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Authors: D.L. Jackson
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fucking way. They’d just picked the wrong enemy to tangle with.
Melissa started toward the dock.
“Melissa?”
She turned.
“We don’t know who we’re dealing with. Get on that ship and off as fast as you can. If you can’t get to the crew, see if you can at least zero in on their location and I’ll think of a way to free them.”
She gave him a quick salute and ran down the hallway. She even looked great doing it in heels and a skirt. Damn, he loved his job. He looked over his shoulder at the conference room door. Most of the time I love this job .
Kaleb moved down the hall to grab a handful of papers that outlined the genetic studies he’d conducted in the last ten years. If anything would put them to sleep, and at a big blow to his ego, it would be his study. Unfortunately, not everyone loved science the way he did. Ego aside, if he could use it, he would.
If that didn’t suck up the time, he’d brief them on the microenvironments and talk about dietary requirements for the herbivores, anything to drag them along until he could form a plan. As for the drop schedule, he’d stress the importance of prepping the animals. That would buy time, too.
He scratched his head and stared down at all his work, which in the last twenty-four hours had been proven false and was now completely worthless. Man could evolve overnight. He only wished he’d figured that out ten years ago.
Hell, he’d learned a lot in the last twelve hours that he’d have liked to have known months ago, and he had a feeling the information would play into their future in ways he couldn’t fathom. Whoever these people were, their intentions couldn’t be good. They offered friendship on the surface, but there were just some things they couldn’t cloak, and they stank of deceit.
Could this be how Hector of Troy felt when the Greeks had come out of the horse? Probably damn close. He’d never anticipated this scenario. Earth had never anticipated it. They never thought someone was watching or that they’d want to steal their planet. It had been foolish to think they were the only sentient life-forms in the galaxy. Even more foolish to think what they’d built wouldn’t be noticed by someone or something out there.
Question was, were the encroachers willing to kill to get it? He’d smelled predator and he had a feeling they would kill if they hadn’t already. Those were Terran uniforms. Where were the real owners?
***
Kaleb was right. It was all wrong. Nobody challenged her approach or tried to stop her. Not that she gave them a chance to spot her. She’d slipped in through what maintenance called a back entrance, used by drones only and not something anyone who never worked with them would know about. Melissa docked the shuttle where the remotes sat.
With a little hacking, she’d mimicked one of the drones. Not hard when she was an officer on the project and had access to almost all of the drives on the Ark , the sister ship, and the shuttles. Only highly classified information that she didn’t have a need-to-know would be blocked, and she didn’t have to get into it to get the job done.
For all those at the controls of the Genesis II knew, she was an environmental drone, back from a routine scan of the planet’s surface.
The bay doors slid shut and the pressure stabilized. She opened the hatch and stared across the silent bay. The hair on her arms snapped to attention. Not a motion anywhere, and only the glow of the security lights made the bay visible. Everything appeared to be on autopilot. She swept her gaze right to left. No sign of life in any corner. Obviously the alien imposters didn’t anticipate visitors. Her first hunch had been dead-on.
Not looking good. She pulled her laser off her hip and set it to kill. She glanced both ways and exited the shuttle, running down the ramp. She stayed low, keeping along the wall and in the shadows. The lift appeared to be operable, but she’d use the secondary route
Melissa started toward the dock.
“Melissa?”
She turned.
“We don’t know who we’re dealing with. Get on that ship and off as fast as you can. If you can’t get to the crew, see if you can at least zero in on their location and I’ll think of a way to free them.”
She gave him a quick salute and ran down the hallway. She even looked great doing it in heels and a skirt. Damn, he loved his job. He looked over his shoulder at the conference room door. Most of the time I love this job .
Kaleb moved down the hall to grab a handful of papers that outlined the genetic studies he’d conducted in the last ten years. If anything would put them to sleep, and at a big blow to his ego, it would be his study. Unfortunately, not everyone loved science the way he did. Ego aside, if he could use it, he would.
If that didn’t suck up the time, he’d brief them on the microenvironments and talk about dietary requirements for the herbivores, anything to drag them along until he could form a plan. As for the drop schedule, he’d stress the importance of prepping the animals. That would buy time, too.
He scratched his head and stared down at all his work, which in the last twenty-four hours had been proven false and was now completely worthless. Man could evolve overnight. He only wished he’d figured that out ten years ago.
Hell, he’d learned a lot in the last twelve hours that he’d have liked to have known months ago, and he had a feeling the information would play into their future in ways he couldn’t fathom. Whoever these people were, their intentions couldn’t be good. They offered friendship on the surface, but there were just some things they couldn’t cloak, and they stank of deceit.
Could this be how Hector of Troy felt when the Greeks had come out of the horse? Probably damn close. He’d never anticipated this scenario. Earth had never anticipated it. They never thought someone was watching or that they’d want to steal their planet. It had been foolish to think they were the only sentient life-forms in the galaxy. Even more foolish to think what they’d built wouldn’t be noticed by someone or something out there.
Question was, were the encroachers willing to kill to get it? He’d smelled predator and he had a feeling they would kill if they hadn’t already. Those were Terran uniforms. Where were the real owners?
***
Kaleb was right. It was all wrong. Nobody challenged her approach or tried to stop her. Not that she gave them a chance to spot her. She’d slipped in through what maintenance called a back entrance, used by drones only and not something anyone who never worked with them would know about. Melissa docked the shuttle where the remotes sat.
With a little hacking, she’d mimicked one of the drones. Not hard when she was an officer on the project and had access to almost all of the drives on the Ark , the sister ship, and the shuttles. Only highly classified information that she didn’t have a need-to-know would be blocked, and she didn’t have to get into it to get the job done.
For all those at the controls of the Genesis II knew, she was an environmental drone, back from a routine scan of the planet’s surface.
The bay doors slid shut and the pressure stabilized. She opened the hatch and stared across the silent bay. The hair on her arms snapped to attention. Not a motion anywhere, and only the glow of the security lights made the bay visible. Everything appeared to be on autopilot. She swept her gaze right to left. No sign of life in any corner. Obviously the alien imposters didn’t anticipate visitors. Her first hunch had been dead-on.
Not looking good. She pulled her laser off her hip and set it to kill. She glanced both ways and exited the shuttle, running down the ramp. She stayed low, keeping along the wall and in the shadows. The lift appeared to be operable, but she’d use the secondary route
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