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  The small man turned white. “I told them that when they first lit the drives off. They said I was bein’ a silly sod.”

  Zed chuckled at the thought. “So…” He looked at the Commander and raised an eyebrow in query.

  She laughed out loud. “I suppose that we all need jobs right now, seeing that you dissolved our only starship, but what about Captain Wright?”

  Zed’s face hardened. “Him I’m sending back to Earth.” He nodded politely as Zhou Méng approached.

  “We also shall stay, although we are not a military unit. The chance to study the stars no matter what the situation cannot be turned down.”

  Zed studied the expressionless face. “Your scientific curiosity may get you killed, you know.”

  A smile flickered across the Asian face. “Perhaps. Would we also have to get neural implants?”

  “Implants are mandatory only for the most technical jobs.” Zed explained. “Implants are also a requirement if you are selected to be a member of the bridge crew.”

  Zhou nodded. “Will we be allowed to contact home before we leave?”

  Zed blinked. “Of course. We will be moving the ship into a high Earth orbit soon, and you can call to your heart’s content, if you have your own personal phone that is. We’ll be close enough to the communication satellites then. If you don’t have phones, we can always set something up.”

  “Won’t our radars detect you?”

  Zed smiled. “I don’t think so, and besides, we have more recruiting to do.” He smiled at the tall man. “We are also seeking colonists, and I understand China is somewhat… crowded.”

  Zhou’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll see what we can do. Will they have to speak English?”

  “It would be helpful, but if not, we can work around it. The society there is a technocracy; and the government is run by a very wise AI named Cybele, so you won’t have politics raising its ugly head to bother people. Cybele can’t be corrupted.”

  Zhou nodded thoughtfully. “That would be — refreshing. I will do what I can. How many will you need?”

  “Fifteen hundred should suffice for a first load. More can go later. Tell them to plan for cool weather.”

  “My family lives in Beijing. It is very crowded there.” Zhou smiled as he turned away.

  The sky was a threatening gray overcast, and shreds of low clouds raced over the National Mall, propelled by a chill north wind that smelled of wet autumn leaves. It was a miserable early November day, and the three sitting on the steps to the Lincoln Memorial shivered in their heavy coats.

  “I called last time.” Mike Flaherty glared at Alina DeThomaso. “He’s your uncle. You call.”

  Alina groaned and relented, pulling her antique phone out of her pocket. Recruiting of scientific types was going well, and was being handled by graduates of MIT, CAL Tech and Oxford. Getting military volunteers was a bit harder, without going to mercenaries. Alina’s phone, set to speaker, buzzed twice before it was answered.

  “Admiral Grinwell’s office.” A pleasant female voice said. The young navy secretary in her dress whites, looked prim and proper in the small phone screen.

  “I’d like to speak with the admiral, please.” Alina murmured politely.

  “He’s very busy today. Who may I say is calling, and I’ll see if I can fit you in?”

  “Please tell him it’s his niece Alina.”

  “One moment.” The young seaman turned away.

  The screen flickered and the seaman’s face was replaced with the weathered visage of a naval officer of more than middle years. The lines of worry had cut deep furrows in his face, and he was frowning like thunder. “Who the hell is this and how…” His eyes widened as he recognized the face on his own screen. “Alina??” She saw him start, and for a moment his hand shook. “I… we all thought you were dead.”

  She gave him a pitying look. “Hi Uncle Dan. I’m alive, we’re all alive.” She turned the phone so that he could see the man standing beside her.

  “Is that Mike Flaherty?”

  Mike gave him a crooked smile and a sloppy salute. “Morning Admiral.”

  “That’s Flaherty all right. Where are the rest of your team, and how did you get back to Earth?”

  “The rest of the team are still on the ship uncle.”

  “Ship, what ship?” The deep voice of Admiral Grinwell growled. “The Gryphon disappeared three days ago, and she was the last warship we had in space. Other than satellites, the sky is clear. Even that damn flying saucer disappeared.”

