Mitch barely had the patience to wait for the shuttle to be unloaded, so he could get back in the air. They had touched down at Alan’s base camp over an hour ago, loaded the shuttle with materials and as many colonists as they could, and then sailed over the horizon to Citadel. As they settled onto what was shaping up to be a well-marked landing pad, Mitch slammed the button to open the cargo bay doors and grabbed everyone within sight to help him unload. He fully intended to get back in the air and track down Alan out in the wild.
And then he was going to kill him.
Captain Somar came to the shuttle with Billy Sans and Thomas in tow. “Mr. Garrison,” Somar said.
“Hmph,” Mitch grunted, pulling on one of the heavy pods to drag it out of the door.
“It is good to see you again,” Somar said.
Mitch only nodded and went straight back into the bay. He helped a woman make the step down to the ground from the side of the platform, which was bustling with activity.
“Mitch,” Thomas said. “You ok?”
For the first time, Mitch stopped and turned to them. His face was a red fury, burning and pinched and nearly glowing with his anger. “He was one of my crew,” Mitch said.
“I understand,” Thomas said, “but …”
“No. You don’t. You don’t understand, because you’ve never been on a Blue Collar crew. We depend on each other every second of every day. We have to. And we become … family. Tight. For him to do what he’s done, to kill Marcos and injure the Captain, and to strand us here …” He paused, breathing heavily, turning to kick one of the support struts for the cargo door. When he turned to face them again, he said simply, “I’m going to kill him.”
“No,” Somar said. “You are not.”
Mitch’s temper flared, but when he turned to the Captain, he was cold and quiet. “Sir?” he asked, his jaw so tight he could chew through steel.
“You will not kill Mr. Angelou. You will arrest him, and he will stand trial. That is the way of your laws. It is the way we will deal with Mr. Angelou.”
“Our laws?” Mitch asked, incredulous. “Are you serious? He’s a murder and a saboteur! If we were in space, we’d pack him into a barrel and eject him!”
“But we are not in space, Mr. Garrison. We are on a colony world. It may not have been the world we were attempting to reach, but it is now our colony. And as such, it is governed by the laws of the Earth Colony Fleet, as recognized by the treaty between your people and the Esool.”
“I … I can’t believe …”
“To do any less, Mr. Garrison, would be to invite anyone present to break the treaty and ignore the law. At present, that would be as fatal as any other danger we have encountered thus far. Mr. Angelou does not represent an immediate threat, and thus our recourse is to arrest him and hold him for trial.”
Mitch choked on what he was going to say, made a sort of guttural noise, and then turned and walked back into the shuttle. He was hoping to find something to break.
Thomas entered the shuttle behind him, and he spoke quietly now. “Mitch, listen, it’s going to be ok. Justice will be served. But not your way. It has to be the right way. Taggart …”
Mitch turned in a fury. “I don’t give a damn about Taggart, or what he thinks he can do to us! What I care about right now is that someone I cared about, someone I trusted with my life, has been lying to me all along! Who else is lying to me? Who else is breaking my trust?”
Thomas suddenly looked sick and pale. His mouth opened, and then clamped shut again. He swallowed and rubbed his eyes with the forefinger and thumb of his left hand. Mitch watched, his anger fading slightly as he wondered what was wrong. “You ok?” he asked. His voice was still tight, but it did have a note of concern.
“Me, Mitch.”
“You? You what?”
“Me. I’ve been lying to you. I’ve betrayed your trust. Me.”
Mitch blinked. “Wha– what do you mean? You …”
“I’m not who I claim to be. Or … well, I’m exactly who I claim to be, I’ve just never claimed to be anyone really. I’m … well …” he looked around, verifying that they were alone. He stepped closer, took a deep breath, and whispered, “I’m John Thomas Paris.”
Mitch blinked again, then looked seriously at Thomas, who was stepping back and casting his gaze to the floor, rubbing his eyes again.
