Citadel: First Colony (28 page)

He learned the power of symbols.

But he also learned that vision of his father and grandfather was flawed. The goals of Earth First were foolishness. Draw humanity back to Earth? What would be the point of that? What good would come of it? The Earth was a tapped-out whore who had given everything to her children and was now retiring into obscurity. Her minerals had been mined, her strength had been sapped. It was only by constant attention that humanity was able to keep the old girl around. She might not last another millennia.

So Taggart began to think of things in a different way. Earth First? He changed the meaning. Now, instead of a selfish contraction of humanity, it would be a noble expansion, a growing domain. Earth First would now stand for Earth as the
beginning
. Earth as the
first
of a collection of worlds—a union of planets that all bore the weight of humanity. Earth First, the organization that his small-minded grandfather had begun in answer to expansion, would become a spanning interplanetary government. It would become a new and powerful Rome among the stars. It would be the battle cry of conquerors, who would slay alien monsters who took what rightly belonged to humanity. Travel among the stars would become a human privilege, to be denied to anyone who did not comply.

Earth First would be Taggart’s legacy and a new order—one that would live on as the greatest empire of humanity.

And it had all hinged on landing on the
right damn world
.

Taggart watched several Blue Collars as they worked. He propped himself against a tree, resting in the shade as activity buzzed all around him. This was his way, when he needed to regroup. He became quiet and contemplative. In his office at Taggart Industries, back on Earth, he would sit for hours in one spot mulling over a dilemma. He was a man of action, and sitting still for so long took a great deal of concentration and effort, but it always paid off. By thinking through a problem, from beginning to end, he would always come up with a solution.

The Blue Collar workers were hoisting equipment into place all over the encampment. These would be relay stations for power and water, which would be supplied by the lines that were being laid from the river at this very moment. Stands for the solar panels were going up as well. The panels would supplement their power needs once they could be retrieved from the colony module. No possible watt would be spared, if it could be helped. This was survival. In survival, you use every resource available.

Taggart watched as one of the White Collars stepped into the scene. He was holding some plans on actual paper, or the artificial equivalent that sometimes still saw use. These were rolled tightly in one hand and he spread them out now, directing the Blue Collars to look at them and make adjustments. The Blue Collars all looked at each other for just a brief instant, but it was enough. Taggart saw, in that fraction of a second, a means to his end.

He might not be on the right world, and he might not be able to communicate with the rest of humanity, but he was still surrounded by humans.

Thomas—John Thomas Paris—was safe for now. Taggart couldn’t risk playing that trump card just yet. There would be a time and a place to reveal what he knew. But his other opposition—the alien captain—he was one problem Taggart could deal with.

It would all depend on humans being humans.

Penny
was going to be a nuisance.
Mitch looked her up and down before shaking his head and firmly saying, “No.”

“What do you mean, no?” she asked, indignant.

“I mean you’re not going with us. We have enough trouble without some debutante tagging along.”

He heard Reilly cough and saw her turn her head to keep her smile from showing.

Penny, obviously, had noticed it too. “Listen, grease monkey. My parents are still out there. For all I know, they could be dying! I’m going with you and that’s that.”

“That’s nothing,” Mitch sneered. “This may be dangerous, and I’m not about to let a colonist with no useful skills tag along.”

It was Alan, that noble, quiet bastard, who ended up ruining Mitch’s day. “She’s a professional climber and an expert hiker,” he said quietly. “We’ve been in space most of our lives. We might need someone with her skills.”

Mitch turned on the young man and glared. Alan was always levelheaded, making decisions based on cool reasoning and common sense. Why would he suddenly flaunt protocol and speak out in direct contradiction of his commanding officer?

It took only an instant for Mitch to realize why. He spoke out only when he felt that the one in command wasn’t thinking things through. He was a good worker and a very smart young man, and he would never contradict his commander unless he had a damn good reason.

These things came to Mitch in an instant, but his temper didn’t catch up immediately. He turned back to Penny, who was beaming with the sudden realization that she was, in fact, going on this trip. “Get her set up with gear,” he snapped and then walked away.

