I spent a second setting my lookup to Earth Rolling News channel, then touched Fian’s arm. We silently slipped away towards our room while Colonel Torrek’s voice continued to speak from the lookup in my hand.
‘The Military are in the process of opening up communications with the alien probe, which has shown no signs of hostility. Earth’s population has been evacuated to the underground caverns of Ark as a purely precautionary measure since the Military do not wish to expose civilians to even the most remote risk of harm. People may, if they wish, remain in Ark after the end of the solar storm. Ark has stockpiles of supplies sufficient for at least ten days, and arrangements are in place for further supplies to be portalled in from Alpha sector.’
My lookup chimed to announce the arrival of an emergency mail. ‘Personal Military call!’
I glanced around to check Fian and I were alone before turning off Earth Rolling News and answering. I was startled to see the face of Commander Mason Leveque.
‘Major Tell Morrath. Captain Eklund. I thought you might not have your Military lookups with you so I tried the civilian link.’
‘We saw the news, sir,’ I said. ‘We were just going to our room to get our Military lookups.’
‘Would you happen to have your uniforms with you as well?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Excellent forethought on your part.’
I decided not to mention we’d brought the uniforms so Fian could play Arrack San Domex for my personal entertainment. ‘Thank you, sir.’
‘You’ll realize the current situation is highly dangerous,’ Leveque said in a completely untroubled voice. ‘Having failed to pressure us into attacking the sphere, Gaius Devon took advantage of the confusion during the evacuation to Echo base to portal back to Alcestis and give his story to the newzies. He’s inciting panic, and if there’s a sufficiently widespread public demand for us to attack the sphere then the government and the Military may be forced to agree. It would be unfortunate if we had to destroy it at a point where all indications are it isn’t hostile, since we’d lose the opportunity to gain an incalculable amount of knowledge. It would be even more unfortunate if we failed to destroy it and it made a counter attack.’
It was my home planet that the sphere would counter attack, which could have its atmosphere ripped away by alien and Military weapons fire and be reduced to glowing cinders, so I felt it would be much more than just unfortunate. ‘Agreed, sir.’
‘It’s vital we convince people that Gaius Devon is a hysterical, attention-seeking, xenophobic, which judging from his statement to the newzies is no exaggeration. The Military need to be seen to be in control of the situation and doing something, so I’m afraid, Major, we’re throwing you to the chimera.’
Chimera? What did the long extinct, nightmare creatures of Thetis have to do with …? No, I realized, this must be some Military phrase. ‘What do you mean, sir?’
‘Your theory is the best we’ve got at the moment, so your excavation is no longer going to be secret but featured on all the news channels.’
‘What? But … You’re surely not leaving me in command of this with the newzies watching? Shouldn’t Colonel Torrek …?’
‘Colonel Torrek has every confidence in you, Major,’ said Leveque, ‘and the original reasons for making you Field Commander still apply. You have extensive knowledge of dig site excavation methods. We don’t.’
‘I know some things, and my lecturer will help, but I don’t have the Military knowledge to …’
‘We’ll make sure you appear fully knowledgeable about all Military matters,’ said Leveque. ‘Now, my information is you two evacuated to Ark with the Eden Dig Site teams. We need your operation up and running without delay, so please ask them for their assistance. Do they have any vid bees with them? We want to announce details on Earth Rolling News as soon as possible, and we’d like to include vid images from your area.’
‘Details? About this?’ I gulped. ‘I’m sure the Eden Dig Site teams will be happy to help, and we have vid bees, but …’
‘Excellent. The fact you were evacuated with the dig teams, combined with proper vid bee images, will give the reassuring impression we’ve been preparing this for some time.’
‘But, sir … What happens if we don’t find anything? If my theory isn’t right, or we’re looking in the wrong place, I’ll have wasted everyone’s time.’
Leveque actually laughed. ‘A delaying action is exactly what we need now, Jarra. Our immediate objective is to prevent widespread panic. Your excavation can’t even start before the portals are back, and will hopefully take at least a full day. If you find a way to contact the sphere, that’s wonderful. If you don’t, we’ve bought time for people to calm down, and for us to think of our next move. You don’t worry about that. You just look confident and demonstrate the Military are actively working on the problem.’