 
Scout Expedition

By Stephen Brandon

Copyright 2012 Stephen Brandon

Smashwords Edition

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Chapter 1: My name is Obadiah.

The doctor suggested that I start a journal. His reasoning was that I needed something to do while my legs heal.

Well, I'll start about telling how I got injured. If you know our history you know that we receive intensive hand to hand training starting when we are 9 or 10 ship years old. Our basic education is then completed. Along with the hand to hand training is technical training. I'm not bragging, but I was 2nd in my age group in most areas. Only Elizabeth was ahead of me in a couple. She's a little red headed that is only a month younger than I am, and I'll be 19 next month.

Anyway were were practicing for our semifinals and traversing from the low g to a high g area at full speed. I caught her and had her immobilized when I caught the outside edge of a transfer tube. I had a choice, let her take the full impact on her back or shove her off. I chose to shove her off and both of my legs took the full impact.

The surgeon told me that he quit counting at 23 breaks in my left and 19 in my right. He told me that in the old days he'd have simply amputated both legs. He also claims that I'll be back on my feet and able to run in the 1.5g area in 3 months.

I hope he's right, because I don't want to be assigned as mother ship crew. After all, I'm 3rd generation and we should be entering the target system in 4 1/2 years.

Last evening Elizabeth slipped into my quarters and entertained me. She said I didn't owe her, but she owed me because I had her immobilized. Well that's the rule. I haven't been immobilized by any of the girls since I was 17. Usually the prize is taken at first opportunity. When a guy immobilizes a guy or a gal immobilizes a gal they get IOU's. I've got quite a few IOU's in my book.

It's been 8 days and the surgeon told me after his exam that I could get up, but was confined to the 1g area for 5 more weeks, and then he'd determine what I'd be allowed to do or go.

I was sitting in the library reading ahead on my assignments last night when Elizabeth slipped up behind me and dropped an arm over my head and claimed she had me pinned. I argued that the library was off limits because of the equipment, but she insisted and dragged me over to the archives. When she was satisfied, she had to help me back to the computer room. I've got to check the rules for injured personnel because I think she violated several.

My 5 week check up was great. The surgeon says that I healing just fine, but I seemed to be exhausted. He was going to run a full panel of test until I admitted that I had a visitor in my quarters last evening and she didn't leave til 0300 hours. After looking at me for a minute he handed my a script.

I looked at it on the way out and discovered that it reassigned my quarters to the 0.2g hub.

I got Scott to help me move my trunk. When I told him that his help would take care of some of his IOU's he laughed and said that Elizabeth had told him that his were taken care of by her. She should have been in supply because she'd been trading and rearranging IOU's for the last month and as far as he knew no one owed me. She held all my IOU's.

I must have looked really shocked because he asked me if I was alright.

I then asked him not to let her know where I'd moved to because she'd been visiting me almost every night, and I needed my rest.

When he quit laughing, he told me that I was to late. Janet told him yesterday that Elizabeth had told her she was going to file papers on me.

I realized what she'd been up to. She was going to file on me as a mate. Now I'd never be able to take her down. I'd never be top of my age group because all I could ever do was collect IOU's. We would be teamed together for all the competitions. Her scores and mine would be linked together. I could never pull ahead her her.

It must have occurred to Scott as well. He was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and it wasn't because he was rolling on the deck.

I kicked at him and told him he still didn't have a chance of beating me out. All this did was cause him to howl louder.

Then Elizabeth stuck her head in the door and announced, I'm here.

She grabbed Scott's leg and tossed him out in the corridor. Then she closed the door and wrapped her arms around me and quietly informed me that I was caught.

With a leg sweep I broke her hold and picked her up and dumped her in the hammock. After fastening the Velcro top I gave it a spin and wound her up so tight she couldn't move. Just for the heck of it I hit all her ticklish spots. None of them worked.

All she did was stick her tongue out at me and then said, I've got double quarters on the 1.2g deck. When are you moving in?

I gave the hammock another spin and sat down and looked at her. Then I informed her that the surgeon had assigned me these quarters. He said I needed to rest.

She wiggled out of her clothes and beckoned me to join her in the hammock. You can rest on my shoulder now, we're paired and I need my rest also.

As I reached up through the hammock for the light control, she said leave it on for now, I want to look at my man.

It's quite a long walk down to the 1g classrooms. After passing all the technical classes for the quarter I finally got another appointment with the surgeon.

He told me to maintain the quarters up on the 0.2 deck, but I should start spending some time on the 1.2 deck also. He looked at Elizabeth and told her to turn sideways.

As she did, he simply said Mm-mm. You're beginning to show. Time to reduce your physical activity by 20 percent. And no more hand to hand training until after. Your doctor can give you alternate exercises so you can keep fit. They will mesh nicely with the ones I gave Obadiah.

Six and a half months later we had a beautiful baby girl. We named her Linda. Just over 3 1/2 years to target. We both hope that we will prevail. The last briefing stated that we would set up one habitat in the Oort cloud of the target system while the initial survey is being completed.

There are over a hundred children under the age of 18 that we'll be moving to the habitats. The initial survey of the system is still going on and the commander estimates that it'll be complete in another month. The initial pass showed above average levels of radiation from the 2nd planet 0.8 AU from the star. The asteroid belt at 3.8 AU showed clumping. The fact that this was the larger star of the binary system didn't matter. There were two more smaller rocky type planets at 5 and 8 AU. The fact that the second star is orbiting at 24 AU means that we'll also have to check it for livable planets and life before entering this system. The Oort cloud surrounding both stars is a mess of clumps with gravitational currents pulling every which away.

First habitat is completed, inflated, and regolith installed. All ships waste and water have been mixed into the 4 feet of pulverized regolith inside the habitat. The next step is vaporizing and spraying the outside with a coating of approximately 1 meter depth.

Stealth survey of the second star found one planet at 1.22 AU with a moon and two asteroid belts. No civilization evident from high orbit, or detectable radiation. Planets atmosphere is high in carbon compounds. Further study will be needed to determine if terraforming can be completed within our lifetimes. It's Van Allen belts are strong.

Target star system initial survey deemed complete by commandant. The second planet needs closer study. Some weak radio signals detected. The planets moon showed signs of settlements and mining. The asteroid belt also showed some signs that it at had been occupied at one time, but was now apparently abandoned. One crashed spacecraft with 6 humanoid occupants located in asteroid belt. It was heavily armed and probably a military spacecraft. Evidently radioactive elements were not in sufficient quantity to be used in a ship size reactor. The complete hull of the spacecraft is similar in compounds to solar cells with four large solar cell panels that could be deployed. The main propulsion rocket was an ion drive. Storage batteries and capacitors took up over half the volume of the ship. Small chemical rockets were positioned as thrusters on the spacecraft. The armaments consisted of lasers and chemical explosive rockets.

We've been here for five years now. Finally the chemist and medical personnel OK'd moving into the first habitat. We analyzed the solar cells from the crashed spacecraft that was recovered and found them to be twice as efficient as our. They also utilize a much wider bandwidth of light and solar radiation that we thought possible. Analysis of the humanoid bodies found indicate that we should not have anything to worry about a far as pathogens. Their chemistry is closer to silicon. Only a major mutation could cause us humans problems, however their pathogens infected the computers in the biology lab and we had to isolate them in vacuum to prevent more cross contamination. We also had to cut the lab and surrounding compartments from the ship and remove them.

Six and a half years and the second habitat is ready to move into. The farm is doing nicely. Exploration of the target system is still continuing. The commandant is still pondering whether to attempt contact with the planet. There was a nuclear war on its surface. We assume that all off world humanoids returned to the planet. Two abandoned habitats in the asteroid belt have been sterilized and we now are being used as outpost for our observers. We are also using one of the mining communities located on their planets moon. If anyone on the planets surface is looking skyward they should have spotted us by now.

It's been nine years since our arrival here and the first report back. Still no answer.

Ten years and still no contact from earth. Observation of target planet indicates that any civilization still remaining on the planet is deteriorating. The commandant has determined that we should try to contact the humanoids by use of their radio frequencies. We have studied their languages enough that we think that we can make ourselves understood. We put a relay satellite in orbit and started last month. So far no reply. We know they intercepted our signal because in less than one rotation of the planet their radio traffic increased dramatically. One station announced that they were thinking about contacting the aliens and within an hour there was a nuclear explosion near the transmission site and we've heard nothing from that site since. We then informed them that we'd detected the nuclear explosions from our star system and traveled to theirs to investigate. We told them that prior to detecting their activity we thought that we were alone in the universe and were happy to find out that we were not the only intelligent civilization. One station answered us and told us to go back to our star system. We informed them that we didn't have the resources and asked them what they knew about the planet around the other star in their binary system. They told us that it was a deadly planet. Both their exploration missions to it had ended in disasters for the crews. When they refused to allow direct contact we asked them if they would at least transmit their history so their species would not be forgotten if we ever made contact with another species. After 3 months of contact we were surprised when a missile was launched from the surface. It impacted our communications satellite and exploded. A second missile was launched at their moon. It exploded right on top of our communications array. The occupants of the mining station were then happy that they'd had to run over a hundred kilometers of cable to find an ideal site to set up the array. Otherwise the nuclear explosion would have destroyed the base. A week later when we put another communications satellite in orbit we transmitted to them that if they were so hostile to intelligent life that it was better for them to die from their own hand on their home planet than infect the galaxy with their hatred. In less than an hour the second satellite had been destroyed. The commandant then ordered several high orbit satellites to monitor the planet for any launches of any type spacecraft.

Eleven years and still no contact or reply from earth. The humanoids from the planet in the target system are still trying to shoot down our high observation satellites, however we think they are running out of resources. Their rockets are less accurate and the last two didn't even make altitude. The commandant wants us to concentrate on the binary stars planet. Probes are being prepared for atmospheric and surface evaluation. I get to command the shuttle for the mission. Departure scheduled for next week.

The probe mission went off without a hitch. Data and pictures are great. However, what we saw was extremely disturbing. This wasn't a volcanic planet as we'd surmised. It showed the same architecture in its ruined cities as we'd seen in the target system home planet. Now we wonder which was the home planet. The ecology of the planet was dead. All of the cities were in ruins, but the pattern was there. Someone had killed this planet!

Upon return to the habitats, Elizabeth told me about the death of Scott. He was one of my oldest friends. He was on patrol and they spotted another missile launched from the planet. However this one was larger and didn't attempt to knock down any of our spy satellites. Neither was it aimed at our moon base or asteroid belt bases. After reporting the sensor data he intercepted it and used his ship to nudge it on another trajectory away from impact with the star. He was transmitting the sensor readings and pictures of the rocket when it exploded. The commandant considered the explosion more than just an attempt to kill us. The first analysis of the pulsed explosion made our analysis nervous. They'd never heard of or imagined a three step nuclear explosion from a single missile or bomb. Ant the fact that it was on a direct course for the star was even more disturbing. The commandant doubled the patrols around the plant and ordered that any missile launched was to be destroyed as soon as it cleared the atmosphere.