And then he burst out laughing. “John Thomas Paris!” he barked. “C’mon, that’s a little over the top, man.”
Thomas blinked, then glanced around again to make sure no one was watching. He waved his hands in front of Mitch to try to get him to keep it down. “No, I’m serious! I …”
“Oh man,” Mitch laughed. He started coughing and doubled over slightly. “Oh man! Heh. That’s good. Damn. ok, Thomas. I get it. Alan … we don’t know why he did what he did. He has his reasons. So we have to find them out before we judge him. Heh. John Thomas Paris,” Mitch said. “Damn that’s funny.”
“But …” Thomas began.
“ok, ok. Let’s get going, already! Reilly kept the engines going. I’m ready to track Alan down and … bring him to justice.” There was a wistful pause, but Mitch genuinely had resolved to do what he was ordered to do. “You going with us?”
Before Thomas could answer, a quiet voice came from the ramp. “He is,” Captain Somar said. “But before you leave, I feel you should fully understand what Mr. Thomas has revealed to you.”
Mitch, still smiling, with tears of mirth in his eyes, looked from Somar to Thomas, then back again. Suddenly the smile faded, and he looked at Thomas with wide, unbelieving eyes.
“Hi,” Thomas said. “My name is John Thomas Paris, and I’m the man who destroyed a world.”
Mitch blinked. “Hi … John,” he said quietly.
Ok, Thomas thought. That … wasn’t so bad.
He was strapped into the command chair near Reilly’s station. Somar had made it clear that Thomas was to be in charge of the mission to arrest Alan Angelou and bring him into custody. There were four armed guards accompanying them in the flight, each a Blue Collar with security training. There was usually little need for a police force on colony worlds, especially new ones. Many had fallen back to the old tradition of electing a sheriff, who would appoint one or two deputies as needed. There would be a judge, of course … usually the leader of the colony, until a more formal system was needed.
Thomas looked at the makeshift police force strapped in along the walls of the cargo area, and wondered what they would do if they suddenly discovered who he really was. Would they bother trying to arrest Alan Angelou? Or would they seize him and then turn the shuttle around so they could also arrest Captain Somar, the alien “accomplice?”
It wasn’t a far-fetched scenario. Taggart might use that very trick to cement his control of the colony, but what worried Thomas more at this moment was Mitch.
He hadn’t spoken a word since they’d taken off.
Thomas unbuckled his straps and moved closer to Mitch. The engineer had to notice he was there, but he said nothing. Instead, he continued to pore over the data that was scrolling slowly upward on the terminal in front of him.
“Mitch,” Thomas said. “Look, I think we should talk.”
“The shuttle is running within all expected parameters, sir,” Mitch replied. He was cold, succinct. He was biting his words.
“Mitch, come on. I didn’t lie to you, ok? I never lied.”
Mitch turned slowly to face him. “No, you didn’t.”
For some reason, Thomas didn’t feel any better about this small victory. “But … you’re still angry with me.”
“Thomas … John … what do I call you now, anyway?”
“Thomas!” he said, looking around furtively. “Just Thomas, ok?”
“Thomas, you never lied to me. But that doesn’t mean I can trust you. This secret of yours, it’s big. Bigger than anything Alan might have to hide, I bet. Bigger than Taggart and his plans for the colony. You … you destroyed First Colony. You’re … you’re like the most evil man in history!”
“I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I was framed, would you?”
Mitch looked him over. “Were you?”
“Yeah.”
There was a pause. “I believe you. But … it doesn’t change anything.”
Thomas sighed. This was going to be tough. Hardly the toughest thing he’d ever dealt with in his life—not even the toughest thing he’d dealt with in the past week. But it was important that Mitch be on his side. It would help the Blue Collars to accept Thomas, when his secret was revealed. But it would also just make him feel better. He liked Mitch, and felt a bond with the man. He needed all the friends he could get.