  “Ummm, the saucer was one of our scout ships uncle, and we took the Gryphon. The crew is safe. Captain Wright went a little crazy and had to be sedated. Look Uncle Dan, we need to talk, and we need to do so right now. You can’t believe how important this is, to the whole world.” After several long moments Zed glanced over Alina’s shoulder to make sure the phone was still on.

  “Where are you now, Alina?”

  “Sitting on the steps to the Lincoln Memorial, uncle. There are three of us.”

  The Admiral grunted. “I’ll come right over and we can all go back to my office and have a nice little chat.”

  Alina shuddered at the thought. “I have a counter proposal. You come over here and have your driver drop you off. We’ll go somewhere I can guarantee nobody will listen. When we’re done we’ll drop you wherever you wish. You have my word.”

  Admiral Grinwell glared at his niece over the phone. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Thank you Uncle Dan. You won’t regret this, and I love you.”

  The hard-faced man laughed abruptly. “You always were a pain in the ass, Alina, and you drove you parents to distraction.”

  “Yeah, but you love me anyway.”

  “Yes I do.” He admitted reluctantly. The phone went blank.

  They sat and shivered, and to make the day complete it began to sleet. Being an election year, Washington DC was a ghost town before the election, with all the senators, congressmen and various hangers-on off on the campaign trails in their various states. The sleet did the rest. The Mall was practically deserted when the Navy staff car pulled up to the curb and let Admiral Daniel Grinwell out. He didn’t look pleased. Alina ran down the steps and gave the man a hug. He held her at arm’s length and looked at her carefully.

  “I’ll be blunt Alina. You weren’t a young woman when you took the position of Mission Commander for the Europa Base mission. Now you look like you’re twenty.” He shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs. “Where are we going?”

  “Ohhh, just around to the back of the memorial.” Alina replied evasively.

  “This had better be good.” Dan Grinwell growled.

  As they reached the back of the building and looked out over the wide swath of empty lawn Zed looked up at the lowering sky. “Any time you’re ready, LOLA.”

  If it hadn’t been for the sleet the ship would have been totally invisible. As it was a hazy indistinct shape emerged from the clouds and set down on the lawn. A moment later a rectangle of dim light and a ramp appeared.

  “What the hell is that???” The Admiral stood frozen.

  “That’s our ride Admiral.” Zed grinned. “Remember the saucer you misplaced?”

  Alina pushed her uncle in the back. “Let’s go Uncle Dan, I’m cold.” The admiral walked up the ramp like a zombie.

  Dan Grinwell set his empty cocoa mug down and stared out of the huge window of the Bow Wave Lounge with a bemused expression on his face as he watched the Earth turn beneath him. “I’d say that you were all insane, except that I can verify what I can see and feel and…” He lifted the empty mug. “taste.” He set the mug down and turned to Zed. “Tell me again why you need a Seal Team on a starship, and that many qualified technicians?”

  “I’ve a feeling that we’re going to get up close and personal on this trip, Admiral, and we might need some well-trained people I can trust. We will have an equal number of Spetsnaz troops along, so we really do need someone to protect our interests. We also n
eed a few dozen military trained technical types in various fields for crew.”

  “This just gets weirder and weirder.” He sighed and stood. “We just happen to have a Seal Team that has been declared PNG in several European countries, and we are looking for some place distant to send them. Another star system might be good.”

  “PNG?” Zed raised an eyebrow. “How did they ever get declared Persona Non Grata?”

  “It seems as though the ambassadors for Austria, Switzerland, Germany and the Ukraine were all involved in human trafficking. We sent the Team in to break up the operation and to rescue the girls. The ambassadors were killed in the ensuing… misunderstanding. I understand that several city blocks were flattened in Berlin.” He shrugged. “It happens sometimes. Too bad they got caught.”

  Zed and Mike were chuckling. “We’ll send down Captain Wright with you. A few weeks rest and he should be fit as a fiddle. If you can call the folks at Andrews AFB and tell them not to freak out, we’ll drop you and the Captain right there. They have good security.” He gave the admiral a hard look. “Your Seals will have to swear an oath to the Terran Fleet, Admiral. They will be our Seals now. The same goes for the technicians. When we finish with this trip, if they want to go back to Earth and be U.S. Navy Seals once more, or soldiers or airmen, that’s up to them. I won’t stop them. The food is better here though, and the pay. I’m also in the market for colonists.”

