He'd been worried that the POWs might pose a threat to the carrier.  As XO, it was his job to worry about such possibilities.  But right now, looking at their blank faces, he knew that they posed no threat.  The real problem was keeping them alive long enough to get to a proper medical facility.  Ark Royal’s sickbay was huge – frigates and other smaller ships were meant to ship their casualties to the carrier – but it wasn't large enough to handle three hundred former POWs.

“Get them sedated,” the doctor ordered, briskly.

“Move them to another room first,” James ordered, silently grateful for the over-engineering Ark Royal’s designers had indulged in.  There was plenty of space for the POWs, once they were away from the shuttlebay.  “The shuttles have to go out again.”

His communicator bleeped.  “You’ll need to secure the brig,” the Captain ordered.  “They caught some aliens.”

James nodded, grimly.  Aliens ... aliens might well pose a real threat.

He turned and directed the reporters to help the doctor and her staff urge the POWs out of the shuttlebay and into their new quarters.  For once, they didn't argue.

***

The alien buildings were right next to the shore, Marcus saw, as he followed Major Parnell towards the odd-looking buildings.  Human prefabricated structures were ugly blocks – designed that way to encourage the inhabitants to work towards building something more aesthetic for themselves – but there was something oddly attractive about the alien buildings.  They glimmered an eerie green and gold, shimmering faintly in the sunlight.  But it was the aliens themselves who really caught his attention.

He'd seen images of the bodies that had been recovered from the wreckage Ark Royal had left in her wake, but this was different.  Up close, the aliens were a shimmering multitude of colours, some bright green, others orange or even yellow.  Compared to them, the difference between white and black humans – or even his father’s brown and his mother’s yellow – looked imperceptible.  He felt a chill running down his spine as he saw one of the aliens staring at him, his – or her – black orbs meeting his and refusing to look away.  It was impossible to escape the feeling that he had been weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Somehow, he managed to pull his gaze away from the alien eyes and inspect the rest of their bodies.  There was something oddly snake-like about their bodies, ululating slightly as if they couldn't stay completely still, despite the weapons pointed at them.  They wore no clothes, as far as he could tell; their skins seemed faintly watery, as if they were used to swimming through the sea.  Perhaps they were, he guessed, as he saw one of the aliens turn to look at the shore.  Chances were they could swim far better than the Marines, no matter how intensely the Marines had trained.