That with the data we brought back from the other planet will be presented to the command council tonight. I've been ordered to attend.

Data and discussion have continued for over 5 hours. Finally the commandant called us to order and stated that we only had 3 options. First was to exterminate the humanoid species on the planet. Second was to continue monitoring them and shoot down any missiles they launched. Third was to leave this binary star system. In his opinion these humanoids were so self destructive that we were now their target and they'd destroy themselves to kill us. To the layman, he could only conclude that this last missile launched at their star was designed to do something to the star that would make this area of space unlivable. The commandant then ordered the communications section to transmit all the information back to earth using not just the laser, but all the radio frequencies that our equipment could generate. That way anyone listening on any radio frequency would be warned.

Since genocide was a crime that he didn't want on his soul, we would prepare all our habitats and stations and depart the star system. Second, patrols would remain doubled until we depart. Third, if we could determine the launch location, we would bomb that location only to try to destroy the missile launching and manufacturing facilities. We must leave some type of defense here to prevent them from launching any missiles after we depart the binary star system.

The last year and a half has been was real hectic mess. We built ion drive engines for all three habitats and solar sails. We also built six space platforms with several dozen missiles each. Five of them were placed in orbits inside the planets orbit and one in high orbit around the planet. The habitats break orbit tomorrow and are headed out. Our main ship is scheduled to follow in six months. The commandants advisers think that as soon as they detect us departing they will launch another missile at the star hoping to catch us before we get to far out into interstellar space.

It's been 30 years since we left the binary system. The latest generation wonders why we left. Some of them think that we should have just sterilized the planet. I now have to explain to every class that the humanoids on that planet had a much older civilization than we did and their technology was better than ours. Only their blood thirsty nature and pride prevented them from swarming out into interstellar space and conquering less technologically advanced species.

Last year when the ship caught up with us it relayed how they'd had to attack the planet 19 times in the year they stayed. They figured they'd destroyed at least 8 manufacturing and launching sites before the humanoids started launching their missiles from remote sites. They replaced all the used missiles on the platforms and even built 4 more platforms.

The only thing they hadn't expected was the electrical charge that the habitat had built up when they docked. It knocked out half the computers on the ship. One of the young scientific crew figures that with the solar sails and the ion drive both running the habitats built a charge. He and his crew checked and found that each habitat had a magnetic field. Their only explanation was that the rock and metal we'd vaporized and added to the outside of the habitats created the field because of the rotation and the electrical charge.

Yesterday was my 65th birthday. I was planning on retiring, but my advisory council said that I was still needed as commandant.

This morning the scientific council called me saying we had an emergency developing. They'd picked up some disturbing fluctuations in the target stars light spectrum. Their suggestion was that we separate the habitats by twice the distance now separating them. They also suggested that we increase the rotation of the habitats and hope that the magnetic field increases. Their estimate is that the star system we left was going to explode. They hoped that even as advanced at the technology of the humanoids was, it wasn't advanced enough to nova a star. They also hoped that the 2.6 Ly we'd traversed would spread out the radiation and shock wave enough so it wouldn't destroy us. They estimated that the destructive energy fields would be in the range of 30 to 50 million electron-volts (eV). All electronics should be placed in Faraday cages and all personnel should be in spacesuits or in insulated rooms half way between the center axis and outer hull of the habitats. All core reactors should be shut down and the ion drive run off the charge differential between the solar sails and habitats. Their best guess was that the first waves would hit us in about a day.

The first electromagnetic radiation wave in the gamma frequency range hit us 2 hours ago. It measured in the 20 to 22 million eV range until all outside sensors quit functioning. We are now flying blind and unable to even measure future radiation waves.

It's been 2 weeks and the scientific wiz kids estimate that the radiation waves and heavy particles should have passed us by now. They suggested we ask for volunteers to go out and check the solar sails for deposited elements and then set up an observation post to look back at the binary system.

Their reports confirmed that the outer layers of the star blew off. We now had what appeared as a main sequence binary pair with the target star the size of approximately 0.9 solar diameters. It previously was 1.22 solar diameters. That's a lot of mass and we must have been lucky not to be in the main path of the stars outer layers when they blew off into space. They wanted me to send a shuttle outside the magnetic field of the habitat to take additional readings. I agreed to ask for a volunteer if they furnished the second crewman to take the readings.

Three days to modify the shuttle and they departed. After 2 days out they returned with a lot of data to be analyzed. However the scientist claimed that we could reduce the magnetic fields around the habitats by reducing their rotation back to normal and stand down from the heightened protective status we were in. It should be safe for to resume normal operations. He'd have a final report within a day or two.

My pilot had hes own report. We were now traveling at almost 8 times our original velocity. We'd jumped from just under 1/10th the speed of light to just over 7/10ths the speed of light.

Their conclusion is that we are being carried by one of the radiation or gravity waves created when Alpha Centauri A lost its outer layers. We will pass close to Iota Horologii in about 2 years ship time. Our best guess is that we'll be carried until this wave we are riding dissipates, hopefully. To prevent the habitats from being separated we recommend that they draw as close together as they safely can. It would be even better if we could join the habitats physically. We don't know how we can slow down without unknown factors causing a dangerous situation.

After a month of study and running through a hundred possible scenarios it was decided to manufacture cables and connect the habitats using them. Then tension would be placed on the cables to draw them together. At a minimum safe distance we would use the shuttles rockets to stop movement. We thought this would work fine until the first shuttle towing a cable disappeared. It was only a little over two kilometers from the station when they started reporting strong magnetic fields, the cable they were reeling out snapped, and then the shuttle disappeared. They reported that the habitat turned blue just before radio contact was lost.

Six months later the science wiz kids claimed they had the answer. The magnetic fields created by the rotation of the habitats was holding us in the magnetic wave we were riding. To drop out all we had to do was stop rotation and the habitats would immediately slow down. However we should gather in the solar sails to prevent damage to them prior to decreasing rotation.

This information was transmitted to all habitat commanders and it was decided that we'd wait until we were 1 shipboard month out from Iota Horologi. Then sails would be gathered in at the same time. The ion drives would be shut down and then habitat rotation would be reduced by 0.1 RPM per hour until 0 RPM is established. If the habitats separated all would make their own way to Iota Horologi and transmit their location by radio. If the magnetic fields did not dissipate then reverse rotation would be started using the station keeping thrusters up to 0.5 RPM at the rated of 0.1 RPM per hour. Each step would be synchronized with habitat 1.

As soon as the solar sails were gathered in the habitats starting separating. Slight red shift was first detected by habitat 3 and radio communications was lost.

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Chapter 2: My name is James and I'm a pilot.

Habitat 1 slowed down and the navigation personnel reported that they were approximately 1 light hour out from a star system on a collision course. Obadiah ordered the solar sails immediately deployed and the ion rockets positioned to change their trajectory to the solar north of the star system. Radar reflection were lightest in that direction. The solar sail billowed and flapped like a rag in front of an air vent. They were about to reel them back in when they caught the photons from the star and snapped out into their rigid designed shape. Then the computer was engaged and the sails angled to drive them to the solar north. Slowly the angle of their trajectory changed to 1/2 a degree off direct collision. Then 1 degree. After an hour they had achieved a 4 degree northward trajectory.

Navigation informed Obadiah that they were a few light seconds from the stars Oort shell when they hit the first of the magnetic waves reflected by the stars magnetic field. The turbulence snapped one of the solar sails cables. The crew dispatched out to repair it was flung off into space. At that point Obadiah ordered the sails drawn in. The one with the snapped cable tore half way in and had to be cut free. The main pilot angled the ion drive to the main direction they were traveling in the hope that it would burn through anything that was in the direct path. Only a few ice asteroids impacted on the habitat from the Oort shell.

Navigation reported that their trajectory had no detectable planets or asteroids in their path. However, small rocky asteroids may not have shown up. All personnel were ordered back into the safe rooms except the bridge and engineering crews. They buttoned up their spacesuits and continued to work.

Sixteen hours later, and over half way through the star system a small rocky asteroid impacted the hull and penetrated. The fireball created scorched a path halfway around the inner hull before it made contact with one of the interior buildings and exploded. The shock wave generated flattened most of all the buildings on the inner hull. Engineering reported that the hull breach was only a meter diameter, but they could not approach it. However they were going to try using the building debris to put a temporary plug in the hole. After 3 tries a steel plate managed to reduce the air escaping to a point where the maintenance crew could approach. They packed placed a larger steel plate over the hole and then started excavating around its outer edge. As soon as they reached the main rocky surface they started pouring concrete to seal the plate to the rock. All but one side sealed. After digging further out from the edge of the plate they discovered a crack. Immediately the chief engineer ordered a heavy laser brought down to melt the rock. He also had his crew dig down and follow the crack. Melting the sides of the crack in several locations they followed it for over two hundred meters . When they came to the end of the crack they started melting from that point back toward the impact hole.

The chief engineer called the bridge and told them that the interior atmosphere was still causing problems. The air pressure, even though it was lower that normal, was still exerting to much pressure on the hull that more cracks were beginning to radiate out from the impact point. No provisions had ever been planned or designed for venting the atmosphere from the habitat. Obadiah ordered the only thing he could think of. Opening the main cargo airlock doors on the south end of the habitat.

The swirling atmosphere venting out the cargo airlocks acted like a rocket motor for slowing the forward speed of the habitat, but after a few minutes the ion drives quit working. It took 5 hours for all the atmosphere to vent from the habitat. Then they were able to restart the ion drives.

In the mean time the engineers started positioning materials to build airlocks over all the safe room doors.

Three hundred and sixty three perished because a fragment penetrated one of the safe rooms. It was a bloody mess.

It's taken almost two years to limp back to Iota Horologii. Our first contact was with habitat 3. They'd set up in the Oort cloud. They'd threaded the system and used the gas giants for gravitational breaking. They then admitted that they'd only beat us by four months. It was decided that the safest thing to do after a complete inspection of our habitat was to build a replacement and move to it.

The new design is great, it allows for pumping the atmosphere into holding tanks, multiple impact shields on the south end, and larger ion engines. It even has a built in grid so by applying electrical charge to it when rotating it creates a magnetic field outside the outer hull. Also the whole outer hull is made up of solar cells.

The survey of the system is complete and no signs of life or previous civilization have been found. The habitats have started spiraling in to the inner system asteroid belts. The plan is to set up between the two.

It's taken 17 months to set up our orbit. The council claims that the first keel section will be ready within a year. Two habitats will be constructed side by side.

