They drove until they were safely halfway between the beast-infested wreckage and the mountain range that bordered the gray, then chose to make camp in a grove of fruit trees where Ara assured them it would be perfectly safe.

"The large beasts do not travel far from the caves," she explained.

"We'll keep a watch at all times," Colonel Patterson ordered. "Two hour intervals, starting with Flash."

"I'll relieve you," Ethan said as the soldier set out to patrol around their encampment.

They were all sitting around cooking fires, relaxing after an evening meal of rations and fresh fruit. So much had happened in the last few days, everyone seemed still too stunned or exhausted to do much talking.

Kathryn sat down between her brother and Todd, and looked at Ara. "So, this gray city, what's it like?"

"It is our center," she said with a smile. "And our best hope for peace." Ara leaned forward and picked up a stick, then began to draw in the dirt. "These mountains keep the gray city within them." She drew the mountain ranges on either side, then marked the center. "From all sides." After marking the city, she drew more mountains at either end. "It is within this circle that the gray city was built."

Ethan looked at the drawing. "It's in a bowl, really," he said.

"The most logical place to build," Colonel Patterson agreed. "Easily defendable. Your attackers are forced to climb, limiting what they can bring to use against you."

"Don't mind them, Ara," Kathryn waved a hand. "They're always talking about battles and the best ways to invade something."

"Protect," Ethan corrected, glancing at his sister. "The best ways to protect something." He looked up at Colonel Patterson for a quick grunt of agreement, but his commander was studying Ara's dirt drawing with intent.

"If you have peace, there's nothing to be protected from," Kathryn quipped.

"Our peace is a new thing," Ara said sadly. "And I do fear the frailty of it. Our peoples have been fighting each other for --" She looked up, puzzled. "My history is no longer correct, is it?"

"How do you mean?" Kathryn asked.

"Ara's people don't know they may have origins on Earth," Ethan offered. He looked at her. "And we don't know for sure, yet. Not until they can really get into that data."

"It makes sense, though," Kathryn said. She looked at Ara. "If what we believe is true, then your people are the descendants of a group who left our world a long, long time ago, and were presumed lost. It stands to reason, after a few generations of living here, that knowledge of certain things would be lost."

"But you speak of your ships," Ara said. "You speak of knowledge to use your machines. I speak of an understanding of our forefathers. How is it we were told by our fathers that our numbers had been so many, when they could not have been so?"

Colonel Patterson stood and walked away from the group, motioning for Ethan to follow.

When they were well out of earshot, he pointed toward the mountain range not far away. "If I'd brought the Solaria here, on purpose, with the intention of starting our colony, that's the first place I'd build a city."

Ethan nodded. "Easier to defend. Large enough to hold the population for a few generations of growth, maybe even more." He glanced around. "Close enough to open farmland."

Colonel Patterson nodded. "We'd land the ship far enough away to not interfere in growth, strip it completely, and transport everything to that bowl. Then start to build."

"If we're expecting more ships, we'd build extra shelters, establish some crops, get walls up."

"And we'd do one other very important thing," Patterson said as he gazed at the mountains. "After setting satellites in high orbit."

Ethan crossed his arms and looked at the sky, where the sun hung slightly closer to the horizon. "Establish a communication hub."

"For the group and the ships we were expecting to follow us."

Ethan took a slow breath. "These people don't use technology. They don't have the resources or the understanding."

"Where did the equipment go?" Colonel Patterson looked at Ethan. "That wreck was stripped, seats and all. The sensors, the computers, the nav system, the com system, where did they go?"

"They've long since been destroyed."

"That Starlight probe was still sitting out there, in the dark," he said. "It had been gutted. If these people pulled out the systems from an old wrecked deep space probe, and managed to use the onboard computer well enough to learn English, they had to have kept it around."

"Not necessarily," Ethan countered. "How long ago was that? Seven, eight hundred years? A simple component like that on a planet involved in a civil war --"

"One component, I can give you," Patterson interjected. "But what about the others? They would have been put there, in that gray city, by the original colonists."

