Peter David - After Earth

“You fool!”

“That is no way to speak to your boss,” Lider said, slumping in his chair, ceding the room’s domination to Kincaid. The man tended to go for large gestures, speaking with his hands, making faces when he couldn’t speak out. Now he was letting it all hang out, and Lider steeled himself for the harangue.

“He’s an inexperienced kid!” Kincaid said loudly.

“We’ve covered that. His record is exemplary, with more action than those with twice the seniority,” Lider reminded him.

“Like that’s going to matter in the months ahead! We’re about to go straight to hell and need an experienced hand running that operation,” Kincaid said, dropping his voice just a notch below a bellow.

“At least we agree on cutting it loose,” Lider said, wishing he had a call from some world leader. Any world leader. “Supreme Commander is as much logistics as public relations. He’s young, good-looking, and a war hero. He will project that confident image we need to keep selling the world that this is our best course of action. He’ll surround himself with experienced hands, but he needs to be the public face.”

Kincaid exhaled in frustration.

“Damian, you were outvoted. And now you’re trying to spread your sour grapes over my carpet. I should think you know better than this. Skyler Raige has everything we want and need for the role. He’s what the Security Council wanted when I said it was time for the Rangers to be independent. He’s a youthful, vigorous presence. He has demonstrated an innate understanding of people, making him an ideal leader. Best, he’ll be a calming force when everyone else, yourself included, is shrieking at the top of their lungs.”

Lider had said similar words days earlier when the final vote had been taken and Kincaid was one of several who remained adamant that someone with more experience was required. But as Kincaid himself had just pointed out, everyone was headed into uncharted territory. Experience or additional years were not really a measure.

“We formed the Rangers in 2052 when it was clear we needed a global force. We’ve been training them for less than fifteen years. Who will really have more than Raige’s nine years’ experience and service record? I challenged you to give me alternative qualified names, and you failed to find one better equipped. Why are you so opposed to him?”

Kincaid spun about, jabbing a finger in Lider’s direction. “Because as we face total annihilation, I’d like us to have total faith in our leadership. He’s not even thirty, and you’re about to entrust him with the largest army this world has seen since the Roman Empire.”

“Let me remind you, Damian, Alexander was barely thirty when he ruled much of the civilized world,” Lider said. “Don’t be so hung up on age as opposed to the man’s character. He’s proven himself.”

“Is that what you’ll tell the generals who now have to salute a kid?”

“If they can make an appointment and get into this room, yes, that is what I will tell them.”

“I cannot abide the disrespect you’re showing to the natural order of things,” Kincaid said.

Lider had had enough. He rose and stared up at the younger, larger man. “The natural order was tossed out decades ago. We’re making every effort to preserve a tiny sliver of this world, and we need everyone on board, headed in the same direction, pulling their own weight. Pick your cliché, but I need to move forward and not waste time this world no longer has on rehashing decisions the committee made.

“Either support Raige or get out of the way.”

Kincaid let it all sink in and thought very carefully for maybe a second. “Fine, I’ll get out of the way. While you’re busy touting the kid, I’ll be tendering my resignation, telling the media that you have squandered the Rangers’ best chance for making a miracle happen.”

With that, the man stormed from the office, taking all his pent-up energy with him.

Lider sank back into his seat, realizing he wasn’t going to miss Kincaid. He was capable, sure, but he was far from a team player. What his former employee seemed to have missed was that, in Lider’s mind, Raige was Earth’s last chance for greatness.

Hours after his conversation with Velan, Kitai finally had managed to clean up his face. He felt as if it had taken him days. He kept staring into the mirror, and all he could see was a vision of misery and frustration. He knew he wasn’t wrong in thinking that, because when his mother had come home, she had taken one look at him and mutely opened her arms to him.

But he’d been ready for that. All he did was wave it off casually, as if the failure of his aspirations was simply another problem that would be dealt with in the course of time. Faia naturally did not believe that for a second, but she was stymied by his determined reluctance to discuss it. She folded her arms across her chest, stared at him for a few moments, and then said simply, “If you want to talk about it, I’ll be happy to listen.”

But he wasn’t interested in discussing it. Instead, after showering and dressing for his father’s arrival, he contented himself with staring out the window that enabled him to look out over the entire city. Many apartments within the structure had no actual windows. Instead, they had to settle for holograms that enabled them to see re-creations of different Nova Prime visuals. The dwellers there would swear that their view was better since they could change it at will, but Kitai was sure that they were just making excuses. Nothing was as good as seeing the real life of Nova Prime.

The twin suns were in the process of setting. This was his favorite time of the day, when one sun was disappearing and the other was still in the sky. It dropped a gorgeous haze over the horizon and made him proud to be a resident of Nova Prime City.

Faia had arranged the food on the table already because she knew exactly how her husband liked things to be when he came home. She looked it over with satisfaction and then checked her watch. Her husband was running late. Her husband never ran late, and that was enough to tell her that someone else was running late and delaying her husband, and her husband was doubtless going to be complaining about it when he came home.

No reason she couldn’t minimize his reasons for complaining when he came home. “Kitai, care to sit?”

He looked away from his view of the city and stared at her in confusion for a moment. Then he shrugged inwardly. If his mother wanted him seated, he’d be seated. He took his customary chair at the table, smoothing out the lines of his jacket. As he did so, Faia brought out the actual foodstuffs. Some lettuce from her garden to start, followed by baked sartori, a cowlike creature that was native to Nova Prime and widely grown in farms around the planet for eating purposes. Not the cheapest meal she could have put out, but worth it considering that her husband and Kitai’s father had been gone for months.

He’s always gone for months .

The bleak thought filtered through Kitai’s mind, and he hated himself for even thinking about it, because when he dwelled on his father’s lengthy absences for too long, he always started thinking about why his dad was away for so long. It could well have been the reason he always gave: business. And since his business involved protecting the people of Nova Prime, what was Kitai supposed to say in response to that?

I know the reason you’re never around. It’s because you can’t stand to look at me because I can’t cut it as a Ranger . Yes, that would definitely go over well.

Faia seated herself across from her son and folded her fingers. So that was what they were going to do? Just wait for his father to show up? This was going to be unbridled excitement.