Ethan checked his rifle for the fourth time and looked over the squad with his night vision lenses. They were all in full gear, which included armored vests labeled with each soldier's call name across the shoulders, printed so they were visible only with night vision lenses.

The night vision itself was part of a battle gear headset, with earpiece communication, night and infrared lenses on a hinge so they could be pushed easily out of the way when necessary, and another lens that could both transmit and receive tactical data and a heads up display.

He looked around the ready-room at the soldiers, all itching to step through the doors and get outside. Marines were used to being cramped up inside Navy ships for traveling, but they never liked it. They were meant to be outside, getting dirty, getting shot at. Getting it done.

Ethan tapped his shoulder where the com unit trigger was sewn into the vest and addressed the single mobile unit in the middle of the mass of Marines.

"Sentinel, are you showing everyone lit up?"

"Roger that, Ghost. Bio levels are normal, all screens are active and aware. We are five-by-five and itching to go."

"Roger, Sentinel," Ethan replied. "We're just waiting on Reaper and the word."

"Reaper is on deck," Colonel Patterson replied as he stepped through the door next to Griff.

The Marines didn't snap to attention, but every one of them turned to their commanding officer.

"What's the good word, sir?" Ethan asked for their benefit.

"Our esteemed scientific contingent has declared our mission a go," the colonel said to the crowd. "Apparently that sunrise we've been waiting for isn't going to happen."

Ethan blinked. "Sir?"

"This planet doesn't rotate," he replied gruffly. "Took the brains nearly twenty six hours to figure that one out. It spins, apparently on it's equator, and travels around a binary, obviously, but there's no rotation. No sun rise, no sun set."

"Sir, you mean -- This place is dark all the time?" someone called out.

"What do you mean, no sun rise?"

"How in the hell can we live on a dark planet? Shit, how can anything live on a dark planet?"

Ethan looked out at the group and brought a halt to the confusion before it could build. "Cut the chatter! If a world has a dark side, then it has a light side, too." He turned to the colonel. "Any idea how far from the equator we are?"

Colonel Patterson gave a very slight nod at Ethan, then cleared his throat. "They're not sure, but so far the best guess is we're at least a thousand miles from anything resembling a light side, possibly three thousand." He paused to don the head gear and power up his weapon. "All of that is just science, and Marines don't give one full shit about science." He glanced at Ethan. "No offense," he added slyly.

Ethan huffed. Patterson was always elbowing him about his sister and her chosen profession, compared to her twin. The fact that Ethan had studied science before joining the Marines just added fuel to his ammunition pile.

Colonel Patterson palmed the control to open the wide doors, exposing their ready-room to the atmosphere of their new world.

Ethan turned to the group and held up a fist. "Let's move out! I want a one mile radius around this vessel secured and locked down. Get a perimeter fence set up and activated. Movement is in pairs, and Sentinel has the command."

They started out of the ship, moving in formation and spreading out steadily but cautiously. The mobile unit rolled out with the first wave, remaining just behind the leading edge to provide tactical support and quick armored cover if need be.

"Remember the new edicts, people," Patterson barked. "Something moves, you observe and record. You can't shoot it until it tries to eat your arm off."

Ethan stepped off the ramp and into the dirt of the new planet, then took a long, deep breath. The air was heavy with scents, and had a quality he couldn't completely identify. It was pleasant, but alien. A particular plant, maybe? Or the soil?

"They said there was nothing in this atmosphere to worry about?" he asked the colonel quietly.

"Nothing the sensors could identify," Patterson replied. "That funny smell would be fresh air, I believe."

Ethan laughed shortly and continued walking. "A guy could get used to that."

"This is home now," Patterson added. "You'd best get used to it."

They continued forward while the squad fanned out, moving to encompass the Solaria and establish a perimeter. Their immediate concerns were setting up a sensor fence, establishing a protected area one mile around the ship, where scientist could take readings and technicians could work safely while the Marines worked forward from there.

