Sleeping With the Enemy (2 page)

    It had come down to a case of ‘all’s well that ends well’. The fact that the project had dramatically improved Mars in an amazingly short time had brought about a hard shift in the government’s stance. New projections were that people would be able to walk around the Mars surface without pressure suits or respirators within the next two or three decades. From viewing Mars merely as a handy receptacle for waste, they’d begun to realize Mars would be even more beneficial as a colony. Natural disasters and diseases had taken their toll, but the Earth’s population was still way out of balance. A massive migration to Mars was just the ticket since the Moon was never going to provide much relief in that direction.

    No one wanted to admit it, but Apophis had been another strong incentive to focus every effort on colonizing Mars. Due to pass Earth within a year, with everyone poised to implement the plan to divert it to make certain that it wouldn’t hit on the next go ‘round in ’36, it still made everyone uneasy. It would be the first time they’d even attempted to divert the path of an asteroid the size of Apophis.

    It had worked with the asteroid they’d diverted for use to build the colony ship, but that asteroid had been a fraction of the size of Apophis-approximately a quarter of the size. Theoretically, it should work just as well with Apophis, and in that case they only had to nudge the huge asteroid a few thousand miles out of its current path, but no one really wanted to base the future of the entire human race on that theory, however sound it seemed.

    Not to be too melodramatic about it, but were man’s days numbered whatever they did, Sybil wondered abruptly, feeling her belly execute a strange little freefall? She considered herself a realist with a positive attitude, but she’d been born in 2000, grown up in the midst of the Armageddon hysteria that reached a crescendo in 2012 and hadn’t actually abated a lot since even though the ‘big one’ didn’t hit in 2012. Was it that attitude of impending doom that had descended upon her? Or did logic and reason fit into it anywhere?

    It was the sense of overwhelming odds, she decided finally. They’d faced every trial head on and yet they just kept coming. Every time they managed to dodge a bullet, they discovered another one right behind it, and the realization that they might now have to fight an alien race, that was far more advanced and, one would presume, more powerful, to eke out an existence…

    “Fuck!” Spencer exploded, abruptly surging to his feet. “They’re sending us out there to get our asses shot off! They might as well paint a fucking bull’s eye on the damned ship, because that’s what this is all about-to see just how focused the aliens are on Venus!”

    “You’re skating thin ice, soldier,” Powell growled warningly. “Get a grip if you don’t want to end up facing charges of insubordination.”

    Spencer sneered at him. “So throw me in the brig! I didn’t volunteer for this anyfucking-way and I sure as fuck didn’t sign on to be used as target practice!”

    Powell shot to his feet. “Sit down,” he growled. “Now.”

    Spencer glared at him for a long moment but finally resumed his seat.

    The scientists, who’d looked more than a little alarmed at Spencer’s outburst, shifted uncomfortably in their own seats as if struggling with the urge to vacate the conference room. “We don’t know any of this for a fact,” Holly Rains said finally. “I’m sure it’s occurred to everyone that it’s a possibility that the aliens, if they
are
responsible for the changes, might feel threatened and might shoot us down. You should consider the whole picture, though, before you make any conclusions. Clearly, they’re a more advanced race than we are. If we presume that they are behind the UFO sightings and abductions that have been reported over the years, then they’d been here, studying us, for many, many years. If they were aggressive, don’t you think they would’ve invaded Earth years ago? Long before we had any weapons that might be any possible threat to them?”

    Spencer snorted. “Who the fuck would want Earth after what we’ve done to it? We don’t even want it any-fucking-more!”

    “Speak for yourself! Not everybody agrees with you on that. Anyway, she has a point,” Sybil put in, reigning her own temper in with an effort. “If they’d come purely for conquest, they could’ve done it. The first sightings date back to around WWII, right? We sure didn’t have much to throw at them then-not when we didn’t have any space flight capabilities, and the Earth was a much more habitable place then-not nearly as polluted or overpopulated as it is now.”

    “We developed the a-bomb then,” Spencer shot back at her. “They probably thought they’d just wait until we destroyed ourselves and then move in!”

    “All of this is pure conjecture!” Kushbu interrupted. “We don’t
know
anything-they haven’t made any attempt to contact us-and we aren’t going to learn anything until we get out there. It’s our belief that they’re here purely for study, that they’re scientists. We believe that’s supported by the fact that they’ve been around so long and haven’t shown any aggression toward us. I don’t care for the idea of getting my ass shot off anymore than you do. I wouldn’t have volunteered to go if I thought there was any real risk in that respect.”

    Spencer’s lips tightened. “You’re assuming it’s the same aliens that were sighted over the years. What if it isn’t? I mean-they spent sixty or seventy years studying us and now, all of a sudden, they decide they want to move in? Give me a break!”

    “Earth is still the most habitable planet in this system,” Sybil said pointedly. “Besides, they aren’t from this solar system. That means they have capabilities far beyond ours, which also seems to suggest they could’ve looked around for something better, that would take less work to make it livable. I’m inclined to agree with them-that it is scientists and they’re more focused on what they can learn than threatening us in any way.”

    “Maybe,” Powell said grimly. “But we’ve been looking for Earth-like planets since the Kepler was launched back in ’09. We’ve found thousands, and as far as we’ve been able to determine, they’re pretty damned close-nothing we have any hope of reaching with our current technology, but pretty appealing. If they have the technology we believe they do, why focus on our corner of the galaxy-or even our corner of the universe? There must be something particular to our solar system that’s drawn them here.”

    Rains shrugged, smiling grimly. “At the risk of sounding conceited, maybe it’s us? Maybe we’re just the most interesting species they’ve encountered?”

