Sonata in Orionis (Earth Song Cycle Book 2) Read online

  The destination was pre-programmed. The portal flashed white and shimmered for a moment before revealing their first stop. It was night on planet FAX544, many light years distant. Snow fell heavily on the cleared area on the other side of the portal. An almost imperceptible shimmer of energy hung between the two worlds. They waited for a long couple of seconds, then Minu holstered the rod in a pocket sewn into her uniform leg, grabbed her weapon by the pistol grip, and ran through.

  The winter air on the other side was so bitter it took her breath away, and she almost slipped on the icy ground, just managing to stay on her feet. Once she was clear of the portal, she dropped to one knee and looked around. There was enough light from the solitary moon overhead to see that the perimeter was clear. The light scrub plants scattered around provided nowhere near enough cover to hide a menacing army. She signaled her team, and they came trotting through. Pip failed where she’d succeeded, and he ended up skidding past her and falling into a frozen bush. She somehow managed not to laugh.

  Back on Bellatrix, Michael waved at her. She gave the all clear sign, and the portal deactivated, turning into a glowing white archway and cutting them off from home. A chill that wasn’t from the frigid air spread through her as she realized she was finally in the field, on the frontier, for the first time.

  “What’s the plan, boss?” Cherise asked.

  Minu smiled when her team called her boss, a habit her friends had picked up during the Trials. She was going to do fine. “We get off this frozen rock and get to work,” she said and took out the rod again. Pip tried to wipe the sticky wet snow out of his hair and off his belongings, happy his standard-issue uniform was designed for all climates. Aaron, Gregg, Luke and William watched the perimeter while she activated the rod for the next destination, GBX49881. The portal responded dutifully, and bright sunlight spilled through. The scouts knew from their somewhat limited training just how visible they were in the sunlight. Minu wasted no time running through.

  Their destination reminded her of the desert where the Trials had finished, except they were in the center of a ruined city. She quickly glanced around and gave the all clear sign. Her team joined her, and the portal closed again. “Okay,” she said, “let’s get to work.”

  * * *

  Dram’s door banged open to show Jacob standing outside, his fists clenched in rage. “What the fuck do you think you’re up to?”

  “Just following orders,” Dram said calmly without looking up from his computer. Jacob stormed over and slammed a fist down on the metallic desk with a bang heard all the way to the CIC.

  “Following orders? Who’s fucking orders? I said that girl was not to be allowed into the frontier under any circumstances.” Dram looked up from his computer; his chiseled black features were calm and unconcerned. He exuded strength and patience. He spun the computer around so Jacob could see it. “What is this shit?”

  “Just read it, sir.”

  Jacob leaned forward and read the email. The look on his face went from rage to confusion, then shock. “Why didn’t this come straight to me?”

  “It was sent directly to the mission planner,” Dram said, “and that would be me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the Togs were afraid you’d be reluctant to follow such a request.”

  “You’re supposed to forward any such requests to me.”

  “I did, about ten minutes ago.”

  “About the time she took her team through the portal,” Jacob spat. Dram nodded. “That’s insubordination, mister.”

  “That’s following the letter of the regulation,” Dram said, his voice hard, “and I don’t much like the tone of your voice, sir.”

  “Letter of the regulation, indeed.” Jacob piled as much sarcasm as he could into that sentence, but Dram was unmoved. “They’ve interfered directly. I don’t understand this at all. Why are they doing this? The Tog have never been this heavy handed before!”

  Dram could see Jacob was now directing his rage away from him and sighed. Despite his composure, he didn’t wish to confront the current leader of the Chosen. “They’ve seen something in Minu,” he said, turning the computer back, “something we haven’t.” Jacob sat heavily on the edge of Dram’s desk and looked deflated. “We must trust their judgment.”

  “What do they know about humans?” Jacob demanded rhetorically. “Nothing, that’s what I think. It’s because she’s Chriso’s kid; it has to be.”

  “They’ve never shown favoritism to a First’s descendants before,” Dram pointed out.

  “You seem more than willing to help her whenever you can.”

  “Maybe I see something you don’t,” Dram said. And maybe I owe a debt you can’t understand.

  “So you and the Tog are on the same page—where does that leave me?” Dram didn’t have an answer, so Jacob left. Dram steepled his fingers and breathed deeply, letting the air whistle between his teeth. He’d really burned some capital by not immediately informing his commander when the mission request came in. They’d asked for Minu by name, and the target world was very suspect. Dram knew there was much more to GBX49881 than one of Chriso’s old caches. True, the First had a nearly legendary ability to find rare and valuable salvage. Deep down, Dram wondered if this was an elaborate plot, and he was only playing a part in it. Part of him hoped his suspicions proved true, but part of him prayed they did not.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 5

  September 17th, 515 AE

  Galactic Frontier, Planet GBX49881, Ruins

  The sunlight was brutal and unrelenting. Only bitterly cold nights interrupted the days of bright, orange-tinged skies and the heat of the huge blue star. The temperature hovered around fifty degrees Celsius; it felt like sticking your head in an oven. With no humidity to speak of, their eyes and throats became sore in minutes. To top it off, the map was completely useless. It all added up to a very frustrating mission.

