THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1) (29 page)

Analyst Ko was standing at a small interface module set into the podium, studying holographic data.  When he heard them approaching, he deactivated the holograph and turned.  She could see from his aura that he was weary; the weariness of working long hours.  The master of governors began to say something but Ko interrupted him with a dismissive gesture.  "Thank you, master, you may leave us."

The master began to object.  "It is not usual for females in our care to be left alone..."

"She will not be alone, master, she will be with me."

"Ah, of course, I suppose it is permissible in the circumstances."

Ko didn't reply.

"I shall wait outside," the master continued uncertainly. "Please do not hesitate to call upon me should you need anything."  He turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

Vi was puzzled by the exchange and surprised that the master had backed down so quickly.  How was Ko able to wield such authority over the master of a reproduction centre?  And what circumstances were they talking about?  If the Ancient Council was unhappy with her missive, surely it would have simply instructed the governors to censure her.  Why was Ko involved at all? 

The analyst studied her for a moment before he spoke.  He seemed distracted, as if his attention was focussed elsewhere.  "I trust you are well?" he asked politely.

"As well as I can expect to be," she replied cautiously.  Courtesy was not one of the analyst's strong points and lent an almost surreal air to the night's events. "Is this about my missive?"

He looked at her blankly.  "I don't know anything about that," he replied, reverting to his more usual brusque tone.  "I am here on behalf of the ambassador."

It was her turn to look blank.

"Ambassador Ba," he said, failing to keep a note of exasperation from creeping into his voice.  "The Ancient Council has authorised a second expedition to Earth.  The ambassador has been tasked with commanding it.  A fleet of ships is being assembled on Primefall and will depart soon."

Vi's heart leapt in her chest.  At last, something was being done to help the humans.  Perhaps her missive had served some purpose after all.  "I am very pleased to hear that.  But why have you come all the way to Azura to tell me this?"

"The ambassador has requested that you be permitted to accompany the expedition and the Ancient Council has authorised it.  Have the governors not informed you?"

She was stunned by the revelation.  It certainly explained the master's sour mood.

"You will resume your previous post as head translator, of course," appended Ko, mistaking her silence for indecision.

"I, er..." was all she could say.

"Well, I don't have all night," groused Ko.  "If you are intent on coming, fetch your belongings and meet me at the gate.  I have a 'pod waiting to take us to the spaceport.  We must leave immediately."

Vi wasted no more time.  She left the room at a dignified walk, skirted the master of governors who was seething silently in the corridor, and then ran the rest of the way to her quarters.  She hadn't fully realised it before, but this was what she had been waiting for; an opportunity to get out of the centre.  A chance to go back to Earth had been beyond her wildest dreams, but it was suddenly a reality.  How the ambassador had arranged it, she couldn't imagine.

She didn't bother packing all of her belongings.  There wasn't much of consequence and it could easily be sent on later.  But there was one thing she was determined not to leave behind.  She drew a slim storage receptacle from the bottom of her closet and lifted the lid.  Folded neatly within was the blue-green shimmer-robe she had worn on Earth.  The governors had pursed their lips disapprovingly when she had brought it with her to the centre.  Ordinarily they insisted that females entering the centre put their old clothing aside, but Vi made it clear that she would complain vociferously if any attempt was made to relieve her of the memento.  At the time, she was the centre of a great deal of attention and the masters decided to let her keep her garment rather than risk public criticism.

She threw a few other items into the receptacle and then hurried through the deserted corridors of the centre towards the entrance.  There she found a waiting 'pod, Ko fidgeting impatiently within.  The 'pod pilot took her receptacle and stowed it in a luggage compartment while she slid into one of the passenger seats.  Then the 'pod took off and sped towards Azura's small spaceport.

The pilot had obviously been told to hurry; she could sense the telekinetic exertion within his aura as he powered the 'pod rapidly across the night sky.  She glanced out of the window and watched the speckled city lights whip by below.

When they reached the spaceport, she and Ko transferred into a waiting shuttle, which blasted off almost immediately.  She just had enough time to secure her storage receptacle within a luggage rack and strap herself in.  There were only a few other passengers aboard, all male of course, who ignored her completely.  Once the shuttle had left the planet's atmosphere, she caught a glimpse of the familiar bulk of a star ship in orbit.  When they got closer, she was thrilled to see that it was none other than Emissary.  She still thought fondly of the studded black sphere as her home from home.

The shuttle floated smoothly into a docking bay.  Her stomach lurched as the ship's artificial gravity took hold.  She released herself from her seat and retrieved her luggage.  Then she followed Ko and the other passengers onto the ship's reception deck.  Without sparing her a backward glance, Ko headed for the bridge deck, vanishing up the nearest levitation-well.  She decided to stay with the other passengers; Emissary had its own translator and she did not need to step on his toes just yet.  She would wait until they rendezvoused with the expedition at Primefall before taking up her station as head translator.

The ships' com chimed, signalling that it was ready to leave.  She and the other passengers rode a 'well to one of the passenger decks, where they strapped themselves into travel-pods.  Her luggage she stored in a compartment set into the floor below her pod.  Like the shuttle, Emissary had very few passengers aboard, most of them in the purple-pink shimmer-robes of analysts.  She glanced down at the yellow-brown robe she still wore and resolved to change into blue-green as soon as possible.  Perhaps then the other passengers would deign to acknowledge her.

Looking around at the largely empty cabin, it seemed almost as if Emissary had been sent primarily to collect her.  If that was so, she was touched that the ambassador had gone to so much trouble and expense to make sure she joined the expedition.  She wasn't aware that he valued her so highly.  Perhaps it was because she was relatively well known on Earth and he wanted as many familiar faces as possible involved to assure the humans that the intervention was in their best interests.