“Mitch, I wish I could say something to make this better. The truth is, when First Colony was destroyed, it changed everything. Not just for me personally but for the world. We were taking our first steps into the universe at large. The whole world, for the very first time in history, was united under one hope! But the explosion … that was the end of one good beginning. The next round was tinged with distrust and apprehension. And I think that’s led to the state of things as they are now. This … this segregation between Blue Collars and White Collars and Colonists. For the first time in history, Earth had gotten past the boundaries of racism and class distinction, and one explosion put us on track to creating a whole new division between human beings.”
Mitch was listening, watching Thomas intently. “What does this have to do with anything?”
Thomas laughed. “Maybe nothing. But you see, I got a second chance. I have no idea why or how, not really. Alan had something to do with it. So did Earth First, it seems. I was pulled out of time and put here, now. And when I woke up, I found that things had changed quite a bit, in both wonderful and terrible ways. But I had a second chance. And if I can get one, so can the colonies. So can humanity. But I won’t feel like it’s a second chance if I lose any friends I’ve made as soon as they find out who I really am.”
Mitch was watching him, silently. For a moment he didn’t move. Then he shook his head and leaned back in his chair. He laced his fingers together over his stomach and regarded Thomas with a steady stare. “What happened to First Colony?” he asked.
Thomas sighed. “That is going to be a very long story,” he said.
Mitch leaned back a bit further and pointed at a line of rolling numbers on the display in front of him. “You have forty-five minutes,” he said.
And to Thomas’s great relief, Mitch was smiling.
Alan and Penny saw the pod from nearly half a mile away. It was lying out in the open, like a poorly hidden Easter egg. The sun glinted off of the shiny brass and steel fixtures and the transparent canopy. If they hadn’t known better, they would think someone had gently placed it there.
It took a bit to reach it, since they were forced to cover a patch of rough terrain covered in brush. But when they arrived, they found the pod perfectly preserved, without a scratch. Alan went to the control panel and started working on the pod’s computer and diagnostic systems, polling for biometric data while also scanning for the program he had stored in one of the pods. Penny, meanwhile, was cautiously stepping toward the canopy.
She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of what she would see, or of what she wouldn’t.
She closed her eyes when she got within sight, counted to ten slowly, and then opened them.
It was her mother.
“It’s her!” she squealed and began to laugh. “I can’t believe it, we found her!”
She glanced at Alan, who was crouched by the pods computer. A smile spread on his face as he stared at the scanner in his hand. Penny suspected it wasn’t because they’d found her mother.
“It’s here,” he said, quietly.
It took a moment for Penny to remember. “It is? The program? You … it was in my mother’s pod?”
Alan looked up at her, and for the first time since she’d known him, he was showing real, genuine emotion. He looked as if he might burst with tears of joy. He looked … happy. And somehow, that was unsettling to her.
“What do you think the odds of that would be?” he asked. “I’m calculating about two-hundred-thousand to one. That’s a rough estimate, based on the number of colonists, the distance between the pods, the—“
“Alright, already, I get it!” Penny said, and then despite herself began to laugh. “So we were both looking for the same pod all along!”
“I guess so!” Alan said, and he sprang up and hugged her.
It caught her off-guard. She hugged him back, more out of reflex than anything else. But what surprised her was how much she liked it. How much she wanted to keep doing it.
Alan pulled back, and his expression had changed. They were still tentatively embracing each other. Alan looked as if he were feeling some kind of anguish, as if he didn’t know what to do and wasn’t sure if he should do anything at all.
Penny felt like the breath was going out of her. “I … I guess we’d better … let my mom out?”
Alan stared into her eyes for a moment, blinked, then turned his head slightly toward the pod as he said, “Yes. I think that’s the best idea.”
The embrace broke, and Penny found herself feeling a tinge of regret. She had told Alan that she’d continue on with him, even after they rescued her mother. But there was no way to know what her mother would say to her when she awoke or how it would affect Penny. She would be able to rejoin her parents, and the three of them could be together, back at Citadel. But she’d made a promise, and suddenly it seemed vital to keep it. Suddenly she just wanted more time, out here, alone with Alan.
