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  "We fly the HERC south until we hit the South China Sea," said Mazer. "We dump the aircraft somewhere on the coastline where it can be recovered, then we find passage on a freighter back to New Zealand."

  "Where we'll promptly be court-martialed, stripped of our rank, and humiliated," said Reinhardt. "Option C?"

  "You take Patu as your bride," said Mazer. "We buy a few rice paddies and live among the peasants. I'll pass as your handsome, inexplicably old, inexplicably dark-skinned son of two white parents, and Fatani will be your water buffalo, plowing the fields with you in the blazing sun."

  "Do I get to whip Fatani?" asked Reinhardt.

  "Naturally," said Mazer. "But he also gets to bite you and poop wherever he pleases."

  "Why don't I get to marry Patu?" said Fatani.

  "Because you're the size of a water buffalo," said Reinhardt. "We all must play to our types."

  "I'd rather marry a real water buffalo than any of you," said Patu.

  Fatani laughed.

  "Your words sting me, Patu, queen of the rice lands," said Reinhardt.

  Patu rolled her eyes, and Reinhardt maneuvered them slightly to the east, heading toward a low range of mountains covered in lush tropical forests.

  After a moment there was a beep from the backseat.

  "I got something," said Patu. "A visual. Not the best image, but it's getting clearer by the moment. An American news satellite. There's no audio though."

  "Patch it to our HUDs," said Mazer. "Reinhardt, take us a few more kilometers along this mountain, then find a high place to land."

  "You got it," said Reinhardt.

  A fuzzy video feed appeared in Mazer's HUD. The superimposed text on screen read LIVE.

  The vid was of space. The alien ship was there in the center, small and distant and unmoving. The satellite wasn't directly between the ship and Earth, but rather off to the side, at an angle, giving Mazer a slight view of the ship's profile.

  "I see a place to land," said Reinhardt. "I'm taking her down."

  The HERC descended through a break in the tree canopy. Mazer allowed himself a glance outside. They were on the crest of a wide, lush mountain ridge, almost entirely consumed with dense jungle forest. The air was thick with the scent of flowers and composting vegetation.

  The HERC set down gently, and Reinhardt killed the gravlens. There was a slight jolt as normal gravity took over, and the aircraft sunk a centimeter or two into the soft jungle topsoil. No one spoke or moved. They sat there, watching their HUDs.

  They waited for half an hour. Nothing happened. They got out of the HERC and stretched. Mazer ordered them to take sleep-shifts. Two would stay awake and two would sleep in two-hour shifts.

  A hand shook Mazer awake. It was dawn. Sunlight dappled the ground around them, shining through the tree canopy overhead. Fatani said, "Something's happening."

  Mazer pulled on his helmet and switched on his HUD. There was the alien ship. Only now the stars around the ship were shimmering, like heat rising off a stretch of asphalt in the summer sun. At first it seemed like a glitch in the broadcast. Then the alien ship began to rotate, turning its nose away from Earth, and Mazer understood. The ship was emitting something, radiation perhaps, or heated particles, using the expulsion of the emissions to change its position.

  It turned ninety degrees then stopped, with its profile now facing Earth.

  "What's it doing?" said Fatani.

  Slowly the ship began to spin on its axis. At first Mazer didn't notice; the surface was so smooth. Then a giant ring of light appeared on the side of the ship at the bulbous end, as if the surface of the ship had cracked and was emitting light from inside.

  "What is that?" asked Fatani. "What's that circle?"

  The ship continued to rotate. Once. Twice. Three times.

  Another circle of light appeared on the bulbous end beside the first one. Then a third circle appeared. The alien ship continued to spin. Around. And around. And around. Then, moving in unison, the three giant circles began to rise upward like columns from the ship.

  "I don't like this," Fatani said.

  Then, in an instant, one of the columns broke free, slung down toward Earth by the spinning motion, leaving a massive recessed hole in the side of the ship.

  It's not a column, Mazer realized. It's a wheel. Tall and metallic and enormously wide, with flat sides and a turtlelike top that had been part of the skin of the ship. It was shooting straight toward Earth.

