvik, it may come a lot sooner than we’re hoping for.” Mark shook his head.
“No, Alexej. We bring the storm. And after, the world will be ours.”
Dave
Dave had spent the last few days getting to know the ins and outs of Buchanan, and he had spent a lot of time with Captain Lee, who had turned out to be some kind of intelligence officer. After his first two days, when he had been confined to a military compound on the southern edge of the city, he was put up in a hotel near an artificial lake. The Cecilia Hotel, he was told, had several tenants who had escaped the Covenant, quite a few of them northerners. That made Dave a bit uneasy, and he avoided talking to them as much as possible. Who knew what they would do if they found out he’d been a Warden once, he thought.
The Cecilia Hotel was very nice, although he didn’t have much to compare it to. He’d heard of the palaces in Legacy, but he had a hard time imagining anything could be better than this. It had warm water all day long, and the most exquisite meals were served in the restaurant on the top floor, with an amazing view of the city. He spent a great deal of time walking along the lakeshore, but most of the time, when not in his room or talking to Captain Lee, he sat in the library down in the basement. It held shelves upon shelves of books, and they would lend you an electronic device that gave access to thousands of electronic books. For Dave, it was heaven.
At night, though, he had trouble sleeping. He would sit by the window, staring out at the city lights, instead of lying in bed, trying, and failing, to fall asleep. Sometimes, he had nightmares of Warden patrols killing refugees, or running with Sue from the Corpus headhunters, or crossing the Belt, only to wake up soaked in sweat after hearing the familiar click of the mine that had cost him his leg. He would touch the stump while he calmed down, only gradually separating the dream from his current reality. And even though he was finally safe, he still felt exhausted.
He would sit every night, staring at the device Mark Novak had given him. It was an unimpressive thing. He had already shown it to the captain-it was hardly a thing he could keep secret-but the captain had found nothing special about it. Nothing dangerous, anyway. They couldn’t figured out its function, but both agreed the most likely answer was that it was some kind of communication device, made from some Moon-people tech that Buchanan hadn’t gained access to yet. They could find no moving parts, just a piece of solid metal placed in the middle of the device, with something close by that would work as a small amplifier if it ever made a sound. Captain Lee had told Dave he had once heard a rumor of something called a solid-state device, which would function as a computer, but after months of investigating it, they had dismissed it as fancy. Still, he had told Dave to let him know the second something happened. So far though, it still lay silent on the bedside table.
A week after coming to Buchanan, Captain Lee came strolling by the lakeshore, where Dave sat, deep in thought.
“I want to show you something,” the captain said.
“What is it?”
“Just come with me. You’ll see.”
Dave walked after the captain, and they entered a small aircraft that stood waiting on the landing pad just a couple hundred meters from the hotel.
Half an hour later, the craft landed, and they stepped out. Dave drew a deep breath. The air was fresh and somewhat cool. He looked around and saw they were high up in the mountains, next to an array of tubes that pointed up at the sky at an angle. Telescopes, he realized. He’d never seen one live, but he’d seen pictures. A woman in a white coat stood waiting, and they walked over to her.
“Welcome to the Frost Observatory,” she said. She introduced herself as Dr. Michelle Sims and led them along to a control room filled with computers and large screens showing data that Dave couldn’t identify.
“We have more than a hundred people working here,” she said.
“The problem is that, even though we need more, everything here is secret. And we need the absolute best minds, because what we do here can one day change the world.” Dave frowned. What were they doing here? Creating a weapon or something?
They stopped near a large screen mounted on the wall, and Dr. Sims typed something on the keyboard. A blurry image of what seemed to be a planet appeared.
“What I am about to tell you is top secret. We have decided to let you know only because Captain Lee tells me you are just the kind of candidate we’re searching for. We are going to offer you a job here,” she said. Dave was about to say something, but Dr. Sims ignored him.
“Of course, if you want to decline, do so now, and we’ll just end this conversation right now. But remember, you are still sworn to secrecy. We do not even exist, officially. Get it?” Dave nodded, and Dr. Sims took out an infopad, unlocked it, and presented Dave with a form. Dave saw it already had his name on it.
; “Sign this, and the job is yours. Just press your index finger right here.” Dave hesitated for a second, wondering if this was the right move. He didn’t even know what they were doing here. But he needed something meaningful to do, or he’d go crazy, and Dr. Sims seemed smart. Besides, he was intrigued by the secrecy. He pressed his index finger where Dr. Sims had shown him, and she smiled.
“Thank you,” she said. She pushed a button on the keyboard, and the blurry image began to rotate.
“Ever since the Fall, we have been monitoring this particular planet,” she said.
“It is located approximately forty light years away from Earth, and for more than two centuries, we have been learning as much as we can about it. Throughout this time, we have developed better equipment, all to be able to study the system in detail.” She looked at Dave, and he met her eyes. This was her life’s project, Dave realized.
“You see, the people before the Fall learned of what was about to happen, and they sent a number of people away to make sure humanity survived even if Earth didn’t. It would take them more than a century to reach this planet, all the while using a technique similar to that which keeps the Moon people alive for so long, letting the star farers sleep through the journey. A decade ago, we finally got proof that those humans had survived the great journey and established a colony on this planet.”
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