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Chapter 3: My name is Fred and I graduated near the top of my engineering class two years ago.

I'm just one of the junior supervisors, but I have access to the complete set of the plans. I determined to know every section of the new habitats. The more I study them, the more I'm positive that we're building two giant warships. There are many more lasers than can be justified for navigation hazards. Plus the interlocking patterns of fire are wrong. Even for a habitat this size, we don't need nine control rooms. Seven control rooms control bands of lasers around the circumference of the habitat and the last two cover the ends. That isn't the strangest thing. Not only are there docking facilities on the ends of the habitat, but there are rings of docking ports around the circumference.

We're over a year into the construction. After last shift I noticed additional plans on my computer. From my first look I see that there are additional interior walls with airlocks dividing the interior into 20 independent sections. Also the south end was modified to allow three additional larger rockets to be installed, however I could not find any plans for them.

Shannon has finally agreed to be my wife and the ceremony is set for next month. We both will be given 7 shifts off for what my grandfather calls a honeymoon. We plan to use it to rest and study.

It's been a blissful 6 months and Shannon announced that the doctor confirmed that she was pregnant and her duty assignments were moved to inside the outer hull. That's a laugh, because in two years all we have are gigantic frames with the interior end caps.

We all got the alert at the same time. Habitat 2 finally made contact and would be to our location in about 3 years. The council declared a 1 day holiday starting at the end of this work shift.

Well the last hull section was placed last shift. At the end of 3rd shift today we start a 3 day holiday. The estimated arrival of Habitat 2 is only 5 months from now and already there are rumors of a 5 day holiday planned. I've gotten an appointment with the chief construction engineer after shift today. Shannon is worried that if I state my concerns about the construction, I'll be demoted.

Not only was one of the chief engineers present, but a council member. After laying out my concerns and conclusions they just sat there and looked at me for a few minutes. Then the council member opened his computer and turned it around so I could see the screen. My conclusion was correct, we are building two giant warship habitats.

Then the chief engineer told me that he was sorry to loose such a talented junior engineering supervisor, but I was now reassigned. I was to talk to no one about my reassignment. I would be escorted to my quarters and isolated until I was moved to my new quarters. He then handed me several computer disk and told me to study them. My escort turned out to be an aide of the councilman. She kept pestering me with questions the whole time until I closed my quarters door in her face. Shannon gave me the strangest look and informed me that she'd received orders confining her to quarters for 2 shifts. I told her that she could either start packing to move or sit down and help me go through the stack of computer disk I had.

It took 6 hours to go through the disk. The last file on the last disk wasn't related to ship construction. It was our reassignment order to habitat 2 including a 1 grade promotion upon completion of training for both of us. We were reassigned to a department named torch construction.

The training lasted 7 weeks. It covered subjects that I'd never heard of. Half of them were from the computer archives. Shannon is extremely worried that if what we learned was applied incorrectly the torch rocket fuel manufacturing section could consume the habitat in an atomic reaction. I realized that the torch rocket itself could be used as a weapon, because it produced a stream of energy more powerful than all the lasers on both ships.

It took us 3 weeks to prove to ourselves that the south end of the ships had to be redesigned from 3 torch rockets to one, and it and it's fuel manufacturing section needed to be detachable. With a rough draft we approached our supervisor and he looked over the plan and then called a meeting for us to present the facts we'd come to.

The meeting went well until one of the other junior engineers stood up and loudly proclaimed, I told you all just about the same thing last year. Then another stood up and asked if we'd taken into account the magnetic fields that were needed in the fuel manufacturing section and around the torch itself. Shannon then whispered in my ear, what have we done?

As I turned to look at her I noticed the chief engineer smiling and then he informed all of us that we had 7 days to turn in an updated draft or else. Then he just got up and left the room. Only to 5 of us were left. I introduced Shannon and myself, and told them that we didn't know anything about what they'd done, but if we worked together we might avoid whatever the chief engineer meant by or else.

Then Tom started laughing and stated, so you are the or else we were threatened with. Making the torch section separate from the main habitat is something we hadn't thought of but it makes sense for safety, but that separation raises a whole new set of construction problems along with where and how do we mount the ion drives so they don't cook the torch section. Hank's wife was an excellent cook and it wasn't until she was stacking dishes that Tom's wife told her to freeze and for us to look at how she'd stacked them.

Tom looked at us and said, you said that the torch could be used as a weapon right. Then he grabbed Hanks computer and started sketching with a stylus. We all started talking at once and realized that putting the torch on the north end solved the problem and by re-positioning the north end laser cap to a ring it would cover the same field of fire.

Shannon then asked, can a physical object penetrate the torch when it is firing or will vaporize anything. That stopped the conversation and Hank reached for the communicator. After a few words he turned it off and said, we should stop now and report to the conference room. The chief will be there with someone to answer Shannon's question and give us additional instructions.

Six months later we had our redesign approved. The old locations for the 3 torch rockets on the south end had ion drives mounted. The north and south caps were redesigned into a rings. The torch assembly was mounted on stilts on the north cap. Additional chemical rockets were added at both ends for maneuvering control. The only design change the women didn't like was the fact that the north and south rings also became giant ring magnetic field generators.

Tom's wife firmly believed that if the ring field generators were activated the ion drive rockets and the torch would loose their focus and just swirl around the ship and follow the magnetic field lines. Finally the chief brought in an expert in magnetic fields and he set up a scaled model. The first time he activated it the ion sprays flowed around the ship and then cut the model in half. Two weeks later we had another demonstration only this time there were five magnetic rings. They activated from the middle out and the field was stable. Shannon picked up a metal cup and tossed it at the model and it hit the field and then moved to the end of the model and hung there suspended. After tossing several more metal objects at the model she finally pulled off her slipper and tossed it. It went through the field and bounced off the model. Then she said, OK you've convinced me the model works, will it work full size? That needs to be tested before we put our children there.

It's been eleven years and the first torch ship is completely operational. The protocols for lighting the torch are redundant. There is a separate shielded computer system just to manage the magnetic rings, ion rockets, and torch. The dedication prayer included the phrase that we all hoped we never had to use the torch as a weapon.

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Chapter 4: My name is Stephen.

Fred was my father and Shannon my mother. They aimed me toward a career as an engineer, but I really wanted to be a pilot. While I was studying for my degree in engineering I also took as many courses as I could relating to piloting. Orbital mechanics was almost as much fun as the course on gravitational computation. All my friends think I'm nuts because I like the puzzles that numbers can solve. I graduated 9th in my class of 31.

At my parents insistence I applied for a job in habitat construction design. Dad informed me that the council was considering building a pure warship. It is to be paired with a habitat that will have a 8000 meter radius. Six cargo ships are also planned along with a bunch of fighters. I'm certainly qualified on paper.

I saw all my classmates at the interviews last week.

My interviews didn't go as Dad told me they would. When I compared notes with my friends I noticed that the questions I was asked and the problems they had me solve varied from what my friends reported. The posting go up next week, however I've been notified that I have to report back for more interviews. Mom thinks that it's because of the extra courses I took.

For the last four days I've been given problems in half a dozen different fields. The reason I recognized this was because I spent a week going through all the courses available before I started on my engineering degree. Mom and Dad insisted that my sisters and I strive to be the best in school and made all of us research and completely outline our educational plan and goals before we even started. The normal 4 year plan stretched to 5 because of the extra courses I had in mine. They both tried to talk me out of the extra courses and logically they were right, but at sixteen I was rebellious enough to stand my ground and I told them I could drop the extras any time I wanted to. Mom was worried about me being called back for extra interviews and Dad just told me that I told you so. He told me that I would probably be place on probation because I wasn't focused. Anyway tomorrow morning I'll find out, my final interview is scheduled for 2nd shift in conference room 391. That's half way across the habitat. When I told Mom, she said a word that I only heard in the gym before. Then she called Dad and they went into their bedroom for a conference and turned up their entertainment system so I couldn't hear what they were talking about. Neither one of them would answer any of my questions at supper.

This morning Mom insisted that I wear my best college jumpsuit and carry all my ID along with my original college plan and transcript. The strange thing was she had tears in her eyes and all Dad did was growl at me and say the decisions you made have finally caught up with you. Keep alert and don't take any guff.

I'm finally here. The 35 minute trip has taken over an hour. Talk about security, I've been stopped at 3 check points and at the last I was strip searched and every document I had with me was copied. The guard at this door told me grab a seat in the room across the hall and wait because I was 20 minutes late. He laughed and stated that if they didn't want to see me, I should just jump ship. There was one guy sitting in the room and when I said Hi, he just said, shut up, we're bugged. After awhile he was called across the hall. I watched the door for over an hour figuring that I would be called in as soon as he came out. Then a woman came in, looked at me, and said for me to follow her. The guard opened the door as we approached and the first thing I noticed was we were in an airlock.

The conference room was about the size of our gym. I followed her all the way across to the single chair in front of an empty table. She told me to have a seat and them left through another door. I've never been in a room that quiet. I mean there wasn't even the usual background noise and after awhile I realized that the normal vibrations you feel were absent.

An old guy walked in the left door, stared at me for a minute and went out the right door. I was getting nervous. Suddenly I remembered a book Dad insisted I read years ago. A section covered interrogation and intimidation techniques they used back on earth. They used to use some of those techniques on us until we left for college. Then I leaned back into a slouch and crossed my ankles. Not a comfortable position in a straight back chair, but it allowed me to lean my head back. I closed my eyes down to slits and watched the doors. I could feel my pulse in the back of my neck so I started counting it and doing deep breathing every 4th beat. After about 10 minutes I noticed movement to my right. There were six old guys coming through a hidden door.

I immediately sat up straight and turned to look directly at them and they froze. Then I heard one chuckle and comment that they'd better review the recording before they started the interview. A woman came in through the right door and set up a monitor on the table and they clustered around it and watched intently as she scrolled through the recording several times. Then one of them said, see this movement, he was faking all the time. Very interesting. If he had the training he'd be good in security. Then they sat down and started firing questions at me. They were using the same tactics that Mom and Dad used when they were trying to confuse me enough so they could get at the truth when I did something wrong. I then leaned back and stared at them and didn't answer any more questions until one of them said, Jan was right, he catches on quick. Are we sure he never had any advanced security training? Then I volunteered an answer by saying, you're using similar techniques that my parents use when they want information from me or my sisters. I continued by stating, the second set of interviews I went through covered subjects that were outside the major courses I took at college. So what position do I qualify for and what plans do you have for me. The gal at the end of the table then began reading from her monitor.

The individual know as Stephen 2R1N2ON, having been evaluated and found unsuitable for assignment to the construction engineering section is hereby committed to section 8 deck 7 asylum 3. Work assignments will be determined by the other occupants. By order of council 3 this date. Then she said, exit through the door behind me and you'll be escorted to your new living quarters. Have fun.

