Ethan bolted out of bed, reaching for his rifle just as he realized he'd had a nightmare.

"Shit." He sat back down on the bed and ran a hand over his hair, blinking away the last of the strange visions. A quick check of his watch confirmed he had another hour before Colonel Patterson would be awake, so he went down the hall to the washroom to clean up.

The dreams, undoubtedly fueled by the spiked Garon juice and an empty stomach, had started off pretty tame. He was wandering around a strange city filled with white-eyed people. Only after he'd entered a dark, open warehouse the people changed into something horrific. What they'd intended, he hadn't had the chance to find out.

Some cold water on his face managed to push the last of those images from his mind. Ethan heard gentle snores coming from the other rooms as he walked back out to the main living area and set a pot of water over the kitchen flame.

He set his weapons and vest on the table while the water boiled and removed the rifle strap from the heavy black vest, so he could carry the weapon easily without it, and took the com unit out of the shoulder pocket. If he was going to be left behind to chat up the people and generally make nice, at least he could be comfortable.

When the water boiled, he found Pyro's stash of tea flowers and made up a pot, filtering some into a cup that he took to a window to gaze out at the pre-dawn village.

In permanent twilight, it was no easier to tell the time than during solid darkness. The only hint there was that it was too early to be up and moving were the abandoned streets and closed shops. As he gazed down over the marketplace, he saw several mera wandering around, munching on grasses and flowers growing in the park.

Ethan looked up at the gray sky and sipped his tea.

Something was missing. It was nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite place what it was. Obviously there was no sun in the sky, and you couldn't see stars now that they were in the gray. If he went out to the mobile unit and brought in a pair of binoculars, he could probably pick out some constellations, but to the naked eye, the sky was a blank slate of gray.

It finally occurred to him just as Colonel Patterson came out from the sleeping rooms, carrying his gear.

"There aren't any birds," he said, mostly to himself.

"What's that?" Patterson raised an eyebrow as he poured a cup of the tea. "No birds?" He glanced at Ethan. "Hell, I haven't seen a bird since the last time I visited a zoo."

"There aren't any birds here," Ethan said as he walked back to the table. "They must have had birds before. That mural, and the artwork here, almost all of it depicts birds."

"Well feel free to ask your new friends about them while you're here," Colonel Patterson replied. "Meanwhile, I want to see what the light side of this dirt bomb looks like. I can't see our crops growing in the dark. And I sure as hell can't see our people making it long in the dark. It's fine for a visit or something, but I think we'll have to colonize their light side."

"The fleet, or just us?"

Patterson grunted. "That's what I'm going to determine with this trip, Griff. If there's room enough for us in their sunlight half, we'll take it."

"Take it?"

The colonel waved a hand. "You know what I mean. They must have a continent they're not using or some large land mass that they wouldn't mind us living on."

Ethan looked at his tea. He wasn't at all pleased with the idea of staying there, in the gray, while Colonel Patterson and his squad explored the light. But he had his orders.

"Promise me you'll keep an open mind out there, Colonel," he said to his tea.

"Just like I can trust you to keep your guard up," Patterson countered with a smile. "We'll get through this, Griff. We might not be where we're supposed to be, but we can make this work. And we'll keep an open mind about bringing the fleet."

Ethan nodded, but felt no real sense of relief. "Yes, sir."

"Now, keep an eye on Captain Marshall. Stay on top of any developments his people make, if they can get any more data from those ship files. We need to know what the hell brought down the Solaria. More importantly, what made it burn to the ground."

Ethan chewed his lower lip as he listened, turning his cup around and around on the table.

"He'll keep on top of the civilians, and his own people, so don't worry about them. Commander Ellis seems competent enough, he should be able to keep them from making any mistakes." Patterson finished his tea and started checking his weapons. "I'll check in every twenty four hours, and Sentinel will relay all the data it collects, so the scientists can entertain themselves. I want to meet the people, more than just a handful in a mostly empty village. They must have tribal leaders or group spokesmen or something. They can't all rely on this one council here in the gray to govern them."

