‘Tactically,’ said Leveque, ‘it should be blindingly obvious that if the aliens can use our portal relay network to reach Earth, they can also use it to reach any of our other inhabited worlds. We can’t shut down the whole network, and blocking them reaching Earth would just divert an attack to another planet we’re completely unprepared to defend. If we have to fight a battle, we must fight it here in Sol system.’
‘Can we make the portal relay network more secure?’ asked Colonel Torrek. ‘Distinguish between our signals and alien ones?’
‘We can,’ said Leveque, ‘and we must. Not just because of these aliens, but any others we may meet, however changing the entire portal relay network will take years.’
‘The current aliens are enough for me to worry about,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘We’ll end this meeting now. Commanders Leveque, Stone, Shirinkin, and Major Tell Dramis, please join me in my quarters for a command meeting. Major Tar Cameron, set us up a live link with the General Marshal.’
Colonel Torrek stood up and went out of the door, and the four named officers followed him. Devon turned to face Fian.
‘Your name’s Eklund,’ he said. ‘You’re related to Jorgen Eklund?’
‘Yes,’ said Fian.
‘So you’re the one who’s been telling them that outdated rubbish.’
Devon moved towards us and I stood up to face him. If the man who was prepared to discard Earth as an acceptable loss wanted a fight, I was perfectly ready to give him one, but suddenly everyone in the room seemed to be standing and the officer in charge of the Science teams was blocking Devon’s path.
‘This meeting is over,’ he said.
‘I’m not done here,’ said Devon.
The officer shook his head. ‘I think you are.’
Devon hesitated for a second, then turned and walked out of the door. I realized I’d been holding my breath, let it out in a sigh, and turned to look at Fian. I discovered he was the only person still sitting down. He was looking a little pale but quite calm. Leaving the room immediately after Gaius Devon would obviously be a bad idea, so we waited a few more minutes before heading back to our quarters.
It was two hours later, when we were having a snack meal from our food dispenser, that we heard a little chorus of chimes. Two civilian and two Military lookups were announcing emergency mail.
Fian’s gaze went from his civilian to his Military lookup in indecision. He went for the civilian one. ‘Oh chaos!’
I was checking my Military lookup. ‘Our Military mail is the same except it has an extra bit about this being the official cover story.’
I turned on the wall vid. One of the Earth Rolling News presenters appeared, wearing a bemused and thrilled expression.
‘… warning of a rogue comet approaching Earth. This has a trail of large asteroids, which may survive entry into the atmosphere and cause significant damage. We repeat there is no cause for concern. The Military have built an emergency base on Earth, and are portalling ships into orbit to destroy any dangerously sized asteroids. Earth Africa solar array is now off-line so the power beam is available to assist if necessary. Power is being supplied to Earth Africa by relay from Earth Asia and Earth America.’
He paused. ‘The Military report the situation is currently under control, but there may be problems if a significant solar storm interrupts their blockade. The underground caverns of Ark are being prepared for possible use as an emergency shelter. Those will be familiar to many people from school trips. Individual mails will be sent giving details of what should be taken with you to Ark, and which Ark portal address you should use.’
The vid went split screen, the other half showing a rotating picture of Earth.
‘Ark is located under Earth Australia. In the event of an evacuation to Ark, all inter-continental portals on other continents will be continuously locked open to Earth Australia destinations and there will be no portal charges for journeys. Please read your instructions carefully and respect luggage restrictions.’
The image of Earth now changed to a random view of the famous monument marking humanity’s first off- world settlement on Adonis.
‘For those wishing to evacuate off world, all Earth off-world portals will be locked open to worlds in Alpha sector. You may portal to an Alpha world with no charge, and then continue your journey as normal from there. Education Earth advises arrangements are being made for Earthborn norm children to stay at their Alpha world orientation schools during the Ark evacuation.’
He started the story again. ‘The Military are warning of a rogue comet approaching …’
I turned off the wall vid. ‘So, the Military have decided to evacuate people into Ark during the next solar storm. They’re sending the norm kids off world to safety as well.’
Fian made an odd, shocked noise. ‘This is just like one of the nardle conspiracy theories that Krath’s dad talks about. The Military using a cover story.’
‘I wonder who invented the story.’
‘Can’t you guess? Doesn’t this sound suspiciously like what happened on Hera? Drago must have suggested the cover story, but the evacuation is really happening because of you.’
I shook my head. ‘I only told them about Ark. Colonel Torrek decided to go ahead with the evacuation because of what you said about the portal relays.’
Fian laughed. ‘We’re both to blame then.’
My civilian lookup chimed and I picked it up. ‘It’s Lecturer Playdon.’
I accepted the call and transferred it to the wall vid. Playdon’s shocked face looked at us. ‘Jarra. Fian. This evacuation to Ark … The alien contact is here!’
I nodded. ‘I’ve got permission to give you limited information. There’s an alien sphere in geostationary orbit above Earth Africa. It’s small, so probably unmanned.’
His head snapped backwards as he gave a startled look upwards. ‘Above … above here then.’
‘A bit north of the Eden Dig Site,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry, sir. It’s not responding to our attempts to talk to it, but it’s done nothing hostile. The Military are just worried it may make a move during a solar storm when we’re at a disadvantage. That’s the reason for the evacuation to Ark.’
Playdon shook his head. ‘Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t even know Ark still existed. I had to look it up.’
Fian grinned. ‘Using Ark was Jarra’s idea.’
I laughed at the expression on Playdon’s face. ‘I had the advantage of local knowledge, sir. I’d been there on a school trip.’
Playdon took a moment to recover from that before he spoke again. ‘You know, Jarra, given your uniforms, I really feel you should stop calling me sir.’
I glanced downwards. ‘Oh those. They decided to make us real Military rather than civilian advisers, so we could be given Military tactical information.’
‘Since you appear to be a Major …’
‘Jarra’s a Major, but I’m only a Captain,’ said Fian, going into a martyr act. ‘Jarra’s a team leader, but I’m only a deputy.’
I threw a cushion at him.
‘Team leader?’ asked Playdon.
‘I’ve been put in charge of the History team,’ I said. ‘The Military want to know if there’s any hint the aliens visited Earth before. If you think of anything in pre-history that might be relevant, please let us know.’
‘I will, but … What happens if there’s an Ark evacuation? Will you two be going there?’
I nodded. ‘Combat personnel and civilian advisers portal to a base in Alpha sector. The rest of us move to a temporary base in Ark.’
‘Each dig site has space allocated in Ark,’ said Playdon, ‘so the dig teams can evacuate together if they wish. I’ve already told the class they can go off world and visit their families for a few days, but I’m planning to go to Ark myself. I missed the Solar 5 rescue through taking the class to Asgard, and I’m not going to miss this.’
He paused. ‘That reminds me. The Cassandra 2 team have just arrived at Eden Dig Site. Their team leader, Rono, said to say hello to you two, and ask Jarra if the dig site was safe from crashing spaceships.’
I giggled. ‘Rono was a bit shocked when he found out Solar 5 crashed on New York Dig Site because the Colonel was the pilot and he’d been there for my grandmother’s Honour Ceremony.’