  "The hell it that?" said Fatani. "A weapon? A bomb?"

  As Mazer watched, the second wheel broke away, slung to Earth, chasing the first. Then the third wheel followed, right behind the other two.

  "What are they?" said Patu.

  "Whatever they are, they'll burn up as soon as they hit the atmosphere," said Reinhardt. "They're huge."

  "They won't burn," said Mazer. "They can generate fields. They'll deflect the heat." He spoke Chinese then. "Computer, digitize the sat feed into a holo that includes Earth and the three alien projectiles. And do it to scale."

  A construct appeared in the holofield. Crudely made. A white sphere representing Earth and three small wheel-shaped projectiles quickly approaching it.

  "Skin the Earth's surface to match current time zones and the Earth's rotation in relation to the position of the projectiles."

  The surface of the Earth appeared on the sphere. Oceans, continents, atmosphere, all slowly spinning on an axis.

  "Can you determine the speed of the three projectiles based on what we see from the sat feed, perhaps using the starfield as reference?"

  "Affirmative."

  "Are they decelerating?"

  "Negative. Speed is constant."

  "Vector their trajectory," said Mazer.

  In the holofield, a dotted line extended from the wheels, hitting Earth at a sharp angle, as a reentry vector should.

  "I don't think they're bombs," Mazer said in English. "Look at their approach. Coming in at that sharp of an angle. I think they're landers."

  In Chinese Mazer said, "Computer, can you guess what their deceleration would be as they hit the atmosphere?"

  "Insufficient data."

  Mazer figured as much. Fine. He would make do with the information he had.

  "All right," he said. "Let's assume they decelerate in the atmosphere at a constant rate that puts their speed at zero by the time they make landfall. Can you calculate that?"

  "Affirmative."

  "Okay. Then based on that tentative rate of deceleration and the current speed and position of the landers in relation to the speed, tilt, and orbital eccentricity of Earth, can you determine exactly where the first lander will touch down on the surface?"

  "Negative. There are too many other variables."

  "Can you approximate?" asked Mazer.

  "Affirmative. The landers will likely touch down within this circle."

  A large red transparent dot appeared on the surface of the Earth.

  "Enlarge three hundred percent," said Mazer.

  Earth zoomed toward them in the holofield and stopped. The dot was massive. Roughly two thousand kilometers wide. Its center was in the middle of the South China Sea. To the east it covered the northern half of the Philippines. To the west it engulfed most of Vietnam, nearly touching Ho Chi Minh City to the south and Hanoi to the north. Plus the northeastern tip of Cambodia and all of southern Laos. But the largest mass of land was in southern China, including all of Guangdong province.

  "We're in that circle," said Patu.

  "It's a big area," said Reinhardt. "They could be going anywhere."

  "It's eighty percent water," said Mazer. "They're not headed for water. And you can probably cross off the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos as well."

  "Why?" said Fatani.

  "Computer," said Mazer. "Show population density within this circle."

  Hundreds of tiny blue dots appeared, the vast majority of which were in southern China, where the dots were so thick along the coast and a hundred kilom
eters inland that they had coalesced into a solid blob of blue.

  "You think they're headed for populated areas?" asked Fatani.

  "You saw what they did in the Belt," said Mazer. "Computer, how much time do we have before the projectiles reach Earth?"

  "Approximately seventeen minutes."

  Fatani swore.

  "Patu, I need a sat uplink to NZSAS immediately," said Mazer.

  "I'll try," she said.

  "What do we do?" said Reinhardt.

  "We warn as many people as we can," said Mazer. He waved his hand through the holofield, reconnecting with the Chinese base. "Red Dragon, Red Dragon. Acknowledge. This is Captain Mazer Rackham. Do you read? Over."

  A Chinese soldier's head appeared. Mazer knew the face but not the name. One of the flight controllers.

  "Red Dragon acknowledge," said the soldier. "We've been trying to hail you, Captain. You're in a bit of trouble with the base commander, I'm afraid."

  "Patch me through to him."

  The controller looked surprised. "To Colonel Tuan?"

