Earth Star by Janet Edwards Read Free Book Online

time to Earth America time, so … ‘Captain’s table? Dinner?’ I checked my understanding. ‘With Colonel Torrek?’
    The Captain nodded. ‘Dress uniforms. You’ll find details on your lookups.’
    I was past the stage where a mere dinner invitation from a Military Colonel could leave me grazzed. ‘We’d better get to our quarters and …’
    Fian and I staggered out into the corridor, and he made a strange strangled noise. ‘Why have they made me Military? Why am I a Captain? You’ll have to explain.’
    ‘Me?’ I asked. ‘You want me to explain? You think I have the faintest idea what’s going on?’
    ‘But you know all this stuff.’
    Know all this stuff? I was struggling to work out which way was up and which was down! At least the genetic tissue samples made sense now. Military officers always had genetic tissue stored in case they were exposed to damaging levels of radiation. I felt Fian wouldn’t appreciate me explaining that.
    ‘Fian, I don’t know anything, I just watched a lot of vids. I may have fooled a class of civilians into thinking I’d been to a Military school but … This is the real thing!’
    I checked my Military lookup. A map with a helpful flashing arrow told me where I was, and which way to head, so I started walking. Several members of the Military passed us, dodging around our little road block of hover bags. They didn’t seem surprised to see people in civilian clothes with masses of luggage. There was probably a constant stream of new arrivals at the base.
    ‘What did he mean about chain of command?’ asked Fian.
    ‘He meant they’ve made us Captains, but in an emergency, if for example the aliens attack and the Colonel gets killed, we don’t go around yelling orders. Even if we’re the highest rank present, we let people who know what they’re doing take command.’
    ‘I can do that,’ said Fian, sounding near panic. ‘If the aliens attack, I don’t want to take command. I’m a history student, not … not Tellon Blaze on Thetis!’
    I gave an instinctive shudder, thinking of the chimera. I’d seen dozens of horror vids set over a quarter of a millennium ago during Thetis chaos year, all telling variations of the story of the nightmare chimera and the legendary young hero who fought them. People only ever mentioned Thetis itself, but several other populated worlds were also infested with the chimera. If it hadn’t been for the leadership of Tellon Blaze, humanity might have lost everything.
    The chimera hadn’t been intelligent, but they were a savage killing species with an advanced chameleon-like ability which let them merge into any shadow. That had let them get on board our ships, sneak through the old portals that didn’t have protective bio filters, and infiltrate our worlds.
    If humanity had met an alien life form as lethal as the chimera, with the added advantage of intelligence and a technology as advanced, or even more advanced, than our own …
    No, I told myself firmly, I was overreacting. Whatever humanity had encountered this time, it couldn’t possibly be as bad as the chimera.
    We went out of the dome and looked around. I’d seen on the map that this place was big, but …
    ‘Amaz!’ said Fian, gazing around in awe. ‘That’s a lot of domes.’
    We were standing on a grassy plain, dotted with a positive forest of huge domes. There was a clear area ahead with three oddly bulky portals in the middle of it. Judging from the map, it was a long walk to the Accommodation area, so I headed hopefully for the portals.
    ‘All this in two days!’ said Fian. ‘It’s impressive, but why set up a base on Earth?’
    I gave a despairing wave of my hands. ‘The orientation sessions may explain that. We should have time to attend one before Captain’s Table.’
    ‘What’s Captain’s Table?’ asked Fian.
    ‘It’s an archaic term the Military use. Dates way back into pre-history, originating from seafaring ships. It means being invited to dinner