Numbly I followed her instructions and was met by middle age woman in uniform that just smiled at me. We'd passed 3 cross corridors before the comment have fun finally clicked. I laughed out load to see what effect it would have on my escort. She stopped so fast I almost knocked her over.

Turning she commented, usually most of the inmates don't get it until we get them inside. Just exactly what do you think you'll be doing?

Thinking quickly I said, I'll be doing what I've been trained to do except I'll be covering all the angles from outside the box.

She then just told me to follow her. The five individuals she introduced me to tried to have fun with me by acting nuts. After a minute I went over to one of the monitor stations in the main room and wrote a message to Mom and told her that I was fine and in with a couple of nuts and would send her an update in a few days.

As I hit the send key one of them commented, he ain't crazy enough to be here, send him back.

I turned around in the chair, leaned back, and stated crazy is just a state of mind. My parents wanted me to stay in the box, but I like looking around outside. Does anyone have any toys I can play with? If not I'll have to make my own.

They all turned to my escort and she simply said, he figured it out 3 corridors away from the conference room. My bet is that he'll be the chief nut here in a few years.

Well, I've been here for over a year and still trying to catch up with the advanced design concepts they are working with. We have access to every technical database in the computers. I've yet to get a file my access code won't open. My ID card has my occupation as construction supervisor level 5. That puts me one level below Dad and he has worked in engineering his whole life, and he's near the top. It's embarrassing when we're out and he calls me sir and ask my opinion in front of other supervisors.

Mom told me last week that my youngest sister is just as ornery as I was and her college plan is just as screwed up as mine was. My comment was, I hope that Dad made her read the same books he made me read. They were a good foundation. I'll drop by this weekend and talk to her.

After looking over her outline I suggested a few changes. She told me I was nuts, but incorporated two of them. I then told her that her plan was tough and not to give up on her dreams.

The plans are complete for the warship, habitat, fighters and the overall weapons systems. Construction will start when we enter the next star system and start mining operations. The councils decision is to build 2 and then split the population into groups and go to different stars. A rendezvous star was designated with 2 alternates.

* * *

Chapter 5: My name is Shannon after great great grandma.

I've reread great gram-pa Stephen's journal and am amazed at the primitive conditions they traveled under. The only reason I could get access was that I was assigned to the asylum at the age of 22. Mom had a copy of it but there were to many gaps to satisfy me. I was surprised by the number of classified journals when I started searching for his journal in the main database. Next year we'll be at the rendezvous star. Our population is 8 times the number at the original split and we have 7 habitats and 6 defense ships in our convoy. From history we'd be classified as gypsies. We did establish one colony, but haven't discovered any intelligent life in the three star systems we visited.

We've been here for two years and have started another habitat. This systems asteroid belt is 50% ore, 15% ices, and the rest rock. The only two planets are gas giants, one inside and one outside the asteroid belt. No signs of life at all.

Finally contact has been established. The other group will be here in six months, but they claim they are having problems with their torch. The council dispatched a warship in the direction their signal came from.

It's been 4 months and the warship reports no radar or visual contact.

A week ago we received another signal. It was in a different direction from the first. It told us not to reply. Then they informed us that they'd run across another spacecraft and that it had destroyed 3 habitats before they managed to chase it off. If we were safe build a few extra warships and meet them at rendezvous star 2 in two hundred years. Immediately the construction on the habitat was halted and plans for the warships were dusted off. The council decided to build 2 and then 3 more. The habitat would be redesigned as a construction station and docking port for the warships. Another of the asylum members suggested that we also build an ore carrier and instead of dissembling our factories when we moved, we load them and continue construction during the trip. The council decided to implement the suggestions and then notify the general population of the threat.

* * *

Chapter 6: My name is Etienne and I'm a weapons master.

Grandmother Shannon insisted mother name me with this weird name. She claimed it was earth French. She insisted that I'd learn to fight early and I'd need to be tough to survive.

We're about 2 months out from rendezvous star 2 running without any electromagnetic broadcast. This warship along with # 6 will survey the system, make contact and then report back to the convoy with one of 3 signals. Safe, Contact, or Flee. We veered off the main trajectory last year and have been under 1.5 acceleration since. We're approaching from the galactic south, where as the convoy will pass north of the star in about a year. The plan is that our first pass through the system will be under power and then we'll split up and start our main survey.

First pass detected no non-natural electromagnetic radiation. We've started back in from the Oort cloud and are now looking for any indication of non-natural artifacts. Our passive radar receivers have been adjusted to the frequency just a bit off from the main frequency this star transmits. We've picked up enough ice asteroids in the Oort cloud so we'll look like a comet as we enter the main part of the system inside the asteroid belt. It is within the liquid water band between the inner gas giant and a smaller rocky planet about 3 AU out.

The radar guys detected 3 highly reflective points in the asteroid belt on our pass through. The pilot adjusted our course around the star so we'd pass close to one of them on our way out. Communications reports that we passed through a communications laser 5 minutes ago.

The captain called full alert, we bailing out of the comet and heading straight for the closest reflection.

Communications punched out a communications laser greeting at the target. Their reply was to cease trying to burn holes in our hull.

I just detected a dozen or so small chemical rockets being launched from the target. I reported to the captain that they were big enough to carry a crew, or really big explosive charge. He finally told commo to transmit on low power our convoy greeting.

Then radar reported we were being overtaken by a spacecraft under torch drive. It's smaller than us, but the torch is an equalizer.

Commo finally got a reply from the target and they suggested we move aside because the torch ship was on automatic and unmanned. They couldn't get it to disengage.

As we lit our torch and moved off at 90 degrees from its trajectory it turned to follow. No one had ever thought of a dog fight between torch ships using their torches as weapons. The captain ordered all weapons to fire on the spacecraft. I targeted just forward of the torch hoping to burn through into the manufacturing power plant. However I soon lost my angle and started near one edge of the disk and intended to cut a chunk out of it to unbalance the spacecraft. Suddenly one of the other weapons masters announced that the spacecraft was rotating, we needed to hit the torch with everything we had before it could line up on us. We'd been jigging all over the star system and the computers in the attacking spacecraft finally figured out that they were close enough to damage or destroy us. I focused every laser I had on the throat of the torch hoping to get a slightly better angle and be able to fire directly into the magnetic well as it rotated. Suddenly the spacecraft turned into a ball of raw energy as its torch went out of focus. As I analyzed my data screen I realized we'd been fighting an asteroid with a torch engine attached. There was no vulnerable point on the front to disable it. As I relayed that information to the other weapons stations and the captain we received another hail on the radio frequencies. It demanded a visual signal.

Commo put the received signal on all our stations and we saw for the first time members of our human race that'd been out of contact with us for about 4 hundred years. As soon as the captain stopped talking I keyed my station and demanded to know how many more rocks they had with torches attached.

She replied that they had six. However they had been turned off and it was safe for the convoy to enter the star system for rendezvous.

The captain then told them that this system wasn't suitable for us to stop at. They should boost out and rendezvous with the main convoy.

Then to my surprise the captain informed them that we were required to do a complete survey and contact before we could send a signal to the main convoy to stop here. Our time window was three months, so we'd come over for contact and then complete the system survey.

The habitat we approached was in poor shape. Half the north end was missing and we could see where interior sections had been plated over. It looked like it had been in a fight. The captain picked me and one of the engineers to cross over. We were to evaluate the habitat and report back to him.

We were briefed by the commander of the habitat and my second question was how much of the population survived. One of the other members of the briefing team broke down in tears and sobs as he told us that almost half the population died in the first attack. Only one of the habitats survived with no civilian casualties. One had been cannibalized after they arrived. There were only three left out of their convoy. As soon as the briefing was over the captain instructed us to continue with the evaluation and he was going to start the asteroid belt survey. The habitat commander then said he would contact the other habitats and work stations and tell them that we were human and would be surveying the belt.

I accompanied our engineer as we were shown what was left of the drive sections. Less than half of it was undamaged. We could see where major repairs had been accomplished. The weapons systems were in better shape, but I could tell that a child with a sling shot could have pounded them to pieces. Their only really dangerous weapons were the asteroids with the torch rockets. They were setting up a colony on a planet when they were discovered and attacked at their last stop.

Talk about being paranoid, they admitted leaving a trail of wrecked ships and equipment out of that star system and then they changed course. They told us about the decision the last commander and council had made to bypass the rendezvous star for fear that they were being followed. Three months later we were called to the command section and informed that the habitat was going to be abandoned because the hull was failing faster than they could repair it. One of the other habitats would be docking in about a week.

I watched from the command section as the other habitat approached. It had also taken a beating, but I didn't see the hull cracks that this one had. After the population was aboard the engineers moved in and started stripping the old habitat. In a month we disengaged and started moving to another section of the asteroid belt. If I'd been beaten like they had been I think I'd have curled up in corner and died. Pure guts was what kept them going.

About two months later warship 6 picked up the engineer and me. Then we headed out of the system at almost 2G. The captain informed us that we were going to rendezvous with the main convoy. We and the other contact group would brief them personally. The trip was pure hell. Only once did we drop below 2G and that was so some equipment could be repaired.

The briefing to a combined council only took 3 hours. An hour later one habitat was moving its population over to others. Only the engineers and pilots with their families were left aboard. One of the new warships volunteered to accompany them. The plan was for them to pick up the other group, stop at another star, build another habitat and rendezvous with the main convoy in another hundred years. That way both convoys would be assured that they weren't followed. It took almost six months before all of the warship crew recovered completely and we were cleared for full duty.

* * *

Chapter 7: My name is Sharra.

Grandfather left us a detailed letter telling of his trip into the rendezvous star system, the fight for their life against a robot torch meteoroid, and the terrible shape they found the survivors of the other human convoy.

I've worked my way up to engineer supervisor level 4. When I'm alone and feeling sorry for myself I can almost hear him telling my brothers and sister about the conditions on those habitats and the limitation they place on the number of children allowed. It's been a hundred and three years since he returned to the convoy. We'll be in the rendezvous system in another month. The two warships that went ahead to scout gave us the all clear last year. Our convoy now consist of 14 habitats, 3 manufacturing ships, 2 space docks, and 27 warships.

The council has already announced that when we depart this star system we'll divide into 3 convoys with rendezvous star systems designated for the next 1000 years. Two million humans in one place is just to many to risk. Six hundred thousand plus is a large number, but that is what they have decided is a nice number to split down to.

I already know that my three oldest boys will be on two of the convoys headed out. My two daughters are to young to make that decision yet. Of course it depends on how long we are in this star system.

This is a young star system. The followup reports from the scouts say it is rich in ore and radioactive elements. There is also reported a planet that may be suitable to leave a colony on. We'll all know in about 5 years what the final plan turns out to be.