Ethan shrugged. "They might. That's how we operated back on Earth."

"Only the major laws," Colonel Patterson countered. "Before the whole planet started integrating, we had separate states and cities. They made their own laws."

"But isn't it more important what the major ruling body thinks?" Ethan asked. "Even if the light side can make their own rulings --"

Patterson shook his head. "That's why you're staying here."

Before he could add more, the squad began filtering out of the sleeping rooms, yawning and looking for breakfast before starting another long walking trek.

"Still think we should have had troupe carriers," Pyro complained. "All this walkin's the shit."

"So's all that complaining," Ethan quipped. "Get yourselves ready. Colonel wants to pull out in twenty minutes."

He got up and left, heading outside and over to where they'd parked the mobile unit.

Both the Sentinel and another mobile were parked against the great wall, out of the way of market traffic.

"Do you realize you haven't seen the sun since we left earth?"

Ethan turned and saw Lydia coming toward him. He let out a quick snort. "Neither has anyone else."

"Sure, but some of us are going to see by the end of today," she replied. "I don't understand why he isn't taking everyone out there."

"Why? They've been walking for two weeks now. This gray is at least twilight, and everyone seems happier here."

She shrugged. "I suppose it nice, but I'm going a little crazy, myself. I need to see the sun."

"So by the time you're ready to end your day, the sun will be up." Ethan laughed shortly. "I don't see how that's going to be any different than constant darkness. First you wanted the sun to come up, now you'll wish it would set."

Lydia waved off his comment. "You'll see. After we explore that side, Colonel Patterson will probably send for you and the others. I was thinking last night that we might all become nomadic, you know? Spend some time in the sun, some time in the dark, maybe even some time in this gray area." She glanced around, nodding as if to herself. "All in all, it's not so bad a place to colonize. Who knows what was waiting for us on 581c."

"Just be careful, Lydia," Ethan said quietly enough to gain her attention. "We've only met a handful of these people, and see a tiny fraction of this world. Don't get so caught up in seeing the sun that you forget to watch where you're going."

She laughed a little, then stared at him a moment before finally nodding. "Don't worry about us, Ethan. Just make sure those people can send a message to the fleet by the time we get back."

Ethan gathered a few pieces of equipment before the squad came out, geared up and ready to move. As they did, a group of white-eyed heavily armed men approached.

"My name is Terin," the lead man said. "Greetings from Earth."

"You're our guide, then?" Colonel Patterson asked.

Terin bowed slightly. "I am."

"All right then, lead on." He started forward, following the wide path that had come through the gate and continued on to the other side. "Ghost, you have command."

"Yes, sir," he replied, watching them head out.

"Try not to enjoy yourself too much," Pyro sighed as he fell in step behind Sentinel's rolling bulk.

Ethan watched them leave with Wingman standing beside him. He'd considered walking along to the other side of the city, see them off into the light side, but changed his mind.

"What's the good word, Ghost?" Wingman asked.

Ethan sighed. "Keep your com close, report back for evening meal, and go make friends," he said.

"Yes, sir." Wingman headed off in the other direction, whistling happily to himself.

Ethan took the computer, transmit booster and binoculars he'd borrowed from the mobile unit back to the upper floor of their temporary shelter, then stopped by one of the lower levels to check in on Captain Marshall and his people.

"I'll tell you one thing," the captain said as they were standing together just outside the door. "They're very generous people here. We've got enough food and drink to last a lifetime. I wonder what they use for currency here?"

"I haven't asked," Ethan replied. "There's a lot I haven't asked yet."

"It's a tricky business, getting information without looking like you're trying to get information," Marshall agreed. "And you have to assume they're doing the same."

Ethan nodded.

"But keep in mind, Major, they could very well be exactly what they seem to be. A people ravaged by civil war who welcome peace, and welcome newcomers. If you're right about their numbers being so dramatically reduced, perhaps they see our arrival is fortuitous."

"I hope you're right, sir," he agreed. "I'm going out now to see if I can talk to Ara and ask some questions, maybe get more of a tour of this city. I'll be on the com if you need me."

