The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

by Jack Campbell

  “If we wanted to,” Geary said. “Do you want to?”

  “Hell, no. People who bail out of perfectly good warships aren’t worth the energy needed to put a hell lance through their escape pod.”

  He could understand how the crews of the Covenant ships felt, their escape pods spreading out and away from the abandoned warships that plowed onward and, unless boarded by crews from some of the Sol shipping farther out toward the edge of the star system, would keep traveling outward until they were lost in the deep dark between stars. He could also understand how Desjani and her crew felt, hardened veterans who had sailed with Death too long to be shocked or surprised at his appearance among them. They knew war. The Covenant crews had known only parades and drills and practices with foreordained results. Dauntless had been built for war. The Covenant ships had been built for peace even though they had the outer shape of warships. When the crews and ships of the Alliance and the Covenant had met, the result had been inevitable.

  Geary looked away from his display, wondering if this was indeed the last fight between the Alliance and the Covenant. “Envoy Charban, please ask the Dancers to rejoin us. We will be proceeding toward Old Earth as originally planned. Senators Suva, Costa, and Sakai, Envoy Rione, the engagement is over. Sol Star System is no longer menaced by an occupying military force, and the threat to the Alliance governmental representatives has been eliminated.” He threw that in just to remind the senators that they had been targets, too. “We will continue en route Old Earth.”

  The Dancers were already coming back toward Dauntless, their ships moving in a pattern that might have meaning to the aliens but remained incomprehensible to humans.

  —

  “THEY want to go to the surface,” Rione said. She was leaning back in her seat in the conference room as if she didn’t have the endurance left to stand.

  “The surface,” Geary repeated. “The Dancers went to send someone down to the surface of Old Earth.”

  “Yes. Sol Star System authorities say they’ll have to debate and discuss the issue and asked us to wait. The government controlling that portion of Old Earth where Kansas is located, though, has invited us to land. They’re eager for the prestige of being the site of the arrival of the Dancers.” Rione looked at the image of Old Earth slowly rotating above the conference table. Dauntless and the Dancer ships were in orbit about that fabled planet, looking down on white clouds, blue oceans, and large continents that every human had seen images of but relatively few alive had actually gazed upon in person. Few lights showed on the parts of the globe experiencing night, but that was normal. Light sent outward and upward served no purpose but waste. Of more importance were the full-spectrum images that showed cities and towns in a density that was shocking to those from worlds where the human presence had come much later.

  But many of those cities were patched by dead sections. Areas destroyed in war and still not reclaimed, or areas once populated when the number of humans on Old Earth had peaked, then depopulated during the bad times that had followed. Old Earth still had an impressively large population, but one that it could now sustain over the long term.

  In some places, ancient cities along the coasts were girdled by berms and barriers to keep out waters that must have risen about them. In other places, less fortunate cities were marked by leaning, decrepit towers rising from shallow waters that had submerged lower structures.

  “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Senator Suva said. “They survived so much. The scars are there, but the people of Old Earth are slowly bringing her back.”

  Geary nodded. “Someone recently told me that we had learned to live without hope for a better future. But I don’t think that was entirely true. Hope always lived here. Old Earth survived her trials and still managed to send out the first colonies to other stars. Those colonies gave birth to others, until humanity has spread across hundreds of star systems.”

  “Old Earth,” Charban noted with a smile, “is invoked not just as Home, but as an example that where life remains and resolve does not fail, victory, or at least survival, may always be possible.”

  “But possibly at great cost,” Rione added.

  “Speaking of victory,” Senator Costa said acidly, “you will doubtless be happy to hear, Admiral, that the people of Sol Star System are of conflicting opinions about our liberating them from the occupying force from the Covenant.” Now that the battle was done, and the Covenant warships eliminated, Costa had embraced the engagement without any hint of her previous misgivings. “They’re glad enough to be free of the occupiers, but they aren’t thrilled with the fighting or our own continued presence.”

  “What did they say about the threat to you and the other Alliance senators?” Geary asked.

  Costa’s smile stretched wide and sardonic. “No reply on that. No curiosity or questions, either. None at all. It’s enough to make you wonder if someone at Sol wasn’t involved in the matter.”

  “We will make what contacts we can and perhaps learn more about what happened,” Senator Sakai said. “Admiral, we have gained agreement under Sol Star System tourism regulations to allow every member of the ship’s crew to visit the surface, one-third of the crew each day for three days. Old Earth will send up shuttles and take groups to different cities. The ancestors of those on this ship came from many different spots on Old Earth, and the people here will try to accommodate the wishes of our people to visit the places that mean the most to them. The Alliance government will cover the cost of those shuttle runs.”

  “Sol didn’t offer to cover the cost?” Geary asked.

  “That would have required special debate and procedures,” Sakai said. “I assumed we did not have decades to wait while those matters were resolved. There is another issue we must discuss. The authorities on the portion of Old Earth containing the region called Kansas would like a much clearer indication of where the Dancers wish to go. Kansas is a large area on the surface.”

