Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

Clare looked at him solemnly, before bursting out in a loud laugh we hadn’t heard from her before. Eggs spilled out of her mouth, and a snort or two followed, causing more laughter. Soon we were all red in the face, tears filling our eyes for no reason but happiness.

E arth was so close I could almost smell it.

I zoomed in and could finally see the planet in all its beautiful glory.

“Wait. What is that?” Mary asked, pointing to the viewscreen as we raced toward our home. We were all anxious to be back, to set foot on the green grass and take a deep breath of good old American air.

I looked where she was pointing and saw what she meant.

“It looks like a station.” My heart jumped in my chest. Had Earth been invaded while we were gone?

“Slate, stay back for a moment. We can hide, but you can’t.”

“Affirmative, boss,” he replied from the comm-link speaker. His icon slowed and pulled away, heading back the way we’d come from. “Be careful.”

“Let’s come around slowly,” I suggested, and Mary nodded along.

The minutes went by slowly, none of us speaking for fear we would jinx something. Maybe if we blinked, the station would be gone, and everything would be back to normal when we landed. Instead, we saw the picture more clearly the nearer we got.

It was a space station of an intricate design. Ships much like ours hovered nearby, their cloaking not activated. No one seemed to be frantic, so it didn’t seem like a battle was happening.

“What’s happening?” Clare stood at the front of the bridge, touching the viewscreen with her right palm.

“Something tells me they’ve made some changes,” I said.

“In two months?” she retorted.

“What do we do?” Mary asked.

Before I could suggest anything, our radio silence ended. “Identify yourselves, unmarked cloaked ship.” The voice was tense, but in English, and not alien. That was a good sign.

“What’s going on? Can we speak with Dalhousie?” I asked, trying to add authority to my voice.

“Dalhousie? I repeat, identify yourselves.” The voice was getting angrier.

“We’re members of the Earth Defense Unit. Dean Parker here.”

Silence greeted us from the other end of the comm. Mary looked at me and I just shrugged.

“Did you say Dean Parker? What kind of BS is this?” a different voice asked.

“This isn’t bull. I’m Dean Parker, we were sent on a mission by General Heart just before they left. We’re back.”

“That’s impossible,” the voice said. “You’d better come and dock. We need to talk. Ask for Chen.”

“Do we trust this?” I asked, hoping Mary would have a gut feeling about it.

“What choice do we have? Leave?” she asked. Clare’s eyes widened at this.

“Slate, we’re going to find out what’s happening. It looks like the station is Earth’s. You want to join us?” I asked.

“Be right there, boss.”

We waited for him to arrive, and we disengaged our cloaking tech. Together we flew toward the large station, and instructions for docking were sent to our consoles. Things had changed here. But how had they done it so fast?

The station’s outer ring was circular, and not far off the design of the Deltra one we’d first seen the Bhlat on a few weeks ago. The same type of wheel was spinning, and that meant gravity. In the center of it were three huge uniform sections, channels leading between them. This place was bigger than I’d thought when we first laid eyes on it, at least four times the size of the Deltra station.

Behind, or underneath, depending on your perspective, a large hangar sat, a one-way force field letting us in but maintaining pressure. It was quite the feat. A dozen ships like ours sat there, empty.

“Dean, my gut’s telling me something’s wrong,” Mary whispered in my ear. I glanced at Nick, who was staring out the viewscreen with his jaw dropped just enough to look comical.

“We’ll soon find out.”

It had been quite some time since we’d used the ramp to walk off the ship, and my legs were anxious to be off the moving vessel. I led the way toward the storage area, hitting the ramp trigger, and it lowered to reveal two men in a uniform not too far from ours. If ours was an Earth Defense uniform, these were the two-point-oh version. Where ours were gray, they wore black, with a new logo featuring a blue planet, EDU stitched underneath.

I raised an eyebrow to Mary and she looked down at our uniforms, me feeling a little out of place suddenly.

The two guards were young, one man and one woman. We walked down the metal ramp, and they stood there watching us with wide eyes.

“It is you,” the brown-haired man said, hardly audible in the large hangar.

“And you’re you.” I stuck my hand out, shaking both of theirs, one after the other. The rest of our group followed suit, and we learned these two were Haley and Devon.

“The Hero of Earth. I had your poster on my wall,” Devon said.

Poster? “Wait, what?” I stammered.

Slate’s ship settled down across the hangar, and he beamed out of it. Quite the show. His long strides allowed him to cross the distance quickly.

He smiled at the others, the girls hugging the big guy, and Nick gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. He didn’t look me in the eyes, but he said, “I’m sorry, boss.”

I turned to stand right in front of him. “I don’t blame you for anything. Let’s see what all this is about.”

“General Chen wants to see you. Follow us,” Haley said, turning on her heel to walk us away from the hangar.

Nick and Clare walked just behind Mary and me, Slate bringing up the rear. Soon we left through a large doorway and were in a hall with what looked like polished concrete floors and composite walls. Definitely more style to it than the Deltra station we’d seen.

Other uniformed people walked by, some ignoring us, some openly staring. I just smiled at them all, wondering what the hell was going on.

“Right this way,” Devon said, his arm suggesting we walk into a room without him.

“Thanks, you two,” Mary said to the young guards.

We stepped forward, the doors sliding to the side with a soft hiss. The room we entered was a large office, and an older man sat behind a black marble table in the middle of the space, chairs placed all around with room to seat twenty or so.

He motioned us in, standing up and walking toward us with a big smile across his lined face. “If someone had told me the five of you would be showing up on my doorstep, I’d have bet my life it would never happen. Shows what I know.”

“Who are you?” I asked, apparently breaching some protocol, judging by his surprise at my question.

He looked serious, then started to laugh. “I’m General Chen. William Chen. I suppose you’re curious just why we have a station here, and how so much has changed since you left.”

“What we don’t understand is how you did all of this in such a short period of time,” Clare said.

He laughed again. “Yes, I suppose seven years is a quick turnaround to build this, but with the new technology, and the world working together for it, we had it operational in five.”

My stomach flipped. The room was suddenly far too warm as my pulse raced. Deep breath, deep breath. Clare flopped onto a chair, her face drooping, tears falling down her face. Slate stood as stone-faced as his namesake, and Mary looked far too calm as well. Nick just seemed confused by it.

“Are you telling us we’ve been gone for seven years ?” Nick asked, sliding into the seat beside Clare and putting an arm around her shoulders.

“That’s right. We have a lot to discuss. What of the hybrids?” he asked, and finally looked around as if realizing someone was missing. “Mae?”