Captain Marshall nodded, then turned and went back inside.

Ethan secured his com unit in one ear, slid his rifle over one shoulder and around his back, checked the sidearm at his hip, and started walking back toward the large white council building. He was halfway there when Ara approached, again wearing only tunic and pants, no gray robe, with a long knife sheathed at her hip and a pistol-sized crossbow dangling from her belt, in place of the crossbow.

"I was hoping to find you," she said. "I would like to continue our talk, if that is agreeable with you?"

"Yes, it is," Ethan replied with a smile.

Ara turned and motioned for them to take a path around the side of the white marble building and beyond it. "I would like to show you more of our market. The goods that our peoples trade with each other. And then I would show you something I am very proud of."

"Okay," Ethan laughed shortly. "I'd like that."

They walked beyond the council building and out onto more dirt walkways lined with vendors and cafes. Ara pointed out the various grains and woods harvested on the light and the dark sides, traded with others for their goods or services.

"Do you use currency at all?" he asked after she explained a trade they were witnessing.

"Currency? I do not know this word."

"When someone requires a thing they don't have, what do they give the person who has it? Do they only trade other goods, or services?" He never realized how awkward simple concepts were when you tried to boil them down to explanations. "What would someone trade who doesn't harvest?"

"Everyone harvests," Ara said. "Oh, you mean, what would I trade? Or yourself? Persons who do not bring in the harvest?"

"Yes, you for instance," Ethan replied. "What would you trade to someone if you needed food?"

"Those of us who devote our lives to serving others do no require trades. What we need is provided to us by those who have it." She pointed to a man selling smoked meats. "If I required food, he would supply it to me. Or the cafes, which is where I would go. If I am hungry, I am fed. My service to them in return is my devotion to the gray, and to peace."

"I see," Ethan replied. "What about others?"

Ara pursed her lips. "If you mean yourselves, you have no worry. Eferia and Tolen told us of your bravery against the attacking beasts. You serve your people by keeping them safe from harm. Anything you require here will be provided for you."

"I appreciate that, I really do." He pondered another angle. "What about those who can't harvest, and can't look after others? Eferia told us there were some among your people who are not allowed to carry weapons."

Her eyes light up with understanding. "Ah, yes, the infirm." She tapped her forehead. "They clearly cannot take care of themselves, so they are cared for by everyone. I've seen that you have several among your peoples who are this way. They will be looked after."

Ethan laughed.

"Have I said a joke?" Ara asked, confused.

"In a way, yes," he replied. "You see, among our people not everyone carries weapons like they do here. We have those in the military -- like myself -- and those who aren't. We look after the ones who are not carrying weapons, but it's not because they're mentally unstable. Although there's some debate there." He cleared his throat. "But really, it's their job to . . . Well to think, basically. They study and discover and then teach what they've learned from all the studying and discovering. And we all learn from their work."

Ara shook her head. "But you are studying and discovering, and learning. They are staying in their shelter consulting their books."

"Well, yes."

"So are they incapable of protecting themselves?"

Ethan considered his answer for a moment. "Some of them could, yes. But it's not something they're used to doing. I suppose most of them would have run in fear if attacked by the beasts, it's true."

Ara nodded as if he'd just agreed with her original assessment. "Then we shall look after them as well. And it is very noble of you to look after so many who cannot protect themselves. It puts you at great risk out in the open."

Ethan gave in with a shrug. "But they're safe inside the gray, right?"

"Oh yes," she agreed. "The wall protects us from the beasts."

"Good."

Their walk had angled back around toward the marble building, and Ara suggested they take the afternoon meal at her favorite spot.

"I would like to show you something," she said. "A thing I am very proud of."

She ushered him into the council building and they took the stairs up, passed the great meeting hall, and continued up to the roof level. There a man waited next to a table filled with meats and fruits and goblets of Garon juice.

Ara bowed slightly to the man, who returned the gesture. "Thank you, Cariem, for the lovely meal."

"You are welcomed," he said with another bow. He smiled at Ethan, then took his leave, carrying a large empty tray.