It was pitch black, with no moon in the sky. Ethan raised his lenses to test his eyesight in the darkness, but he could only manage a few feet ahead of himself before everything was lost in the permanent night.

The ground was dirt, and compacted. There were small pebbles here and there, but so far nothing tripping him up. No encroaching roots from the forest ahead of them, or tufts of grasses.

"I wonder how these plants survive, with no sunlight," Patterson mused aloud as he walked alongside Ethan.

"That'll be up to the scientists to work out, I'd guess," Ethan quipped. He tapped his shoulder control. "This is Ghost, I want reports."

"Lancer here, sir. Lots of dark nothing so far."

"Fireman here. Just more dark on this side, sir."

"Ghost, this is Gunner, I thought I heard an animal, sir, but I'm not sure."

Ethan stopped. "Explain, Gunner."

"It was a squeak, sir. A few feet behind me, if that's possible. And I'm still hearing it."

Ethan and the colonel turned around, looking in the direction of Gunner behind them and to the left. "Sentinel, stop moving."

"Stopping, sir."

"Gunner, do you hear it now?"

"No, sir, it stopped."

Ethan sighed. "Sentinel, move forward."

"Yes, sir, that was it."

Patterson growled, then turned back around and continued walking. "Someone grease those wheels!"

"Aye, sir!" Sentinel replied over the com.

They continued moving. Ethan and the colonel were among the leading edge facing the forest in the direction they were calling North, which -- the colonel informed him -- turned out to be just about true north after all.

It was quiet, with the exception of footsteps and the occasional call of all-clear. Ethan paused now and again to look up and around, searching for any signs of birds or movement from above. Back on Earth, most of the birds had died off, unable to live in the polluted air. There were a few here and there, mostly surviving as pets or zoo specimens. As a result, the insect population -- much hardier and able to survive dramatic shifts in climate and air quality -- flourished.

In the lesser parts of the cities, you slept in pods very similar in shape to the cryo beds, so the cockroaches could crawl over you while you were sleeping. It was so commonplace to step on things while you walked, Ethan barely took notice when his foot hit something that crunched under his boot.

When he toed another one, he stopped and looked down. There was a pod sprouting up from the hard dirt, joined by several more just ahead of it.

"I've got plant matter here," he said aloud as he knelt down for a closer inspection. "Looks like a seed, maybe."

Patterson squatted beside him. "Mark it for sampling. Did you step on any?"

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, one." He shifted and located the squashed pod. "Sentinel, get a reading on this." He focused his night vision on the spot and the HUD displayed the plant matter with a magnified view as the computer analyzed the composition. There were small bits scattered around, and what looked like an open husk flattened out on the ground.

"Scans show no viral markers or fungus, Ghost," Sentinel replied. "Location is marked and tagged for study."

Ethan straightened up and glanced around the ground. "There's more," he motioned with the tip of his rifle. "They're spread out, coming from the forest maybe?" He looked at the colonel.

"Watch your step," he replied with a nod. "Let's keep moving."

The pods showed up easily on the night vision, scattered about the area in a random pattern. Ethan continued moving forward, watching his steps a little more carefully. It seemed logical they were seed pods, possibly from the forest itself. He knew trees populated themselves using seeds that spread in various ways, it was a logical assumption.

But not one he was going to bring up with the colonel.

"I'd wager your sister would have a field day in a spot like this."

"She probably would," Ethan replied. "But she'll have her chance, when the fleet lands on 581c." A surge of emotion stopped him from adding more to that thought, and he adjusted his grip on his weapon, forcing the image of his twin from his mind.

"You may see her again, Griff," the colonel continued. "If this world pans out, dark or light, we'll divert the fleet."

"Yes, sir," Ethan replied. He knew the chances of them managing that, even if it did turn out this world was superior to 581c, were slim at best. They'd have to time the message closely, hope the ships received it, analyzed the data, and agreed without bothering to wake someone up who could make the decision for them.