That was new.
Alan went to the controls, and in moments the canopy slid open, and Elizabeth Daunder awoke.
“Mom?” Penny asked.
“Mrs. Daunder,” Alan said, helping her to sit up, “let me help you.”
“Oh,” she said in a voice weak from the grogginess of stasis, “thank you, dear.”
She blinked and looked into Alan’s eyes. “You are not my husband,” she said.
“No, ma’am.”
“Where is my husband?” she asked.
Penny answered. “Dad is back at camp, mom. He’s fine. There was an accident, and we crash-landed.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Daunder said, as if this were the simplest explanation she’d ever heard.
“She’s still a bit groggy,” Alan said. “Give her some water.”
Penny opened the canteen she was carrying and gave her mother a drink.
“Thank you, Penelope,” she said.
“Penny, Mom. I’ve told you a million times, call me Penny!”
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry. Thank you. Where are we?”
“We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere, Mom. Literally. But there’s a camp close by, and a shuttle will come to pick you up soon.”
Mrs. Daunder nodded and allowed Alan to help her climb out of the pod. For the first time, Penny noticed how frail her mother seemed. She had never been sickly or weak in Penny’s life, but at that moment, she seemed as if she might break in half at any moment. “Are you ok, Mom?” Penny asked. She was becoming worried for her mother.
“I’m a bit queasy, actually. I could use something for my stomach.”
Alan again came to the rescue. He handed her a small pack of crackers, and Mrs. Daunder opened them and ate one in small, nibbling bites.
They spent the next hour preparing the pod for transport. Alan called the rescue crew and told them their location, and that they had someone for retrieval.
“They’ll be here to pick you up shortly,” Alan assured her.
“But,” Mrs. Daunder said, “what about you, Penelope? You are going with me, of course.”
“No, Mom. I’m helping with the rescue effort. The team will take you back to our base camp, and when the shuttle arrives, they’ll take you to Citadel where you can be with Dad.”
Mrs. Daunder scoffed. “Nonsense. You will come with me, and that’s final.”
Penny felt herself getting angry and knew that if she didn’t get a handle on it, she would fall into one of their old habits. She would be in a screaming match with her mother, here in the middle of an alien landscape, in front of the man Penny … knew.
What had she almost thought?
“Mrs. Daunder,” Alan spoke up. “Penny has been a huge help to me in finding the pods, including yours. She’s very good at tracking and getting through rough terrain. I need her help if I’m going to save the rest of the colonists.”
Mrs. Daunder looked at him for a moment, then looked at her daughter. Penny, for her part, stayed silent for once.
“Ah,” Mrs. Daunder said. “I see. Well, what kind of person would I be if I took you out of the rescue effort? Go ahead, dear. I’ll be fine.”
Penny fought the urge to grin. She shouldn’t feel like she needed her mother’s permission to do this. But despite being an adult, despite having her own life, and despite her antics in the tabloids, she was still the daughter of Elizabeth and Miguel Daunder. She would always be their little girl.
Alan was on the comm with the rescue team, asking for a pick-up. They weren’t prepared for the response.
“Mitch and the crew are coming straight to you,” one of the Blue Collars on the other end informed them. “They should be there in the next few minutes.”
“Why would they come straight to us?” Penny asked.
“Oh don’t be silly, dear. They obviously want to reunite me with your father as quickly as possible.”
“I don’t think that’s it, Mom.”
“I need to prepare,” Alan said, and he ducked back down to the control panel of the pod. He pulled a line of cable from his scanner and plugged it directly into the pod’s interface port. There was a slight spark, and the air filled with the smell of ozone for a moment.
“What do you mean?” Penny asked.
Alan said nothing.
“Alan, what’s happening? What do you need to prepare for?”