Ethan glanced around, marveling at the view from the rooftop. If the sun had been up, he was sure he could have see the mountains to either end of the gray. In the twilight they looked like darker blots in the distance.

But the city below was completely visible. Even the opposite wall could be seen from there, guarding more market vendors, houses and parks. He couldn't help thinking the entire fleet could fit inside the gray comfortably.

"It's beautiful up here," he said as she offered him a goblet of what she promised was plain Garon juice.

"It is one of my favorite places," Ara replied. "This and the parks. One can find peace here. And quietness."

"On my world, a place where you can find quiet is a rare treat." Ethan carried his goblet to the edge of the building and sat against the tall marble railing. "The cities are very crowded because the rest of the world isn't livable anymore."

"You would find a crowd intolerable?" Ara asked as she joined him at the building's edge.

"Not intolerable, no. But to have open space like this is a treat."

Before Ara could respond, Ethan's com beeped. He'd taken out the earpiece so Wingman's voice echoed out from a clip on his shirt.

"Ghost, this is Wingman. Just checking, sir, is this stuff they call Alter safe to drink?"

Ethan laughed shortly. "Sure, Wingman, just go easy on it."

"Roger that, Ghost."

Ara sat on the balcony ledge. "Why is it you have so many names?"

"So many names?"

"Yes," she said. "I have heard you called Ethan Griff, as well as Major, and now he calls you Ghost?"

"Ah, right." He nodded. "Well, Major is my rank. It means that after Colonel John Patterson, I'm in charge. Ghost is a call sign, something we refer to each other as when we're out in the field. Like this, exploring someplace."

"And Ethan Griff? Is this not your name?"

"It is. Well, Ethan is, anyway," he said. "Technically Griff is my father's name. And you are Ara of Nox. What is Nox from?"

"That is my mother," Ara replied. "Nox of Telania. Who is her mother. But Griff was your father?"

"It was his last name. We call it the sir name, my father was Tyler Griff, his father was Nathan Griff. You see?"

Ara nodded then, smiling. "Ah, yes, I do see. I thank you for explaining that to me."

"Could you explain something to me now?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, I will. What would you like to know?"

"In the village Eferia and Tolen took us to, to rest and wait for the others, she showed me a mural. It was beautiful, and told a story, but Eferia wouldn't share with me what the story was."

Ara took a breath slowly, nodding.

"She said that she didn't have the words, but that someone here, in the gray, would tell me."

Ara shifted a little, then set her goblet down on the marble. "In the first days of this world, before the peoples came to be, there were great gray birds who ruled the sky and the land. They were very wise birds, and created much beauty. But one day two gray birds laid eggs that -- when they hatched -- presented not more gray birds, but black and white. Of all the eggs, each bird was black or white." She shook her head. "This was never before. Then all of the eggs were being black, or white. Soon, all of the birds in the land were no longer gray, but they were either black or they were white."

Ethan pictured the mural in Eferia's village, following along with Ara's story.

"When the birds were no longer gray, they began to fight among themselves. The black against the white," Ara continued. "They separated. The black birds to the dark side of this world, the white birds to the light. And still the fighting continued." She paused, looking at her hands. "They fought each other until there were no longer any left to carry on the fight."

Ethan nodded. "Is that why there are no birds here?"

"Yes," she replied quietly. "They fought until they were all no more. And that, Ethan Griff, is the shame of our peoples." She looked at him, her expression pleading and apologetic at the same time. "Our peoples did not learn until it was near the end. We fought and we fought, the light side against the dark, until we are almost no more." She looked away then, dabbing at the corner of her eye. "I was not to tell you this so soon."

"Why?"

"It is our shame," she replied. "That we would bring ourselves to be no more. That our peoples would fight with each other for so many generations without learning peace." She looked at him again. "Clearly your peoples know peace. You have many colors of skin, many colors of hair and eyes, and you live among each other. You protect and help each other. This is a thing we have yet to learn properly."

