believe you. Try to start using your brain, Mitch. Goodnight."
She vanished out the door. Mitchell noticed that the Prime Minister's security detail was gone, and when the door closed it didn't lock. He was a free man again, Christine trusting him to be smart enough to stay put.
He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Holly. She had been so into him, so sexy and charismatic, and yet when the Prime Minister had walked in on them she had seemed frightened and insecure. How could someone be one person one minute, and someone else the next?
How could she not remember it?
He didn't know and couldn't guess. He decided to just drop it. One more night and he would be on his way home on a vacation he desperately needed. He hadn't been back to Earth in four years. His parents were there. His sister. Maybe he could even get his brother, the Admiral, back from patrolling the Alpha Quadrant? With such a big galaxy to play in, in-person family gatherings were near impossible.
He sat down and accessed his p-rat, prepared to tell his folks he was coming home. He thought about what to say, and then ditched the idea. If he sent a message now, it would probably leave with him tomorrow morning, piggybacking on his transport for a ride through the galaxy at faster-than-light speed. It would have been great if he could use the military's more efficient relay system of advanced communications drones, but they were reserved for urgent messaging, not so Mitchell could tell his folks he would be stopping by.
He flopped back onto the sofa and closed his eyes.
There was nothing to do but wait.
15
EARTH. July 14, 2040
Kathy woke up at five every morning, the same as she had for the last five years - ever since she had joined the Air Force. She used a small LED to navigate her way to her footlocker and threw a pair of sweats over her panties. Then she found her running shoes, laced them up, and silently abandoned the rest of her squadron, leaving them to sleep another hour before Reveille.
She slipped out the door of the barracks and onto the flat expanse of concrete that covered most of the base. It was a cold morning, colder than she had expected, even inside the massive balloon that protected them from the worst of the intense winter that raged across Antarctica at this time of year. She guessed it was probably forty degrees inside. A hundred degrees warmer than outside.
They did their best to mimic the light of the outside here on the inside, which meant that it was still pitch black. She slipped her LED against her ear so it pointed straight ahead, illuminating the area in front of her. Not that she needed it. After all this time, she knew the layout of the base by heart.
She started jogging. Slowly at first, and then picking up speed as she made her third circuit of her route, the same one she had been making since the war had ended almost eight months ago. Her squadron had been grounded, but Command had decided to keep them here on the southern pole in reserve, just in case the Federation decided to change their mind about the truce. That was just fine with her. It kept her close to the wreckage, close to the thing that had changed her life the moment she had looked to the sky, even before it had appeared to her while she stood on the playground grass.
They were going to build a ship. That was what Captain Johns had whispered to his mates. Using the alien technology they had found, as soon as they figured out how it all worked, which they were doing more rapidly than anyone had expected. Of course, they had the finest minds in the world working on the problem - scientists from over a dozen nations. Their research was already bearing fruit, including the small, experimental generator that rested in the corner of the huge, enclosed space and powered pretty much everything.
She wanted a chance to be on that ship. It had been her dream for over a dozen years and was the reason she had joined the Air Force to begin
She vanished out the door. Mitchell noticed that the Prime Minister's security detail was gone, and when the door closed it didn't lock. He was a free man again, Christine trusting him to be smart enough to stay put.
He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Holly. She had been so into him, so sexy and charismatic, and yet when the Prime Minister had walked in on them she had seemed frightened and insecure. How could someone be one person one minute, and someone else the next?
How could she not remember it?
He didn't know and couldn't guess. He decided to just drop it. One more night and he would be on his way home on a vacation he desperately needed. He hadn't been back to Earth in four years. His parents were there. His sister. Maybe he could even get his brother, the Admiral, back from patrolling the Alpha Quadrant? With such a big galaxy to play in, in-person family gatherings were near impossible.
He sat down and accessed his p-rat, prepared to tell his folks he was coming home. He thought about what to say, and then ditched the idea. If he sent a message now, it would probably leave with him tomorrow morning, piggybacking on his transport for a ride through the galaxy at faster-than-light speed. It would have been great if he could use the military's more efficient relay system of advanced communications drones, but they were reserved for urgent messaging, not so Mitchell could tell his folks he would be stopping by.
He flopped back onto the sofa and closed his eyes.
There was nothing to do but wait.
15
EARTH. July 14, 2040
Kathy woke up at five every morning, the same as she had for the last five years - ever since she had joined the Air Force. She used a small LED to navigate her way to her footlocker and threw a pair of sweats over her panties. Then she found her running shoes, laced them up, and silently abandoned the rest of her squadron, leaving them to sleep another hour before Reveille.
She slipped out the door of the barracks and onto the flat expanse of concrete that covered most of the base. It was a cold morning, colder than she had expected, even inside the massive balloon that protected them from the worst of the intense winter that raged across Antarctica at this time of year. She guessed it was probably forty degrees inside. A hundred degrees warmer than outside.
They did their best to mimic the light of the outside here on the inside, which meant that it was still pitch black. She slipped her LED against her ear so it pointed straight ahead, illuminating the area in front of her. Not that she needed it. After all this time, she knew the layout of the base by heart.
She started jogging. Slowly at first, and then picking up speed as she made her third circuit of her route, the same one she had been making since the war had ended almost eight months ago. Her squadron had been grounded, but Command had decided to keep them here on the southern pole in reserve, just in case the Federation decided to change their mind about the truce. That was just fine with her. It kept her close to the wreckage, close to the thing that had changed her life the moment she had looked to the sky, even before it had appeared to her while she stood on the playground grass.
They were going to build a ship. That was what Captain Johns had whispered to his mates. Using the alien technology they had found, as soon as they figured out how it all worked, which they were doing more rapidly than anyone had expected. Of course, they had the finest minds in the world working on the problem - scientists from over a dozen nations. Their research was already bearing fruit, including the small, experimental generator that rested in the corner of the huge, enclosed space and powered pretty much everything.
She wanted a chance to be on that ship. It had been her dream for over a dozen years and was the reason she had joined the Air Force to begin
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