Alan looked up at her. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Penny was about to ask for more information when she heard the rumble and whine of the shuttle’s engines. She and her mother turned to see it dive in, then pull up slightly, nose to the sky, as it drifted toward the ground. “They’re here!” she said.
She turned back to Alan, who was standing next to the pod with the scanner in his hand. The cable tethered him to the pod’s computer interface. He looked rigid and determined.
“Alan, what …”
“Penny, I want you to know that I never planned for this. Not this. And I … I’m sorry it has to be this way. But it’s the only way to save them.”
“Save who?” she asked. “Oh … your parents? But I don’t understand, what are you going to do?”
“Not just my parents, Penny. I’m going to save them all.”
“All who?” She asked.
“First Colony,” he said. “I’m going to save them all”
The shuttle touched down in a cloud of dust, and before Penny could ask Alan any further questions, he pushed a button on the scanner, and she suddenly wasn’t Penny anymore.
Somar knew that Taggart was making his move, but with everything else that was happening, he was unsure of what to do about it. Captain Alonzo, now in full contact but slowly dying in the orbital platform miles above, was filling him in on just how dire their situation was.
“The crew here is still in stasis, and I have no way to wake them. Without them, I can’t repair the launch systems, or any other system for that matter. The orbitals will remain stuck in their launch bays. But the worse news is that the platform isn’t in a stable orbit.”
“You were unable to reach geosynchronous orbit?”
“I got close, but guidance and navigation were among the worst sys—“ he broke into a wet, hacking cough. The wounds on his face leaked blood again, and flecks of it fell onto the display. Alonzo wiped them off with one hand, leaving slight smears on the screen. “The worst systems damage,” he continued. “I wasn’t able to get in sync, and we’re slowly falling into the atmosphere.”
“Captain Alonzo, I do wish you would allow me to help you. Mr. Thomas should return with the shuttle and Mr. Angelou in a short time, and I could come up to the orbital platform and … perform the procedure.”
“You’ll do no such thing, Somar. As one Captain to another, one warrior to another, I’m asking you to give me my dignified death, do you understand? I know all about the … procedure … your people use. I’m too far gone for it to help. At best, it would delay the inevitable.”
Somar nodded. “As you wish.”
“Now, to continue … if we can’t get systems repaired, this ship is going to be a brick the size of a city, and it’s going to fall in. Even if I drop the atmospheric shielding, the heat of re-entry won’t be enough to destroy all the bigger pieces. That means we’re going to make a hell of an impact. We need to make sure that impact isn’t anywhere near Citadel.”
“I will have Mr. Sans begin projections immediately. If we know in advance, we can take precautions.”
“Agreed. Meanwhile, I’m going to get back to trying to wake up my little bunch of sleepy heads. Hopefully Angelou didn’t plant any more surprises in the ship’s systems.”
“Very well. I will contact you when I have more information, Captain.”
“Same here, Captain. Alonzo out.”
The screen dimmed, and Somar stood. He looked around at the command center. Personnel were buzzing and moving about. Billy Sans was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is Mr. Sans?” he asked the room.
Several Blue Collars and White Collars looked his way, but none could answer. One White Collar spoke up, “The last time I saw him was when the shuttle landed. I think he was helping with the pods.”
Somar nodded. “He will be with the construction crews then. I will go to him. You are in command in my absence,” he said. The White Collar nodded, and Somar left the tent.
The air outside was crisp and cool, even in the afternoon sun. The humidity was lower than it had been on previous days, which seemed to suit the humans fine. Somar, whose people could take moisture from the air, felt that it was a bit dry. But still he appreciated the atmosphere. There was a kind of electricity here, a tingling that made him feel hopeful.
It was unfortunate the mood had not spread to everyone.
