Sydney and Lucius left Ops and headed to the lounge, finding the others already in their quarters. Lucius made tea and then they sat at the table nearest the room’s large screen display.
“I think those two would be a great asset to the community. What do you think?” Sydney asked.
“I couldn’t find anything that even hinted of them concealing a hidden agenda. They appeared to be just what they represented, a couple of young adults who genuinely want to join our community. They both have exceptional backgrounds but issuing an invitation without having met them is uncomfortable, at least for me,” he replied.
“Me too. Old habits are hard to overcome, and trust is extremely hard. Also, I know that our community is no longer a secret, so we must be ten times more careful being out in the open,” she said.
“Here’s my nightmare: that we pick up a new member of the community, they turn out to be a spy, and we have to space them for their troubles. We can’t afford to let them into the city, they could really cause havoc, or worse, get someone killed. And under no circumstances can we ever let Chris’ work fall into the hands of those on Earth,” he said shaking his head.
“If we seriously consider inviting these two, and Ms. Little is a straight shooter, then we’ve made some pretty significant progress on two fronts; one expected and one completely unexpected. We have a possible conduit for getting new community members, and we may just have an ally on the ground. Less meeting them in person, I’ve never had such a comprehensive dossier for a candidate, ever. If we’re going to say yes, there’s no point in putting off picking them up. Plus, once they do get here, we can get a better idea of what we’re facing when approaching other candidates.”
Lucius added, “Aidan took the initiative to come up with a pretty clever means of contacting us. No one else other than a bunch of governments has made the attempt. And all those jokers had to offer was so-called haven for us to land or offered diplomatic relations. All they really wanted was a crack at our ships; Aidan seems to want nothing more than to join our community,”
“Valerie, too,” Sydney added.
“Absolutely, we’re agreed that we want them both, right?”
Sydney shrugged her shoulders, “They sound exactly like the very candidates you brought to Chris in the very beginning, don’t they? They’re both extremely bright, they both appear to be ready to completely sever their relationships to everything on Earth. Most likely I would have taken both when I was doing the recruiting in Atlanta. Margaret and Chris left it to our discretion on who we decided to offer immigration, and the method or methods for getting them off Earth. Although I would feel a hell of a lot better to get as many eyes on a pickup mission as we can. I don’t know a damn thing about combat tactics or misdirection to plan a collection mission myself, do you?”
They were quiet for several moments. “Let’s do this, why not put together a summary of everything that went on, append the transcript, and send it to the council for consideration,” Sydney proposed.
Lucius smacked his hand on the table and laughed. “That’s a splendid idea! You know I had always had to act alone in this kind of thing, and now I can just punt and let someone else make the hard choices. G2?”
“Yes, Lucius. How may I be of assistance?”
“Sydney and I are each going to dictate a report for the council. Once we’re finished, please append them to the transcript of the conversation we just finished with the Harmony residents.”
“Understood, Lucius. Will that be all?”
“Yes, thank you,” said Lucius. “Shall we retire to our rooms and dictate our reports? After you’re done, I would like to talk to you about a few things.”
“Sure. See you in a little while.”
They dictated their impressions and concerns and once both were done, G2 transmitted them to the colony for review. They then returned to the still empty lounge.
“Here’s what I’m worried about,” began Sydney. “How the hell do we retrieve anyone down there? I have to assume that the military is going to be loaded for bear when our ships approach.”
“I was thinking the same thing. I have no idea how they took Christopher’s warning. For all we know, it provoked them like waving a red cape in front of a mad bull.”
“We have three things going for us, the shields, that disintegrator weapon, and avoidance. If the council okays the pickup of one or both, it’s going to have to be a snatch and grab. Why don’t we talk it over with the crew in the morning, depending on if the council says we should proceed,” Sydney suggested.
“Great idea. I’m calling it a night for me, I’m exhausted,” Lucius said, unable to conceal a yawn.
Sydney smiled, “I’ll finish my tea, then I’ll see you in the morning.”
* * *
Aidan and the others were in his living room, all drinking stronger than champagne this time, and the atmosphere was much more sober than their last gathering.
“Excuse me for saying so, but I don’t know whether to shit or go blind,” said Aidan. Silas laughed as the women smiled. “Okay then, what do you all think?”
“I’m pretty excited, especially since you may actually have your dream come true. They seemed to be seriously considering your request to join the colony,” said Constance.
“They seemed pretty comfortable with us maintaining contact and collaborating on some level. I like that and if it works out, it should be very beneficial for everyone,”
said Silas.
Looking at Valerie, Constance asked, “Have you really decided that if Aidan is offered the chance to go, you’ll go with him?”
“If I’m asked, yes.”
“And what if they only want him,” Constance prodded.
“Then I won’t go,” Aidan immediately interrupted.