"If they were, they're not there now," Ethan said. "We haven't found any evidence these people know where they came from, or how to use a computer. Hell, John, they don't even have light switches. How are they going to contact ships in deep space?"

"Something isn't what it seems here, Griff," Patterson said. "That gray council could very easily be hiding things from us. Just that building alone is so huge, they could have secret rooms, secret groups who knew about this wreck the whole time. Maybe they're keeping all these secrets from their own people. That's pretty status quo where governments are concerned."

Ethan shook his head. "I didn't find any antenna, satellite receiver, not one single transmitter other than what we brought."

"Something brought down that fleet ship. And something brought down the Solaria."

"Marshall said--"

"Marshall would say anything at this point. Anything that takes the blame of his ship's loss off his shoulders," Patterson glared.

"Whatever he may or may not have fabricated to explain the Solaria, it couldn't explain Fleet Ship One," Ethan countered. "Something brought them here, just like it did us. If it was ELM, they would have blown the ship, not wait for it to reach the final drop out of light speed and send it off course. They want humans exterminated, not floating around like space garbage."

"If it wasn't ELM, then it has to be someone here." Patterson pointed at the ground with one finger. "And who's to say ELM isn't here?"

Ethan blinked. "Here? How?"

"On the Solaria," Patterson said. "Or Fleet Ship One. Or that wreck out there in the dirt."

"Just, wait." Ethan held up both hands. "ELM wouldn't have come here to colonize. And they wouldn't have come here to just sit around waiting for a few generations for the chance to maybe, possibly, wipe out the human race eventually."

Colonel Patterson huffed. "You're right, that does sound pretty crazy."

"It does," Ethan agreed.

"But that just leaves us with one logical explanation."

Ethan looked at the colonel, who suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"It's good to see your sister again! For a scientist, I've always admired that one."

And with that, he returned to the group, sat down, and poured another cup of tea.

Ethan stood there, looking back at the colonel, trying to figure out what had just happened. As Flash passed by on patrol, Ethan turned his attention back to the mountains ahead of them. The bowl was the perfect spot to begin a colony, as clearly the occupants of the old wreck had discovered. They probably landed, explored a bit, found the bowl and picked that spot to build their city.

But why the hidden past? Was it secrecy, or just simple ignorance? If Ara's people believed they'd been on this world for tens of thousands of years, it had to have been deliberate. He'd seen examples of history being altered, facts changed and new generations educated to believe differently than their grandparents, but entire generations hiding the facts of their origins? Plausible in small groups, perhaps, but not an entire population.

He couldn't buy it, but he also couldn't explain it. And he was too tired to continue thinking about it. When Flash passed by a second time, Ethan spelled him and took up the patrol, clearing his mind of everything he could manage.

The next morning had them halfway to the mountains only two hours after breakfast. Ara was informing Kathryn and Todd that there was a large, mostly unused section in the basement of the gray council building they could use to set up their research laboratory, when Colonel Patterson suddenly held up a hand.

He tapped his com unit. "Say again, Captain."

Ethan pressed his earpiece closer.

"--in contact with a fleet ship," Captain Marshall said. "In high orbit!"

Ethan tapped on the roof of the mobile they were riding on. "Sentinel, stop here!"

"What's going on?" Kathryn had to grab hold of Todd's arm to keep from falling forward when Sentinel applied the brakes.

"Can they land?" Colonel Patterson asked.

Ethan mouthed "fleet ship" to his sister, then looked up, straining against the blue color of the sky to try and see through the light.

"They're fighting the controls," Marshall replied. "Captain Harold says half his crew and passengers are out of cryosleep, the other half are in damaged units that won't open."

"Can they land?" Patterson repeated. "Do they have any information about the other ships?"

"Oh God, no!"

The static burst following the captain's outburst was nearly deafening. Ethan quickly pulled his earpiece out and followed the colonel as he jumped down from Sentinel's roof.

"Marshall, come in!" Ethan urged, shoving the earpiece back in. "Captain, do you read?"

Kathryn jumped down and grabbed Ethan's arm, pointing to the sky. "Look!"