* * *

It's been eight years and the first convoy departed this morning. My oldest son and oldest daughter were on two of the five habitats.

Its hard to believe how blood thirsty the warrior council is. They convinced the government council to build two warships for every habitat. We're still working on the data gathered by the other convoy that was attacked. Sooner or later one of the youngsters will figure out what it was using as a propulsion system.

They have already improved the torch rocket and how to manufacture antimatter on demand. We now have torch missiles that build an antimatter warhead on the way to their target. Their other favorite is a rocky meteoroid with a torch rocket attached. They've built dozens to go with each convoy.

* * *

Chapter 8: My name is Matt.

I'm the youngest son of Sharra. She tried her best to talk me out of joining the warrior council. Even though I'm just a junior member and not entitled to vote or make any decisions, I love it. I can work my way up to a voting member, and maybe into the leadership.

I'm glad that my girl friend from college also decided to join the warrior council. We are scheduled to be married next week and already assigned to a warship. Our convoy leaves in two months.

We are eight years out and one of the benefits is that we get a six month leave to one of the habitats. We are only allowed to have two children on the warship. Our twin girls have never seen a live plant or fish. I already have my assignment on the habitat to the defense section.

The habitat defense force has no discipline. A third of them don't even report within the prescribed time limits when we call an alert. They are mainly civilians in uniform.

It's been two years here on the habitat and I've been promoted twice. We've had to tighten up our standards for enlistment into the warrior council. Only the best are allowed in.

I've been on this habitat for nine years now. Got promoted to captain on the same day my wife had her fourth set of twins. My oldest twins, both girls want to join the warrior council. One as a weapons specialist and the other as an engineer.

Both of my girls graduated today and were accepted by the warrior council. They start basic next week.

Today was graduation from advanced training for my girls. They came out number 2 & 3 in the class. Half a point separated them from the boy that was top of the class. Personally I think Suzzie would have beaten him out if she hadn't lost her temper and broke the hand to hand instructors arm. That demerit dropped her to third in the class. Those three are the cream of the crop and were way ahead of everyone else in their class.

* * *

Chapter 9: I was named Suzzie after grandma.

Poor old grandma. She spent her life as a researcher trying to figure out the propulsion system of the alien spacecraft that attacked my grandfathers group of humans. Now she's loosing her mind. Her worse nightmare is about habitat 47.

She was consulting with them when one of the young engineers researching gravity waves dropped a piece of wire into the generator he'd built. We still have the video on the accident. The really sad thing about the video is that we cannot see where the wire fell, and we cannot see what wiring he may have moved or shorted trying to extract the wire.

His first mistake was not disconnecting the power source. Even though it was turned off the capacitors probably still held a charge. His third mistake was not re-positioning the recorders to show the interior of his device. He reached in with his hand and then it happened. The shocked terrified look on his face still haunts grandma to this day. What happened next was even worse. A glow started radiating out from the test unit and it formed a sphere about 3 meters in size. Then we saw it jiggle sideways a few times before it broke all contact with the lab wall and floor. A corridor recorder shows where it punched through to walls and continued traveling. When it went through the habitat hull explosive decompression killed hundreds. One of the accompanying warships caught it on radar accelerating at almost a 90 degree angle to our trajectory until it red shifted off the radar.

All gravity researcher was halted until a separate testing lab spacecraft could be built. For three decades we've been trying to reproduce the accident. Whatever happened produced a field that sustained itself and rode the gravity wave that we were crossing. Enough about grandma.

We're about 1 1/2 shipboard years out from rendezvous star 6. The scouts sent a contact signal that was received yesterday.

Today communications received another contact signal with the attached message. Occupants human, but not from our convoys, Safe. Everyone is excited about the possibility that we've finally made contact with humans from earth.

We arrived yesterday and were quarantined. The other humans claim that the medical personnel must evaluate all the pathogens from both our groups and create drugs to cure them before we can make face to face contact. Their habitats aren't as heavily armed as ours, however their warships are. When our scouts entered the system on their fly-through their warships were put on alert. When our scouts reentered the system they were targeted. The only thing they say that prevented them from destroying our scouts was the fact that they picked up our radio communications and called a ceasefire before any missiles were launched. Even with the quick reactions from both sides three of their warships were radiation damaged when the self-destructs were activated on the antimatter missiles. They are as paranoid about hostile aliens as we are, but they describe the alien ships differently.

Their aliens were kidnapping humans from earth. Their aliens used some kind of faster than light drive.

After explaining our alien attack to them they told us about what had happened in the Sol system.

How earth and the asteroid belt had gone to war and finally how everyone in the asteroid belt had to move to Saturn because of the fact that earth had disrupted the asteroid belt. Earth is now a wasteland.

The government council then informed them what year we were from and that all of that couldn't have happened if their year calculations and ours were to match. That's when we found out about the Saturn mission and the fact that it was thrown back in time 1400 years. By their and our calculations we must have been thrown back in time also.

It's been a year and the medical nanobots are in full production now. As we are inoculated we can travel to their ships, but can't return until ours population has the nanobots.

We started building the gravity drive propulsion systems into the habitats. The warships were designed wrong for the gravity drive to work efficiently. Our space dock and construction spacecraft worked great.

We'd been there 2 years when their council called a meeting and insisted that all our leadership councils attend. We found out that they had a faster than light communications system. Then they informed us that the kidnapped humans had been located. There was an Alien Alliance and it was the culprit, but peace had been made. They were intelligent, but had no feelings about exterminating any species that was a threat. They'd carried 3 groups of humans to a planet for observation. That however didn't explain our aliens unprovoked attack.

Late last night two spacecraft flew through the system. Contact was made this morning by one of our modified warships. They sent a safe to enter signal and told us that the convoy would be here in 9 months. Manufacture of the medical nanobot inoculation machines went back to full speed along with gravity drives. They still will not tell us how to make the faster than light communications system, but if we will allow their observer council to place members on our ships they will act as observers and communications links.

This morning all the engineering sections were presented with detailed plans on how to build the aliens faster than light propulsion system. With the limitations listed only the habitats are big enough with enough mass for it to work. Then we were told what the Saturn system was doing. Our warrior council requested the space dock be assigned to them. By their calculations if at least 3 warships were docked the mass and size limitation would be met. The council agreed provided the warrior council build 2 more space docks using their own personnel.

We're starting year 7 in this star system. Another of our convoys arrived yesterday. With over 2 billion humans in one spot it was decided that our convoy would split and depart headed for the next 2 rendezvous stars. Just over 3000 of the other humans want to go with us. That's about 1500 split between our two convoys. About 2000 of our population decided to move to other habitats including theirs. We've also been given the locations of several of their groups and requested to stop in on them when we could.

* * *

Chapter 10: My name is Jefferson.

Mom requested that I continue the family journal because I qualified and joined the observers. Both of my sisters also have a copy and promised to update theirs and mine whenever we met. That might be hard to do since we are now on 3 different habitats.

We met up with one of the observers groups last year. I had just graduated as a weapons specialist when they arrived. One of the young ladies that came over was an observer. We fell in love at first glance and are now married. Half the training I had was complementary to observer training and I'm now a junior observer.

The habitat I'm on has been ordered to the Dirt system. We leave in a week. We have over a thousand mining spacecraft and a fully staffed ship manufacturing plant as part of the habitat. The warrior council designed it and of course left room for two gravity drive torch warships.

We've arrived at the star system where the kidnapped humans were settled by the aliens from the Alliance. An old warrior named Mooney told us that under no circumstances would we be allowed to make contact with the planet. He's from Saturn and arrived on one of the their gravity drive ships. He's leaving a ship captain called Sissy Medina in charge of the system. We've got women in command positions, but Sissy, what a name.

Well he's gone and Captain Sissy Medina is one tough nut. She came over to our habitat and reamed out the whole command because of one little incident. She then told us that we would be a backup manufacturing asset for items invented on the planet as she kicked them into the industrial age.

She wasn't off the planet for a day when we detected an alien ship. It didn't match the database for any of the ones the Alliance had. When it destroyed our mining outpost we knew for sure it wasn't friendly. Then it started on the mapping satellites. Only one of our torch ships was in position to repel their attack. It's gravity drive blew just after it got within weapons range, but they launched every missile they had. I watched the battle for almost an hour on the remotes. Sissy's ship came from the asteroid belt like a rocket. No one mentioned that the Saturn warships carried small fighters that they could launch under full acceleration. They put our warrior class to shame in the aggressive way they attacked the alien.

After briefing our warrior council she put one of her lieutenants in charge of the star system while she took her ship after the alien and to warn Saturn system. Our manufacturing database is now flooded with weapons systems plans and she said she'd be back in 3 weeks. She expects us to have several of them built including more of our antimatter missiles. She wouldn't listen when one of the senior observer council members told her that he would personally contact the Saturn system and inform them of the attack.

It's been a week and the gravity drives on our three warships have been upgraded. Missiles and something called a belt laser are being manufactured as fast as ore can be hauled in.

Our warships have been assigned belt and planet defense. I know that burns their captains.

An alien ship dropped into the system this morning. It is commanded by an alien, a female Kerth. She looks like a lioness. She said one of her clan members would be arriving soon with another ship like hers.

A ship dropped into the system and will not answer any hails. The Kerth ship identified it as Gobbler and took her ship to make direct contact. She identified it as a Gobbler warship, but it was damaged and hauled to our main belt station.

Something totally unprecedented has happened. Captain Sissy Medina put an alien in charge of her ship and took control of the first Kerth warship. The alien captain called Dame Club is to take the injured Gobblers to their home world in the Cyclopes.

They haven't been gone 1 shift and we've been alerted that another alien spacecraft is in the system. It's been identified as a Gobbler warship, but damaged. The alert just sounded, this Gobbler warship has launched missiles targeting the Kerth ships.

After this latest battle something was detected entering the system targeting the vicinity of the Saturn ship and the two Kerth ships. They managed to avoid it but it exploded in the asteroid belt.

It's been eight months and the our inner system warships are still picking off asteroids and putting them either back in the asteroid belt or giving them a trajectory that won't be a hazard to the inner system.

Well most all the warships have left the system. We now have weapons platforms orbiting the outer system. Our detection system goes out to 10 light hours.

* * *

Sissy Medina has been commander of the system for five years and yesterday her brother, Albert arrived and will be taking command.

Our government council has requested permission to move on to another star system. The system commander approved it if we would leave one torch warship and 90% of the weapons and observation platforms. We also have over a thousand citizens that want to stay. Only a few hundred of the others want to join our habitat as citizens.

The council has approved all transfers and our departure date is next month. Navigation council has informed everyone that we will be headed down the spiral arm toward the end. First star to visit is 115 light years out.

Guess we're back to being gypsies!

* * *

Chapter 11: My name is James and today is my retirement party.