After the mercifully brief wormhole voyage had ended, she clambered out of the travel-pod and rode a 'well up to one of the dining decks.  She had been travelling since the middle of the night without refreshment and was getting hungry.  Finding herself alone, she changed quickly into her blue-green shimmer-robe, stowing the rest of her things in one of the passenger stores.  She could retrieve them once she had been assigned a permanent berth.

Then she ordered a meal from the automated galley and, anxious to find out more about what was happening, wolfed it down as soon as it arrived.  One of the analysts came in while she was eating and, after a startled glance at the command colour of her robe, gave her a respectful nod.

As soon as she had finished, she made her way up to the bridge deck.  Hurrying across the conduit, she was disappointed to find that the bridge was almost deserted.  Two or three analysts were working away at interface modules.  Ko and the other command personnel had probably gone down to one of the other dining decks.  She decided not to waste time looking for them and to find out what she could from the ship's com.

She slid into one of the bridge consoles and activated its interface module.  Using just her fingertips, she sorted through the latest communications, looking for information on the upcoming expedition.  There was very little, which was unusual.  Most official expeditions were preceded by screeds of missives, statements, authorisations, and reports.  But all she could find were communications with the Primefall planetary council about the logistics of the expedition.  There was almost nothing else.

It reminded her a little of the time she had searched for the communique from the Ancient Council ratifying the Forever Gene trial.  She had found no trace of it on record, which she thought strange at the time.  Now, she could find very little on the upcoming expedition.  What was its primary purpose?  Was it going to actively intervene in human affairs or would its efforts be purely diplomatic?  Was it authorised to protect or even evacuate individuals or communities in peril?  Would terraforming measures be introduced to counteract the worst of the environmental damage?  And if so, on what scale?

Looking for clues, she scanned some of the logistics reports.  Her eyes widened when she discovered the size of the expedition.  One hundred and twenty ships had been assembled in orbit around Primefall.  It was a massive fleet, by any standards.  Each ship had the capacity to carry forty to sixty thousand individuals, a combined capacity of about six million.

She sat back and considered the possible operational objectives for such a large fleet.  She could think of only two; to evacuate large numbers of humans from the planet, or to invade.  She discarded the second possibility almost immediately.  Why would the Ancient Council want to invade Earth?  There was nothing of real value on the planet as far as she knew.  Even its inhabitants were insignificant in a cosmic sense.  And anyway, territorial conquest was not a path that her civilisation had followed.  Not since the ancient migration, anyway.

That left evacuation.  But even that seemed unlikely.  Her civilisation had never resorted to such drastic action before.  Not even for client races which were in dire straits.  They were usually coached out of their difficulties with the aid of technology.  How bad was the situation on Earth if it justified such a radical departure from entrenched policy?

She continued scanning the logistics reports, looking at personnel numbers.  Each ship of the fleet would carry a full crew, but would otherwise be almost empty.  There were military personnel assigned to each ship, but they were few in number and not equipped for any major offensives.  The ships themselves were armed, but their weaponry was mainly defensive in nature. She had been right; this was not an invasion fleet. 

She flicked through more reports and saw that each ship had been supplied with large quantities of medical supplies and other provisions.  That made sense; if large numbers of people were to be rescued from war-torn areas, there would be wounded who would need treatment and everyone would need food and water.

The expedition could be purely medical; she supposed.  That would also account for the quantities of medical provisions, as well as for the large number of ships.  They could spread out around the globe and tend to many of the war zones at once.  But what good would that do?  Yes, of course, many lives would be saved and injured people treated, but unless something was done to end the violence itself, the intervention would ultimately be pointless. She could only hope that the ambassador was authorised to deploy additional protocols of which she was unaware.

A com channel opened and the face of a translator she didn't recognise blinked into view.

"Emissary acknowledges," she replied without thinking.

"Shuttle ready for docking," said the face.

She flicked through the boarding protocols with practiced ease and quickly identified the shuttle and its authorisation.  Prime authority; it must be the ambassador himself.  She triggered the docking process and then hurried off the bridge towards the nearest 'well.  If she met the ambassador on the reception deck, she could find out what was going on from the horse's mouth.  She smiled to herself at the quaint human expression.  How she had missed all this.

When the ambassador stepped aboard, she could see from his aura that he was extremely weary.  Not from the relatively short shuttle ride from Primefall, she realised.  He had been preparing this expedition for a long time, it seemed.  That meant that the Ancient Council had authorised it cycles ago.  And yet it had made no public pronouncement, not even in the face of the intense speculation which the issue had evoked. Yet another facet of the mystery she hoped the ambassador would unravel for her.

Tired as he was, he gave her a warm greeting.  "Ah, it is good that you are with us, translator.  I hope you are ready for the challenges ahead."

She smiled and inclined her head respectfully.  "I will not let you down, sir, although I must confess that I am not sure what it is that I should be ready for.  I have only just arrived, you see, and have not been told much.

A flicker of mild annoyance washed through his aura.  "Has Ko not briefed you?"

"Not yet, he has not had a chance to do so since our arrival from Azura."  She hoped the excuse would deflect any criticism away from Ko.  The last thing she wanted was to start the voyage in the head analyst's bad graces.

"Accompany me to the bridge," he said, starting towards the nearest 'well.  "I will give you a summary on the way."

He was silent for a few moments, ordering his thoughts.  "Since our departure from Earth, its civilisation has deteriorated at an alarming rate.  A number of theories have been advanced to account for this, but I don't have time to go through them with you now."