Here Comes Earth: Emergence (19 page)

Major Mathew Reagan, US Army

I
couldn’t bring myself to think of Silva as a captain anymore. He was obviously
an imposter who had somehow infiltrated my Army – and I wanted to lock him up
and throw away the key.

My
team, however, and on a bigger scale Earth itself could not afford to turn away
any friends right now and it did appear that Silva had ridden to our rescue,
but how could we know that for sure?

I
would let him keep the uniform and the rank but I was removing him from the
chain of command; all personnel would understand that he carried no authority
and deserved no trust.

There
were so many important questions to be answered that I was having trouble
prioritizing them all. When we moved from the conference room to the much
larger hub I took the opportunity to put my head together with Iron Jaw. We
both agreed that a free flow form of conversation would be much more efficient
than a straight interrogation and that the scientists probably should be
allowed direction and input. We would make sure the conversation stayed on
track and that our important questions were answered.

“We
didn’t,” Silva responded while looking directly at Major Reynolds. “Your space
platform being removed from earth orbit was actually the first indication we’d
had that the Noridian’s had rediscovered earth. Until then we thought you were
our secret.”

“You’re
saying that the Noridian’s murdered our people?” Dr. Decker asked. “But why?”

Silva
grimaced and then said, “That is a rather long answer and you need to know it
but are there more urgent issues you’d like to address before we go down that
path?”

“Yes
there are,” I said. “At this moment are we safe?”

“For
the moment yes,” he responded. “I have taken control of the ship and we are
currently headed on a different vector than was expected. By tomorrow at
midmorning ship-time we should arrive at a friendly planet and you will be able
to decide your course of action.”

“Will
we have a choice?” I asked coldly.

“Major,
I can confidently say that we will not restrict your actions. I cannot speak
for any other Dynasty or any unforeseen events and there are discussions we
would like to have with you that might influence those actions but we will not
force our will upon you. You have my word.”

Unfortunately,
as much as I wanted to believe him his word didn’t carry a lot of weight right
now; not after deceiving us for months.

“Our
people that are still on the main Noridian ship, are they in any danger?”

“Obviously
I’m not in control of that situation but I would think that they’ll be fine.
The Noridian’s are desperate to have a shipload of Earthers that believe in
Noridia. Unless someone openly and strongly opposes them they should be ok –
they can’t keep killing off people without everyone else getting suspicious.”

“How
were they going to explain us disappearing and how were they going to do us in
anyway?” asked Iron Jaw.

“The
plan was for your team to be taken to a planet that for us is heavily populated
and under the control of the Noridian Dynasty. They would capture recordings of
your team interacting with the local population and then once the recordings
were edited and you were back on board ship they would remove the oxygen from
the atmosphere and allow you to suffocate. Based on the recordings they have of
you both on the planet and from the ship they would then create artificial
scenes of various platoon personnel praising the Noridian influence and looking
forward for the same on Earth.

“After
the rest of the Earth Team saw the supposed real-time recordings it would be
reported that your ship was attacked and destroyed by the Coridian Dynasty.”

“Why
go to all the trouble?” Iron Jaw asked. “Why not just fake all the planet
scenes?”

“They
could do that but they only have images of your team in this ship. They don’t
really know how each individual might act or react to environmental stimuli on
the surface of a planet or when meeting aliens in an uncontrolled environment.
Rather than taking a chance on raising some eyebrows for uncharacteristic
behavior they decided not to spring the trap until after planetfall.”

“How
do you know all of this?” I asked.

“As
you may suspect Major Reagan I maneuvered my way onto this mission because we
know the Noridian history and we can see their desperation to be named a Lower
House. Although the Noridian’s are stretching the limits this type of intrigue
is not totally unknown in galactic history.

“Once
I was embedded on your team and aboard this vessel I was able to use my own
technology to monitor the Noridian systems and communications. When it became
apparent that this was 3
^rd
Platoon’s last cruise so to speak I was
forced to take action.”

Even
though Silva certainly didn’t look the part I felt like I was listening to
James Bond calmly reporting the details of his last mission. Now that I knew he
wasn’t from earth I could see that his stature was more closely related to the
Noridian males that we’d met but he seemed more muscular and assertive.

Us
military types try to always be vigilant and I confirmed the flanking positions
of my team before I asked the next question.

Sliding
forward to the edge of my seat I calmly asked, “What became of the real Captain
Silva?”

I’m
not sure what type of response I expected but laughter wasn’t it. It wasn’t
even a diabolical laugh; it was more like relief.

“I’m
sorry major, I should have explained right away. I didn’t replace Captain
Silva; I
am
Captain Silva. I’ve been on your planet for quite some
time.”

∆∆∆

I
called a meal break and although Dr. Spencer and a few of the other scientists
were still throwing questions at Silva we left Captains Hiromi and Kamiko
(along with a couple of Iron Jaw’s people) to keep an eye on things while Iron
Jaw, Julie, Dr. Decker and I retired to my quarters.

