"We could track him," Ethan said as he took a seat in the mobile unit beside his sister and faced forward, where the colonel was sitting. "Chances are they're just walking in circles out there in the dark."

"Don't worry about Marshall and his men," Patterson replied. "He won't last a week out there."

They were in the second of two mobiles, now heading back to the gray. The first one held Lydia, technically under arrest for her participation in the mutiny of Captain Marshall and his people, as well as several darkside council members who'd led the search into what they termed a very dangerous area of the dark side.

Ethan was riding back with the colonel, his sister, Ara, and Todd who was driving. Both women had nearly knocked him to the ground when he'd been found, safe and alive, giving Colonel Patterson much needed fodder for the plentiful teasings still to come.

"It took us over two days to find you, and we've been told this isn't the place you want to hang around for long. Even the natives don't live in this area."

"The beasts are plentiful here," Ara added. She handed Ethan a bottle of water and settled in to the seat behind him. "Councilmen Orin advises we return as quickly as possible."

"I'm all for that," he agreed.

"I was afraid I would not see you again," Ara said. "When the ship lifted, it was such a terrible noise."

"Did it damage the city?"

"Not as much as you'd have expected," Kathryn replied. "The wall on that side is damaged, and some buildings will need repairs, but no one was injured. Marshall at least gave us time to evacuate the area."

Ethan looked at the colonel. "What exactly did happen? I slept through everything, apparently. The last thing I remember on the ship was being prepped for cryo while a couple of goons held me down. Then I woke up out here in a pod, and Lydia wasn't exactly the best company I could have asked for."

"Basically, Captain Marshall took you as hostage, keeping us from launching a full-on assault of that ship before he could send it up," Colonel Patterson explained. "He gave us damn little time to think it over. We barely got that section of the city evacuated before he started up those engines."

"Was there much damage?"

The colonel shrugged. "Part of the light side wall came down, and some buildings were cracked, but no people were injured and everything can be fixed. Our people are helping rebuild as we speak."

"What about the ship?" Ethan gestured over his shoulder. "Those are the fuel extensions burning out there."

Colonel Patterson let out a quiet grunt. "I know. He launched, sure enough, but not long after that those fuel tanks broke apart."

"The bargain was, he'd launch that ship, then set you out in a pod before they reached high orbit," Kathryn added.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "And if he didn't?"

"We had enough surface to air missiles aimed at his belly to take out those tanks ourselves," Patterson replied. "But I can promise you that's not what happened. We don't know exactly what happened, but in light of the other Fleet ships, I can't say I'm surprised at all."

"Did it crash?" Ethan glanced at his sister and noticed the look she shot Ara, then the colonel. "What? What happened to the ship?"

Colonel Patterson cleared his throat. "After the fuel tanks dropped, the ship itself settled in to a high orbit. There isn't enough fuel to reach the first jump point, let alone make the jump into light speed, but there's enough fuel in the reserve tanks to maintain a high orbit around this planet for a good seventy to one hundred years." He shifted slightly in his seat. "Captain Marshall and a handful of his crew weren't in cryo yet, obviously manning the ship before freezing up. By the time we all realized what was happening, Marshall contacted us, said he'd launch you as promised, and that he was launching himself and his men as well."

Ethan blinked. "He abandoned ship."

Patterson nodded, his jaw clenching in anger for a moment. "We couldn't fire on his pod because we had no way of knowing which one you were in, but we couldn't stop him from abandoning his ship and his people, either."

Ethan's mind was struggling through his headache, trying hard to absorb what was being said. "Wait, so the ship -- it's in orbit right now?"

Both Kathryn and Colonel Patterson nodded.

"And everyone on board, they're in cryosleep?"

"For at least ten years, according to Doctor Warren's information," Todd offered up while driving. "And we concur with her findings, by the way."

Ethan swallowed. "So they're trapped up there, in cryosleep, with no way of landing."

It was more of a statement than a question, but Colonel Patterson nodded. "That's right. They'll be in cryosleep for at least ten years, and safely in orbit, so we have that long to find a way to get them down."

"There's always the chance another Fleet ship will show up," Kathryn offered. "I mean, we really have no idea at this point. But ten years is a long time. I'm sure we can . . . Well, we'll just have to, won't we?"

Ethan shook his head slowly. "My God. Marshall signed their death warrants as sure as pulling the trigger himself."

Ara reached forward and put a hand on Ethan's shoulder. "There is time. Much can happen in that many years," she said. "Perhaps your people will find a way. But in the time between, our peoples together can rebuild the damage in the gray city, and rebuild our peace."

"That has been a bit of a plus," Kathryn said. "This crisis seems to have brought the darksiders back to the city, looking for an end to their quarrel."

"I am not confident that will last, but we in the council have hope."

"We can use this as a distraction," Kathryn said. "Keep their minds off what they were angry about and bring them together, focused on goal."

