Read Online Heaven's Fall by David S. Goyer, Michael Cassutt - Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t stand to tomboys, which was what Yahvi would have called herself most days.
    Though that hadn’t stopped her from having sex with Nick Barton-Menon, because he seemed to be the first port of call for girl yavaki on their maiden sexual voyage, and with dear sweet Rook, because she liked him and he seemed to need some encouragement.
    (Yavaki weren’t exactly encouraged to be sexually active, but no one forbade it, either. Babies were a welcome addition to the population . . . so far.)
    The trouble was . . . Yahvi hadn’t yet told Rachel about this.
    But this moment was to be shared, too. It made it something other than the furtive naughtiness that Rachel had told Yahvi about, even as she recounted her own sexual history, which was entirely Keanu-based and Pav-centric.
    The fact that Yahvi had kept it a secret—well, that was a problem. The more time that passed between action and revelation, the worse it got.
    Yahvi had actually sat down with her mother and planned to tell her on the very night Rachel told her, instead, about the trip to Earth.
    And that wasn’t even the biggest secret Yahvi had kept from Rachel.
    There was one thing even worse.
    And she would never ever tell.
    At least, not while they were on Earth.

    “I’m going to keep this brief and objective,” Taj said.
    An hour later they were all back in their chairs in the conference room again—Taj at the lectern, the screen behind him lit up. In the corner of the screen, picture-in-picture, was an image of Zeds in his chamber.
    In addition to Yahvi’s grandfather—it was still strange to think of this older man as a relative—and Mrs. Remilla and Wing Commander Kaushal, there were two new arrivals: two men who said nothing but watched everything.
    “Planet Earth has undergone a number of changes in the past twenty years,” Taj said, as the screen displayed two hemispheres: Earth west, showing the Americas, and Earth east, showing Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. (Yahvi recognized them from lessons.) The images were typical satellite maps, showing brown or green terrain and far, far too much ocean for her comfort. “In ascending order of likely concern to you, there has been continued global climate change, resulting in higher sea levels and diminished Arctic ice—”
    “Interesting use of diminished ,” Pav said. “Why not just say disappeared ?”
    Taj acknowledged his son’s interruption with a raised eyebrow and nothing else. “The global economy has been stalled and stagnant for the better part of a decade. There are the usual wars and conflicts—none of them nuclear or critical, but all troubling, naturally.” The twin hemispheres blossomed with gross domestic produce numbers, rates of growth or decline—Yahvi saw that most of the figures were red, which she took to be bad. (She’d learned that much about Earth symbology.)
    A series of small fire images appeared over parts of Africa, Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and the Korean Peninsula. Those must be conflicts.
    “Obviously we were unable to communicate much of this to you during your approach. We have the ability to encrypt signals, but we couldn’t assume you could decrypt them.”
    “Smart assumption,” Pav said. “We have the capability, of course, but it would still have required you to upload keys and codes—”
    “—which would have been intercepted, yes, yes, yes,” Rachel said, showing uncharacteristic impatience. (At least with Pav. She was frequently impatient with Yahvi.) “Obviously there is a more important update you’re holding back.”
    All of the indicators on the screens vanished, leaving the satellite images as they were originally. “Bottom line,” Taj said, “as my Houston friends used to say . . . fully one third of the Earth’s population and habitable surface is under control of—infected by—the beings we call the Aggregates and you call the Reivers.”
    He clicked on the computer pad and the Western Hemisphere changed color. All