Damn computers. They'd been given far too much responsibility, at least on this trip.

Kathryn always teased him about his computer paranoia. Said he'd never been so bad before he signed up with the Marines. And she was right. Back when they were kids, they spent hours programming the computers to do their bidding. Pawns in their childhood games.

Ethan cleared his throat and swallowed, pushing the memories back again. "This is Ghost, give me some stats, people."

"Gunner here, sir. We're nearly at the shore of this lake. Or ocean. Whatever it is. Haven't seen so much as a bug."

"Lancer here. We're nearly at our mile marker to the East, sir. Nothing unusual to report."

"Sir, Firemen to the West. We're on grass now, or what looks to be grass. It's soft, growing about an inch out of the ground. Samples were marked and tagged. Other than that, it's a dark, quiet world."

"Roger that," Ethan replied. He checked his HUD and looked ahead, toward the forest. The leading edge was just another few hundred yards, but they'd just reached their square mile radius. "That's a perimeter, sir," he said to the colonel as they came to a stop.

Patterson nodded, then keyed his com unit and turned around to look back toward the Solaria. "This is Reaper. Deploy the fence and set it for motion only. We're not allowed to fry any critters until we find out if they taste good without sauce."

The good-natured laughter echoed around the dark air as Ethan flipped his lenses up. While the men set up the posts and sensors that would flood the area with spotlights and sound alarms if anything larger than a bacteria crossed through, he stared at the forest.

The sky was filled with stars, but without a moon or artificial lighting, he couldn't make out more than the vague shapes of tall trees, spaced several yards apart, fading into the darkness beyond his vision's capabilities. It reminded him of his childhood, in Alaska's long, dark winters where night stretched into day without any hint of the sun.

"At least we had a moon."

"What's that, Griff?"

Ethan turned to the colonel. "Back home we had a moon. And the northern lights were pretty heavy, with the radiation pounding in."

"Ah, right, Alaska," the colonel nodded. "So having no sun during the day isn't all that unusual for you."

"For a few weeks, anyway," he replied. "But this is different." He glanced back at the forest. "I keep thinking it's night, but we don't know that it is."

Colonel Patterson huffed. "I think I'd prefer the light side to this. At least we could see. If the temperatures aren't too high, and the soil tests out the same as it seems to have here, that is."

"Is that the plan, sir?"

"It is," he nodded. "If we can secure this area and get the white coats busy learning more about this world, I plan to head us out to find the light side of this planet. There should be a balance somewhere, the equator, where it's not completely dark or completely light."

"Makes sense," Ethan agreed. He looked out at the forest again. His eyes were adjusting a bit more, bringing some of the leading edge into slightly better focus. It was just about when he was to give the order to wrap up their excursion and head back to the Solaria when he saw it.

Or thought he did.

Ethan brought his rifle up quickly and used the sight to look into the forest.

"What is it?" Patterson brought his weapon up as well and scanned the area.

"Movement," Ethan replied. "I swear I saw something move in the trees."

"Punch, take the right!" Patterson barked. "Clipper, on my left. The rest of you stay put and stay alert."

Ethan started forward, using the rifle's site to see through as he moved closer to the trees. His heart rate had jumped into combat mode, alerting all his other senses. He knew the colonel would be directly behind and to his left, and without looking he was sure Punch and Clipper were fanning out slightly, weapons ready.

But he'd been the one to see it, and now he couldn't find anything.

He continued forward, ignoring the occasional seed pod he was stepping on now in favor of spotting the movement again. It had been up off the ground, maybe five or six feet, and quick.

Then again, it might have been nothing.

They reached the first of the trees and Ethan paused, scanning up with his rifle's site. "It was above ground," he said. "Maybe six feet, moving from tree to tree."

The others had their lenses active, using night vision and the HUD to scan the trees and forest, but Ethan found the rifle's site easier to manage. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness, especially now that he was among the trees. It was easier to see a ways up, to the lowest branches that started just above their heads.