Colonel Patterson shrugged. "Maybe for the next ten years, at least."

___________________________________

It took two days to reach gray city. After a day of rest ordered by his sister and Doctor Keller, Ethan joined Colonel Patterson on a tour of the damages that were already being repaired. A massive segment of the wall had been reduced to rubble, and several buildings near that side were cracked and uninhabitable, but luckily they'd only been used as storage. The ground where Fleet Ship Twelve had sat was now a deep crater that the gray council elected not to fill it in. Instead, they were hard at work redirecting water from the mountains to fill in the space that would then serve as a man-made lake, standing in remembrance of the ship that passed by every twenty eight hours.

"We're going to survive this place, Griff," Colonel Patterson said as they looked out over the repairs. "Hell, we might even thrive."

Ethan laughed shortly. "That's the idea, anyway."

"Damn straight." Patterson turned and gave Ethan's shoulder a pat. "You're well on your way, if Ara has her way. And your sister seems to have found herself a match in that Doctor Knott fella."

Ethan let out a sigh and followed the colonel. "At least she picked a good one this time."

Colonel Patterson laughed. "I'd best get busy myself. And if I were you, I'd hurry back to the council building. Wouldn't want to be late for that rooftop picnic I heard your sister going on about this morning."

Ethan cleared his throat. "What do you suppose happened to Marshall?"

"Hopefully he's dead," Patterson replied. "I like to think of him contributing back to the food chain, myself." He glanced up at the twilight sky. "While we're left cleaning up after his mess."

"They didn't know, about the timeline," Ethan said as they walked back through the city. "Lydia was arguing about how long they could be kept asleep, but most everyone was already frozen. Marshall never told them there was a chance they wouldn't make it back."

"I can only imagine what that bastard did tell them that got them all to go along in the first place," the colonel spat. "Going back to a dead world forty years after you left it, it's madness. And now we have to fix it."

They'd reached the council building, and Ethan glanced up, but it wasn't quite time for the ship to pass by overhead. "If we can."

"We will," Patterson said matter-of-factly. "It's what we do."

"Yes, sir." Ethan watched the colonel head back for his building before going inside and heading up to the roof where Ara, Kathryn and Todd were already waiting with an impressive spread of cooked food and glasses of Alter.

"The repairs are going well," Ara commented as Ethan joined them.

"Yes, they are," he agreed.

Kathryn handed him a glass of the fermented beverage and they all looked up to watch Fleet Ship Twelve as it passed by overhead, a bright spot against the twilight sky, following it's unplanned but perpetual orbiting path.

"It's almost beautiful," Ara remarked.

Ethan shrugged. "Sure. As long as you don't stop to think about what's inside."

"Ten years is a long time," Kathryn said. "Who knows what we could come up with by then."

"And perhaps another of your great gray birds will come from your world, like this one did," Ara offered. "Then you would have a way to reach them, would you not?"

"It's possible," Ethan shrugged. "Hell, at this point, I'd have to admit anything's possible."

When the ship neared the horizon, they all turned to walk back to the table where the meal was waiting. As they did, something caught Kathryn's eye in the distance. She pointed up at the sky.

"What's that?"

Ethan followed her direction and saw movement in the sky. For an instant, he thought another Fleet ship had arrived, but he quickly realized it wasn't that far out. And it wasn't a ship at all.

"Is that --?" Ethan blinked, then hurried over to Ara's telescope.

"They said these things didn't exist here anymore," Todd said as they all followed Ethan.

With the large looking glass, Ethan found the object in the sky, then raised the lens quickly. Within seconds, he'd located it and brought it into focus.

"That's exactly what it is," he said. "And there are three more behind it." Incredulous, he handed Ara the lenses and pointed to the sky.

"Oh my God," Kathryn laughed lightly. "Look at them. They're beautiful."

"This planet has birds after all," Todd said. "Which brings into question a few theories, I suppose."

"They have returned!" Ara exclaimed with delight. She set down the telescope and grasp Ethan by the arm. "It is a sign, Ethan Griff."

Stunned, Ethan could only stare at the three massive gray birds flying over the city. They had a regal air about them as they soared, and a wingspan of at least twelve feet, he guessed.

The sight was quickly drawing looks from the people below, and Ethan realized it was the first time he'd seen a bird in flight that wasn't in a zoo, or on a video replay. They were so graceful it was impossible to look away. Long, silvery gray feathers covered equally long and wide wings that held up a smooth, streamlined body. Long, thin legs trailed out behind, rather than being tucked up underneath like he'd seen on the small zoo birds, and their long necks supported an impressively large, thin beak.

"A sign of what?" he asked as the lead bird glided gently overhead.

"Of the end," Ara wrapped her arm around Ethan's waist and smiled up at the birds. "To our time of dying."

------ The End -------