core, and caressed it. The vessel responded, the echo of an alien child cooing throughout the ship.
***
Waking up in his quarters, Julian saw blackness outside the window — the ship had returned to normal space.
Orbiting nearby trolled a gas giant, streams of cumulous white streaking across its vapor shell. The vessel’s destination was the fourth moon, a globular crumb of rock in the face of its mammoth companion.
A fleet had stationed themselves around it, forming a churning moving mass of ships. As they flew closer, Julian could see vessels of all kinds, dotting the space in different shapes and colors. Military cruisers lurked in the cold open as giant shadows standing watch. Floating about were the dozens of cargo craft and transport ships, blazing in the night with a rainbow of electronic lights. The outpost itself was entrenched on an airless low gravity planetoid, pocketed by meteors and sheets of ice that looked like lesions. The vessel carrying Julian gradually ascended down, flying toward the camouflaged base, its color granite like the moon itself. Bydandia military base is what it had been called. The structure was divided among five different wings, with a central spherical core. Like a mechanical spider clamped to the ground, the base opened a hanger bay door at its abdomen, with the bio-ship swooping in and then landing.
He stepped off the landing bridge protruding out from the underbelly of the vessel. While the walkway itself was a mechanical construction, built out of metal, Julian could look and see the outer hull of the ship was not. It was entirely black, and seemed to be made out of space itself, the surface like a liquid ooze filled with the glitter of stars. He marveled at it, and thought for a moment that he saw a towering dragon. The head of the vessel was shaped like a pointed beast, with a long neck connecting to the rest of its body. Two wings drooped from the side, the craft both fierce and imposing as it perched above Julian.
The hanger bay he now found himself in was a vast dome, the sounds of machinery echoing within the airy structure. Smaller and tightly-built cargo vessels surrounded him, each one unloaded by human dock workers.
The New Terran commander walked down, still behind him.
< You will be debriefed by your government’s officials soon now. I am confident they will work hard to help you.>
Placing his two feet on the outpost base, Julian turned around and stared at the specialist, her unnaturally young face smiling once again.
< I’ve contacted medical staff to begin the transfer. They should arrive shortly. Your friend Nalia will no doubt be fine.>
“Thanks,” he said. “Thanks again for saving us.”
< You would have done the same for me.>
He could see the sincerity in her face. Strange, he thought, to be looking at someone who was more than three centuries older than him, yet had not aged in skin and body. There were others like her, those who had lived one lifetime after another, even among his own people. But she had never technically ever said a word to him. The New Terrans had always been so different. He saw her gaze, in awe at how supremely calm she was.
“Will I see you again?” he asked.
The commander paused.
< I do not know. I will be returning to the main New Terran fleet. We will continue assisting with Haven’s government. But the Endervars have endangered this entire region of space. I hate to provide assurances with this war spreading.>
War. No one could escape it. And for all he knew, this might be last time Julian would see this woman.
“Hopefully our luck doesn’t run out. So far, you and me both have been hard to kill,” he said.
< I’ve enjoyed our time together, even though it was brief.>
Her right hand then rose.
They shook, a firm grip from both their hands.
As the commander left to return to her vessel, Julian walked
***
Waking up in his quarters, Julian saw blackness outside the window — the ship had returned to normal space.
Orbiting nearby trolled a gas giant, streams of cumulous white streaking across its vapor shell. The vessel’s destination was the fourth moon, a globular crumb of rock in the face of its mammoth companion.
A fleet had stationed themselves around it, forming a churning moving mass of ships. As they flew closer, Julian could see vessels of all kinds, dotting the space in different shapes and colors. Military cruisers lurked in the cold open as giant shadows standing watch. Floating about were the dozens of cargo craft and transport ships, blazing in the night with a rainbow of electronic lights. The outpost itself was entrenched on an airless low gravity planetoid, pocketed by meteors and sheets of ice that looked like lesions. The vessel carrying Julian gradually ascended down, flying toward the camouflaged base, its color granite like the moon itself. Bydandia military base is what it had been called. The structure was divided among five different wings, with a central spherical core. Like a mechanical spider clamped to the ground, the base opened a hanger bay door at its abdomen, with the bio-ship swooping in and then landing.
He stepped off the landing bridge protruding out from the underbelly of the vessel. While the walkway itself was a mechanical construction, built out of metal, Julian could look and see the outer hull of the ship was not. It was entirely black, and seemed to be made out of space itself, the surface like a liquid ooze filled with the glitter of stars. He marveled at it, and thought for a moment that he saw a towering dragon. The head of the vessel was shaped like a pointed beast, with a long neck connecting to the rest of its body. Two wings drooped from the side, the craft both fierce and imposing as it perched above Julian.
The hanger bay he now found himself in was a vast dome, the sounds of machinery echoing within the airy structure. Smaller and tightly-built cargo vessels surrounded him, each one unloaded by human dock workers.
The New Terran commander walked down, still behind him.
< You will be debriefed by your government’s officials soon now. I am confident they will work hard to help you.>
Placing his two feet on the outpost base, Julian turned around and stared at the specialist, her unnaturally young face smiling once again.
< I’ve contacted medical staff to begin the transfer. They should arrive shortly. Your friend Nalia will no doubt be fine.>
“Thanks,” he said. “Thanks again for saving us.”
< You would have done the same for me.>
He could see the sincerity in her face. Strange, he thought, to be looking at someone who was more than three centuries older than him, yet had not aged in skin and body. There were others like her, those who had lived one lifetime after another, even among his own people. But she had never technically ever said a word to him. The New Terrans had always been so different. He saw her gaze, in awe at how supremely calm she was.
“Will I see you again?” he asked.
The commander paused.
< I do not know. I will be returning to the main New Terran fleet. We will continue assisting with Haven’s government. But the Endervars have endangered this entire region of space. I hate to provide assurances with this war spreading.>
War. No one could escape it. And for all he knew, this might be last time Julian would see this woman.
“Hopefully our luck doesn’t run out. So far, you and me both have been hard to kill,” he said.
< I’ve enjoyed our time together, even though it was brief.>
Her right hand then rose.
They shook, a firm grip from both their hands.
As the commander left to return to her vessel, Julian walked
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