He moved forward again, scanning up, around and down, all senses on alert. His safety was off, and the energy bullets his rifle carried would easily rip into these trees -- or right through a man -- but they had orders.

The forest was so quiet, he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. There were no twigs on the ground, and no undergrowth inhibited their movements. Even the ground was absorbing sound, having changed from the hard dirt to a soft, spongy sort of sand.

When he heard the movement directly above and behind his head, he whipped around, gun ready, but forced his finger away from the trigger as the creature leapt from one tree to the next, then vanished into the darkness.

"Shit! What was that?"

"To your right, Punch!" Ethan called. "Five feet up."

Another creature, or maybe the first one had returned, was perched on the trunk of a tree, staring down at them.

"Get a reading!" Patterson commanded.

"Got it, sir," Punch replied as he touched his lenses.

Ethan stared at the animal. It was close enough for him to see pretty well, and it was staring back at him with massive eyes set deep in a bat-like face. He guessed it to be about three feet long, bipedal, but with extremely long fingers and toes, each ending in a claw that clung to the bark without piercing the wood.

It had wide ears that moved independently, honing in on the four men on the forest floor staring back up at it.

With a sudden, very light chirp, it shot away from the tree and leapt to another, then another, until it vanished into the darkness.

Suddenly a shot rang out. Ethan ducked as he spun around, weapon ready.

"Who fired?" Patterson demanded.

"Clipper!" Ethan spotted their other man a few yards away and ran to him, using his rifle to scan the immediate area. "Report!"

"I'm sorry, sir," Clipper pointed to the ground just in front of him. "It jumped toward my face, and I just -- I'm sorry, sir. I honestly believed--"

Ethan held up a hand, silencing the Marine as he stepped over to the dead creature. It was identical to the one he'd just been looking at, only this one was missing most of its chest, and smoke was curling up from the fur around the blast wound.

"Dammit," Ethan knelt beside the creature while the others scanned the area. "It probably doesn't eat anything larger than a bug." He glanced up at the colonel, then used his rifle's light to illuminate the small teeth inside the narrow mouth of the dead creature. "I'd guess it moves around these trees eating insects."

"Tag it and bag it, Punch," the colonel ordered. "We'll let the white coats dissect what's left." He turned to the soldier who'd fired. "Put your safety on, Clipper, and get back to the perimeter."

"Yes, sir."

Ethan stood while Punch scanned the dead animal, then slipped the body into a sealed bag for transport back to the ship.

"So, was that your movement, Griff?" Patterson asked.

He looked back at the forest, blinking as he tried to see more clearly in the dark. "Yes sir," he said with some conviction. "It must have been." He nodded and shouldered his rifle. "Probably, it was."

Patterson laughed shortly. "You give me gray hairs, Griff."

"That's why they call me Ghost, sir," Ethan replied with a grin.

"All right, back to the ship," the colonel ordered, then tapped his com unit. "Everyone, back to the Solaria. We'll let them digest some data while we prep for a walk in the woods."

# # #

With twelve hours to kill before they could push forward into the forest and begin the real work of exploring this new world, Ethan caught a few hours of sleep and a quick shower, then headed over to the research section of the Solaria, where the creature was being dissected.

When he stepped into the small lab, he was noticed immediately by Doctor Lydia Warren, and greeted with a broad smile.

"Ethan, I was wondering if you'd manage to stop by."

"Lydia," Ethan nodded as he approached the metal table holding the body. "I wanted a better look at this thing in the light. How's it coming?"

"Good, actually," Lydia replied. She handed him a pair of gloves and a long metal probe. "Does the Colonel know you're in here, rubbing elbows with the science staff?"

"I'm sure he does."