If he’d stayed another moment, he would have wiped the smug smile off of Penny’s face.

Reilly caught up with him as he stormed around the shuttle, doing the last-minute inspection. “Hey,” she said.

He didn’t stop, just kept moving. “What?” he snapped.

“Hey, just because you’re pissed doesn’t mean you can take it out on me,” Reilly snapped back.

He whirled and faced her, bore down on her. He stood over her with fury tightening his arms and shoulders and neck. She looked up at him, defiant and unblinking. For a long moment they stood that way, silent.

They both suddenly broke into laughter.

“Why does that girl get to me so bad?” he asked.

Reilly smiled and briefly put a hand on his chest. Noticing, she quickly pulled it away, and Mitch suddenly wondered why he wished she’d put it back.

“Maybe it’s because you want her to be this weak and weepy rich girl, but she’s actually got some edge to her.”

“So, what, I just don’t want to respect her so I resent her because I do?”

“All of a sudden you respect her?” Reilly asked.

Mitch was silent, then sighed. “Yeah, I do. She comes off as a spoiled brat sometimes, but the truth is she can really pull it together.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

“So what is it? What bugs me about her?” Mitch asked.

“Maybe it’s just that
you
know she can do better, but
she
doesn’t seem to know it.”

Mitch thought about this for a moment before realizing that it was true. He shook his head. “Penny Daunder is the last of our concerns right now. She’ll pull her weight, I guess. But what I’m more worried about is the fact that we haven’t heard from Captain Alonzo.”

Reilly absorbed this. “Nothing? No attempt at contact?”

“We have full satellite communications now, everything works. We have access to the ship’s computer, as far as our access codes can take us. But our hails aren’t being answered, and when we try to access any of the logs, we’re blocked. It’s as if the Captain and the remaining crew up there are not just ignoring us, but are going out of their way to keep us from knowing anything.”

“No one would be able to block all of the logs,” she said.

“One person could.”

She thought for a moment. “Captain Alonzo? Why would he do that?”

Mitch shook his head. “I have no idea. It doesn’t make sense. This definitely qualifies as a time of emergency, so we really need to have all communication channels open. He needs to be the one directing everything, and instead he seems to be leaving it to Captain Somar.”

“Somar’s doing a good job,” Reilly said.

“He is,” Mitch agreed. “He has my full support. But at the moment, we have no way of knowing what’s going on upstairs. And that’s why I didn’t want Penny with us.”

Reilly thought for a moment. “You’re planning on going out of atmo? Back up to the orbital platform?”

“Captain Somar has given me a directive. I’m supposed to drop off Alan and a small team to retrieve the pods and get them ready for transport, wake up the colonists, whatever. But while he’s doing that, you and I are going into space.”

Reilly absorbed this information. “I can’t say that I’m not happy to hear that, I guess.”

“I figured. But this isn’t going to be a homecoming, Reilly. We’re going up there to find out what the hell is going on with Captain Alonzo and the crew.”

She nodded. “It’s funny,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“I never thought I’d see the day when I trusted an Esool more than Captain Alonzo.”

Mitch said nothing. He was afraid to tell her he’d been feeling that way for some time now.

Instead he buried himself in the details of pre-launch. He loaded the gear that the rescue team would need. He tested the communications equipment and signal beacons. And he made doubly sure that there was enough food and water for several people to make the long journey back to Citadel on foot.

Just in case.

Half an hour before they were set to launch, Mitch called Alan into the shuttle’s crew bay. He had Alan sit in what would be considered the command seat. It was a gesture on his part, meant to emphasize what he was about to tell the young man. “You’re a solid guy, Alan,” Mitch said. “Squared. You know what you’re doing, and you always act with a cool head.”

Alan nodded.

Mitch marveled that the young man could agree with compliments on his character without so much as a smile of pride on his lips, and yet he still seemed utterly humble. “I’ve been given another mission by Captain Somar.”

“You’re going into space,” Alan said.

Mitch blinked. “What are you, psychic?”