He walked to the area where the homes were being built. The outer shell of Citadel, meant to supply building materials for the colony, had been stripped down, and now the towering craft was a gleaming spire of brass and steel. Fixtures curled and bent along its surface—the exposed inner plumbing and wiring conduits of the vessel. These, too would be salvaged, until all that remained was a sleek, smooth tower that housed the sophisticated computer and defense systems of the colony. Bit by bit, Citadel shed its layers and revealed its true nature within. Bit by bit, the colony grew from Citadel’s flesh.
Somar saw, in the symmetry of the colony’s development, a process very much like the birth of an Esool. From the mother’s flesh, the infant grew, covered in a bark–like skin that protected it and nourished it. And then, when the budding time had arrived, the infant separated from the mother, the remaining bark fell away, and a new Esool stood on two tiny, unsteady legs. Somar had seen it hundreds of time as his own children had been born. It was a moment of pure joy.
As he rounded the base of Citadel, he stopped short. Before him, in what had become a sort of Town Square for the colony, a mob of people had gathered. In the middle of the square was a group of colonists. They were huddled together, and looked very frightened. Among them were numerous White Collars, who also looked as if they were afraid.
Surrounding them was a horde of Blue Collars, who jeered and prodded and cursed at the group, which was hopelessly outnumbered.
And there was Taggart, standing on the platform that had become the center of public address in the colony. He was flanked by several Blue Collars, who wielded heavy branches and stones. They were obviously there to guard their leader.
“Somar!” Taggart shouted, and the whole group seemed to stop its motion and turn to the Captain. “So good of you to come. You saved us the trouble of tracking you down. Thank you.”
Somar looked at the crowd, and then glanced around to determine his options. They were few.
To his right was the base of Citadel. On the opposing side, there was a door to the interior stairwell. If he could make it there, he could lock himself safely inside. The alloy used to make Citadel’s hull wasn’t quite indestructible, but to humans wielding rocks and clubs it may as well be.
The problem, however, was that he was not at all sure he would make it to that door. And if he did, what then? He would be trapped there, with no real hope of escape. He would have no way to warn Mr. Thomas or Mr. Garrison, and no way to call for help.
His other options, however, were just as bleak. There was simply nowhere he could safely run.
“You have coerced the Blue Collars into helping you,” Somar said. He was stalling for time, hoping a solution would present itself.
“Oh, yes,” Taggart said. The Blue Collars laughed and sneered. Many of them were brandishing crude weapons made from rocks and wood and torn metal. They were primitive, but they would be effective.
“They recognize a kindred spirit, Somar. Like attracts like, after all.”
“You are nothing like them,” Somar said calmly.
“Oh? I disagree. And so do my friends, isn’t that right?”
“Taggart!” some shouted. “That’s right!” others cried.
“You are nothing like them,” Somar repeated.
“Please,” Taggart said, stepping down from the stage. The bodyguards fell in behind him, and some of the Blue Collar crowd gathered in his wake. “Enlighten us. How are we different? I worked in the same pits and tanks.” There were murmurs of appreciation from the crowd. “I scrubbed the same filth and grime.” More nods and sounds of agreement. “I sweated as they sweated and bled as they bled. So, my alien friend, how different am I from them? Is it because I rose in position and power, while they have been kept down, held down by their throats, in a world that sees them only as labor? As servants?”
Taggart was close now. His voice was powerful, and Somar knew that he had moved these people. As he had spoken, the crowd had calmed. They were rapt. They were watching their leader, one of their own who had risen to power.
“You are nothing like them,” Somar said again, “because these noble men and women would never betray their own for the sake of power.”
The crowd has already been quiet, but now they had gone positively silent. The only sound was the rustling of leaves, the gurgling of water in the pipes that led back to the river.
Taggart stared at Somar for a moment, his face tight and controlled. Then he smiled, “In what way, Somar, have I betrayed anyone? Far from betrayal, I have set my brothers free! They are no longer slaves to the tyranny of the …”
“Of the colonists?” Somar asked, letting his own voice grow louder and more forceful. “Of the White Collars? Then why, Mr. Taggart, are they being held prisoner in a circle of armed men and women? Weren’t you one of them, when you arrived here? Weren’t you their leader when you first set foot on this soil?”