Ethan shook his head slowly and gazed out over the marketplace below. "It's not something we learned until it was nearly too late." He sighed, then stood and walked back to the table where the food waited.

Ara joined him there and they sat for an afternoon meal of meats and fruits.

Ethan held up one of the round purple-skinned fruits with the odd bumps. "Does your fruit grow year-round? Eferia mentioned harvest times, but this world doesn't seem to have seasons."

"It grows always," Ara replied. "Grains are harvested, then you must wait for the plants to grow back up again. Fruits also. You harvest what you need to trade, or fill your village, and then you must wait for more to return. Or you can move to another village, where the fruits and grains have not yet been harvested." She picked up a stripe of seasoned meat. "The beasts attack often, and we always use the meat, but it can be stored for long amounts of time."

He nodded as he wondered how the crops from Earth would fare in such a world. A planet with year-round harvests could surely sustain a large population of people easily enough, and if Earth crops could be integrated without doing harm to the native plants, they would add that much more variety to the standard diet.

"On my world, we had seasons for growing crops. After the harvest, the plants would not grow again for a full year. Then they started to change the plants, and try to make them grow indoors." He shook his head. "It didn't work out well."

"I do not understand. Why would your people try to change the plants? Do they not know that their world is already working properly?"

Ethan sat back and contemplated the table before he spoke. "Ara, since we're being honest with each other, I can tell you the shame of my people."

She leaned forward as if they were about to share a secret.

"Many generations before mine, our people did terrible things to the world," he said. "They used it up, and then tried to make it different. They showed no respect for the world as a living thing, and it was our generation who were left to pay the price."

Ara blinked, awed by what Ethan was admitting.

"Right now, in my generation, the world is all used up. Our plants don't grow, our water is bad, and our air is thick and hard to breathe." He knew he was taking a risk, admitting this to someone on a world that clearly cares for nature and the proper order of things, but it couldn't remain secret long, now that they were stranded there. "I'm telling you this because we want to be open with your people, to become friends."

"I understand," Ara nodded.

Ethan leaned forward, resting his arms on the table so he could look her in the eyes. "My people, my generation, had to leave our world to find a new one. We came here hoping to do better than our ancestors did. We've learned from their mistakes, and know how to care for a world in ways they didn't know, or didn't care." Ethan touched Ara's arm. "We want to live in a world we can care for, and look after. We did not intend to come to a world already being used, where people were already living, but our ship brought us here."

Ara considered his words for a moment. "But, you did not harm your world? You or your people here?"

Ethan shook his head. "No, not us. It was done by our great grandfathers, and their fathers before them."

Ara nodded, just once, as if coming to a conclusion. She patted his hand and smiled. "Then you have not done harm. You and your people here have no shame, and are welcome to Avaria by all of our peoples."

"Avaria? Is that the name of your world?"

"Yes, and not," Ara said. "It is the name my people, in the light, gave to our world. In the darkness, they call our world Airava. But here in the gray we have named our world Urth, in keeping with our unity."

"Urth?" Ethan grinned slightly.

"Avaria means In The Air. As does Airava," Ara explained. "But Urth is Of The Ground. Now that the great gray birds have taught us their lesson, and left us, we are a people of the ground." She tilted her head at Ethan. "What has made you laugh?"

"The Starlight you speak, that's where you learned the phrase Greetings from Earth?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Our ancestors learned the language as a code, during the time of dying, but now we use it as a language of peace. Our sky brought us the language, to be used on our world."

"That Starlight probe was sent from my world, many many hundreds of years ago. It was a greeting and a search for other people in space," Ethan explained, fighting back the grin. "My world is called Earth."

Ara blinked.

She sat back, staring at the table, eyebrows furrowed.

Suddenly she laughed, covering her mouth with one hand politely. She looked at Ethan, eyebrows raised, and laughed some more. After a moment, she covered her mouth to stop laughing and leaned closer.

"This can be our joke, together? I would not wish to upset the council or my people."

Ethan laughed shortly. "Yes, of course. We'll keep that between us."

Ara pursed her lips. "Greetings from Earth."

She burst into laughter again.