The creature was splayed out on the table, on its back, with the abdomen -- or what was left of it -- sliced open to reveal the organs. One rear and one front leg had been carefully skinned so the muscles and tissue could be more easily analyzed and tested, but the head was intact. Scans posted along the far wall showed interior views of the skull and brain along with full body scans and x-rays.

"I think he counts on it, actually," Lydia said as she joined Ethan alongside the body. "He might mock our contingent every chance he gets, but he's got to be grateful to have you around when things get interesting."

Ethan used the probe to push open the animal's mouth. "Define interesting."

"Oh, you know what I mean," Lydia shrugged. "You were right, this creature gets its nutrition solely from insects and leaf matter. We analyzed the contents of both the stomach and intestines and found only small creatures, both winged and crawling, and plant matter." She straightened up and looked at the scans on the wall while Ethan continued to look at the teeth and facial structure. "The teeth could cause some damage, at least deliver a painful bite, but there's nothing here to suggest it would attempt to eat an animal larger than itself. This poor thing doesn't have a very large esophagus, and can't swallow big bites."

"So it probably lives among the trees eating parasites," Ethan nodded as he looked at its eyes. He found a small light on the counter and gazed into the lifeless corneas. "God, look at all the rods. Hardly any cones."

"Yes, it's fascinating. Probably a common development in this part of the planet, what with it so dark and all," Lydia agreed.

Ethan looked up. "So it can probably see just by starlight as well as we do by the sun. Probably colorblind, though."

Lydia nodded. "Most likely. But why worry about color in an all-dark world? I doubt we'll find any insects or other creatures using color as a defense in a region that can't see color to begin with. The muscles in the rear legs are very well developed, and the bones are hollow. He was a lightweight creature with excellent jumping and clutching skills."

Ethan set the light down and looked at the animal. Its fur was a soft texture, not very long, and reddish in color with no stripes or banding anywhere. The eyes were black and wide, and the ears large and filled with tiny hair receptors.

"You should have seen it in the forest. It's identical to the other one I saw, several feet up in the tree, jumping from one to the other." He shook his head and let out a slight sigh as he touched the scorched fur where the energy blast had gone through. "It was . . ."

"Beautiful?" Lydia offered. "Or is that not a word you're allowed to use in the Marines?"

Ethan laughed shortly. "I was going say agile," he replied.

"Oh." Lydia blushed suddenly and crossed her arms. "Well, I'm assigned to the first exploration group, so maybe I'll get to see one soon."

She looked flustered, as if she'd been wanting to say something but couldn't work up the required nerve, so Ethan disarmed the situation as quickly as he could. "Is this your first exploration?"

"It is, yes," Lydia replied with a quick nod. "I mean, on a world with atmosphere, it is. And the first time I've been on the leading edge team. Usually I come along after specimens were tagged and bagged, or marked for retrieval. But on this ship it turns out I'm one of the few with ground experience."

Ethan shrugged as he examined the muscles on the animal's thick hind leg. "Most of this first launch were Marines and support staff. We're lucky to have you."

"Do you want to get a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee?" Ethan looked up, eyebrow arched. Lydia was a beautiful woman, no doubt about that, but she'd worked closely with Kathryn so often, he'd trained himself not to think of her in any real capacity outside of her work.

He blamed that for his sudden inability to respond in an intelligent manner.

"We have a few hours to kill, right? I mean, the Marines deploy in two hours, then we're coming an hour behind," Lydia continued, speaking in a rush. "It's just that -- honestly, Ethan, only coffee. I just need a break, you know? And I'd like to chat a bit with someone, that's all. But if you, I mean --"

"Coffee would be good," Ethan replied with a smile.

"Great, okay, good." Lydia pulled her gloves off with a snap and ran a hand over her hair, smoothing down the errant strands that had pulled out of her hair clips. "I'll just wash up."

Ethan nodded, then removed his gloves and stuffed them into the incinerator. "You know, it's really pretty nice outside. The temperature is mild, and it's so unbelievably quiet."

