And three hells, even if she didn’t, he wanted to keep talking to her.
Hannah looked up at the darkening skies. The brightest of the stars had already appeared. Her dragon tattoo seemed to pulsate as they walked along. “It’s been so long since I’ve been up there.”
“Do you miss it?”
“Not traveling in a metal tube going at speeds faster than light,” she said. “But the excitement of being one of the first people to travel to a new place, to discover new life we’ve never seen before. To meet new challenges and study what has never been studied.” Her eyes met his, and Tag saw himself in her for a moment. Those were many of the reasons he had joined the SRE. “Maybe I’m getting sentimental, but the days leading up to Orthod might’ve been some of the best of my life. The sheer thrill of the unknown.”
“I can understand.”
Hannah laughed. “Can you? I mean, no offense, but you’re being shipped off to mediate conflicts in places that have already been settled, right? I don’t mean to sound derisive, but it’s not quite the same thing.”
“Maybe,” Tag said. He knew exactly how she felt but was frustrated he couldn’t say it. “But I’m still throwing myself into the unknown. I mean, can you imagine being alone in a room with Cho and Burton all day?”
“Sounds like a nightmare,” Hannah said with a smile. She gestured toward a two-story building that looked no different from all the others. “This is me.” She opened the door a crack. “You ever been in a lab?”
“A couple,” Tag said.
“Great,” Hannah said. “Then maybe you’ll appreciate how awesome this place actually is.”
She ushered him in. With a gesture over a terminal, the lights flicked on.
“Whoa,” Tag said.
“Yeah.” A proud smile filled Hannah’s face.
The equipment here would make even the SRE researchers on Earth jealous. Chromatography banks gleamed under the ceiling lights, and nanoscopes stood ready on lab benches. Huge biosafety hoods waited for a user to manipulate sterile test samples. All manner of bulbous and twisted glassware was set up for purposes Tag could only guess. The entirety of the Argo’s lab could fit in the apparently unused corner of Hannah’s lab where a couple of empty benches and crates sat.
“How many people did you say work here?” Tag asked.
“At any given time, I have about a half dozen lab assistants,” she said. “Of course, my best assistants work all day and night with no complaint.”
Tag cocked his head, unsure what she meant. Then she gestured toward the second floor. Tentatively, Tag took the steps up. He heard the buzz of laboratory equipment and plodding of footsteps. There was a distinct, sterile smell that reminded him of a space station hospital wing. Upstairs, he found yet another lab space. A few colonists were still at work, inserting samples into various pieces of equipment and studying terminals. Between them strode a small army of assistants with silver skin to match the lab equipment.
“Lab droids,” Tag said. “Didn’t you say a nonprofit was funding this work?”
Again, Hannah gave him that slightly mischievous smile. “Let’s just say the nonprofit I work for has some very wealthy friends.”
“I’ll say,” Tag said. Then, remembering his role as a bumbling bureaucrat: “You’ll have to tell me what all these things do.”
“I don’t want to bore you,” she said. “How about the highlights? I can show you some of the samples we’re examining.”
“Samples? You mean actual flora and fauna from Orthod?”
“Yep,” she said. Her brow furrowed. Three hells, he thought, even that’s cute. “Unfortunately, the analysis is... destructive.”
“You have to sacrifice the creatures to analyze them?” Tag asked.
“Sacrifice? You’re sounding like a scientist, Brewer.” She poked his shoulder. “You really have been around a few labs, haven’t you?”
“I pick up jargon quick. It’s one of the pleasures of working in bureaucracy.”
“If things get tough with Cho and Burton, you’re welcome to join us here. I’ve trained worse assistants.”
“You don’t know how tempted I am to take you up on that.”
She laughed. “All right, before I get you in trouble...”
Tag followed her past a couple of the droids. They were inserting vials of emerald-green water into a machine that separated the samples into thousands of small wells. The samples were the same color as the water off the shore. “Is that from the ocean?”
“Observant,” she said. “Yes, it’s an algae-like plant. I think, at least. It might be more fungus than plant, really. It’s always a bit of a challenge to fit xeno life-forms into our Earth-based taxonomy.”
“I can imagine.”
“That algae stuff isn’t so exciting, but it serves as a good way to measure how the human colonists here are affecting local life-forms. Most of the bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants hitching a ride on our people don’t readily affect the indigenous life-forms.” She gestured to the algae-like samples again. “But eventually some of those bacteria adapt. The viruses, too. It’s an amazing process. Natural selection at work, on the nano and microscopic scale. For example, a strain of E. coli has found a new home in the algae. They’re spreading like crazy.”
“Sounds dangerous. Are you worried about a pandemic?”
“One hundred points for you,” Hannah said, clapping his shoulder. “The strain is normally not harmful to healthy humans. But since it has adapted to infect the algae, we fear these adaptations might alter the E. coli in ways that could be detrimental to human health.”
“Ah, interesting. Before, I thought you were only interested in protecting native life. But you’re also concerned about the colonists.”
Hannah leaned in as if she didn’t want any of the colonists to overhear. Tag could feel her warm breath across his cheek. “It’s a matter of practicality. The only way I can get these people to support my research is to pretend like I’m doing it for their benefit. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass, though.”