  “This is fun,” William said over the radio.

  “I don’t care how much fun you’re having,” Minu snapped, “report please.”

  “Sector five is clear. I can’t find any location that correlates with the damned map.”

  “Understood, proceed to your next search sector.” Unlike previously, he didn’t complain this time. At least the blast-furnace heat had its advantages; even William found it hard to bitch constantly. The incessant complaining wouldn’t be so bad if he was a good scout, instead of slow and mediocre.

  “Nothing here,” Gregg said.

  “Nor here,” concurred Luke.

  “Nope,” Aaron finished. “Much as I hate to admit it, I think William is right. The map is wrong.”

  “I don’t see how they could give us the wrong map,” Minu said, off the radio.

  “A mistake,” Cherise said, shrugging her sweaty shoulders. She was sitting in the shade of a crumbled building working on their tortured moisture still. Out of all of them, the girl raised in the desert was least affected by the environment. She cursed as she worked on the broken-down machine. On Bellatrix, the contraption could produce five liters of drinkable water per day from the humidity in the air. Here, it averaged barely one liter. Their meager water stores were critically low, so they couldn’t afford to have the still offline. The suspended particulates in the atmosphere clogged the filters every few hours, and Minu feared they would have to abort their mission and go home without finding the cache.

  “Computers are never wrong,” Pip insisted. Since he was not directly participating in the searches, he’d been in heaven, reading non-stop for the last three days. He’d brought along a seemingly endless supply of chips loaded with research.

  “Then how do you account for the map?” Cherise asked him.

  “G.I.G.O.,” he answered.

  “Huh?”

  “Garbage in, garbage out. It’s a computer phrase.” Minu and Cherise stared at him. “Whoever coded the map screwed it up.”

  The girls both said, “Oh!”

  “How long can we hold out?” Minu a
sked Chester, who was inventorying their remaining supplies.

  “Food isn’t the issue, it’s the water.” Minu looked at him. “We have about five liters left, and the still is putting out around a liter a day. But even with our improved survival uniforms, we’re each consuming a half liter per day.”

  “So, we’ll be out of water in two days,” she said, half to herself. Chester nodded. “Any chance of salvaging waste water or digging a well?”

  “We checked for ground water when we arrived,” Cherise said. As the group’s logistics pair, she and Chester shared responsibilities. Usually, only a very large expedition would include a logistics Chosen. Recovering caches was their specialty. “Sensors indicated the ground water is contaminated with radiation.”

  “Where did that come from?”

  “No way to tell.”

  “Probably natural seepage,” Pip volunteered. Cherise and Chester didn’t disagree.

  “As for waste water,” Chester said, “we didn’t bring that sort of gear. Chosen have equipment that will filter almost anything, including radiation; we just didn’t think to bring it.”

  “We’re equipped more than sufficiently for a simple mission,” Cherise agreed. “We estimated three days in the field, and we can make it six.”

  “Right out of the manual,” Minu said. “Be sure to update the database with what we’ve learned about this world, so the next team that visits won’t expect ground water.

  Cherise nodded, then continued. “We’ve considered improvising something to reclaim used water.”

  “Filtered piss?” Pip laughed. “I’ll go thirsty.”

  “You might change your mind in a couple of days,” Minu said over her shoulder. Pip sat comfortably on a bed roll, working on one of the tablets he’d brought. He looked up, stunned.

  “You can’t seriously be thinking about staying after the water runs out.”

  “I am,” she snarled. “I’m not choking on my first mission.”

  “Your first mission, is that all that matters? You want us all to die of thirst, so you don’t look bad?”

  “Watch it,” Cherise warned. Too late. He’d thrown the gauntlet.

  Minu rounded and stomped over to him. His eyes grew big, and he hid his computer under one leg. He didn’t fear for himself; he was worried about his precious research. “Yes, my first mission. And your first mission. And her first mission.” She pointed at Cherise. “And his first mission.” She pointed at Chester. “This is our first mission. Don’t you fucking get it? They’ve thrown us another damn curve ball. This is a test, another one of their stupid fucking tests. I’m in command; I see all the missions and planning sessions. I’m the first of our class to go out into the frontier, and I have an all-rookie team. How’re we going to look coming back half dead, with our tails between our legs?”

  “The rest of you won’t look too good,” Pip observed.

  “You figure you’ll be under the radar on this one?”

  “Hey, I don’t even know why they bothered to send me on this little picnic.”

  “Then you’re stupider than you look.” This time he looked angry. Minu threw her tablet in his lap; it showed the search grids on the map. He caught it before he suffered testicular damage. “Tell me, genius, is the map essentially accurate?”

  He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and looked down at the map. Minu’s notes and the details she’d added since they arrived covered it. “Yes,” he finally said, “it is accurate except for certain details.”

  “Okay, so we know what we want is here, and the map is accurate. X might well mark the spot, only they’ve moved the spot. Assuming this is a test, it looks like a mathematical challenge. Is the answer hidden on the map? Who knows? But it seems to me, if it is, there’s a good chance a computer person could find the answer. If we end up abandoning this mission and going home, and the answer is right there on that tablet, how do you think you’ll look?”

