Chapter 48: To Earth

“Cathy, may I present Jem and Laine,” I said in Ori.

Jem looked puzzled.

Cathy read her tablet then looked up at Jem. “I’m pleased to meet you,” she replied in English.

I directed Jem and Laine to look at the wall display. They read a transcript, including her response in Ori on the left.

“Very good, Brian. I assume her device is a portable version?” asked Jem.

Cathy nodded.

“Cathy, have they explained what happened to you?” asked Jem.

“Not yet,” came her response on the wall display.

“The other creatures abducted you from Earth. They were taking you to their home world for study, but we rescued you. We can return you to Earth if you wish, or you can stay with us,” said Jem.

Cathy read her tablet. “Thank you for rescuing me. Are you Human?”

“No, I am Baglogi. Our two races are very similar,” replied Jem.

“Oh,” said Cathy.

“Perhaps she is tired. Cathy, would you like to see your cabin?” asked Laine.

Cathy read her tablet. “Yes, please.”

Laine held out her hand. “I’m Laine. I am from Quard by the way.”

Cathy took her hand and read the text on her tablet. They left together to find her cabin.

“Jem, you have to try this Earth drink called soda. It has bubbles in it,” said Mina.

Jem picked up a glass of the sparkling beverage and tasted it. “Oh wow! That is different.”

Soon she was sampling the various flavours as we had done.

“Commodore, I never thought I would say this but I want us to travel to the Earth system,” I said.

“Yes,” replied Jem.

“I want to deploy enough probes to defend against the Tians and any other space-faring races,” I said.

“Yes,” replied Jem.

“We can return Cathy to Earth if that is what she chooses,” I said.

“I already said yes, Commander,” replied Jem with a smirk.

“Thank you, Commodore. Ship, retrieve probes and take the task group to the Earth system,” I said.

“Confirmed. Recalling probes,” replied Ship.

Our two vessels turned and accelerated in formation. Soon after, we winked out of normal space.

Our journey to Earth would take about three days. I returned to my cabin to resume my sleep. Cathy would be further distraction for my crewmates, or so I figured.

Jem turned up in my cabin. She sat on my bed.

“You handled the Tians well. Interstellar law requires us to render aid to a vessel in distress, and you did that. Abducting beings from a closed world is wrong, and I support the position you took,” said Jem.

I sat up and looked at her.

“My mother went through hell on Tian Prime. She eventually killed herself when she could stand it no longer. I was the only reason she did not do it sooner,” I said.

Jem touched my arm. “No more Humans will suffer abduction as she did. I talked with Quon and he has agreed to remain in the Earth system to manage the system defences, just as Molly does in the Baglogi system.”

“Thank you, Commodore. And thank you, Quon. I appreciate that,” I said.

“Confirmed. The Earth system will soon be under our protection. It will be my honour,” replied Quon.

I smiled at Jem.

“Laine and Cathy are getting along well. With Ship’s translation device, they can’t stop talking,” said Jem.

“I’m glad. At one point, her infatuation with me made life difficult. She needs someone to share with,” I said.

“It helps Cathy too. The abduction was traumatic,” said Jem.

“I’m glad they both gain from the sharing. But if Cathy returns to Earth, won’t that hurt Laine?” I said.

“We will support her if needed,” said Jem.

I nodded.

“Attention, Commander,” said Ship.

“What is it, Ship,” I replied.

“As part of decontamination, I completed a full scan of Cathy,” said Ship.

“Is she well?” I asked.

“Confirmed. But I discovered her DNA has similarities to yours. It suggests that she is perhaps a relative of yours, through your father’s side,” said Ship.

“I never knew my father,” I said.

“Her facial features have elements in common with yours, Brian,” said Jem.

“She might be a cousin or more likely a second cousin,” added Ship.

“Let’s not share this news with her yet. I don’t want to influence her decision. She still has a chance of reuniting with her family and living a normal Human life on Earth,” I said.

“But now you know that you could have family members on Earth,” said Jem.

“I have nothing in common with them, and they are better not knowing me. Cathy has knowledge of our existence, but the damage is limited and nobody will believe her. You are my family now,” I said.

Jem smiled. Somehow I’d stumbled on the right thing to say.

Three days later, Ship gave us warning, and we waited in the main bridge as we came out of hyper drive at the edge of the Earth system. Laine had invited Cathy to sit with us and watch.