I'm Jefferson's eldest son. All the excitement happened to my ancestors. I was 21 when I was given the journal.

Looking back, the only high points in my life were when I got married, the births of my four children, and now my retirement. I worked as an engineer in the environmental section for 50 years. I guess we've got our technology just about perfected.

The most exciting things I can remember is when a friend ripped a glove on his spacesuit and almost died. The other was news that contact was finally established with a species calling themselves the people.

In the past 50 years we've visited 12 star systems and found no intelligent life forms. Twelve new habitats have been built and the convoy has split 4 times.

At the retirement party I plan to pass a copy to both of my children. Hopefully they will have a more exciting life than their mother and I have had.

* * *

Chapter 12: I found this journal after Dad passed on. Oh by the way I'm a James too.

It seems like all Dad did was have children with his first and second wives. I'm the youngest of the second bunch. I have nine older brothers and sisters.

Dad worked in the propulsion section all his life. Grandfather James wrote that his life was boring. Well, after checking the official history nothing much has happened. Two suitable planets were discovered and colonies started. There is a group wanting to go back and visit those colonies. I've considered joining them.

The government council finally gave us approval to return to visit the colonies. They will give us one of the older habitats, but we must repair it and have a minimum crew of at least 800 plus all the other job specialties needed to efficiently operate the habitat. A stupid requirement since we all know that without a well trained crew we are doomed to failure. We now have 427 members of the group that want to visit the colonies.

* * *

It's been 42 years, but we finally have enough people convinced that a trip back to the colonies is worthwhile. One full crew of the warrior council volunteered to accompany us and were given a fully armed torch warship by their council. The observer council just informed us that they had 10 couples that volunteered to go with us. No contact with the colonies since setup because for some reason their communicators will not work within one diameter of a planet. Our transfer date to the old habitat is scheduled for 3 months from today. That will give us time to make one last pitch to the graduating classes this month.

Departure date was yesterday, but we've been told that additional equipment has been designated for us to carry. Sixteen new weapons systems are being installed on the habitat. Internal modifications haven't been completed yet. Our departure date is now 4 months from today.

Finally everything is complete. We broke orbit 5 hours ago and are under full gravity drive. FTL drive is being engaged as I write this. Travel time to the first colony will be three weeks.

As we were approaching the colony system and the warrior class has informed the government council that we should approach just as we would any unknown star system. The warship took off a month ago and we received the Safe signal an hour ago. We should arrive in about 6 hours.

We were ordered to stop on the far side of the star system from the colony planet. Something about the transmissions intercepted after initial contact has the warship's captain worried. There seems to be two governments and they were hostile to each other until contact was made. Now the intercepted transmissions indicate that they view us as a possible enemy or someone to plunder. They were launching a new space station as we entered the system and the high orbit satellite images show that it is armed to the teeth.

The government council ordered a full report sent to all human habitat groups. The a small mining spacecraft to be modified and sent to the planet with a volunteer crew to make direct contact. I volunteered, but we turned down, not because of my age, but because I have to much knowledge about how the habitats and warships operate. The warrior council selected a farmer and his wife. I don't know how they are to evaluate the space station or conditions on the planet. I was just informed that I would be on the monitoring group. The observers installed a FTL communicator within the hull of the ship wired throughout to sensors and image recorders. We'll have a full view of everything the farmers see and hear unless they are taken off the mining ship.

They also have been given a briefing book to present to the government giving all the information known about the unknown alien species that attacked Dirt and the start of the war with them. The fact that several human colonies have been attacked and devastated is listed as the reason we're coming back to check on them and give warning. Also is a section suggesting that they limit electromagnetic wavelength transmissions from their planet.

We now have their military encryption completely figured out. Their leadership on the space station scanned and transmitted in code the entire briefing book, very stupid. In less than 8 hours all civilian transmissions stopped. Visually there are only a few scattered lights on the night side. All their cities are blacked out. We're still picking up radar frequencies from the oceans and aircraft.

The farmers have been on the planet for two weeks now. We've receive two transmission from them the first week, but nothing since. The observers have been a finger away from destroying their transmitter on the mining ship three times. We've watched half a dozen crews dissembling and making recordings of the ships equipment. So far they haven't cut into the hull to trace the wiring. They even removed the cabin gravity plate decking. Two days later they replaced it.

Week three, the farmers are back aboard the mining spacecraft and headed back to rendezvous with the warship at the asteroid belt. They spent the first six hours talking about their experience on the planet. From their description the planetary government was split into 4 sections to govern the four continents and then the four continental governments became more independent until the planetary government was just an administrative shadow with no power or authority.

One of our high orbit satellites was plucked from orbit. We assume it's been reverse engineered and copied.

Two spacecraft shadowed the farmers as they returned to the warship. The warrior council engineers tore the ship apart and found over 60 spy devices including three in the rocket engines. They reassembled the ship with the devices and launched it toward the shadow ships under automated control.

They intercepted the mining ship and boarded it. Then the automated recording started informing them that spy devices were detected. Rather than waste a perfectly good mining ship, we were giving it to them for their use and suggesting that their government start building habitats and mining their asteroid belt. We informed them that we were going on to the first colony planet left and would check back in a few years when they reactivated their planetary government. The report sent back from the shadow spacecraft was pointed and abusive when referring to us. They received a reply to destroy the mining ship. We destroyed the FTL communicator as they started placing explosives on the fuel tanks and observed the mining ship explode.

We are now only 4 hours out from the first colony and the warship hasn't sent any signal. The government council has decided to go in stealth to the Oort cloud around the star system.

We've picked up weak transmissions, probably from spacesuit communicators. Five have been located and they're drifting out of the system toward the galactic south. From what we can understand the warship was attacked as it entered the system, but managed to inflict major damage on the attacking spacecraft. Several small scout ships are being sent to intercept the signals and 4 torch meteoroids have been launched into the inner system to attempt to located the enemy spacecraft. If one is found that matches the configuration of the spacecraft that attacked the Dirt system they will attack automatically and transmit all their sensor readings just before impact.

It was an alien ship that attacked and disabled our torch warship on its first pass through the star system. As they moved in for the kill the remaining crew launched all weapons and abandoned ship in the remaining undamaged fighters. The three surviving crew members reported that the alien ship was almost completely destroyed and our weapons finished it off. The destruction of the colony was broadcast with a request for armed help.

We then sent several mining ships to the planet to see if any of the colony survived. The main cities were melted slag. Radio beacons were dropped from orbit into all areas that weren't devastated.

It's been six months and we've only had a few contacts from the planet. Three more habitats and twenty warship now are set up within the star system, because if the previous pattern is followed several of the alien spacecraft will come to see why their ship hasn't reported back. We're waiting for them. The system is armed to the teeth and every week more warships arrive.

We received word that the Red Warrior Queen has located their empire and is setting up to attack. The distance is to far for any of our ships to get there in time, however we've also been informed that several alien fleets are roaming human space. The senior warrior council ordered several of our ships to the surface to broadcast on all radio frequencies just like a healthy planetary civilization. We have set the bait!

Several dozen habitats dropped off people to started setting up another colony. The time seems to pass so slowly waiting for something to happen. A year and a half has passed and still no alien attack. The colony on the planet, renamed Earth II, is helping to furnish fresh vegetables to everyone in the star system. Those farmers sure work hard. The planet has warships all over the sky continuously. I'll bet it's the best defended planetary system in the galaxy.

Several warships have been ordered back to their convoys. As of today count we're down to 50 warships, 9 established habitats, 4 new habitats under construction, 4 space docks, 2 resource haulers that are bringing in ores from other star systems, and one SFMDF warship that stopped in to report what we were doing.

Its captain, a Captain Tiffany Ballard, is a young woman. The warship is a cube about 3 kilometers per side. It was bigger than any warship anyone had ever seen. Stranger still, it has a crew made up of almost every member species in the Star Federation. The news she has as that the Red Warrior Queen had stomped on the Grrth even though her fleet had been decimated.

She met personally with the government and observer councils because this was the largest congregation of habitat humans. When she informed them that the SFG requested a census, and they agreed. After all they represented about 3 1/2 million humans in this star system alone. The SFG also requested that all human habitats map the surrounding space and send their star maps and information about any colonies they had set up.

She was informed that the census would take about a year because many habitats weren't even named, and their locations weren't reported to any central authority. Plus the fact that many centuries ago the government councils had ruled that convoy locations would only be reported when their convoys wanted to meet up with another convoy. The observer councils would inform all the government councils on all the habitats and institute a numbering system for them. However, the government of each habitat and colony would determine what information would be furnished.

Captain Ballard then reminded them to inform the habitat and colony governments that the traders could only visit habitat convoys that they could locate. Of course the habitat governments could rendezvous with each other or traders like the old fur traders did back on earth in the nineteenth century.

* * *

Ten years have passed and this system seems to be a hub for habitat convoys to swing through. We even built a Lagrange habitat. We usually have at least one trader here all the time. About 4 years ago the government council put out that any convoy coming here was required to bring all the raw materials they could transport because we were rapidly depleting the resources within the star system. Earth II has a new industry now, it's tourism. They've become rich enough that they hired our habitat to build them two resource habitats and a dozen warships using the plans from the SFMDF.

However these warships have big cargo holds. Five have already been sent out to convoys as traders. One is being loaded as I write this entry to go to the HoM system. My eldest son qualified as an observer 2 years ago and also was selected as a crew member for this warship. He'll get a full copy of this family journal to continue.

* * *

Chapter 13: My name is Jason.

Dad gave me his copy of the family journal yesterday, because tomorrow we depart for the HoM system aboard the Seller.

It is the 8th trader warship built for Earth II. We have a mixed cargo of rare wood furnishings, medical supplies, refined ores, and literary works on real paper. Someone found a file of writings from earth's history. One young ladies family built the equipment to print a thousand copies of 200 authors. No one had ever seen what they call a real book until she published and brought out her first copies for sale. Eight years of work in secret paid off in less than six months. They even had limit the number of copies that off world traders could purchase. Her family made enough to have their own habitat built and they've moved their operations to it.

She will be aboard the ship as a junior trader and seems to like me. I am assuming that because she gave me a real book of poetry. I know it cost more than I'll make in a year as a junior observer.

The other thing is, suddenly, I was jumped ahead of many more qualified observers that had applied for positions aboard the Seller. When I told mom & dad all they said was to keep my feet firmly on the deck. I would have to insist and watch that all advancements that came my way were from merit, and not due to influence. I realized that influence was being used when I got my assigned quarters. They were more luxurious than the senior observers. It took almost 4 hours in the quartermasters office to get shuffled back to proper quarters. She'll find me in my small 2 room quarters when she decides to visit. I'll just meet her in the traders lounge until then.