  “As in a new world?”

  “As in a new world, Admiral. We have fifteen hundred Chinese colonists already waiting.”

  Dan Grinwell gave him a wistful look. “I wouldn’t mind settling on a new world, but I’m probably too old to…”

  “Look at Alina, Dan. If we can drop twenty years from her we can do it for you too.”

  A grin split Admiral Grinwell’s face. “My wife of thirty years died four years ago, and the kids are all married. Put me down on the list then.”

  “I’ll do better than that. I’ll put you in touch with Ian Sutherland. He was in charge of Europa Base when we rescued them. He’s staying behind on Earth when we leave and overseeing the colonization effort for Cybele. You and he can work together.” He led the way out of the lounge and toward the hangar deck. “This will all have to be hush hush, though. If the world finds out we’re recruiting we’ll be mobbed, and never get the right people.”

  “What sort of people are the right people?” Admiral Grinwell asked cautiously.

  Zed stopped in his tracks. “Pioneers, Dan. Think of the American West. We need tough men and women, former military preferably, in about equal numbers. No bigots. They will be weeded out and sent home. Period.”

  Dan laughed as they entered the hangar bay. “I can live with that.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to dial.

  Half an hour later several dozen Air Force security guards cordoned off a secure and sheltered section of the taxiway at Andrews AFB. The sleet that had been falling earlier had changed to light snow as the temperature dropped, but not one member of the security detail cared in the least what the weather was doing as the saucer appeared out of the clouds and set down before them. The ramp lowered and a smiling Admiral Daniel Grinwell stepped out. Behind him, two medics wheeled a comatose Captain Wright out of the saucer in a wheelchair, which they left sitting in the snow as they turned and bolted back aboard the warm saucer. He was no longer smiling when he turned to the nearest security guard.

  “Get me a staff car son, and get this officer over to Bethesda Naval Hospital. If I ever hear anything about what any of you saw tonight you will all be guarding rocks on the moon. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes Sir, Admiral!” The guard snapped to attention, popped off a smart salute, turned and ran as another guard began pushing Captain Wright’s wheelchair through the thick slush. His shoes crunched on the newly fallen snow. The Admiral waved once to the figure dressed in midnight blue standing at the top of the ramp as it soundlessly disappeared back into the ship. In the space of three heartbeats the saucer was gone. The Admiral stood there, smiling slightly, and thinking of strange new horizons.

  ~~~

  Zed and Katherine sat on the blanket covered rock and stared out over the cold North Atlantic Ocean, the icy mist of the waves caressing their cheeks. The sight of the wild grey ocean sent shivers up Zed’s spine. The air was filled with the rich scent of the sea. Kat snuggled a little closer, handing him a thermos of hot chocolate.

  Zed had really wanted to take Katherine on a proper vacation after their long voyage across the arm of the galaxy, and their near fatal radiation exposure during the battle with the Creednax. With only a few days available however, the idea of an extended holiday was impossible. Instead, they spent the last days visiting a number of parks and natural areas in North America, for Zed knew that it would be a long time before they ever returned. If he felt that he was taking a slight advantage of his rank, he didn’t show it. The previous day he and Kat had been touring Indian ruins in the American Southwest. By tonight they would be back aboard the Rose. Putting his arm about Katherine, he pulled her close. He had everything he wanted from life… except time.

  ~~~

  The three shuttles sitting on the tarmac before the hangar at Andrews Air Force Base could easily have been mistaken for shipping containers. 40 meters by 10 by 5 and dull red in color, they looked like something from the last century. Even the twin doors at the rear reinforced the idea of a shipping container. Within the hangar 100 technicians, men and women from all branches of the service, along with 16 members of Seal Team 87 sat and looked at the containers and wondered. The sun had just set, 15 days after Admiral Daniel Grinwell had taken his eventful trip.