The tactical display showed a yellow star surrounded by various planets. Earth was the third planet.

“At this point the inhabitants of Earth cannot see us. When we get closer, we will have to cloak our vessels,” said Jem.

“Ship, Quon, please deploy the probes for system defence,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“Confirmed,” replied Quon.

On the display, we watched several blue dots representing the probes. They left our position and spread out to form a perimeter defence.

“Quon, please assume command of the system defence network,” I said.

“Confirmed,” was all it said. The Baglogi star cruiser cloaked and moved off to patrol the system.

“I will miss Quon. We rescued his hull from Yastri three and rebuilt all his systems. Thanks to Quon, we rescued Jem and returned Koluna’s body to her family,” I said.

“My brother Quon served in the security forces around Ori Major. He would be proud that his namesake has earned such an honour. It is fitting that this Quon protects the people of Earth,” said Mina.

“Too bad they will never know,” I said.

“Earth is a closed world, they can never know,” said Jem.

“Agreed Commodore,” I replied.

Cathy was following our discussion on her tablet. “So you are now protecting this solar system?” she asked.

Her question popped up on the tactical display, translated into Ori.

“Yes, Cathy. The aliens who abducted you can never do that again,” replied Jem.

Cathy read her tablet and smiled.

“Now you have to decide. If you want to return to your planet, we can take you home. If you want to stay with us, we cannot return you later,” said Jem.

Cathy read what Jem said on her tablet. She took her time, studying the words carefully.

“I thank you for rescuing me. It was amazing to get to know you, but I must go home. My family and friends are there,” she said.

She was going home.

“Ship, please cloak and take us to Earth,” I said.

“Confirmed. I suggest hiding behind the moon. You can take a cloaked shuttle from there,” replied Ship.

“Agreed. Take us in,” I said.

Ship accelerated, and we moved toward the Earth.

“Cathy, since you are going home, I must ask you to keep our existence a secret. The people of Earth are not ready to learn of other races, or that we set up a system defence,” said Jem.

Cathy read her tablet. “No one would believe me,” she replied.

“I also cannot let you take any advanced technology back with you. You must leave your tablet device in the shuttle. Brian will escort you back to your home,” said Jem.

Cathy read her tablet. “I understand.”

“You have about an hour,” said Jem.

An hour later, Ship arrived at the far side of Earth’s only moon. Cathy had changed clothes into something that resembled Earth clothing. Ship provided me with an away team uniform that looked less alien.

We gathered in the shuttle bay.

“Cathy, here is where we say goodbye. Brian is an excellent shuttle pilot. He will take you from here to your home. I cannot risk our vessel being seen from Earth,” said Jem.

Cathy read her tablet. “Thank you Commodore,” she said in Ori. Someone must have taught her that.

Jem smiled. I gestured to the airlock for the shuttle, and we entered. The others moved out of the shuttle bay.

I took the pilot’s seat and Cathy sat beside me. I did my pre-flight checks and soon we exited from Ship and pulled away.

“This is so cool! I haven’t seen the moon this close before,” said Cathy.

I looked at her tablet to understand. “Ship has given me coordinates for your hometown,” I said.

“Yes, Ship helped me find it on a map,” she replied.

Our shuttle was soon to emerge from behind the moon, so I activated the cloaking device. I did not want Earth to detect us.

We emerged from behind the moon and saw the Earth. This was the planet where my mother was born. It was not my home planet. It reminded me of Yastri three, because it was mostly blue.

We had to make half an orbit of Earth before we descended. My console informed me it was nighttime at the landing zone. This was fortunate, since I didn’t know how well a cloaking device worked in daylight.

“Brian, this view of Earth is amazing!” said Cathy. I suppose few Humans had made it into orbit, so this was a treat for her.

We began our descent. I took it slowly, so we didn’t become visible in the upper atmosphere. The friction makes the outer hull hot, and a glowing object would be noticeable.

As we dropped further, we slowed to subsonic and proceeded on course. Below us we could see lights of cities passing by below us.

My console informed me we were arriving at the landing zone. I fired thrusters to slow our descent, and we came to land in a vacant area near a cluster of trees.

“We are landed. Your home should be in that direction,” I said.

Cathy read her tablet. “I recognize this field. Will you escort me to my parent’s home?”