Prologue
Many years ago on a world far from Earth…
The hunters fanned out over the field, weapons at the ready. They knew what was at stake. Behind them, their city stood as a constant reminder. Behind them, their families were starving. Behind them, people were dying.
All because of these stupid vermin.
They walked through fields that once fed thousands. The food was gone, eaten. They were running out of options. The little bastards seemed to reproduce as quickly as they killed them.
They’d kept them out of the city, at least. It was little consolation, though. The king had sent reinforcements, sent resources from other cities. But with the Tannar long dead, no beasts could carry loads large enough to feed an entire city, not if they needed to keep those loads safe from the creatures that had laid siege to their home.
His feet crunched through the broken plants, hands squeezing and relaxing on his weapons as they moved forward in a line. He constantly reminded himself to keep his muscles relaxed. Usually, it wasn’t an issue, but usually, he didn’t have this much on his shoulders. As a hunter working for the city, he eliminated wayward predators or the odd creature eating their crops. In his free time, he killed animals to help feed his family and sold what they couldn’t use. It wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding.
It certainly wasn’t this stressful.
Something moved, shifting some flattened, dying vegetation, and he pounced, swinging out with his blade. It lodged hard into the earth, jarring his arm, but a creature squealed, flailing and dislodging the crops hiding it. The men and women around him tensed, wanting to join in, but they couldn’t. They couldn’t break rank.
Break rank, and the city would be lost.
He pulled back and swung again. With a final squeak, it stopped moving. Blood dripped from the tip of his long blade as he pulled it from the ground. He glanced to each side of him and smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes.
Then someone screamed. He tensed again, lifting his weapon, and his mouth dropped.
A swarm of them, small and deadly, surged toward them, slipping out of the field they’d decimated. He caught motion in his peripheral vision, and he swung as the beasts reached their line. It sounded like a battle erupted as the blade connected, sending the little monster flying through the air.
Then the tempo of the fight changed. The screams increased. Someone yelled, “Run!”
He looked up and around him. More than half the hunters had fallen. Most were running, and it looked like a sea of brown bodies were flooding toward them.
We’ve lost.
Chapter 1
Day 1
“Happy Christmas,” Emma said to the empty control room as she looked at the planet that would soon be home, at least for the next couple years. It looked a lot like Earth from orbit, but it had just enough differences to make it feel… wrong. Too much uninterrupted water. Landmasses in the wrong places. Uncanny Valley, that was the term used in robotics for this feeling.
Still, they’d traveled here for a reason. They had a mission, and she was excited to see it through. The phrase she’d once heard on Doctor Who never seemed more apropos: “Halfway through the dark.” They’d arrived, but the battle had yet to begin.
By the Earth calendar they’d continued to use, it had just chimed midnight on Christmas Eve. It would be the longest Christmas Eve and Christmas ever since the planet they were about to set foot on had 72 hour days. But the atmosphere, temperature, and other essential elements all resembled Earth. At least, that was what the scientists had said.
Emma had just piloted the mission. Most people here looked down on her. At least, everyone but the children. The children all marveled at her controls, trying to press buttons and touch displays. They took turns playing at pilot, and she sat back with a smile, knowing they couldn’t harm anything without the codes.
She loved children, but the life she’d chosen didn’t exactly lend to having any herself. She’d known that going in, had accepted it. Even so, this mission was making her seriously rethink her chosen career. She loved flying, loved spaceships, but she was looking forward to the upcoming mission.
They would live on this planet for a couple years before she and the crew returned for Earth. She’d thought it would be fun, an adventure. They would be living in a tight-knit settler community. They would be building something. In a way, it reminded her of growing up on her parents’ farm, which was part of the reason her CO had chosen her for this mission. With her agricultural experience, engineering degree, and pilot credentials, she was the perfect pick.