"Really?" Lydia came out from the washroom, still wiping her hands on a towel. "I hear the air smells fresh."

"It does." Ethan walked to the door and Lydia followed with a smile.

The galley was only a short walk down a crowded corridor, where they easily found an empty table and fresh coffee. Ethan noticed a large number of his squad also loading up on caffeine and fresh food prior to the expedition. They'd soon be on MRE's and sleeping on the ground for who knew how long, so fresh coffee would quickly become a luxury they could only indulge in if they were willing to carry it themselves.

Ethan sipped his coffee and watched as Lydia added sugar and stirred hers thoughtfully.

"So Kathryn's on a fleet ship?" she asked, gazing into her cup.

"The first one," Ethan replied quietly. He'd just recently cleared his mind of these thoughts, so they rushed back quickly and easily.

He cleared his throat.

"She should be here, to see this place." Lydia smiled as she tapped the little stir stick against the side of her cup. "Kathryn has such a strong sense of wonder and curiosity, she can really keep a lab energized."

Ethan looked intently into his coffee, unable to say anything just then.

"It was stupid," Lydia said suddenly. "They went to such great pains to allow families to work together all these years, then without warning it becomes priority to separate us, spread us all out through the fleet." She tossed her stir stick down with a force that wasn't conducted through the extremely lightweight stick with any satisfaction.

"They had reasons," he replied.

"I know, I know," Lydia nodded. "The interests of the gene pool, I get it. But they didn't stop to think about what would happen if -- well, if this happened."

"It was--"

"I know, it was exactly this that made them do it. I know that. It's just that, I mean, shit." Her shoulders slumped and she raised her cup and took a drink.

"Your father and sisters are on a fleet ship?" Ethan ventured.

"The third, fifth, and sixth, respectively," Lydia replied with a nod. "Dad's on the third flight, Amy is on the fifth, and Crystal is bringing up the rear." She shook her head and looked at Ethan. "They're the only family I have, and they wouldn't let any of us travel together. And you -- I know how close you and Kathryn are, and they made the two of you take separate flights. After so many times they made sure to keep you together if you did a sleep run, then to do this."

"We could see them again." Ethan's reply was directed more toward his coffee than anything. "If we send a message to divert the fleet, they'll all land here."

"And if we don’t?" she asked. "If we just let them all continue on to 581c as planned?"

Ethan forced the wall up as high as it would go, then shrugged his best on-duty, in-control shrug. "If we don't contact them, they'll go on as planned, land at 581c, colonize it and live long, happy lives on a fresh, new planet."

"Without ever knowing what happened to us," Lydia slapped the table with an open palm. "My father and sisters, Kathryn, everyone else's family. They'll all land and realize we didn't, and they'll never know where we are or what happened to our ship." She shook her head as she stared intently at Ethan. "It's not right."

"Lydia, right or wrong, it is what it is." Ethan set his cup down and leaned forward, keeping his voice quiet and calm. "Why are you borrowing all this stress? There's still a chance we can divert the fleet. And if not, maybe we can at least send them a message, tell them what happened, that we're alive."

Lydia wiped at a tear.

"But if I have nothing else to hope for, at least I can know that Kathryn, and your family, they're going to land safely on 581c."

"You're right, I know. It's just hard." She gave a sniff and seemed to collect herself. "It's good to talk it out sometimes, to hear someone else tell me what I keep telling myself. That it'll all work out okay, you know? I just need to dive into my work, keep my mind off things I can change or do anything about."

"Exactly," Ethan replied. He'd been trying to do that himself for the past day with limited success. "Now, enjoy your coffee while you can. Once we get outside, we don't know what to expect. We're moving north, into the forest, to try and reach the planet's light side."

Lydia nodded. "And that means camping out, with limited resources. I remember the drill." Her coffee cup was raised in salute. "It'll be more comfortable this time, though, since we don't need respirators and sealed living chambers." She laughed lightly. "Hell, it might even be fun."