“It makes sense. We haven’t heard from Captain Alonzo since the crash, and now that the shuttle’s back in working condition you’re going up to find out what’s going on.”

Mitch nodded. “Good. Then you’ll have no problem leading this rescue expedition.”

For the first time, Alan seemed surprised. “Me?” he asked.

Mitch fought the urge to smile but failed. “You’re the best qualified. You’ve already been out on the terrain further than anyone else, and you know how to repair the pods and get those colonists out safely. And besides, you’ll have Miss Daunder to help you navigate the rough terrain.”

Alan’s expression was back to its usual mask of stoicism. “Yes, sir,” he said.

“Don’t ‘sir’ me, Alan. As of right now, you’re being promoted to Engineer First Class. You and me, we have the same rank now.”

“Promoted?”

“By order of Captain Somar. He’s the acting commander here, and he has the authority. I suggested it to him this morning.”

Alan nodded. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You’ve got a tough job ahead of you. And if anything goes wrong while we’re in orbit, you’ll have to figure out a way to get a bunch of weak and whining rich people back to base a few hundred miles away.”

“I’ll manage,” Alan said.

Mitch was surprised to see the younger man smiling, a hint of wry humor in his voice. “Well, I never thought I’d see it. You’re actually proud of yourself, aren’t you?”

“No, sir,” Alan said. “Just approving of a wise command decision.”

Mitch laughed.

“What about Thomas,” Alan asked. “Is he going with you?”

Mitch shook his head, “Not this time. Apparently Somar has something in mind for him. They wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

“Interesting,” Alan said in a tone that told Mitch that the young man knew Thomas wouldn’t be with
him
, either.

“Do you know something I don’t know?”

“No,” Alan said, his expression blank.

Mitch didn’t know what to believe. “ok, well, anyway this is your mission. The team is the group you selected, including Miss Daunder.”

“Penny will do fine,” he said.

“Let’s hope so. Now, go get ready. We lift off in about twenty minutes.”

Alan nodded and rose to leave. He paused just at the door to the cargo bay.

“Mitch?” Alan said, “When you see Captain Alonzo ask him how he knew we were off-course.”

Mitch blinked. “What makes you think he knew it?”

Alan shook his head. “It’s too much of a coincidence to think that this planet was on the same flight path as the one we were supposed to land on. That means that someone had to adjust our course somehow. The Captain is one of the few people who could have done this.”

Mitch thought this over. “ok,” he said. “I’ll ask him.”

It was just one of many questions he planned to ask when he saw Captain Alonzo face-to-face.

T
hey
landed near the first pod on the list.
Alan and the crew disembarked with their gear and supplies in tow.

“This will be your base camp for a while,” Mitch told Alan, as he hung out of the back of the shuttle. “Make sure you secure your supplies. The maps we’re leaving you show the locations of all the pods. You have a communicator, so you can call me if you need anything.”

“Roger that,” Alan said.

Mitch, feeling a little like a mother bird pushing her young out of the nest, nodded to the young man as he stepped deeper into the cargo bay. The platform rose and closed with a
thunk
, and Mitch made his way to the crew bay and into the seat near Reilly. “We’re clear,” he said.

Reilly wasted no time in pushing the shuttle upward, slowly gaining speed as they approached the edge of the atmosphere.

“What do you think we’ll find up there?” Reilly asked.

Mitch had no answer. He looked at the growing darkness as they left the atmosphere of the planet and entered orbit. The orbital platform came into view, a metallic dot glinting in the sun, floating impossibly at the edge of an invisible barrier. “We should call ahead,” he told her.

Reilly nodded and hit the comms. “Orbital Platform this is Citadel Shuttle. We are on vector for your orbit, ETA of 2 minutes. Please respond.”

They waited with the channel open. It was a tense moment, and Mitch hadn’t realized how much he had longed to hear the Captain’s voice. He had known the man for more than eight years now, having traveled with him on various colony drop-offs. He wasn’t sure what was happening on board the platform, but he was sure something had gone horribly wrong.