Leveque nodded, his eyes studying Fian’s face. ‘We’re gradually working our way out from Earth, checking every star system in Alpha sector. Humanity could conceivably have overlooked something among the vast numbers of systems without Earth type worlds, especially in the first chaos of Exodus century. So far we’ve found no possible origin world for the sphere.’
‘Then it came a very long way and took a very long time to get here,’ said Fian. ‘Hundreds or even thousands of years. You mustn’t make the mistake of assuming it represents the aliens’ current level of technology. They could have made huge progress since they launched that sphere. Just compare the weapons we have now to the ones humanity had a thousand years ago in 1789.’
He was speaking with passionate urgency now. ‘The aliens didn’t have portal technology when that sphere was launched, but they could have discovered it by now. That means more spheres might appear at any moment. Smaller ones, that can fit through the maximum possible size of a portal, and are far more advanced. I know you don’t want to hear that, because it’s unpleasant, but it’s the truth.’
‘I assure you, Captain Eklund, that a Threat team leader is always interested in hearing every possible theory,’ said Leveque. ‘Particularly the unpleasant ones.’
Fian was obviously disconcerted by Leveque’s calm reply. There was an awkward silence which was broken by Nia Stone.
‘I suggest we all eat now, Riak, and then you should go to bed.’
‘Seconded,’ said Mason Leveque. ‘You’ve had no rest since the sphere was first detected, Riak. We’ve taken the base off alert status so people can sleep and that includes you. If the sphere does something, or a whole armada of smaller spheres portal in, the last thing we need is a commanding officer who’s half dead from fatigue.’
I blinked with surprise as they calmly ordered the Colonel around. This was obviously an informal meeting, but even so …
‘You’re right, both of you. We eat.’ Colonel Torrek stood up with an obvious effort.
Everyone else hastily stood up as well, and formed an orderly queue behind him for food and drinks. There was wine, there were some fancy drinks I didn’t recognize, and there was frujit. I played safe and stuck to frujit.
The food was real food, rather than reconstituted, so I piled my plate high. There were some tempting desserts too, but I might not get a chance at those. If the Colonel went to bed, Fian and I couldn’t hang around in his dining room stuffing our faces.
We all sat down again, and concentrated on eating for a few minutes. I glanced across at Fian. Having said what he wanted to say, he seemed to have calmed down a bit.
Colonel Torrek’s forearm lookup gave a chime to indicate an emergency message, and I stopped eating and waited tensely. Had the alien sphere responded to our signals, or done something hostile, or …
‘I thought I was a patient man,’ said the Colonel, ‘but I’ve just about hit my limit here. Don’t these people realize I’m too busy to pamper their precious academic egos?’
I’d no idea what he was talking about, but I wasn’t risking asking questions when a full Colonel looked that annoyed.
Colonel Torrek closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again. ‘Well, if that’s what they want, they can have it!’ He paused for a moment before speaking in a calmer voice. ‘That was a representative of the History team. Apparently, it’s impossible for them to work with a team leader who knows nothing about the history of Earth. They’re demanding I replace Major Tar Cameron immediately.’
‘Rayne Tar Cameron doesn’t exactly love them either,’ said Nia Stone. ‘She says it’s like babysitting a bunch of 2-year-olds. If she turns her back on them for ten minutes to do her Command Support work, they do something stupid.’
‘Something stupid like sending me emergency messages,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘For the second time! Well, if they want a team leader who knows Earth history, they can have one.’ He turned to me. ‘Jarra, you’ll be the new History team leader, with Fian as your deputy.’
I dropped my fork on my plate, and stared at him. ‘But … We’re only pre-history students, sir, not experts.’
‘You’ve already proved you’re far more use to me than eight leading civilian experts on the pre-history of Earth,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘It was only after my experts arrived that I discovered most of them had never even visited Earth before.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Yes, well, it was only twenty years ago that they changed the rules to make history students spend a year working on Earth’s dig sites.’