    Powell studied her for a long moment. “Maybe. And maybe it’s the fact that this particular solar system has three worlds within the habitable zone for a species similar to ours. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall that we found another system that fits that particular criteria. Granted, all of the real estate needs a good bit of fixing up to make it even close to comfortable,” he added wryly, “but they’ve clearly got the technology to do it.”

* * * *

    Venus, Year 2 Post Sumptra

    Anka’s expression was grim as he stared out over the landscape of Venus. Although it was a reflection of his feelings in regards to the alien landscape when he first took up his position, the view dimmed shortly after he’d turned to study it and he saw the landscape of his home world, Sumptra, in his mind’s eye instead. The scorched ground, barren, rocky slopes, and molten rivers didn’t differ a great deal from his last view of his home world if it came to that, but it differed vastly from the world he’d grown up in.

    The world the natives of the system called Earth most closely resembled it-the land, the sky, and the sea, not the cities themselves and not the people.

    For a few moments, he indulged the ache inside him that was never far from his awareness no matter how hard he worked, and tried to summon the images to his mind that he’d worked so hard to banish. Ghostly, wavering, indistinct images of his family filled his mind- his mother and sisters and brothers, his nieces and nephews, his lovers and his own children, but they were like smoke. The harder he tried to grasp them and bring them into focus, the more indistinct they became.

    A mixture of pain and anger flooded him, churning in his gut like slow burning acid. His throat closed. He’d banished them because he couldn’t bear to think of them-gone, all gone- and now he couldn’t summon them to him anymore to sooth his loneliness and fill the aching void they’d left behind. Giving up the fierce battle inside after a moment, he turned, sucking in a harsh breath as if he’d been holding his breath or truly fighting a battle. At once, the starkness of the base they’d erected chased the shadows of the past away, but it was almost more painful to look at than the images in his mind… or the hostile environment of the world the aliens had named Venus.

    The irony of that smote him. They had named it for some ancient goddess they had once believed in, a creature of great beauty-the goddess of love. The irony was that this world had been an ugly thing more nearly resembling their ideas of Hades, or hell, even then. From what little they’d been able to discover since they’d begun studying it, it had once been as beautiful, or maybe even more beautiful, than the planet Earth, but that had been long, long ago.

    He wondered at the decision to keep the name but supposed no one really cared enough to change it. It would’ve seemed almost a profanity to have called it Sumptra. Even if it had been anything like their home world had been, even if it one day
became
more like their home world, it would never compare. Nothing would ever come close, because it was the
people
who’d made Sumptra beautiful, who’d made it home, not the land.

    Emerging from his dark thoughts, Anka saw his adjutant, Minh, striding briskly toward him. His expression was grim and Anka felt his belly tighten reflexively. Some new disaster, he wondered? Water or food shortage? He dismissed that. There was always a water and/or food shortage these days and he’d already adjusted the rationing. Equipment failure? He couldn’t detect anything critical and he certainly would have if a problem had developed with the cooling system or the air or the pressure.

    Minh halted before him and saluted. “They’ve settled into orbit, Sir.”

    Anka felt his belly clench, pushing acid into his throat. He didn’t have to ask who had settled into orbit. They’d been watching the fucking alien vessel ever since it had bypassed Earth and headed straight toward them. “Manned? Or unmanned?” he asked sharply.

    “We’ve counted five life-forms aboard the vessel.”

    Anka’s lips formed a thin line of anger and distaste. “Never underestimate the greed of the species,” he muttered. “It was too much to hope they might not notice before we had the settlement established.” There was no getting around the fact that they
had
hoped to be firmly in possession before the humans noticed, however. They had been dispatched to the target primarily to oversee the terra-forming process. They hadn’t actually expected to have to defend it.

    They hadn’t
wanted
to be forced to defend it. That was the main reason they’d only sent one detachment of soldiers and scientists to establish a small observation base camp.

    That and the fact that they had a damned thin militia to protect their interests.

    He frowned. “Just keep monitoring them for now,” he said finally. “Keep me posted on any developments. I’ll be in my quarters.”

    Minh looked uncomfortable. “Should I inform base camp… Sir?”

    Anka glared at him but finally forced the angry tension from his neck and shoulders. Their ‘leaders’, such as they were now, would fall to arguing the best course and would be as useless in arriving at a decision as to how to proceed as they had been about everything else that they’d had to deal with since the disaster on Sumptra. “Absolutely,” he ground out, not that he had any intention of waiting upon their decision in this particular case. He would do what he thought best. There were times when decisiveness and quick action was far more desirable than a lengthy debate and worrying about offending the sensibilities of politicians with a puffed up sense of importance. As far as he was concerned, this was one of them. With the fate of their species hanging in the balance, he wasn’t willing to take any unnecessary risks.

    He was well aware that, in the old world order, his ranking wouldn’t have put him in a position to make such decisions, but that was the old order, the old world-the dead world. He was the highest ranking officer among the survivors and it was both his duty and his right to protect what was left of their people-even if it meant displeasing what passed as their ruling body at the moment.

    It wasn’t an easy decision, for all that. They couldn’t afford to make mistakes-any kind of mistake was too costly.

    When he reached his quarters, he settled on the hard bunk that passed for a bed and stretched out without bothering to remove his boots, staring up at the ceiling and trying to block out his surroundings. It settled over him like a heavy weight, however, like chains. His quarters were no worse, nor any better, than anyone else’s save for the fact that he had privacy they didn’t have. He’d been in the holds of derelict salvagers that looked more welcoming, however.

    In point of fact, much of the materials they’d recycled to build the base had come from an old salvager, so it was small wonder that was the end result-the feel of being trapped in a filthy, airless hold that was worse than the worst prison he’d ever seen on Sumptra.