Once
trays were passed around I looked to the group and said, “Comments?”

Julie
was the first to speak, “All I can say is that we must be living right. Without
Captain Silva we’d all be dead. No offense to you Major Reagan but I don’t
think there’s a person on our team that could’ve figured out how to turn the
lights back on.”

“That’s
assuming that he’s not the one that turned them off in the first place,” Iron
Jaw added.

“Dr.
Schein, do you trust him?” I asked.

Julie
sat back in her chair and then thoughtfully said, “Yes Major, I believe what
he’s said so far. To do what he claims to have done I’m sure he’s a very
accomplished liar but the body language of the Noridian prisoner is consistent
with his story. Mark also backs him up about Noridian treachery and Mark is definitely
not an accomplished liar.”

I
thought I heard some steel in her voice as she finished that last sentence but
she did make good points.

“At
the very least then we’re agreed that Silva probably did save our bacon even if
we’re still not sure of his ultimate motives?” I said as I looked around the
group.

Mike
nodded once and Dr. Decker murmured concurrence. 

“What’s
our next step then?” I asked. “We’ll be on their planet in 24 hours.”

“I
still have a thousand questions and 24 hours won’t let me get through half of
them,” responded Dr. Decker.

“We
all have questions,” Julie stated. “But we need to first decide if we really
want to go to this planet of theirs. It might be that this smaller ship could
take us directly back to Earth.”

“As
far as I’m concerned it’s your show Major Reagan,” said Iron Jaw. “But, I don’t
think going back to Earth right now is an option.”

When
Julie looked at him questioningly he continued. “It doesn’t accomplish
anything. We know the Noridians are vile but they’re still offering technology
that everyone’s going to want. Maybe we could deal with the Coridians instead
but we don’t know anything about them. There’s also the question of our
original mission brief which includes getting an understanding of galactic
society and determining if we have anything of value to offer.

“I
know that Silva just told us all the great things we want to hear about how
special and unique us Earthlings are,” he said rather wistfully. “But I’m not
really sure I understand what he’s talking about. I think we have a whole lot
more to learn before we can go home.”

Iron
Jaw was right and I think everyone realized it as soon as he said it.

“Ok
then,” I said. “Let’s be figuring out what we need to accomplish once we arrive
at their planet and let’s get as much information as we can from Silva before
we get there. Dr. Decker, I’m going to ask the science team to coordinate their
questions with you so we can stay on track. Accommodate as many people as you
can but stay focused on our objectives. Oh, and give Dr. Spencer and Dr. Schein
some leeway; they’re enough in the picture to keep things going in the right
direction.

“Major
Reynolds, I’m going to ask you to screen all questions from military personnel.
Keep me informed and let’s make sure you and I stay on the same page.”

∆∆∆

“I
want to know what happened to General Nesbit,” was the first thing I said after
we all resumed the questioning.

As
the realization struck her Julie quietly muttered, “Oh my God!” into the
silence.

In
that tone of voice we only use when speaking of the dead Silva said, “He was
murdered.”

“There
was never anything wrong with him,” he continued. “The Noridians put on a show
for him and Dr. Sullivan and convinced them both that he needed to be treated.
Once he was unconscious it was simply a matter of turning off his breathing at
the right moment.”

I
had been uncomfortable with the explanation Julie had given me from the first
time I heard it. What was it Dr. Sullivan had told her?
‘We entered the room
and lights started flashing…’

Why
the flashing lights? The Noridians controlled everything with their bioware.
They didn’t need lights to know there was a problem and the only way they would
have had lights ready for us is if they had planned it in advance.

That
clue had been in front of me the whole time and I just hadn’t realized it. I’d
been trained to learn from my mistakes, not to beat myself up over them; but
this felt like a real body blow.

Right
before we’d started up again after the break Dr. Spencer and Dr. Decker had brought
Dr. Spelini to me with a question that I thought was relevant.

Now
seemed like a good time to let him ask it.

“Dr.
Spelini,” I said. “Your turn.”

Anzio
looked around and actually grinned. It was a tough time for all of us and I know
he was sensitive to that but at the same time he was like a kid in a candy
store; the constant revelations were confirming or denying scientific speculations
he’d held for years.

“Captain
Silva, you said two things earlier that I think we need clarification on, yes?
You mentioned that you hadn’t realized that the Noridian’s had
rediscovered
Earth. Before that though you stated that the Noridians were desperate to
become a Lower House and couldn’t afford to have anything
blemish their
reputation
.

“Jaki
told us about the Chextigans visiting Earth and your two statements by
themselves they seem innocent but when I think of them together I think there
is more to know, yes?”

“You
are very perceptive Dr. Spelini,” said Silva.