“Hmmm,” Fletcher said, thinking. “It was a house cat. I’m certain. I suspect it means the New Men did not gas the city.”

“Sir?”

“That will be all,” the admiral said.

The briefing officer nodded before saluting, turning sharply and leaving.

Fletcher waited another minute, collecting his thoughts. Then, he told the captain to send a message to the Excalibur. The landing party was to search for mass graves.

“May I ask a question, Admiral?” the captain said.

“The cat could have been away when the New Men gassed the others.”

“Sir?” the captain asked, confused.

“Send the message. The sooner the landing parties start searching, the sooner I’ll know the truth.”

“Yes, sir,” the captain said. “I will send the message.”

***

Two days later, Fletcher ordered the fleet out of the New Venezuela System. He was behind his own maneuver schedule, having given the landing parties more time to hunt for mass graves. They had found nothing. As far as anyone knew, no people were on New Venezuela III. It was a ghost planet.

Fletcher was stretched on his cot in his quarters. He had his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling bulkhead.

The landing parties had found no traces of gas. That theory seemed wrong. Could the New Men have forced everyone onto shuttles, carrying them into waiting cargo haulers? The implication was too…staggering. Moving several million people would take a vast logistical effort. Yes, New Venezuela had been under the enemy’s control for almost two years. Yet, that would imply the New Men had been moving people from the beginning. Did that make sense?

“If I knew the reason it might,” Fletcher told himself.

Why would the enemy drop hell-burners on one planet and take the people from another? Maybe New Venezuela III was an anomaly.

The Grand Fleet was halfway through “C” Quadrant already. More data would soon begin to flow in from the courier ships. He would simply have to bide his time for now.

A grim smile touched the admiral’s lips. Finally, they had found something different, not just a radioactive planet. That would indicate…what exactly?

Fletcher shook his head. He didn’t know. His gut told him it was time to recall all the ships and begin tiptoeing again as a giant group. He hated having the fleet spread out like this among several star systems. Was the enemy trying to lull them?

Yes. I know they are. We’re just going to have to be smarter than that.

He would have to let the enemy strike one of the elements in order for the others to believe his caution was the best course.

Hannibal taught the Romans that, although the Carthaginian almost destroyed them before they learned their lesson. I’m going to have to play this just right.

Thinking about it kept the admiral awake for hours.

-4-