Marooned in Realtime

Billy Sanchez found on Charon appears to be from late in the century. It ties in with the new craters there and in the asteroids. At the end, the aliens dug out the deep resistance with nukes.'

'I don't know, Juan. It's so far in the past now — how can we prove or disprove anyone's theories? What's important is t, make sure our settlement succeeds and humanity has another chance.'

Chanson leaned across the table, even more intense than before. 'Exactly. But don't you see? The aliens had bobbler too. What destroyed civilization threatens to destroy us now'

'After fifty million years? What could be the motive?'

'I don't know. There are limits to physical investigation, no matter how patient. But I think it was a close thing back in the twenty-third. The aliens pulled out all the stops at the end, and it was barely enough. After the war, they were very weak — perhaps on the edge of extinction themselves. They were gone from the Solar System for millions of years. But make no mistake, Wil. They have not forgotten us.'

'You expect another invasion.'

'That's what I've always feared, but I'm beginning to feel otherwise. There are too few of them; their game is steal now. They aim to divide and destroy. Marta's murder was only the beginning.'

'What?'

Chanson flashed a quick, angry smile. 'The game is not so academic now, is it, my boy? Think on it: With that murder, they crippled us. Marta was the brains behind the Korolev plan.

'You claim they're here among us? I should think you high-techs can monitor things coming into the system.'

'Certainly, though the others don't bother. One of the safest places for long-term storage is on cometary orbits. Such bobbles return every hundred thousand years or so. Only I seem to realize that a few more return than go out. At least half my time has been spent building a surveillance net. Over the megayears I intercepted three coming in with substantial hyperbolic excess. Two came out of stasis in the inner Solar System, surrounded by my forces. They came out shooting, Wil.'

'Did they use the super Wachendon suppressor?'

'No. I think their surviving equipment is scarcely better than ours. With my superior position, I managed to destroy both of them.'

Wil looked at the little man with new respect. Like all the high-techs, he was a monomaniac; anyone who pursued one objective for centuries would be. His conclusions had been ridiculed by most of the others, yet he stuck by them and had done his best to protect the others from a threat only he could see. If Chanson was right... Wil's mouth was suddenly dry. He could see where this was leading. 'What about the third one, Juan?' he said quietly.

Again that angry smile. 'That one was much more recent, much more clever. It did a lookabout before I was in position. I was outmaneuvered. By the time I got back to Earth, it was already here, claiming to be human-claiming to be Della Lu, long-lost spacer. Your partner is a monster, my boy.'

Wil tried not to think about the firepower that floated over their heads. 'Is there any solid evidence? Della Lu was a real person.

Chanson laughed. 'They're weak now. Subterfuge may be all that's left them — and surely they have copies of GreenInc. Did you see this 'Della Lu' right after she arrived? It would be a joke to call that thing human. The claim she's so old that normal human attributes have faded is nonsense. I'm more than two thousand years old, and my behavior is perfectly normal.'

'But she was alone all that time.' Wil's words defended her, but he was remembering the encounter on the beach, Lu's insectile manner, her cold stare. 'Surely a medical exam would settle this.'

'Maybe. Maybe not. I have reason to think the exterminators are of nearly human structure. If their life sciences are as good as ours, they could rearrange their innards to human standards. As for subtle chemical tests-our ignorance of then and their technology is simply too great to risk accepting negative evidence as proof.'

'Who else have you told?'

'Yelen. Philippe. You can be sure I'm making no public accusations. The Lu creature knows someone attacked her coming in, but I don't think she knows who. She may even think it was an automatic action. Even if she's alone, she is terribly dangerous, Wil. We can't afford to move against her until all the high-techs are willing to act together. I pray this will happen before she destroys the settlement.

'I don't know if Philippe believes me, but I think he'd act if the rest could be won over. As for Yelen, well... I already said she was the lesser of the Korolevs. She's done some passive testing and can't believe the enemy could make such a good counterfeit. She's totally unimpressed by Lu's erratic behavior. Basically, Yelen has no imagination.

'You may be the key, Wil. You see Lu every day. Sooner or later she is going to slip, and you will know that what I say is true. It is vitally important you prepare yourself for that moment. With luck, it will be something small, something you can pretend to ignore. If you can cover your knowledge, she may let you live.

'And if she lets you live, then maybe we can convince Yelen.'

And if f she doesn't let me live, no doubt that will be evil evidence too. One way or