They all looked up in time to see the giant ball of orange light up the blue to their north. As they watched, the ball of flames spread out, shooting tendrils of molten metal and smoking debris like a flower in sudden bloom.

A moment later, the sound hit. Deep, like thunder, but so heavy and terrible it rattled the nerves and shook the windows on the mobile units.

"Incoming!" Flash shouted.

Ethan watched as flaming chunks of the fleet ship fell from the sky. From the corner of his eye, he saw everyone scramble for cover, ducking low beside the two mobile units, covering their heads with their arms as if they could find shelter against massive segments of melting metal.

He stayed where he was, staring up at the sky alongside Colonel Patterson, as bits of the ship slammed into the landscape. Some fell close enough to shake the ground, others burned up completely before touching.

It was surreal. Even hours later, as Ethan scanned the few large pieces that had slammed into the dirt nearby, he felt completely detached. It wasn't a fleet ship, filled with four thousand men, women and children. It was just scrap metal, still burning hot, barely recognizable as anything man-made.

There was nothing to salvage, and certainly no one to rescue or even bury, making the final few miles to the gray city a silent, reflective journey. Sentinel continued to try and raise Captain Marshall, but the radios were still filled with static interference.

Once inside the city, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion swept over Ethan, not from the day's events, but from what seemed like a lifetime of moving from one extreme to the other. He climbed down from the top of Sentinel by force of will, and began to follow Colonel Patterson, then caught himself and turned to Kathryn.

"Just go," she waved a hand. "We'll be fine."

"I will look after them," Ara said.

Ethan gave them both an apologetic smile, then hurried to catch up with the colonel.

They met Captain Marshall in the room his people were using as a computer lab. He looked white, sitting at the table in the emptied room. His head shaking back and forth very slowly.

"They never had a chance," he said, staring at a computer on the table in front of him.

"What in the hell happened?" Patterson demanded. "When did you know that ship was here?"

Captain Marshall looked up, blinking as if he was just now aware they were in the room. "They never had a chance," he said.

"Was that Fleet Ship Two?" Ethan asked.

"When did you make contact?" Patterson asked again. "How long were you in contact with them before you bothered to tell us?"

"It was Four," Marshall said numbly. "Fleet Ship Four."

Ethan glanced around the room. "Where's Ellis?"

Captain Marshall waved a hand. "He's with Doctor Keller."

"Four?" Patterson slapped his rifle down on the table, rattling a few of the small computers. "That was ship Four? Where are the others? Why did it explode? What the fuck happened up there, Marshall?"

"They blew up!" The captain stood suddenly, glaring back at the colonel. "That's what the fuck happened, Patterson. They blew up!" He pushed the chair aside and stormed across the room, but only managed a few paces before reaching the wall and turning back toward them. "Captain Harold's signal came through when he was already on approach," he said. "We couldn't detect him until he made contact."

"Commander Ellis's family was on that ship," Ethan muttered.

"Half of them were dead already." Captain Marshall paced back to the table. "Harold said the pods malfunctioned. They died in their sleep."

"Why did it blow?" Patterson asked. "Fleet Ship One landed, just like the Solaria, so why did this ship explode?"

Marshall was shaking his head. "They're all gone."

Colonel Patterson slapped the table, rattling more computers. "Dammit, Marshall! Just calm down and start making sense."

"He's in shock," Ethan offered. He set his rifle down and pulled one of the computers around, typing in a few commands.

"He's a disgrace!" They all spun around to see Commander Ellis in the doorway, gun drawn. "He's a disgrace to humanity, that's what he is!"

Ethan straightened. "Just take a breath, Ellis. We know you lost family on that ship."

"You know?" The commander took a step into the room, pointing his gun at the three of them in turn as he spoke. "What do you know, Griff? What the hell do you really know?"

Colonel Patterson glared at Commander Ellis. "I know you're pointing a weapon at a Marine," he said. "Put it down."

Ellis shook his head. "He's got what he wanted," he said as he pointed the gun at Ethan. "His sister's here, in the city, all safe and alive."

"And your wife and sons were on Four," Ethan said quietly. "So were a lot of others."

