Free Bright Horizons by Wilson Harp Page B

killed, I was angry…
sad… full of emotion. But I wasn’t surprised. He was a warrior in the middle of
a war. Things like that happen. But a woman in her late 60’s shouldn’t just
drop from a heart attack in the vegetable aisle at the grocery store. It’s not
right.”
    Kyle
shook his head. “No it isn’t, Alex.”
    Alex
looked away from his Commanding Officer and glanced around the room one more
time. “It… it just feels like I was gut punched, Colonel.”
    Kyle
couldn’t believe how much things had changed in the last two days. The first
three months on the station, the mission had been going great. Emily and her
small team were feeding tons of data back to NASA seemingly every hour. The
Hedali had introduced Ambassador Thomas to the three other races that shared
the facility, and Kyle and Alex had been the guinea pigs for their scientists
as their jobs of “security” had been pretty relaxed.
    Then
two days ago the daily NASA communiqué came. The first line was simply “Abigail
Ramirez has passed away after a heart attack.” A follow up personal communiqué
about an hour later had provided the details. 
    Abigail
had a sudden and massive coronary while shopping. Her sister Kelsey had come
and picked Emily’s girls up at school and told them of their grandmother’s passing.
Alex could go home and take care of the girls if needed, and his Aunt Kelsey
had requested that if possible.
    Due
to the nature and secrecy of her work, it was established that Emily Troy was
indispensable.  She could only send a message to her daughters.
    Thus
Alex had decided to go home and be with his nieces while his sister finished up
her one year assignment.
    A
tiny chirp on his communicator brought Kyle back to the present.
    “The
Hedali scout ship is just docking, Alex.”
    “Thanks
Colonel, I guess I had better say goodbye to Emily and get down there. Did they
say who was going to replace me out here?” Alex asked as he shouldered his bag.
    “Williams
wanted it, but he had a hard time convincing them that he was security. K-man
was the best choice, all things considered.”
    “He
knows there isn’t a range up here, right?”
    “Yeah,
and he grumbled about that more than you did, Alex,” Kyle laughed. It was good
to see Alex get a little of his sense of humor back. Gallows humor is common
for a Marine, but Alex had been very tight since he found out his mother had
died.
    “Well
Colonel, until we meet back on earth.” Alex sharply saluted Kyle, and once the
salute was returned he turned and walked out of their tiny barrack room.
    Kyle
looked at the “earth clock” that they had in their room and realized he would
not be able to get something to eat before his meeting with Ambassador Thomas. 
He sighed and headed towards the daily briefing. He knew that routine kept
everybody’s head clear in these kinds of missions, and so he reminded himself
every day of the importance of these briefings and made sure he had three new
random facts to give Ambassador Thomas as part of his presentation.
    The
door opened and Ambassador Thomas looked up from his small desk. 
    “Good
afternoon Colonel, please have a seat,” Ambassador Thomas said motioning to the
chair in front of his desk. “Day 97 is coming to a close.”
    Kyle
chuckled and sat down.
    “Only
3 days from 100, Ambassador, do you think we should celebrate?”
    The
door opened up and Lon stepped in. “Good afternoon Ambassador Thomas and
Colonel Martin.”
    Kyle
could immediately sense that something was very wrong. The Hedali was jittery
and nervous and made an odd squeaking sound as he looked at both of the humans.
    “What’s
wrong Lon?” Kyle asked without thinking. He saw Ambassador Thomas flinch from
the corner of his eye at the possible breach in protocol.
    “There
has been an incident. There have been some deaths,” Lon said.
    Kyle
stood up. “Who has been killed Lon?”
    “Doctor
Emily Troy and Kiltao Bregan,” Lon said turning his head slightly