Grinning, Robb jumped out of his craft and came over to her. “Who taught you to fly like that without killing you first, Tamblyn?”

“Some of us just have inborn skill, Brindle … and some people will never learn, no matter how much they practice.”

The drill sergeants congratulated them on their score. Many of the trainees grudgingly admitted defeat, while others still gave the Roamer girl a cold shoulder. Brindle accompanied her toward the mess hall, though Tasia wanted to use her water ration and shower first.

“Those exercises are too damn long,” he said, heaving a big sigh.

“They won’t always be just games, you know.” Her gaze hardened. “General Lanyan is pushing us hard for a major assault. Count on it. It’s bound to come soon.”

Robb seemed unsettled by the prospect. “The EDF is still gathering intelligence. We won’t fight the aliens until we have the best chance of winning.”

Tasia scratched her shaggy hair and thought again of Ross and the Blue Sky Mine and how the enormous facility had been so mercilessly destroyed.

“The sooner the better,” she said.

95: MARGARET COLICOS

95MARGARET COLICOS

In the silent desert night on Rheindic Co, Louis Colicos and the green priest Arcas engaged in a card game, using DD as a third player. Margaret sat by herself in her sleep tent, listening to the tinny music of “Greensleeves” from the music box her son had given her.

For hours she had pondered the Klikiss hieroglyphics from the newly discovered city. Although the first abandoned metropolis held many wonders, this isolated section offered more opportunities, more mysteries, and more clues.

The trapezoidal “stone window” intrigued her most of all. She’d been unable to translate the markings on the separate tiles that ringed the blank sheet of rock. The symbols bore no correlation to the mathematics or storytelling words she had previously deciphered.

Inside the quiet tent, the music box finished its tinkling tune. Out of habit, Margaret reached over to rewind it, but stopped. Instead, she listened to the gentle darkness outside. Nearby, she heard Louis laughing, Arcas rattling game tokens, and DD’s mechanical voice repeating the score.

Restless in her frustration but not wanting to join the silly games that kept her husband sane, Margaret finished her cup of tepid tea, stood up, and stretched. She stepped out of her tent into the starlight.

The night was warm and motionless, the air like a transparent blanket. As she walked out into the shadows, Margaret suddenly stopped, seeing an ominous silhouette in front of her. It looked like a hole in the night, a shape that dully reflected the stars. She heard smooth movements, a hard clacking sound, articulated joints … then, with a flash, scarlet optical sensors ignited, shining out like demon’s eyes.

“Margaret Colicos, do not be alarmed. I was conserving energy,” the robot said, “and reassessing my database.”