Tag pulled away slightly, watching her to see whether she was serious. That endearing grin crossed her face again, and he returned her smile, feeling a lightness in his chest.
“I’m joking,” she said. “Kind of.”
“I can admire the honest rationality. You and the Mechanics would get along well.”
“Hard enough getting along with the humans here. I wouldn’t want to add any aliens to the mix.” Hannah turned and leaned over a polyglass terrarium. She reached behind it and clicked on the light. “Check these guys out.”
When the light flickered on, it revealed a miniature landscape of dirt-caked rocks and a few scraggly plants. There was a simulated steam vent at the center of the terrarium. The air wavered above it, and if Tag focused, he could smell the bit of sulfurous gas leaking from the tank.
Hannah tapped on the top of the polyglass chamber, and a small hatch opened. From a nearby jar, she plucked a cricket-like creature and then dropped it into the terrarium.
“Watch,” was all she said.
The cricket-thing hopped toward the steam vent. As soon as it hit the air flowing up from the vent, it spread wide gossamer wings and floated, catching the updraft. Its dark wings sparkled as though studded with miniature stars.
“It’s beautiful,” Tag said.
“That’s not it. Just wait.”
“What—”
Tag’s question was cut short. A plant exploded into action, spreading out into a multi-clawed creature with too many little heads for Tag to count. Its jaws opened and slashed like so many miniature scythes. The cricket-thing never stood a chance.
“Good gods,” Tag said. “Those things are out there on Orthod?”
“This is an infant.” That smile crossed Hannah’s face. “You should see them when they get big.”
“Are they common?” Tag asked, wondering if his mission would take him outside the vicinity of the Principality of Orthod.
/> “Maybe sometime you can ride out there with me and find out.”
Tag laughed. “Maybe I will.”
“I’m serious,” Hannah said. “I mean, if you’re not busy, what about now?”
“Now?”
“You going to keep repeating me, or you going to give me an answer?” She gave him a teasing smirk. “Besides, what else could you be doing that’s better than this? Sleeping?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hannah took Tag south of Orthod, toward one of the hills covered in winding treelike plants. For a while they drove in silence, Hannah focused on the untended path ahead, only the bouncing lights from her air car guiding the way. Tag was content to sit and watch the landscape roll by. Steam vents poured plumes of mist into the air, and birdlike animals dove to scoop up the insects hovering around the vents.
“Is that one of them?” Tag asked. He pointed toward what looked like a giant version of the plant he had seen in her lab. It seemed to shrink away when the headlights hit it.
“Yep, that’s one.” She put the air car into a stationary hover and killed the lights.
The plant waved back and forth. If Tag hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought it was the wind rustling its leafy branches. But none of the grass was moving, and neither were the leaves on the other treelike plants around it. Only the tall, scraggly plant.
“It’ll move like that for a while, and then...” Hannah leaned over to Tag, one hand on his shoulder. “Just wait for it.”
One of the birds swooped near the vent to snatch an insect. The plant sprang, toothed jaws forming from its leaves, and swallowed the bird. Then the plant went still again.
“At least it isn’t big enough to eat a human,” Tag said.
“No,” Hannah said, putting the air car into drive again. “But that won’t stop it from trying.” She held out her arm. This one didn’t have any tattoos, but there was another kind of artwork. Long white scars traced up around her elbow.
“Doesn’t look like fun,” Tag said.
“It wasn’t. Want to see something else?”
“Is it slightly less violent?”
“Slightly,” she said.
The air car pushed up the hill. Hannah wove between the mangrove-like trees growing around the steam vents. Each vent seemed to be its own ecosystem, with nocturnal beasties feeding off each other and it.
“There must be so many creatures here,” Tag said. He knew he probably looked like a kid watching a holofilm. For as many different planets as he’d been to, as many different life-forms as he’d seen, he never ceased to be amazed. He hoped he never became so jaded by his travels through the universe that he found the sight of new life boring.
“There are,” Hannah said. “It’s been a dream working out here. Just... amazing.”
“Amazing,” he agreed, studying her face.
A nagging voice of guilt crept at the back of his mind. First like an icy chill, then an almost nauseating tug at his innards. He should be doing something—anything—to find those Collectors. Not gallivanting about the countryside with Hannah, no matter how much he wanted to be out here.
But like she’d said, what else would he be doing right now? Sleeping? Surely he could trade a little exhaustion tomorrow for a chance to clear his head now. After all, he needed a break from the conflict he’d been embroiled in since he set foot on this planet.
“Here we are.” She stopped the air car and turned it off. The vehicle lowered to the ground, and they got out. “This is my favorite spot.”
She took him to where the hill crested. It became apparent then this wasn’t just a rolling hill. It ended abruptly in a cliff overlooking a wide bay that led to the ocean beyond. The water’s tranquil surface reflected the stars so clearly that it was impossible to distinguish where the sky met Orthod. It was as if Tag could leap from the cliff and dive into the stars themselves. No EVA suit, no Argo required.
Hannah sat down with her back against a tree and motioned for Tag to join her.
