Category: Books

So, yeah, this is in the same universe as GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND.

Seen from the sky, the alien transport was huge. It couldn’t have been anything else, either: the impossibly clean lines were still beyond the reach of humanity, even decades after No Contact. It nestled in the waters by the north side of town as if it’d been designed to rest there, and Norm Baker thought it very well might have been the most beautiful made thing that he’d ever seen.

Beltran was clearly more used to sights like that, though. “That’s the Arthur Phillip,” he told Baker. “Horrible name, but the Old Man had a rough sense of humor. We’ve got it fitted to take a hundred thousand settlers at a time, so Churchill was a drop in the bucket. It’s still only half full as it is.”

The helicopter cabin was a lot quieter than Norm had expected, and had the jarring clash of aesthetics you associated with jury-rigged alientech. But it worked, like all alientech did. “I thought we were moving transportees to camps, then sending them to the colony worlds all at once?”

“That’s the old way,” Beltran grinned. “The eggheads finally got cold sleep reverse-engineered, so now we can just pod transportees up and stack them in the ship until we’ve got a full load. It’s nice and quiet, and we can stuff in three times as many people without casualties. Hell, we can even move the ship to the process sites, and that cut down the spoilage rate all on its own.” He looked out the window at the scene below. “Nothing against the Old Man,” he continued, “but it’s a Hell of a lot better now.”

#commissionearned

Oh, things look so much better for our protagonist, now…

Federal Security Agency
Training Facility Iod
Mt. Shasta
State of North California

Three months later

“Cadet Baker! Front and center!”

It was weird how the FSB never used a computer, or even an intercom, when a person would do. It made everything feel less urgent, more deliberate. Norm jumped right up and ran over anyway. The trainers might have been a lot less vicious than Peep drill instructors (the idea of them getting hanged had been a cheery one), but they expected you to go everywhere on a dead run.

At least you didn’t have to scream. “Baker present and ready, instructor!” Norm declaimed, in that pitched-to-carry growl the FSB expected. He did stand straight as a board when he did that, but the instructors hadn’t given him crap about it. All the ex-Peeps did the exact same thing.

The instructor was a runner, but she didn’t correct him. “You’re being pulled for your field assessment, Cadet Baker. Here’s your paperwork. Report with your go-bag in one half hour at the room in your packet. Questions?”

“No, instructor! Everything I need will be in my paperwork, instructor! I am to arrive with my go-bag at the assigned room in one half hour for my field assessment, instructor!”

She nodded “All correct. Get going, Cadet Baker!”

“Yes, instructor!” And, perforce, Baker got going.

Huh. I actually have a decent idea of how this is going to go.

That was a gamble, which paid off with a laugh. “Good! You’re one of the quick ones. And it’s ‘Agent Beltran,’ not ‘sir.’ I’m a cop, not a headknocker.”

He looked at his folder, which was made from actual paper. “And you are… Norman Baker. Born 2183, grew up in Lubbock, Johnson, was drafted for your one-year after high school. You voluntarily re-upped with the Peeps last year, though, took a five-year oath.” His eyes snapped on Norm. “Why?”

Norm exhaled — in relief. He’d guessed right about whether he’d been asked this question. He even decided that it was time for the truth. “The Peopl– the Peeps never had any trouble paying me, Agent Beltran. With the Old Man not doing so well–”

“Dying, Baker,” Beltran corrected him. “President Lewis was dying. We can say things like that, now.”

“Right. Sorry. With the Old Man dying, it seemed smart to stay in service, right? No matter what happened, I’d get fed, and my family’d get my stipend. I wasn’t staying in to, you know, make a pile of cash or anything. I just wanted to keep my head down until the dust cleared.”