“You can’t do that,” Valerie protested. “Just because I may not go with you now doesn’t mean I can’t come sometime later. You can’t pass this up if it’s offered.”
Aidan just shook his head.
“They spent quite a bit of time in conversation on helping funnel new people to live up there. It’s a certainty that Val will end up there no matter what,” said Silas. “The question for Constance and me is what kind of relationship we decide to sustain with the colony. We’ve already talked about it and we’re both staying put. We’ve invested too much time and effort in building up Harmony to where it is now, and we both have big plans for the future, which probably plays right into the plans the colony may have for us.”
“I’m still amazed how relatively easy it was to get in touch and how much we covered for a first contact. Aidan, I know we tend to gloss over how much work went into the whole contact project, but I must tell you that the results are nothing short of spectacular. We’ll never know how many people have ever tried communicating with them before now, but definitely know they decided to talk to you,” Constance said.
“That’s damned impressive work, young man,” Silas said.
“I took a shot. The whole thing was based on a guess. Something I didn’t think about until now is whether the government is detecting either end of the conversation. If there’s a satellite up there that can detect emissions in the x-ray band, they can spot the origin of the beam practically down to the inch. What do you guys think we should do about that? I don’t want Harmony to pay for my enthusiasm. I’m sorry I didn’t think ahead,” Aidan said soberly.
“Sending a laser signal into space is not against the law. But I will mention the possibility to them the next time we get in touch,” promised Constance. “Anyway, I’m bushed. I need to get some sleep. Please let us know when they contact you again and thank you for calling us. It’s been the most exciting thing to happen around here in far too long a time.”
Silas and Constance said their goodbyes and left. Once they were gone, Aidan took all the dirty glasses to the kitchen while Valerie headed upstairs to shower. When he heard the water turn on in the bathroom, Aidan sm
iled at how normal his new domestic situation was.
When the two of them were snuggled in bed, they began to talk. Everything was going well until they began to discuss the prospect of Aidan being invited but not Valerie. Aidan was adamant about not going if the two were not invited together and Valerie wasn’t having any of that nonsense.
“You heard that they would like for Constance to consider helping out finding new people for their community. What if they only take one at a time? The chances are pretty good that I might be next. Did you ever think about that?” she said heatedly.
“Yes, I did! And that’s a deal breaker. Unless you don’t want to go, then that’s a different story. Do you want to go?”
“Of course, I do,” she replied.
“On your own, or only with me?”
“If offered, I would have a virtual rocket up my ass to get there. Of course, I would love to go. I can’t imagine what wonders would greet me once I got there,” she said.
Aidan was silent, fuming about something he couldn’t even put his finger on.
“What? Why are you so angry, Aidan?” she finally asked.
“Hell, I don’t know!”
“Come on, you’re one of the smartest people I know. Take a breath,” she said, lightly massaging his neck. “Or is it that you just don’t want to say?”
Aidan was silent, slowly realizing what he was agitated about, and then realizing that it was something he had never really discussed with Valerie. She just kept lightly rubbing his neck, sometimes trailing her hand up the back of his head.
“Ready to talk?” she quietly asked.
“How can you tell?” he replied with a smile.
“Probably for the same reason you’re so worked up.”
“We’ve never discussed it. We’ve never really said it,” he said quietly.
“But it’s there. It’s been like this for a while now.”
“I know. But like you said, we’ve never said it. But what is making me so angry is that now that I have grown to love you, I don’t want to live without you,” he confessed.
Valerie turned toward him and hugged him close. “I love you too. And I would be heartbroken if we couldn’t be together. But you getting to the colony is bigger than the two of us. And once you’re there, I would have no better advocate for joining the community than you. So you have to go. I have to believe that we’re going to end up together no matter what.”
“But what about GST buying you out? That kind of cash buys complete independence. I have no idea if they use cash up there, but how do you cash out and bring it with you if you go? That’s got to be a couple of tons worth,” he chuckled.
“Do you really think that money means that much to me? It doesn’t. I love you Aidan Marshall, and I want to grow old with you. But not at the expense of you refusing their invitation. So let’s say no more about it, agreed?”
“Agreed. Now turn over. I need to get some sleep,” he sighed, spooning up behind her. And despite the excitement of the day, it wasn’t but a few minutes before they were both asleep.
* * *
At the White House, President Wilcox was just falling asleep when there was a knock at her bedroom door. The door opened and one of the Secret Service agents said, “Madam President, you have an important call from General Boise.”
“Do I have to go hide in the bunker?” she asked, reaching for the phone beside the bed.
“No ma’am, there’s been no alert issued.”
“Thank you,” she said as she picked up the phone.
“Yes, General, what can I do for you at this time of night?”
“We have recorded a huge amount of data being transmitted to Earth from the colony’s base station in orbit.”
“What kind of data, General?”
“Everyone’s working on it, ma’am. The transmission was encrypted, and the NSA is working on decoding it as we speak,” he replied.