  Standing at the side of the hangar dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt with his hands tucked in his pockets, Zed watched the curiosity build in his new crewmen. Stepping forward, he spoke quietly. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen.” One-hundred-sixteen heads turned to regard him. “I am your new employer.”

  One of the Seals sniggered. “Short little shit isn’t he?”

  Zed turned. He knew it would come down to this sooner or later. Better, he decided, to get it over sooner. “Ahhh. One of the mighty Seals.” His voice was filled with contempt and 15 faces frowned. One looked thoughtful. “So I’m a short little shit, am I? Well mister Seal, why don’t you come over here and see if you can knock me down, or are you afraid of a little shit like me?”

  The man who’d made the original comment stood, his face flushed with anger. 7 of the 16 faces now looked thoughtful. “Oh yeah?” The man’s hand moved like a striking snake with a killing palm heel strike to Zed’s nose. Zed’s head bobbed back a half an inch at the impact.

  “I have a niece who can hit harder than that.” He taunted. The ax kick should have crushed Zed’s collar bone. Instead he caught the foot as it hit his shoulder and held it. The big Seal wobbled on one foot, and then threw himself in the air to spin himself free. Unfortunately his foot was held fast as death, and the man’s knee was the weak link in the chain. The knee cracked like a branch breaking, and the other 15 members of the Seal Team winced. Zed let the foot go, finally, and the man collapsed to the hangar floor, making thin gasps of pain. Zed looked up at the other members of the team. “Not everything is as it looks.” He wiped his hands on his jeans. “Take for instance those cargo boxes. LOLA, open the rear doors of the shuttles please.” Three double doors swung open, and the people in the hangar could see rows of seats in what they had thought were storage containers. “If you would begin loading please. Forty to each shuttle. There should be sufficient room for your gear at the back of the shuttle. I’m not running an airline, so I won’t hold your hand to make you buckle up, but it might be wise. Seals can leave your weapons here. You will be supplied with weapons of sufficient firepower to vaporize a small country.” 15 pairs of eyes widened. “Leave your teammate. He was too anxious to try and kill me. Where you’re going that attitude is likely to get you all killed. You can bring your phones if you wish, to
listen to music, however there is no service where you will be.”

  “But we’ve all been issued the new Raytheon Satellite phones. Good anywhere on the world.” A youngish Seal Lieutenant complained. Zed just smiled.

  “Holy Shit!!!” A young technician stood studying the back of one of the shuttles as the other’s entered.

  “Yes?” Zed asked mildly.

  “These aren’t just storage containers at all. These are meant for vacuum work. We’re going to a new space station, aren’t we?”

  “Close, but no cigar.” Zed was grinning as he watched the Seals load. “These ARE the shuttles.” He gave the young man a gentle push through the doors and into the shuttle. “LOLA, close the doors on the first two shuttles.” He took a seat behind the Seals in the last shuttle and stretched out. “Put me through to the other shuttles please.” He waited a moment. “For your convenience, and the convenience of those around you, there are airsick bags in the seatback in front of you. LOLA, view ahead on all three shuttles.”

  The screen at the front flickered to life and one of the Seals quietly exclaimed, “Oh shit!” just as the rear cargo door clicked closed.

  “Engage cloaking LOLA, and you can take us home, if you would please.”

  “As you wish, Fleet Captain.” At LOLA’s voice all the heads in the shuttle turned to face Zed.

  “You might want to watch the screen. The view is quite spectacular. Departure angle please LOLA.” They watched the Earth fall away, and the hazy night sky become black, and full of stars.

  A Senior Chief Petty Officer lounging in the seat next to him shook his head. “Just who the hell are you anyway?”

  “My name is Zed Yates.” He said truthfully. “My rank as far as you are concerned is Fleet Captain. I was born on Earth, however I’m not entirely human anymore.”

  The Seal looked a little nervous. “So, what do you do, fly through the air like Superman?”

  Zed chuckled. “Naw. He was born on Krypton. I was born in Brooklyn. I have neural implants that allow me to communicate with my ship, and nanites in my blood that bring me up to a slightly higher level of physical fitness. You saw what happened with your teammate. I can also survive in death vacuum for several minutes, without a suit. Handy when you work in space.”