"No one here is without loss," Captain Marshall waved a hand dismissively. "You're not hurting any more than half the people here, Ellis. Put the gun down and go back to Doctor Keller."

Ellis shifted his focus to Captain Marshall, but spoke to Ethan. "He killed them," he said. "They never stood a chance. He'd have killed your sister if he'd known One was in the system. If they'd made contact before landing, he'd have killed them, too."

"Commander, I'm giving you room because you're in mourning," Captain Marshall said gruffly. "Put down your weapon, or I'll be forced to have you arrested."

"Arrested?" Ellis nearly laughed as he waved his gun. "You're the murderer!"

"What are you talking about?" Colonel Patterson asked.

Ethan slid his hand to his hip when Ellis looked over at the colonel, then suddenly remembered his sidearm was around his sister's waist.

"He didn't tell you?" Ellis turned back to Captain Marshall. "He ordered Captain Harold to launch a satellite."

Ethan glanced at Captain Marshall, who clenched his fists and shook his head sharply.

"Commander, you've got ten seconds to drop that weapon."

Colonel Patterson held a hand up, interrupting Marshall. "Tell us what happened, Commander."

"He murdered them, that's what happened!" Ellis shouted. "He knew what would happen if they launched a satellite. The same thing that happened to the Solaria, and Fleet Ship One. He knew it, and he gave the order anyway!"

Ethan glanced at Marshall. "Why?"

Captain Marshall swallowed, then tugged at his shirt and straightened up. "We need control of this situation. Without a satellite in orbit, we're blind down here. We can't even see the fleet ships coming, for Christ's sake! It was a sound order!"

"Sound order?" Ellis laughed then, but there was no humor in his voice. "Who are you to give orders?"

"I'm your commanding--"

"No, you're not!" Ellis moved the gun, covering Colonel Patterson and Ethan in turn. "There's no more command. There's no more Navy or Marine Corps. There's no more Earth, God or country! There's just us now. No one else is coming. They're dead." He glanced at Ethan. "They're all dead."

"Ellis--"

"No," he snapped, interrupting Ethan. "Captain Harold told us, no one else is coming. Humanity's gone, just like they wanted. Just like those terrorists wanted."

When Ellis moved the gun again to cover Captain Marshall, Ethan noticed a small empty section in the weapon where he could see right through. He looked at Colonel Patterson, trying to catch his eye, but the colonel was pulling his own sidearm out while Ellis was glaring at Marshall.

"They're all dead," Ellis said quietly. "We should be, too."

As his finger squeezed the trigger, Ethan heard a loud pop. He lurched forward, trying to push the commander out of the way, but it was too late. Colonel Patterson couldn't have missed from such a close position, leaving Ethan to catch the body as Ellis fell lifelessly to the floor.

Ethan grabbed the weapon Ellis had been waving around and examined it, then held it up to Colonel Patterson. "It wasn't loaded," he said.

"Damn fool," Marshall quipped. "What was he thinking?"

Ethan stood and looked at the captain. "His wife and four sons were on that ship." He glanced down at Commander Ellis's body. "He must have wanted to be with them."

"Suicide," Patterson grunted. He tossed the empty weapon to the table. "He just didn't have the balls to pull his own trigger."

"What did he mean?" Ethan asked Captain Marshall. "He said no one else was coming. What did he mean?"

Marshall turned to Colonel Patterson, avoiding Ethan's gaze. "Captain Harold said all other fleet ships were destroyed. They were the only ship to launch, and as far as he was aware, there weren't any left who could follow."

"As far as he was aware?" Patterson glanced at Ethan, then pointed to the computer he'd been accessing.

"ELM destroyed most of the fleet ships while they were still in the pre-launch bunkers," Marshall continued. "Apparently there was world-wide panic that only worsened when One launched."

Ethan found the recording on the computer and the screen suddenly filled with a fuzzy image of Captain Harold on board Fleet Ship Four. He stopped the playback, glanced at the colonel, and nodded.

"Get him somewhere," Colonel Patterson ordered, pointing at Ellis's body while looking at Captain Marshall. "I'll talk to you after we see what really happened."

