Prologue
Dr. Miles Walker still wasn’t sure how his mission to Arroxan Prime had ended up going sideways. He probably should have realized that an Earth geology degree wasn’t that much help on another planet, in a whole other galaxy.
But he had tried to follow his orders, but he was a geologist, not a diplomat. It wasn’t his fault that don’t make contact had become how do I handle contact until someone who knows how to do this first contact thing gets here?
It had all seemed to simple before he got here. Discover why a millenniums old sensor had turned on, and if possible, turn it off. The only reason he’d been chosen for the mission was because the sensor registered seismic disruptions. The connection between a sensor malfunction and earthquakes was a little thin, but he’d figured they hadn’t had anyone else to send.
He’d done what he could to solve the problem but under the heading of “expect the unexpected,” his solution might have triggered more problems. Oops. So here he was, stuck on a distant planet, trying to diplomat without starting a war.
Luckily there was an upside.
Miles looked at the upside—Lira Taan—with what he hoped was a serious and thoughtful expression, one minus the utter terror he felt about possibly screwing things up even more. Or getting dissected as an alien.
“How are your people likely to deal with the knowledge they aren’t alone in the universe?” Miles asked.
“It will be fine,” Lira’s father said, neither looking or sounding convinced that fine would happen.
“How did your world take it?” Lira asked.
Her level of confidence in him was as unsettling as her eyes, her lips, her—he gave himself a shake. So far neither Lira or her father had stated that dissection was off the table. He needed to focus.
Miles noticed Harold shift its feet. It was such a human movement for a robot. Miles resisted the urge to follow its example. He probably shouldn’t mention the war that broke out almost immediately upon their Expedition’s arrival in the Garradian Galaxy. Or their mostly paranoid movies and television shows.
“It was great,” he said. “A real party.”
Pollin Sollin almost missed it. He was just pushing back his chair when his equipment registered…something.
He stared at the signal. He’d seen the same thing a few days ago. Was it, could it be, a communication signal?
It matched nothing in his database that was associated with Arroxan Prime’s standard communications. Could it be…an off-world communication?
He tried to tamp down the surge of hope. He’d been here before. He’d seen what could be communication signals broadcasting at a range not used even by their military. And he had been disappointed time and again.
But....even the signals he broadcast in hopes of reaching something, or someone, weren’t at the range this one registered on his equipment.
He hesitated, then settled back down in front of his broadcasting equipment and dialed his signal up. His finger hovered over the command to send it out into the cosmos. He wasn’t supposed to use it. It was dangerous. It was reckless. It was—he pressed it.
1
Riina Katala stood in the shadows watching Tim—formerly an OmnitronW robot—talking to his physical therapist.
She didn’t remember what she’d thought he’d look like. The reality had wiped away all expectations and left her…winded…every time she saw him.
It was disconcerting.
From imposing and towering lethal metal to this.
Oh, he had retained his lethal aura, and he still exuded extreme competence. But now it was all packaged into tall, broad, muscled, and human. So potently human.
Had she known he had been this good-looking would she have encouraged him to return to his cloned human body? And how had he left this behind? Hadn’t he realized…but of course, it hadn’t mattered. He’d been a slave of the Q’uy.
It wasn’t as if he’d had a choice. But, as she often heard the Earth humans say, “Dang, he was pretty.”
They’d been friends almost from their first meeting. They had done multiple diplomatic missions together, including the very dangerous one with General Halliwell.
Despite his lethal appearance, she’d felt completely safe with him.
What did she feel now?
