Free The Heart of Matter: Odyssey One by Evan Currie

me?”
    Reed and the others nodded and followed him off the platform, leaving only Tanner, Weston, and their own “entourages” standing out in the “cold.”
    Tanner smiled slightly, gesturing toward the closest tower. “Would you care to join me for a meal, Captain?”
    “It would be my pleasure, Admiral.”

    Nero Jehan roused himself slowly when the soft chime broke through his deliberations. He rose to his feet and walked over to the gently curved door, keying the access control.
    “Yes?” he growled.
    The man at the door, one of Tanner’s boys, if Nero remembered correctly, flinched back in surprise from the mostly nude giant glaring out at him.
    “A…Admiral Tanner sent me, sir.”
    “Why?” Nero asked gruffly.
    “T…uh…the Terrans, Commander. They’ve arrived.”
    “I’m aware of that,” Nero replied stonily. He didn’t like dealing with the majority of the people here on Ranquil; they were too nervous and afraid of being forthright with one another.
    “They…uh…brought advisors with them, Commander. Military advisors.”
    Nero curled up his lip and barely refrained from shaking his head. Of course they had brought military advisors. It was obvious even from the short time in which they had been on Ranquil that the ground forces here couldn’t fight a stiff breeze.
    “They wish to meet with you, Commander.”
    “Where? When?”
    “Uh…at your leisure, sir. I’ll have a conclave room cleared.”
    “Do so. Tell them I will be ready in one division.”
    “Y…Yes, sir.”
    Nero shut the door in the man’s face.

PLANET RANQUIL
    ▸“SO, CAPTAIN, TELL me of your world, now that we have more time,” Rael Tanner said as he finished pouring a tall drink for Eric.
    Eric considered the question as he picked up the drink, examining the dark-tinted liquid. He bought some time by lifting the drink to his mouth, breathing in the aroma, and finally taking a sip. It wasn’t alcoholic, whatever it was, but its taste had a sharp bite he wasn’t familiar with.
    Not unpleasant, just unfamiliar.
    He found that all the food was in a similar vein. Close enough to things he was familiar with, but just enough off that he often found himself taking second takes with every bite or sip.
    “Well, Admiral,” he said with a crooked smile, “I wish I knew where to start…”
    “Come now,” Tanner replied, “surely it’s not that hard? You yourself said that your world was young. Can there be that many places to start that you can’t choose between them?”
    Eric stifled a laugh. “We’re not old by your standards, I guess, but it’s still got more than a few thousand years of history to deal with. Most of it not especially nice.”
    Rael considered that statement. “Ithan Chans believed you to be of the ‘Others,’ a splinter of the colonies from many thousands of years ago—so long that it’s myth and legend now, scary stories for children to frighten one another with.”
    Eric nodded, remembering what Milla had said back then. “Yes. I remember. I’m afraid that a lot of the things she said then went right over our heads. What were the ‘Others,’ exactly?”
    Rael frowned, unwrapping the meaning of the words as they came through the translator. It was an expression, he finally decided. “They are…a moral tale, yes?”
    “I believe that we’d call it a fable, perhaps, or a morality play,” Eric replied, thinking about smilar stories he’d grown up hearing, or reading, about.
Le Morte d’Artur
came to mind, among many others.
    Rael nodded. “Yes. The second sounds correct. I’m not familiar with the first word you used. Still, no matter. The Others were, according to legend, a faction with the original colonies that did not believe in the power of the Oath.”
    Eric had to hold his hands up again, smiling apologetically. “Sorry to interrupt, but what’s this Oath? Milla mentioned it as well, but wouldn’t talk about it when I asked.”
    “No, she wouldn’t.” Rael managed