“What was the duration of the transmission?”
“Several hours, Madam President.”
“And how much data was sent?”
“Hard to say until at least part of it is decoded.”
“General, that sounds more like a conversation to me.”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s what the NSA said. They think it might be a video conference of some sort.”
“Thank you, General. Call me as soon as they find out anything,” she said.
“Yes, Madam President. Good night.”
She hung up the phone muttering, “No chance of that now that I’m up.”
* * *
The next morning, Lucius and Sydney called together the station crew to discuss the possibility of picking up someone from Earth. Knowing that the U.S. military could track their ships, they knew there would be no sneaking up on the planet. They had three jumpers to play in any scheme of misdirection. They also had to ensure that whatever plan they came up with didn’t draw any attention to the town of Harmony. They went over dozens of scenarios, consulting with G2 about likely responses the military would have to each one, looking at the short window of opportunity committing to any operation so close to NORAD. The biggest unknown was the Air Force’s response. Would they fire on the jumpers, or just observe what they did without attacking?
G2 was able to access standing orders issued by President Wilcox ordering that colonial ships were to be left alone, but closely observed. No one wanted to test the military’s restraint, but they also knew that their technology gave them a huge edge in any direct confrontation. Still, none of the station crew were anxious to engage in any provocative activity that would damage property or cause loss of life.
Between the eight of them they came up with a solid plan. After going over it several times, looking for any weaknesses, they decided it was as good as it got. Lucius sent the plan to the council and Ops for review, wanting to execute the mission as soon as possible.
The approvals were received in a matter of a couple of hours, along with a message from Christopher wishing them Godspeed. Sydney immediately sent a message detailing the plan to Harmony, getting an acknowledgment in a matter of minutes. Everyone was ready to go.
Let’s Groove
Silas loaded up his hybrid with Aidan and Valerie’s three bags while they were closeted with Constance, going over last-minute details and saying their goodbyes.
“Excited?” she asked.
“Now? Yes. Had they sent that message last night I wouldn’t have slept a wink,” Aidan replied. “I’m sorry, I left the house in a little mess.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have someone in to tidy up, pack your personal belongings, and store them away for you, just in case. We’ll do the same thing with your things when they arrive, Val.”
Aidan laughed. “I don’t think that will be necessary, you can give away whatever I’ve left behind. These are all my passwords to the hosts and my workstation at home. Also in there is a power of attorney, putting you in charge of all my earthly affairs,” he said, handing her a manila envelope.
“I have the same for you as well. I also transferred my assets to you to control and do with as you will, that includes the sale of my company to GST. I spoke to my attorney this morning, letting her know what’s up,” Valerie said, much to Constance’s surprise.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” asked Constance.
“There’s a check in there in an envelope that I would like you to drop in the mail to my folks, and the paperwork covering the sale of my house. I had all my signatures notarized before I left home, so everything should be all set. I think Harmony can put that GST money to good use, especially under your guidance.”
Silas stuck his head in the door, “We should get a move on.”
Aidan stopped dead in his tracks on the way out so quickly, Valerie bumped into him.
“What?” she asked.
He turned to Constance and said with a stricken look on his face, “I totally forg
ot! Would you say goodbye to everyone, Andy, Nancy, Samuel, all my students, especially Xavier and Esther.”
Constance held up her hands, “Whoa, slow down. I’ll take care of everything. I won’t tell them where you went off to, but that you and Val have taken some time off to get to know each other better; people have seen you together and it’s the truth. If you’re allowed to communicate with us, you can tell everyone goodbye later. Okay?”
“Thank you so much. I feel terrible that I didn’t think about this at all.”
He looked so sad, Valerie hugged him, “Stop it. You’ve—we’ve had a lot on our minds. It’s not your fault, okay? Constance and Silas have you covered, relax.”
Constance chuckled, hugged the two, then followed them outside. When they were all loaded into Silas’ car, Constance leaned her head in and said, “When you get to the colony, would you say hello to my aunt, Bernice Little? Let her know how much of an inspiration she’s been to me.”
Silas got on the highway heading north toward Colorado Springs. The drive was quiet. Once they arrived in Colorado Springs, Silas followed the signs to Pikes Peak.
“Have either of you been here before?” Silas asked. “The park facility at the mountaintop closes at 5 P.M., that’s seven hours before pickup. They close off the road at the bottom of the mountain an hour later. What I’m hoping is that we can get up the mountain after dark and I can drop you off up top, or at least close to the top. Then you stay out of sight until midnight. Some of this we’ll have to play by ear. There are park rangers along the road who check peoples’ brakes for excessive heat, and they’ll hold cars on the way down for safety. We might have to go now and scout out a hiding place where you can wait.”
“Okay. The tourist thing we got down pat. How many people hike up to the peak?” asked Valerie.
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