  "Yes, immediately. It's an emergency."

  "Yes, Captain, but I doubt he'll answer." The soldier busied himself, then returned a few seconds later. "I'm sorry, Captain. Colonel Tuan is not available, but Captain Shenzu is here."

  "Put him on."

  Shenzu replaced the controller in the holofield. "We have a situation, Captain Rackham. Return to the base immediately."

  "The landers are headed for us," said Mazer. "They'll make landfall in southeast China. I'm almost certain of it."

  "Landers?"

  "The giant discs in the sky. Descending to Earth. Are you watching the feeds?"

  "We have a broadcast, yes."

  "Vector them. Track them. They'll make landfall here."

  "How can you know this?"

  "We did the math with our AI. You've got less than seventeen minutes."

  "Captain, bring the HERC back to base immediately."

  "You're going to need us in this, Captain. We can help. Your HERC teams aren't ready. You know that as well as I do."

  "You have violated our trust and stolen government property, Captain Rackham. Return to base."

  From the backseat, Patu said, "I've got the NZSAS switchboard."

  "I'll call you back," Mazer said to Shenzu, then he waved his hand through the holo to make Shenzu disappear. "Patch the switchboard to the holofield," he shouted back to Patu.

  The same frazzled buck private from hours earlier appeared in the holofield.

  "Switchboard. It's Captain Mazer Rackham. Connect me with Colonel Napatu."

  "He's inaccessible, sir."

  "Then get me Sergeant Major Manaware. Anybody. Now!"

  "One moment." The tech busied himself, then disappeared. Manaware appeared.

  "Captain Rackham--"

  Mazer cut him off. "Listen to me. The landers, the discs, they're headed to southeast China. I can't be certain, but I think they're coming to us."

  "We've calculated a huge landfall radius," said Manaware. "They could be going to anywhere in Southeast Asia. Hell, they could stop in the middle of the sky and switch directions. There's no telling, Captain. We can't be sure where they're going."

  Mazer didn't have time to argue. "Fine. Contact Colonel Napatu. I need permission to engage the landers if they do land here and prove hostile."

  Manaware looked at someone off screen and said, "Colonel, he's asking permission to engage."

  "Is Napatu there?" said Mazer, incredulous. "Then put him on the line!"

  Manaware stepped away and Colonel Napatu appeared. "Captain Rackham, what the hell is going on? I got China on the other line saying you've run off with two billion credits worth of tech."

  "Colonel, they cut off all the feeds. We were without any contact to--"

  "You are on a diplomatic training mission, Captain Rackham. You are representing your country. And in case you didn't know, our government and most of the free world is trying desperately to convince China to trust us and join a coalition against this alien ship. We need the Chinese, Captain. We need their shuttles and we need their firepower. Stealing their property and angering Chinese brass is not helping our cause. We are in the middle of a global security crisis. This is bigger than you and your team. Now fly that HERC back to base and kiss the feet of their commander. That is an order."

  Napatu winked out.

  They were silent inside the HERC for a moment. Finally Reinhardt said, "So what do we do?"

  "You heard the colonel," said Fatani. "We have our orders. We return to base."

  "Yes," said Mazer. "But the colonel was a little unclear on when to return to base. Did anyone else catch that?"

  Reinhardt smiled. "I don't recall a time. Surely an order like that can wait sixteen minutes, give or take."

  Mazer looked at the others. They nodded.

  "All right," said Mazer. "Buckle up. Patu get that news feed back on the sat uplink. Reinhardt, take us up. Way up. A few thousand feet. I want us in a position to see anything. Seal the windows. Pressurize us."

  "Hold on to something," said Reinhardt. He engaged the gravlens, and the HERC shot straight up as if yanked upward on a string. It climbed higher and higher, the altimeter numbers clicking through fast. Two thousand meters. Three thousand. Six. Seven. In a minute they were higher than they had ever taken the aircraft. Mazer's stomach churned. His ears popped. His head swam. He blinked, kept himself focused, and ignored the queasy feeling.

