Free Earth's New Masters by Adriane Ceallaigh Page A

remembering all data coming in through her implants for later evaluation, documenting and cataloging the interior of the building. She placed her back against a wall and blended into the background.
    A murmured “Shura,” brought her head around. She nodded almost imperceptibly to the tall, graying man who slid into the chair across from her.
    “Tuoint,” he said and slid a small, clear film of data across the table.
    She stared at it a second, 200 magnification, she thought. Words appeared in front of her. Earth compromised. Immediate action required. No known space craft has crossed the perimeter beacons. Movement on ground, evidence of civilization detected.
    The disk ran on for several more paragraphs, but she’d gotten the gist of it and an inkling into why they’d hired her and not a standard squad.
    They wanted someone to blend in and infiltrate this civilization. She stared straight into his eyes. “How long?”
    “It’s unknown.”
    “What do you want from me?”
    “Infiltrate, figure out where the threat is from, and then eliminate the trespassers.”
    It all sounded simple enough, but she had her doubts. “When do I leave?”
    “Now.”
    She nodded. “Who’s taking me out?”
    “I am. I’ll monitor you through your implants. You’ll need to sign a waiver. Limited weapons allowed in zone. Sorry, but we can’t break the rules.”
    “What are we talking then?”
    “No explosives or artillery of any kind.”
    She understood. Earth had become a shrine, and she could almost not blame them for wanting to keep it that way. Almost.
    ***
    She stared in wonder at the blue orb of the Earth. It was hard for her to imagine that the humans had come from this glorious place. She’d heard tales of dark swirling clouds covering the planet, but if there ever had been, they weren’t any longer. Humanity’s goal of healing the world appeared to be working, and she couldn’t help but wonder what that first breath of unfiltered air would be like.
    Tuoint looked over his shoulder at her from the cockpit of the jump shuttle. “Pack it in, pack it out.”
    She glared at him. “Understood.” This mission was becoming more of a pain in the neck every second.
    “We’ll be arriving at the jump altitude in twenty seconds,” he turned back towards the front.
    Her implants gave her the read-out of the air temperature and wind velocity. They would give her ample warning on when to pull the chute.
    He disengaged the door to the airlock. She stepped through without a backward glance. He’d told her he’d meet her in a few weeks at a landing site they maintained for scouting probes. It would take a day just to hike to the site from where the disturbances had been recorded.
    She waited while the airlock decontaminated her and decompressed the air. She wore a re-breather to help with the descent and planet atmosphere until her lungs adapted to the unfiltered air.
    She stocked several vials of compressed nutrients in her hip pouch. They contained everything her body needed to survive. Tuoint told her the water would be safe to drink, and she could cleanse it with the droplets they’d given her as long as she didn’t dump any onto the ground. Messing with the ecosystem of a planet was a big no no, as was killing and consuming animals.
    She found it ironic, but kept her comments to herself and leapt from the shuttle. She loved the weightless feeling as the cold air whipped past her face. She took a moment to enjoy it before she pulled the zip cord and deployed her chute.
    She landed with a well-practiced, running leap and hopped a few times as the fabric pooled around her. She slipped out of the harness and hit the button to instantly repack the chute.
    Shura surveyed her surroundings. The forested area looked almost impenetrable. It would be a tedious two day walk. She sighed, determined, and set off towards the south. “Heat sensors on.” She rarely gave verbal commands anymore, but she felt the need to hear her own