Unfortunately, the people here didn’t see it that way. They didn’t like her. The parents shooed their children away when they caught them playing in the control room. They scowled at her, making their disdain for her obvious. To them, Emma was a necessary evil made obsolete once they landed. After all, what use was a pilot once they settled planet-side?
Emma chose not to think about their cold looks and snide comments. Her career and childhood had left her damn close to an expert in construction, farming, and repairing technology. She knew she would be useful, even if they refused to accept it. They just saw her as a hotshot pilot that would be about as useful as tits on a bull once they landed. They didn’t know or care that she’d never been the wild type, that she’d never fit in with the other pilots. She’d never played it fast and loose, never slept around. In fact, after years of finding no one attractive, she’d finally figured she was probably asexual and moved on. It had made her an outsider, but she tried not to let it get her down. That was only one part of her life, a part she didn’t need to be happy. She preferred to look at the bright side, setting her sights on a goal and steamrolling toward it.
Unfortunately, her unending good cheer and determination had been tested to its limits on the trip to HD 85512 b. Humanity had discovered the planet in the early 21st century, but had only recently concluded that it could sustain human life.
Emma opened the intercom. “Happy Christmas, ladies and gents. We are about to start our descent to HD 85512 b. Please secure all items and strap yourselves into your appropriate seating. Descent will begin in ten minutes.”
And now for the waiting.
* * *
“Alright, loves. It’s time for our final descent. Make certain your harnesses are secured, and we will commence shortly.” Emma had spent the last ten minutes orbiting the planet, the computer scanning potential landing sites. Now, she inputted the chosen coordinates, calculated the trajectory, and let the computer plot the smoothest course. The SmartGlass popped up a glowing green line that stretched across her view of the planet and space, indicating the path she should take. Blue water and white clouds served as backdrop, with the black of space framing it.
With a few finger swipes and a push of the control sticks, she moved them forward, following the calculated path. Resistance increased as the Endeavour entered the planet’s atmosphere, and its gravitational pull tried to draw them down. A red hue built across the SmartGlass while a gentle vibration hummed through her wherever she connected with the ship. While the gravity proved stronger than she’d expected, the engines did their job, responding with alacrity. But at more than three times Earth’s size, the forces surprised her, and she had to remind herself to pull up more.
They passed through white, puffy clouds, and the planet stretched out before her—big blue oceans sprinkled with smaller islands and a single large continent they would soon land on. “Brilliant,” she said, reverence in her voice and emotion nearly choking her. She watched the continent below, marveling at the untouched beauty of it. No roads, lights, buildings. Just a cross-shaped mountain range running through its center and purple vegetation as far as the eye could see. It almost felt wrong to land there, to contaminate it with their presence. After all, they would only destroy it. It was what humans did.
Emma passed the continent, nearly never-ending blue flying by underneath her. She would pass the continent six more times before they could land. This planet had a lot more water than Earth did. “I wonder if it’s salt or fresh water.” Probably salt water, just like on Earth.
Another few passes and the excitement inside her grew to the point of bursting. A grin graced her face, and that all too familiar exhilaration surged through her once more. She should have been a fighter pilot, she supposed, because she could live for this feeling. But she chose to join NASA rather than NSS or even Air Force.
The SmartGlass’s red tint from reentry faded as the ship slowed. Emma resisted the urge to hold her breath as she approached the landing site. She slowed the ship, adjusting the angle of descent, and activated the vertical thrusters. The thrusters roared as they tried to keep the ship airborne. They hovered in the air for a moment, then sank to the ground with a soft thud. Perfect landing.
“We’ve landed on HD 85512 b. You may now unfasten your harnesses and move about the ship once more.” Emma ended the broadcast and popped the clasp on her own harness, flipping the straps over her head. Outside the SmartGlass, a truly alien world greeted her. Green grasses tipped in blue pollen swayed in a breeze in the large meadow they’d landed in while trees with almost black bark and a canopy of bright purple foliage stood in the periphery. A lopsided grin crossed her face, and she laughed. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
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