Free Quarantined Planet by John Allen Pace

missed.”
    He’s known her for a long while, ever since she, like everyone on Gaea, arrived there on a transport ship. Twenty or so humans were dropped off at a time for years, all from different decades and all with similar abduction stories. This is where they were stored, every one of them.
    “Without the drugs, we began suffering from withdrawal. Much too much for the others. Think I rather enjoyed it. It was different. For me, different is good. Have you eaten lately? Feeling shaky? Skin crawling?” She doesn’t say anything, and he continues, “Well, it takes awhile.”
    Bridges, similar to the one they’re standing on, extend up and down for kilometers, each about twenty meters apart, making Chloe more wobbly.
    “We’re all supposed to be on Gaea,” she says.
    “Gaea. That’s funny.”
    Chloe, overwhelmed, stumbles along not far behind Earl. Both stop at a junction point with short bridges leading to either side of the cave and alien elevators going up and down as far as they can see.

Chapter Twenty-seven
    Meanwhile on Gaea, Carver and McKenna step from Center Saucer’s main hatch. The men weave in and out of a large crowd. McKenna, looking upward, almost stumbles when a brilliant fireball arcs across the sky, followed by a sonic boom.
    McKenna leans over and mutters into Carver’s ear, “What if they make…other discoveries out there?”
    “That might be the least of our concerns,” the governor replies.
    A flaming stone rolls to a stop inches from the men.

Chapter Twenty-eight
    Chloe is as white as a sheet while Earl paces.
    “Carver knows about this,” he says. “I’m sure of it.”
    “You can’t know that,” Chloe argues. “Can we help these people?”
    “Yes, that’s just what I had in mind.”
    She spots an anti-matter cylinder, like those that power rock busters, partially obscured by another control panel. “Was that here already?”
    “In the absence of a god, we must assume the responsibility of seeing that justice is served.”
    “Amon, stop. Just come home with us.”
    Across from where they stand, Chloe catches sight of Gordon and Nix, both in cocoons. “What are you doing? Please let them go.”
    She runs to them.
    Earl sighs at the appearance of Frey and Marshall leading the rest.
    “Unleash the terrors of the universe, I will,” he says quietly. Then, surprised to see the translator among them, he points his rifle at Michael’s head. “You know where we are. What they’re doing. I want to hear it from what’s left of your human mouth.”
    “It’s storage,” the hybrid explains. “There were more of us than Gaea could support.”
    “Stop using that silly name.”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “What happened to Earth?”
    “The gamma rays from a supernova light-years away finally caught up with it–”
    “ Well rehearsed, you fool.” Earl grabs Michael by his neck. “This is Earth!”
    There’s a collective gasp from everyone.
    “We did it.” Letting the translator breathe a little, Earl continues, “The real weapon of mass destruction was babies. Too many of us—and a catastrophic final war—over clean water.”
    “Whatever you may believe, they saved us,” Michael says calmly.
    “They didn’t save us. They’ve contained us. Like a dangerous virus that threatened to spread.”
    “You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “This is Earth. We’re on it—in it.”
    “You’re wrong.”
    “You know I’m not.” Earl fires point blank at the human-alien hybrid and sends him tumbling over a railing into the abyss below. Jane and Naledri scream. The rest are too shocked to say or do anything, including Chloe, who’d been attempting to free her crewmates. She crosses the short access bridge while Earl gives his weapon a recharge.
    “Frey?” she finally breaks the stunned silence, hoping for some other explanation to all this craziness.
    “How—are you sure?” Frey addresses his captain, moving slowly away from him and the