"That ship was my jurisdiction!" Marshall replied hotly. "Admiral Hock's pod had malfunctioned, leaving Captain Harold in command, and as the ground lead, it was my call to make."

"And Commander Ellis was your second!" Patterson countered. "Now get him taken care of."

Three of the captain's computer techs had crowded into the doorway, probably drawn by the sound of gunfire from the next room, while a squad of Marines tried to push through them from behind.

"All of you!" Patterson shouted. "Get that man out of here. Flash, secure this building and see to the new arrivals."

"Yes, sir!"

"Griff, show me what the hell happened."

Ethan took a breath as the men gathered around Commander Ellis and lifted his body, carrying it out the door while Captain Marshall followed. When they were gone, he keyed the computer and they watched Captain Harold's face through a wash of static.

"Can anyone -- Marshall, is that you?" Captain Harold stared back at them from the screen. "Thank God the Solaria made it through!"

Ethan turned up the volume, but there was no sound of Captain Marshall's reply.

"Marshall, we're not receiving," Harold said. From off-screen, someone tapped the captain's shoulder and he glanced down. "All right, we're getting text and commands, but no audio." He looked at the screen again. "Listen, we don't have much time before we hit the atmosphere. The shit really hit the fan back on Earth, Captain. The other fleet ships were destroyed. One launched before us, and we jumped the line when we saw an opportunity, but I don't think any of the others made it. It was ELM. They infiltrated command somehow. There was talk of ELM releasing the M95 virus into the atmosphere."

Captain Harold paused, glancing down at something off-camera. He turned to someone on his left. "Is that Marshall's people? Are they in the system? Why don't we have audio?"

They heard another voice, but it was too far away to understand.

Harold nodded. "Okay, Marshall, we can see you're helping out but we still can't hear you. The onboard computers aren't responding. I don't think we can land. I have half my crew out of the sleep chambers, but the others failed. I've got two thousand dead up here already. Can you bring the rest of us down safely?"

He glanced down again, then shook his head at what Ethan assumed was a text message he'd just read.

"No, Admiral Hock was in a cryochamber that failed. We don't know what happened, but those people all died sleeping. Probably years ago." He glanced around. "Okay, we're coming into atmosphere now. What are you doing?" Harold looked at the screen. "We can't open the bay." He looked down again, then started shaking his head and looked at the screen again. "Marshall, we can't open the bay! The computer locked out the doors!"

Behind him they could hear shouts of warning, then panic. Captain Harold's expression became desperate.

"Marshall, can you hear me? Don't launch! The bay doors, they're not open!"

Suddenly the screen filled with static, then went dark.

Ethan turned off the playback and looked at Colonel Patterson. "He didn't order them to launch a satellite, he did it himself."

"Leaving his motives up for interpretation," Patterson nodded.

Ethan blinked. "His motives?"

The colonel raised an eyebrow and sat on the edge of the table. "Did he honestly believe he could get the bay doors open and launch a satellite that would -- admittedly -- be a huge help to us here on the ground? Or did he effectively eliminate any need to share naval command duties?"

Ethan opened his mouth to reply, but found he had no words.

Colonel Patterson shrugged and stood. "Either way, he fucked up. I'm placing Captain Marshall on house arrest. Griff, I want you bunking down wherever they've put our scientists. Your sister and that Doctor Knott, they'll be the ones to learn what we need to know."

"What are--"

Patterson waved a hand. "We need to protect them, they might be white coats, but they're vital to our success. And your sister will confide in you, so I can trust they're not keeping any secrets."

Ethan shook his head. "Secrets?"

"Something down here brought our ships to this planet, Griff. Something we haven't found yet, but we will," Patterson replied. "In the meantime, I need to know everything we can about that old wreck out there, and these natives, before we make anything official."

"Official?" Ethan watched as Colonel Patterson picked up his rifle and one of the computers as if nothing of any real interest had taken place recently. "What are we talking about here? What secrets? What are you planning to make official?"

Colonel Patterson gave him a slap on the shoulder. "That's the difference between the Marines and a Squid, Griff," he said with a smile. "I know I can trust you."