We should arrive in the HoM system in a week. Yesterday she finally visited my quarters and then stomped out. Less than an hour later the senior observer called me to his office and informed me that he thought I was on the captains shit list until he received a reply to a message that the captain had sent to her family. All the reply was, he's probably grounded enough to be a challenge for you. Then he told me about a passenger aboard the ship that had puzzled him until he realized that all he did was observe her and me. He admitted sending a discrete inquiry to the observer council back on Earth II and their reply was, he didn't have a high enough clearance to inquire about that individual. As a friend of my father, he told me to watch my step. Then he informed me that this conversation never occurred and if I mentioned it he'd strip me of everything I could ever want.

I was no sooner back in my quarters than I was summoned to the captains office. When I reported, he asked the quartermaster if I was the one that'd complained about his assigned quarters. Then the quartermaster said yes, he dismissed him and then started in on me about not having any class and being ungrateful.

When he stopped, I simply informed him that the reason I got my original quarters changed was that they weren't suited to my position.

After a few seconds he informed me that he'd have someone find a job suitable to my assumed position and to get out.

I've been on shift for two hours now and I just got new assignment orders. I'm confined to the ship for the whole time we're in the HoM system and will be working as a cargo handler in the main hold.

I'd no sooner gotten off shift than a crewman came by and handed me new quarters assignment and it said I had to be moved before I reported to work next shift. I found the assigned quarters and they are a single room with minimum furnishings. Without help I managed to get moved in 3 hours and just barely got a meal in when I had to report to the cargo hold.

The mate in the cargo hold took one look at me and jumped down my throat about being late and not in proper work uniform. Now I know why the guys in the hold always look ragged in their work uniforms. My jumper tore in about a dozen places before the shift was up and then he jumped on me and told me to report to the quartermaster for some proper work uniforms before next shift.

Three work uniforms cost me almost 3 weeks pay.

My ID card won't work or allow me access to the upper class areas anymore.

I finally found the crew mess. I never realized that food could be so tasteless. At least the food is filling. Now I realize why I'd observed the crew carrying bottles of stuff in their pockets when they went to eat. This is a whole new world for me.

It almost seems that I've got a sign around my neck proclaiming me an outcast. When I walked into the crew recreation area I was shunned.

At least they can't take my training away from me. That is the only way I've managed to survive in the hold. I may not have the practiced skills, but at least I can copy the way the other guys move and lift things. Mainly I just get grunts when I ask a question, except for the cargo chief. He jumps down my throat every time I open my mouth.

The last several days have been unbearable. We've arrived. My shift starts in 5 hours. I've been rereading what's happened in the last week.

When I detach myself and look at it as an observer, the only conclusion I can come to is that someone is trying to make me miserable and bitter. If it is a test, I will be given the opportunity to do something illegal while here in the HoM system. Of course, I'm being watched even though I'm shunned.

We've been unloading for three days now. I've seen nothing illegal or out of line yet.

I was 5 hours into today's shift when I was told to move some wood furnishings to the hatch. I noticed that the crate had been opened and re-closed because the lid was on crooked. When I called the chief and told him I thought that the cargo in the crate was damaged because the lid was on crooked he made me unpack it and check every opening. When I found 2 books hidden in it he accused me of trying to steal them. I am now under confinement to quarters pending charges. I realize I was neatly set up. If I'd delivered the box to the hatch, I probably would have been given a big tip and then charged with smuggling and theft.

I was charged with attempted theft of high value cargo. They even searched my quarters and confiscated several personal items including the book that Janice gave me. The trial is this afternoon.

Well the trial went as I expected. My personal items were brought out as stolen items, until I produced the purchase orders that were on the ships computer. The only personal item I didn't buy was the book. When asked where I stole it from I asked to see it. It was the one she gave me because I'd folded down corners on several pages. When I handed it back, I asked the prosecutor to open it to the title page and read what was written there. Janice had scribbled, to a sweet guy, and initialed it. He seemed puzzled and then demanded why I'd defaced a valuable book by writing in it. Then I demanded that he call down Janice as a witness to verify that she'd written in the book when she gave it to me.

Even the lieutenant laughed and then said there was no way that a lowlife cargo handler like me could even get near a woman like her. Then loosing my temper I threw my ID at him and told him to check every move I'd made on the ship since departure from Earth II. He'd see I was more than a cargo handler and this frame up would be resolved here or back on Earth II where his actions would be reviewed.

I saw a puzzled look on his face when my activity history started a week ago and before that I wasn't even registered as existing on the ship, yet the purchases I'd made showed that I was aboard. He called the captain and I heard him say, we've got a stowaway or something worse aboard. The ships computer records have been tampered with.

Five minutes later the captain and several marines entered. He took one look at me and asked the lieutenant if I was the root of the problem. When he said yes sir, the captain walked over to his terminal and entered a code. I saw the lieutenants eyes go wide when the screen cleared. Then he whispered something to the captain and then asked me if I still wanted Miss Janice brought down as a witness on the book. When I said yes he told the master at arms to go get her.

Mad is a mild word compared to the way she acted as she was escorted into the trial room. She was informed that some of her valuable books had been stolen and they wanted her to identify one in particular. As she looked at the book, seeing page corners folded down, she exploded and demanded that whoever defaced her property be spaced. Then the lieutenant opened the book to the title page and she crumpled. Recovering she screamed where is he.

The lieutenant pointed over at me and said, he claims you gave him the book. Is that true?

I'd seen her glance around the room as she entered, but a week can make a difference especially when you are wearing work clothing. As she looked at me her mouth dropped open. I told daddy you needed to be taught a lesson, but I didn't think he could make you a criminal. How could you?

I replied, a very carefully constructed frame up put me here. I'm only guilty of loving you.

Then a passenger said captain if you call up the recordings from special camera 1 and 3, you'll see who planted the evidence. Camera one showed him unlocking and removing two books from the high value cargo area and with the help of the cargo chief they placed them in the furnishings box. The next scene was me coming back with a lift to get the box and then calling the cargo chief. When I unpacked the furnishings and found the books the chief called guards to take me away. Then he looked at the captain and said, the boy still hasn't learned his lesson. When privilege is offered, it should be accepted. I'll inform her father. He's yours again if you want him, if not I've got a position for him in our organization.

The captain looked at him, then me, then back at him and said, how soon can you get him off my ship?

He told me to follow him and we got off the ship and went into the Saturn habitat. An hour later all my gear was brought into the room I was waiting in and the young man said, check and repack everything. You have 15 minutes with your visitor and we will be leaving in 1 hour. Be ready.

I checked and repacked everything. I made my entries on the journal, then Janice came in and asked me if she'd ever see me again.

I told her I didn't even know where they were taking me, but I'd find some way to contact her. Everything is moving to fast, so just remember I love you.

Our first stop was another habitat, and as we descended the elevator from the hub I looked over the farmland and lakes that were on the interior hull. I was introduced to an old woman that looked me over and then said, he has some talent, but not anything they can use. Put him in militia basic training. It was similar to what I read about the training the my great ancestor Obadiah went through. At the end of two months we were given the day off and then someone threw a smoke bomb into the barracks and started firing a projectile weapon at us. I was hit in the arm as I went out through the window with what was left of the class. Out of the twenty that started there were only eight of us left. As we hit the swamp behind the barracks we caught one of the instructors. All he would say was we were in for it now. If we could make it off the station they wouldn't torture us, then he started laughing and we had to gag him. In the middle of the swamp we stopped and rested. As I treated my arm they all looked at me and said what do we do now. I was the oldest, so they selected me to be the leader.

After thinking a minute I told the story of my ancestor Obadiah. Then I said, that instructor we caught wasn't an accident. He gave us our instructions. We're to get off the station without being caught. Now what we have to to is secure clothing, shelter, papers, weapons, and transportation without killing anyone. I'll bet everyone we run into on this station is a member of the militia. From what I saw on the way in was that there are only 2 ways off the station, and that is the hubs. Only the elevators and aircraft can get to them. We have to figure some way to get to one of them in such a way that whoever we run into believes we belong there. The only other option is to fight our way in. Now they shouldn't expect us to infiltrate the training compound, so first we go back and collect any gear we can. Then we'll rendezvous 2 farms out from the south end hub elevator. Observe all the maintenance personnel you see and as well as the guards and patrols.

Two weeks later I had us wired into the habitat net system and we were watching a maintenance crew working on the north cap elevator. The three man crew had a guard with them. A supervisor checked with the guard every few hours, but ignored the workers. Three of the guys caught and secured the workers on their way to the elevator station. The switch from the skin out took five minutes. As they swiped their passes a guard came out of the woods and told them to hold the elevator. At least they kept their cool and allowed him aboard. He cleared the elevator to the hub and didn't even check their ID's. The last camera I could access was the one in the airlock and they passed through to the ship dock without being stopped. That left 5 of us.

In the woods by each elevator were guard barracks. We raided the one at the south cap that night. Only one guard was there and we got him before he could hit the alarm. Outfitted in proper uniforms we caught the guys coming in to get ready to go on shift. When we heard a 6th guy coming down the path we thought we were screwed, however he just ordered for us to hurry up. His shift was ready to get off and they had a party to attend. My boys started to follow him until I told them to line up for inspection. I sent one of them back in to get his cap and then we followed the corporal over to the elevator and swiped our ID's. He swiped his and then I told him if he wanted he could put the elevator on express. We'd hang on. We saved 10 minutes transit time since express didn't stop at the 4 intermediate stops, just at the bottom and top. I did manage to pry some extra information out of him about a VIP that was arriving. He'd heard about the old lady from another guard. The briefing card was on the airlock side so I relieve his two guards and put two of my boys in their slots. As we passed through the airlock I memorized his access code. Then I told him to get me the briefing card while I relieved his other two guards. They immediately entered the airlock as I watched the code he entered in the guard station computer. The same as he used in the airlock access. Glancing at the card I said, your boys already went down, since you're still on shift for another 6 minutes bring my boys in so I can brief them on the VIP. Then we can express the elevator back up. From the guard computer he told them to get in the airlock because I needed to brief them. As they exited on this side I took his hand and pressed his thumb on the airlock door lockout.

Immediately a red light started flashing and I told him to answer it. Over the intercom came a voice I recognized demanding what the malfunction was. I replied, outside the airlock is off the habitat right, or do I need to steal a spacecraft too. All he replied was, I hope you have the correct codes to pass Stephanie through, her ship just docked. Delay her and heads will roll.

I replied, I couldn't get the codes from the owner of my uniform, you'll find him and his guards tied up in the guard shack at the bottom of the elevator. Shall we talk about a vacation so I can see my girlfriend or shall I talk to this VIP Stephanie about it.

Talk to me about what, a feminine voice behind me said.