Taggart’s control slipped. His anger showed for the first time. “I have betrayed no one!” he said.
“You have betrayed us all!” Somar shouted. No one had ever heard the Esool captain raise his voice before. He had always been soft, quiet, commanding with his presence instead of the force of his will. And now, with his voice still ringing in the ears of the crowd, some of the Blue Collars lost heart. They dropped their stones and clubs and shards of metal and walked away from the crowd.
“No one!” Taggart yelled. “I have betrayed no one! These men and women, they are with me! They are family!”
“Family does not ask its members to doom themselves, Taggart. If you go through with this, if you harm these colonists, then all will be lost.”
Taggart laughed. “Oh, Somar. You have no idea. I have no intention of harming anyone! That is, as long as they accept their new role.”
“And what role is that?” Somar asked.
“As the workforce. It is time that my brothers and sisters were freed from the toil of daily life and allowed a chance to enjoy the finer trappings that these colonists have experienced. They will become the new ruling class, and their former masters will be the cogs for once. The rich elite have had it too easy for too long, and now it’s time they got their own hands dirty.”
Somar looked at the group of colonists, who were still surrounded and still fearful. “I must agree.”
Once again, the crowd fell silent, but this time, Taggart himself looked dumbfounded. His mouth opened slightly, and his eyes almost imperceptibly widened. “I … I don’t …”
“We find ourselves in a new situation. One we neither intended nor planned for. The old class distinctions, the division between men of wealth and men of service, are now gone. It is now time for all of us to work and toil. It is time for us to unify, not disperse into this … division. This evil.”
Everyone present began murmuring then, even the prisoners at the center of the circle. Taggart’s expression had changed once again, but this time there was no joy in his eyes. His plan was finished. He had lost their hearts, and he would not have them again.
Somar still felt the situation was precarious. He would have to do something to ensure that the tension was released and that the prisoners were freed, never to be bothered again. The fear they would feel now would become the new dividing line. There would be no trust and, thus, no cooperation. And so, at this moment, Somar would have to do or say exactly the right words to make the colonists—all of the colonists of Citadel—into one unit again. Unfortunately, he had not the slightest notion of what he should say.
As it turned out, he wouldn’t have to say anything.
Suddenly, as if a button had been pushed, Taggart and all of the colonists cried out and dropped to the ground, as if they had each suffered a great pain in their heads. The Blue Collars and White Collars watched, along with Somar, as all of those who had been rescued from the stasis pods writhed for an instant, and then slowly began to collect themselves. They began to rise, and the commotion was loud and incomprehensible.
Taggart, who lay at Somar’s feet, had managed to get to his knees.
“Taggart, are you ill?” Somar asked.
Taggart said nothing.
Somar knelt beside him. The bodyguards stood back, unsure of what they should do. They were watching, bewildered, as the strangeness unfolded around them.
“Can I help you?” Somar asked. “Are you injured?”
Taggart looked up and met Somar’s gaze. The Esool Captain saw immediately that something was very wrong. The eyes before him belonged to Taggart, but the essence behind them did not. “Please,” the new man said. “I don’t know what has happened. I feel … strange.”
Somar helped him to his feet. The man thanked him. “Where … where is my wife?” he asked.
“Your wife? As far as I recall, you are not married.”
Taggart shook his head. “No, my wife’s name is Angela. Angela Alan. She was with me. She went into stasis at the same time I did.”
Somar looked into Taggart’s eyes and saw there that he was telling the truth. Which could mean only one thing. “Louis? Louis Alan?”
The man looked at him. There was a brief instant, a quick electric expression, that Somar thought might be Taggart, struggling to return. But it faded as quickly as it appeared, and the man before him stood a bit straighter. “Yes. I’m Louis Alan. I’m the Chief Science Officer of First Colony, from Earth. Please … take me to my wife.”