  Charban tapped a control, causing an image of angular letters to appear. “The Dancers sent me this when we reached orbit. More of that ancient text that said Kansas. These letters spell a word that might be pronounced Lee-on or Lie-ons.”

  “We will send that to the authorities below,” Sakai said. “Perhaps they will be able to tell us where that is.”

  “Have they explained why humanity expanded so much farther inward along the galactic arm than we did outward?” Geary asked. That issue had been bothering him ever since it was pointed out.

  Was Sakai’s small smile tinged by darkness? It was hard to tell. Even his voice only might have carried a cutting edge. “The first colonies outward made that happen. In the outward direction, the first colonies were obsessed with their own profit and security. Worried that even newer colonies beyond them might surround them with potential enemies, or compete with them economically, they clamped tight controls on movement through their star systems and created barriers to further exploration and colonization. Since jump technology required anyone going beyond them to pass through them, they successfully prevented any threats to their security, prevented anyone else from exploiting the star systems farther outward from them, and became an isolated, forgotten backwater relative to the rest of humanity.”

  “So, they won?” Geary asked sarcastically.

  “They thought so.”

  —

  GEARY stepped off the shuttle ramp, feeling the soil of Old Earth itself under his feet. The last time I actually stood on a planet was when I was on Kosatka with Tanya. Before that . . . a century ago, though it feels much shorter to me. And now Tanya and I are here. Home. The place all ancestors of all humans came from.

  He blinked against the bright sun overhead and the strong, cold wind blowing across this land, carrying fine particles of dust and grit with it. The parched dirt had formed ridges and small dunes sculpted by the breezes.

  Nearby, a battered tower of dark stone rose from the remnants of a larger structure, broken window openings gazing out blankly. The sh
uttle had landed in an open area surrounding the remains. Watching the landing area on the way in, Geary had seen that the open area had formed a square about the large building. Here and there, flat segments of concrete, the remains of roadways, were visible beneath the drifting soil.

  Around the open square were some other dark stone ruins or just low mounds that marked the buried remnants of smaller structures, the mounds set in straight lines that marked the boundaries of the ancient roads. Buildings had been here, but centuries of abandonment had led to their collapse, time and weather eating away at the works of humanity.

  He took a few steps, seeing that here the concrete road had given way to brick. A small patch of brick lay beneath his feet, the paving still intact though badly cracked. This section must have been buried for some time and only recently exposed by the unrelenting winds.

  A few stunted trees grew amid the scrub grass that formed patchy oases among the dusty dunes. Large old tree trunks lay partially buried, their crumbling remnants testament to how fertile this land had once been.

  Tanya had come to stand beside him, looking around curiously. “This is where the Dancers wanted to go? I’ve seen bombarded worlds that were in better shape.”

  “It must have been a nice town, once,” Geary commented. “I don’t see signs of destruction. It must have been abandoned.” He pointed to some of the buildings. “You can still see signs of repairs. Some people must have hung on here as long as they could, even when the area turned into a desert.”

  An atmosphere flier had come to rest nearby, the occupants walking out to stand amid the desolation. “Earth once endured orbital bombardments, and many other ills,” one of them said, her face saddened. “This is the place where Lyons, Kansas, once stood. Like many such towns, it could not survive the great changes in climate, the wars, and the many other troubles Old Earth has endured. People stayed and tried to keep this place and many like it alive, but in time their efforts were not enough. Here you see what became of the dreams of many people because of the folly of many people.”

  “Such places are not disturbed, except by natural processes,” a man from Earth added. “They are a reminder, and a monument.”

  “Like living in a graveyard,” Desjani muttered in Geary’s ear.

  Another woman smiled and knelt to touch sprigs of brighter grass that were springing from the side of a mound. “We’ve finally managed to reverse the climate processes that led to this area’s becoming so dry. It was hard, reaching agreement with everyone on this world, but the steps have been taken to slowly bring the planet back into balance, avoiding the sort of shocks inflicted upon us in the past. The rains are coming back. They will bring back the rivers and the creeks and the lakes, then the trees and the animals of the plains will return. In time, so will the people. Perhaps they will build new homes here and rebuild this town,” she added with a sharp look at the man who had spoken of not disturbing such places. “This is a living world, not a museum.”

  “We shouldn’t argue this in front of others,” the man replied, looking cross.

  “If they’re not going to repeat all of our mistakes, they need to know all about those mistakes and how we’re dealing with them.” The second woman straightened, brushing dust from her trousers. “Though from what I hear, there have been a lot of mistakes made among our world’s children. Has the never-ending war between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds indeed finally come to an end?”

  “Yes,” Geary replied. Mostly, he added silently. “Seeing this, actually grasping how many people died on Old Earth, I wonder how we survived long enough to reach other stars.”

  “Survived to repeat the same follies,” Senator Suva said, her eyes tragic as she scanned their surroundings.

  “I am certain that we would recognize both the follies and those who pursued such policies,” Senator Costa added in a caustic voice as she gazed meaningfully at Suva.

  “I am certain that we would,” Suva said, with a scathing glance at Costa.