I called my detail to attention, then turned around to face a beautiful young woman that held herself like a queen. I beg a full pardon for my crew of trainees and will pass you through as soon as I can get the corporal to reactivate the airlock.

She cut her eyes to the right and said, Swanson, how many times have you been a trainee in the last year.

Three times commander, he replied.

Is this the out-lander that was conscripted.

Yes ma'am.

Swanson, Will he make a good officer?

He then said, I think he'll make a better NCO.

Then she looked at me and said, Jason, they told me you are good, now you will escort me to headquarters.

Awkwardly I put out my right arm palm down and she rested her hand on my arm and said follow my lead. With that she ordered the corporal to reactivate the airlock but hold it open until her crew was inside.

When we exited into the habitat there was a full crew of officers in dress uniforms on the landing. I followed her lead through the middle of them onto an airship and seated her in the front row. The officers scrambled to get seats and then we spiraled down to another military compound. She extended her hand and I helped her up and out and she led the way to a plane wooden building. Entering she told me to wait by the door and she walked down the hall into an office.

A few minutes later a captain came out and handed me orders. I was ordered to Earth II for ninety days leave with authorization to return to Saturn Farm 4. At the bottom of the first page was a handwritten note. It read, Serve humanity or serve yourself. If she is willing you can do both. As I finished reading the note he took it and said your transportation is waiting outside. Back at the barracks we all changed into civilian attire and headed our separate ways. I got a flier ride to the airlock and from there a launch to a large warship. As I entered the airlock and handed the guard my ID he told me that my escort would be a few minutes. I'd no sooner dropped my bag in my quarters than I was summoned to the officers mess. There I was informed by a ships officer that I should eat now because we'd be engaging Q drive in an hour. Arrival at Earth II would be in seven days. They would be back to pick me up in 75 days. Then he handed me a small stack of computer chips and told me that I could use them to code any transmission back to Farm 4. I thanked him and sat down to eat.

Seven days and three hours later I boarded a civilian launch down to Earth II. Glancing out of the rear port I saw the Saturn warship accelerating out of the system. Mom and Dad met me at the spaceport. All he said, that's a hell of a taxi you arrived on. As she hugged me a voice behind me said, a launch will be here at 1300 hours to take you to a meeting upstairs. No overnight needed. Mom wanted us to go home, but I told her we'd need to stay in the city because I had a meeting tomorrow. I'd be home in a few days. When we got to a hotel and had the room secured, I handed Mom half the chips and told her to put them in with my music chips when she got home. All the rest but one I handed to Dad and told him to put them in with his music collection, I'd get them later.

The meeting upstairs turned out to be on the habitat that Janice's family owned. The conference room was large and luxurious. The main table must have been 10 meters long. There were only two men sitting at it when I arrived and was seated. One introduced himself as Janice's father and the other just leaned back and listened. He told me that I was an ungrateful punk and didn't deserve to be anywhere near his daughter. That I would be given only one chance to redeem myself and this was it.

Then the other man finally spoke. He demanded to know where I'd been for the last 4 months after being taken off the Seller in the HoM system.

Looking him straight in the eye I lied, I told him that I'd held a few temporary jobs until I scrounged a ride back home on a Saturn warship headed this way. The accommodations weren't what I'd call great, but it didn't cost me a credit except for food.

Two men came into the room and grabbed me. I was searched and all my possessions were place on the table. He seemed particularly interested in the computer chips I had and took several over to a portable computer and started plugging them in. Janice's father said I had a poor taste in music until one chip blanked out his computer and caused it to reset. The only thing on the screen was the word password.

The stranger then shut down the computer and handed me the chip saying follow me. When we arrived at his office he told me to contact my supervisor because he wanted to talk to him.

I informed him that I was on vacation and didn't have any supervisor to report to. Then I was thrown in a cell. A few hours later Janice opened the door and sat down beside me on the bunk.

Her first words were, you're always getting in trouble. Daddy said I could see you one last time, but not to believe anything you said. Why?

I reminded her that I loved her, but that I had to go away. I could serve humanity or serve myself. Only if she really loved me could she see me again. I'd be leaving in 2 months and needed to know for sure before then.

She was crying as she slammed the door to my cell on the way out.

The next day her father and the stranger entered and sat down on chairs they brought. The stranger said, we have not mistreated you, so once you leave this station, you were never here. Then her father flat out told me that I'd broken his daughters heart and if I ever tried to make contact with her again he'd have me killed.

I smiled at him and informed him that I loved his daughter, but had things that had to be done. She would make the decision whether to see me again or not. Not even death could separate us if we both wanted to be together.

Then I was hustled to the space launch and returned to the spaceport.

For the next month I visited all my old friends and the out of the way tourist spots. One afternoon coming out of the ocean I noticed the beach was deserted except for 3 men. As I approached my beach gear they attacked. I took a few blows before my training took over. They were in no condition to answer questions so I just left them where they lay. As I entered my room, Janice jumped up and wanted to know why I hadn't called her. As I was telling her that her father warned me about contacting her she noticed the abrasions on my chest and blood in my nose.

Her eyes widened and she asked me if I'd been mugged or something.

Three guys had tried to stop or delay me from returning to my room. If they were hired by her father, he knew that she was here.

She kissed me and told me I'd see her again.

Nothing else happened for the remaining 8 days until I was picked up. A week to Saturn and then I was ordered to NCO school, followed by pilots training, more self-defense training, and finally to a school that was listed on the orders as spook school. After two years of training I was posted as a clerk to the SFGSS. My job brought me into contact with the clerks from all the human worlds. I made many friends. One day Janice walked in and sat down across the desk from me.

All she said was, you're escorting me to dinner tomorrow night, and you'll go see my tailor as soon as I leave. Then she went in to see the trade commissioner. Later when I returned to my desk there was a note and it simply said follow her lead.

The party was lavish and I was introduced to many high commissioners. Then I met my first alien, a Seal. After looking at me for a few seconds, he said I should be tested for talent. Janice later told me that I should go get tested, but tonight we'd be together on her ship.

Her ship was larger than most traders and she was the captain. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was debriefed by an expert and then briefed on what to expect from the Seals. Then Janice took me to the captains cabin. I was exhausted when I left the next morning.

Two days later I was summoned to the alien trade commissioner and then escorted to the Seal section where I was tested. They said I was suitable for a communicator, but I would need training from them to use it proficiently.

That evening I was invited to another party. When I got there I saw Janice in a huddle with several trader captains. Later she came over and informed me that if I was ready, she'd marry me after the party. When I looked puzzled she then informed me that I would take the Seal training, continue with my job here for now, and the SF station would be a regular stop for her ship. With a smile I accepted and we were married by a Saturn warship captain. On the way back to my quarters we were stopped and told that my quarters were bugged, but we were to enjoy ourselves just like young lovers.

Three weeks after I'd completed my Seal training and issued a communicator I was called in by the trade commissioner and told that I could no longer work in the trade section because first I was married to a trader and second I was corrupted by close contact with aliens. I was being transferred to the military liaison section and of course promoted.

I was at my new position less than a day when I realized that everything on my desk computer terminal was monitored. The hardest thing to get used to was the security just to get into my work area. I was constantly invited to parties held by the trade commissioner and then to other parties and conferences. My rusty observers training soon was polished to a high skill. I was commended on the reports because I observed some things that others missed.

On her fourth trip Janice had twins to introduced to me when she arrived. She sent her ship out with the executive officer commanding. We had a lovely year together until her father arrived.

His security man attempted to stop me in the corridor. After dislocating his shoulder I demanded to know why he was trying to prevent me from entering my quarters. He simply said Janice's father said he wasn't to be disturbed while visiting his daughter. Then I told him that these were my quarters and I was her husband, no one would stop me and live. He apologized and backed off. As I entered her father jumped up and told me that he'd never seen his daughter so happy. However he needed her to come home because her mother was sick and wanted to see the grandchildren. Since I knew it was 5 weeks travel time to Earth II, I made a call and told her to pack we'd leave in four hours. When her father insisted that he had his fastest ship, I told him that he should go ahead and send his ship home. A six marine escort arrived an hour later and we left as soon as she finished packing.

A week later we entered the launch and were shuttled over to their habitat. Her father was still sick from the Q drive, but the children were the still screaming for joy when we landed. We didn't even unpack, we went to see Janice's mother first thing. She didn't look as sick as she actually was. She only lasted another 9 days. A week after her funeral I called for pickup and was told to go on a trade mission with my family to the Gobbler home planet. When I told Janice, she started making arrangements plus ordered her trade ship renovated for the family and specialized cargo. I went as her husband and a member of the SF government on vacation. None of the alien species we'd made contact with could understand the need humans had for vacations. They were all like ants or bees. Work work work until they fell apart or got to old. Of course a real vacation would be much better than the working vacation I was taking. With three little children they figured I'd be able to penetrate deeper into their personal society easier that previous attempts. I ordered a new tourist camera from Earth II before we departed. That and my mind were the two tools I took.

We spent about 6 months on Gobbler and then returned to SFGSS. The pictures and reports I turned in doubled the knowledge we had about the Gobblers. The A104 finally was taking on real information about that alien species.

After 7 months back on SFGSS I was instructed to arrange a tour of all human planets to gather detailed data. Saturn figured I could use my contacts. Janice claimed we could not make a profit on such a tour, but I told her to try. The only alien planet we visited in the 15 year tour was Avian and my report on them filled in the reason they were in decline as a species.

We should be in the HoM system in another week, just in time for the twins graduation at the farm.

Janice has never seen earth. I've arranged for a complete tour. Our guide will be the Red Warrior Queen's daughter, Susan. She's taken up with one of the twins.

Well yesterday was my 70th birthday and I'm now officially retired. There are restrictions on my travel as with any high government employee. Janice has had the Seller modified again for our retirement. We're planning on visiting a few hundred of the human habitats in the next 30 years, should we live that long. I'm giving a copy of the family history journal to each of the twins. They are the only ones that seem interested in keeping it.

* * *

Chapter 14: My name is Brian and I'm married to Susan.

We have three girls and they are a hand full. Mom & Dad left three years ago on their retirement cruise and we get occasional updates.

Bill, my twin, has gone undercover on his latest assignment and now I have to be myself and him. Susan doesn't like some of the shenanigans that I have to pull to keep him in the news for his cover.

Ever since the observer council decided to make their FTL communications system open to all, the news media is galaxy wide. They made quite a splash 15 years ago and now they are the main source of news.

Mom & Dad are looking pretty good for a couple that's been married over 50 years. Susan talked to them on the FLTC last night and informed them that the last of her mothers curse finally moved out. The girls are all grown and two of them are married. Mom & Dad located a M-c-e-h type planet. They are setting up an industrial community that will support a retirement resort. She also wants to import animals for sports hunting. That covers three of the four continents for the present. Mom just can't stop figuring out ways to make money.

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