  “Like a moron,” he admitted, looking pathetic.

  “Or worse. So get off your lazy ass and get to work. We’ve been here three days, and you haven’t done shit.”

  Pip looked hurt. “I’ve been doing valuable research.”

  “And eating valuable groceries,” Chester said.

  “And drinking valuable water,” Cherise said. “So get your well-nourished, well-hydrated ass in gear, before we cut off the food and water.” The threat worked; he got to work.

  As nothing more required her attention, Minu took a short walk to calm down. She berated herself for letting Pip get under her skin. William and Pip were good at needling her, and she couldn’t figure out how to disarm them without resorting to threats or heated confrontations. She hated letting her anger get the better of her, especially as it happened far too often for her peace of mind. Leaders like Jacob, Dram, Jovich, and Chriso always remained calm, collected, and in command of the situation. She had no memory of her father ever losing his patience with her, even when she broke a valuable off-world artifact as a young child. Despite being very upset, he’d controlled his anger.

  Her wanderings took her past the ancient town square where the portal rested. Minu knelt next to their monitor probe to make sure it was working. It was. Should it malfunction, Pip would inform her. The device was their off-world communication link, and it monitored the portal for inbound traffic. She walked through the square and onto one of the five broad avenues leading away like wheel spokes. The little square with its portal had once been the hub of the community, a common Concordian design for small cities.

  The town spoke to her of its long dead builders. The wide roads suggested they used large vehicles. The buildings had narrow doorways and strange, horizontal slits for windows. Pip said it looked like the world was full of jails, with buildings designed to make escape impossible. Pip had also mentioned the city had been abandoned for thousands of years. The water in the deep aquifers was testament to some ancient calamity. How did the Concordia wage war on a planetary scale? Did they lay waste to entire worlds? The residents were long gone and could provide no answers to Minu’s questions. The world was now open territory, and for good reason, since it was almost uninhabitable. Minu wasn’t sure if any species would find it desirable. Maybe it could become a toxic waste dump or a nuclear weapons test site?

  “Where’s the oxygen coming from?” she asked Pip.

  “There might be a sea or surviving plant life somewhere. The oxygen / carbon dioxide balance suggests something is maintaining it.” It seemed as good an explanation as anything she could come up with.

  Minu had wandered for about an hour in the ruins of a large building, poking through a pile of interesting looking trash, when her radio went off. “Minu, I have something.”

  “Damn it, report correctly.”

  She heard a sigh, then the voice spoke again. “This is William reporting, sector eleven, I’ve found something.”

  “Acknowledged,” she replied, “can you send me an image?”

  “It won’t record. There’s a stealth field.”

  “I think you found the cache,” she said and checked her map. He was less than a kilometer from her.

  “No, it isn’t the cache. At least I hope not, or we’ve wasted our time. You want to come and see?” She felt her anger rising. Why did he have to be so damned difficult? Why couldn’t he just describe his findings to her?

  “Okay, I’m coming.”

  Minu found William outside a crumbled building no different from a thousand others in the town. He had a self-satisfied grin on his face, since he was the first to find anything of note. Minu’s look said ‘give it a rest,’ and she walked past him into the dim interior of the ruin. A very elegant dragonfly-bot perched on a cracked beam. Tiny gossamer sensors resembling antennae turned to look at her as she entered. William was right, this was important. The bot couldn’t have been there for long, as they could only operate a year or two on standby. And this one belonged to the Chosen. Even in the dim light, she coul
d see the metallic green and black paint on its thorax. She knew a serial number was laser etched into its dualloy armor. “What are you doing here?” she wondered aloud.

  “Weird, isn’t it?” William asked. “I mean, they’re worth thousands of credits, right? My uncle’s a police investigator in Tranquility. A couple of years ago, they bought five of these from the Chosen. They were old, used ones with maintenance issues. He acted like the Tog had blessed the department, and they started investigating closed cases. Damn things can scan a hundred-year-old fingerprint, do an on-board genome analysis, and follow a chem-trail ten times weaker than a dog could.”

  “No doubt. These are just about the most sophisticated bots available. My father told me they have AI, but I couldn’t make sense out of half of what he said. I was pretty young then.” Minu took a step toward the robot, and its four crystalline wings buzzed a warning. She froze. While it seemed like a delicate insect, it could be a deadly weapon. Armed and armored, with reflexes the fastest human could never hope to match, the bot was super-advanced Concordian tech.

  “What’s wrong?” William asked, refusing to come inside.

  “It’s in passive sentry mode,” she said, “or I’d probably be dead.”

  “What’s it guarding?”

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t be trying to get past it.” Minu thought for a moment. How could she approach the deadly bot without risking its wrath? Its programming could include any one of a limitless number of control phrases. Then it came to her; a Chosen wouldn’t leave one of these bots behind without a way for a scout team to get past it. She drew her portal control rod and held it out. The robot buzzed in a mellower tone and settled back. When she took a step forward, it remained docile. “That was easier than I expected.” William continued guarding the rear. She walked up to the bot and noticed some damage.