  “We may lack for answers,” Rione said, as if commenting to no one in particular, “but we have a great deal of certainty, don’t we?”

  “Do we have to carry our quarrels to this place?” Dr. Nasr asked before either Suva or Costa could lash out at Rione or each other again. “Your ancestors, my ancestors, may have lived here, may have visited this very spot. Do not their memories deserve respect rather than discord?”

  Geary looked around, seeing that Senator Sakai and Charban had also joined him outside. “What do you think?” he asked them.

  “Home is the worse for wear, isn’t it?” Charban remarked.

  “We were fortunate,” the woman from Earth who had first spoken said. “The lessons we learned and the technology we developed in making Mars habitable played a large role in helping this world recover from the damage we inflicted upon it. And what we learned about a functioning ecology in order to build crewed ships that could carry generations of people to other stars during voyages lasting more than a century in normal space has guided us in repairing the ecologies of the Earth.”

  “Ironic, isn’t it?” another of her companions added. “Only by leaving our Home could we find the means to save our Home. You should come to other places. See our forests, our cities. Not all of Home is like this, and even here the scars of the past will soon be covered by new life.”

  “A living world,” the woman agreed pointedly, with another look at the man who had spoken of leaving all undisturbed. “A tired world, but still living, and not every person here is tired. The restless ones often go off world, though. The stars are an important safety valve for us.”

  Nice for you, Geary thought. But that leaves us to deal with whatever those restless people want to do when they get out among the stars. He had noticed that none of the people from Earth had brought up the fight with the Covenant warships and those warships’ deliberate attack on an Alliance ship. They were deliberately avoiding any discussion of that matter.

  Any further conversation was forestalled as one of the Dancer shuttles, a smooth ovoid similar in shape to their ships though much smaller, came to rest on the ancient roadway near the human shuttles. Everyone watched the gleaming Dancer craft, which balanced gently on the soil like a ballerina poised on one foot.

  Geary’s skin prickled slightly. He looked around and saw Dr. Nasr nodding in approval.

  “The people here set up an isolation screen around this whole area,” Nasr explained. “They have activated it as a precaution against contamination.”

  “What is to happen?” one of the people from Earth asked.

  “This is the Dancers’ show,” Rione replied. “We’ll have to see what they do.”

  A circular opening appeared in the side of the Dancer craft, expanding from a tiny point to a large access. From the bottom of the opening, a short and broad ramp extended to touch the ground.

  “Has this happened before?” another of those from Old Earth asked. “And how often? Or is this the first time an intelligence not our own has set foot to the soil of humanity’s Home?”

  “They picked an odd place for it,” Senator Costa grumbled.

  “Out of any place on Earth, they picked our land,” a woman from Earth declared proudly.

  “But why would that matter to these aliens?” the first man asked pointedly.

  “The Dancers always have their reasons,” Charban said, “even if those reasons don’t always make sense to us. I see something moving inside their shuttle.”

  Two of the Dancers came out onto the ramp, wearing protective suits that helped mask their hideous-to-human-eyes appearance. Like a giant spider mated with a wolf was how most people described the Dancers. This was the first time Geary had seen one in person, and he was grateful for their wearing the protective gear even as he felt ashamed of that reaction.

  The Dancers were carrying something between them, walking with a curious slowness.

  It was an oblong container, made of some clear substance, about two meters long
and perhaps a meter wide and deep.

  Inside it . . .

  “Ancestors preserve us,” Senator Suva gasped. “A human?”

  Dr. Nasr walked up to the container as the Dancers lowered it to a level patch of ground with the same slow, careful movements. He looked down, then pulled an instrument from his belt and studied it. “A human who died a very long time ago. The body has been protected inside that container and thus preserved by natural mummification. The body is wearing some sort of protective suit. There is no sign of trauma. I cannot say how they died, but this person was not slain by violent means.”

  Another Dancer came forward, holding out a much smaller container, this one opaque.

  Dr. Nasr took the box with a slight, respectful bow, then looked inside. He reached in and held out some small objects. “Does anyone recognize these?”

  One of the Earth representatives came forward and took them gingerly. “Ancient data-storage devices. Even if these have been protected and stored properly, it’s very unlikely the data on them still exists in readable form after so long. We might be able to recover something, though.”

  “What of this?” Dr. Nasr held up a metal pin that glinted with color in the bright sun.

  More of the people from Earth came forward, studying it, then one held it out toward Geary and the others from the Alliance. “In the old form of the language, it says Operation Long Jump.”

  “What was that?” Geary asked, looking at the pin but not touching it. It didn’t seem right to mar this object from history with the touch of his fingers.

  “I’m checking.” Another Earth representative was consulting a data pad. “There is little here. Secrecy in the old days and destruction of records since then have cost us much information. What our historians have pieced together is that Operation Long Jump was one of the earliest attempts to use jump space to reach other stars. Several of the experimental ships were lost, some automated and some with human pilots. Subsequent experience proved those jumps were aimed too far, beyond the ability of jump drives of that time to work properly.”