“This thing isn’t going to eat us, right?” Tag asked. He grinned to let her know he was joking.
“Not unless I tell it to.” She smiled as Tag sat next to her. “Maybe this sounds silly to you, with all the traveling we’ve both done, but it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it all is.” Her eyes turned skyward.
“No,” Tag said, and he meant it. “It never gets old. I used to think humans were nothing but a dust mote in the universe. But now, seeing how much I don’t know, how much is out there that we don’t know about, I think we’re even smaller than that.”
“It’s definitely humbling,” Hannah said. She sighed. “But as microscopic as we may be, we sure think a lot of ourselves. It takes some kind of ingrained, evolutionary bravery to strap ourselves in a metal tube and explore the unknown.” She used her finger to circle the stars. “Or maybe it’s just stupidity.”
“A little bit of both, I’m sure of it.”
They were both silent for a moment, admiring the serenity of all that lay before them, as if the universe was laid bare. Insects and birds chirped their soft melodies. Away from the sulfurous steam vents, the air was clearer and cleaner than anything Tag could remember.
“The constellations are different here from the ones I remember as a kid,” Hannah said. “Humans are different from the day they first stepped onto Luna. They’re different from the first time they set off out of the solar system and different from when they first established a colony somewhere other than Earth. We are always changing, biologically, philosophically. As we spread out, we’re constantly establishing new cultures and ideas. Maybe the SRE can’t keep up with all the different microcosms of humanity anymore. Our species isn’t as united as it once was. We’re not all looking up at the same night sky anymore, you know?”
He caught a glimpse of her tattoo and its reactive ink, glimmering in the starlight, as she gestured over their heads. “Be the dragon,” Tag said. “Right? Change is inevitable, but we will face it. We will embrace it. At the end of the day, we all share a common bond. Earth is where we all came from. There will always be some unity in that.”
“I hope you’re right,” Hannah said. “Because I’ve seen how these people here are trying to assert their own identity. I’ve seen the subtle changes in the epigenetics of the life-forms on this planet, and if the colonists allowed me to test them, I bet I’d see the changes in them, too.”
“With colonization, that’s inevitable.”
“It is,” Hannah said, “and I’m aware I’m a bit of walking paradox, preaching about embracing change and then worrying about how humans are changing the indigenous life-forms they come into contact with.” She looked at him, her eyes locking with his. He sensed a fire behind them, a passion he sometimes recognized in the marines when they talked about their service or Sofia when she spoke about the Forinth, and even Coren when he described the beauty of Mechanic-made machinery. “Embracing change isn’t just about accepting our future in the stars. It’s about commanding that future. Taking control of it. We have the choice to merely face our fate or to be our fate. That’s what exploring the frontier is about. I just wish the SRE understood that better.”
“What do you mean?” Tag asked.
She laughed a little. “I’m getting ahead of myself. This is what happens when I don’t have anyone to talk to but diehard colonists or marines whose religion is the military. The SRE has been so slow to react to things out here. I’ve heard about the other colonies they’ve had trouble with, and every once in a while, a report filters through about some new unknown danger or threat. We’re so reactive as a species. I wish we’d be more proactive.”
Tag wanted to tell her about his mission, how even before he was facing off against the Collectors, he had been developing new synth-bio AI technologies and venturing off to make those proactive scientific discoveries she’d been talking about. But he couldn’t say a damn word about it. And besides, she was right. Even that mission had actually been a violent rea
ction to a new threat.
“All this talk about being proactive,” Tag said, “isn’t that what science is all about? Unearthing the unknown, pushing us forward.”
“It is,” Hannah said. “Exactly. But when the SRE decided to lay claim to this planet, did they send any scientists or researchers to stay with the colonists? No, they sent the marines. It took a private group, Enviro-Cosmos, to bring me here. There are human beings living on this planet with no idea of how the local ecosystem affects them—or how they’re affecting it.”
Tag exhaled slowly. “I really can’t fault you on that one.”
His dreams of venturing into the unknown on a purely scientific venture with the Argo had been shattered when he had found it had actually been a covert military mission. Hannah was more right than she knew. His gaze swept over the delicate arch of her cheek, the subtle curve of her lip that made it seem as though she was just about to smile at some private joke. For so long, he’d been focused on missions and experiments and the goddamned end of the SRE.
But all that seemed to melt away as he leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. She kissed him back, softly at first but soon growing bolder. He let himself fall into her. Time seemed to slow, and a sense of peace overcame him. They were two humans connecting against the backdrop of the frontier. Somehow, despite the vast eternity of the universe, they were both here. Together.
Soon there was nothing between them. Just flesh touching flesh and the electricity of passion. When they were spent, Hannah lay on Tag’s chest. Her arm was draped over him, and Tag traced the glowing dragon, thanking the universe for these few moments of connection, this calm before facing the cold truth of reality once more. He found himself wishing he could convince Hannah to join them on the Argo. She would be a perfect fit—dedicated to science, willing to venture into the wild.
But how could he ask her when everything else he’d told her had been a lie? A tide of guilt washed through him, chilling the warmth from the moments they’d just shared. The connection between them was built on Tag’s covert service to the SRE.
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