The schlumpernur had faded into scattered showers by the time Major Perkins showed up to receive my latest intel the next morning. We met in her hamvee, so my fireteam could stay in the house while it rained. "Ma'am, I don't know if most of what she's telling me is bullshit or not, but she isn't lying about us not hearing from home. Is UNEF HQ getting any communications from Earth?"

The pained expression on her face told me all I needed to know. "That's above your pay grade, Sergeant, and mine."

"My guys," I nodded toward the house, "have been asking about it."

She looked at me sharply. "You didn't say anything?"

"No, ma'am. They know I'm meeting with the burgermeister, and they know you're Division intel, and they can put two and two together, but I haven't said anything to them, and they haven't asked. They don't need me to tell them we haven't heard squat from Earth. It's all over zPhone traffic." With zPhones, rumors that would have been confined to a single unit had flown around the planet. No one I'd contacted had received a single message from Earth. And Cornpone told me a supply guy he knew said shipments of food from Earth had been spotty recently. And that among supplies coming in now were seeds, like the Kristang expected us to grow our own food.

"Sergeant," she looked away at the rain, "I know as much as you do. UNEF HQ doesn't tell me any more than I need to know. Be careful what you say on the net," she pointed to the roof of the hamvee, "our friends are listening."

At 0400 a couple days later, my zPhone rang. Having a zPhone was great in many ways, in one way it was not so great: Command could reach you anytime, anywhere. Reach you personally, not call a radio operator who then had to go find you. I swung my legs onto the floor and sat up straight, someone told me that makes you sound more alert to be upright when you get startled out of a sound sleep. "Sergeant Bishop here."

"Bishop, this is Lt. Charles. Your fireteam is bugging out today to come back here, we need you packed up and on the move by 0900. "

That got me fully awake. "What's going on, sir?"

"You'll get a briefing when you get here."

"Yes, sir," I replied, but he'd already hung up.