  Below them, the landscape was green and lush, filled with tiny, watery squares of rice paddies like a green tiled mosaic laid across the Earth.

  "Computer," said Mazer. "Follow the projectiles. Monitor their speed. Then update the landfall radius in real time as they approach. Tighten that circle as much as you can."

  "Understood," said the computer.

  They hovered there, waiting, watching the landfall radius on the map, watching the sky.

  The sat feed in Mazer's HUD showed the first projectile hit the atmosphere, a glow of orange heat encircling the front. The speed of the lander immediately slowed, and the computer instantly made modifications to the map. The giant red circle that was the landfall radius suddenly jumped inward, becoming a smaller circle, a third of its original size. The circle no longer included the Philippines or Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos. Only southeast China remained.

  "Mazer," said Reinhardt.

  "I see it," said Mazer looking at the map.

  "No, not there," said Reinhardt. "There." He pointed east out the windshield.

  Mazer looked. A distance away, almost to the edge of the horizon, a long white contrail stretched behind the alien lander, the front of it a bright hot wall of heat.

  CHAPTER 12

  Mud

  "We're nearly there, Grandfather. We shouldn't rest now. Look, you can see the village stairs from here. A kilometer at the most. Here, I'll help you." Bingwen extended his hand.

  Grandfather swatted it away. "Did your parents teach you nothing, boy? Do your elders mean so little to you? If I say I need a rest, I will take one, and no boy, however closely related, will command me not to." He muttered something under his breath, a curse perhaps, then leaned heavily on his staff, groaning and wincing and scowling as he lowered himself toward the ground. His strength failed him just before he reached it, and he fell with a thud onto his backside. Another wince. Another curse. Then he exhaled deeply, as if the air he had been carrying in his lungs had only added to his burden and he was glad to be rid of it.

  After the chaos of the night, the morning seemed strangely normal. The sun had been up for only half an hour at the most, but already there were small groups of people in the rice fields all along the valley, bent over the shoots, working, chatting, going about their labor as if the previous night had been a dream. There were fewer people than usual though, Bingwen noticed. And those who were close enough for him to see their faces were all elders, hunched and wrinkled like Grandfather with their coned straw hats and sun-fa
ded garments.

  "You told him not to let you rest, Ye Ye Danwen," said Hopper. "You've been saying it for hours. It's not fair of you to scold him for doing exactly what you commanded."

  Grandfather swung his cane out, not hard, not intending to hit Hopper, but fast enough and with enough force behind it to scare Hopper and send him shuffling backward. Hopper's bad foot tripped him up, and he fell back onto the dirt, nearly tumbling into the nearest rice paddy.

  "Enough from you," said Grandfather. "You've been chattering all night and I'm done with it. Home with you."

  He waved his hand wide, as if sending Hopper away.

  Hopper rolled his eyes when Grandfather wasn't looking, dusted himself off, and went back to sit by Meilin, who was squatting on an embankment nearby, poking at the nearest rice shoots with a stick.

  Hopper was right of course. Grandfather had told Bingwen on multiple occasions throughout the night that he was not to let Grandfather sit down again. "Keep me moving, Bingwen," he had said. "It hurts too much to get back up again."

  And so Bingwen had tried: rushing over whenever Grandfather made a move to sit down, urging Grandfather on, pleading, pulling, reminding Grandfather of the pain that awaited him when he got up again. But on every occasion Grandfather had only grunted and resisted and cursed and scolded and sat down anyway.

  And an hour or so later--because Grandfather would always take that long, regardless of how many times Bingwen urged him up again--Grandfather would struggle upward, his bones creaking and paining him so deeply that he'd apologize to Bingwen for being old and foolish and "Please please please, don't let me sit down again."

  It was maddening. Stop me, Bingwen. Don't stop me, Bingwen. Do as I say, Bingwen. Don't do as I say. Bingwen would give anything for a truck or a skimmer.

  Grandfather began to lie down in the dirt, and Bingwen came over and helped him, getting his hands under Grandfather shoulders and lowering him gently down.

  "There are people in the fields, Grandfather. Let me find some who can carry you the rest of the way."

  "I have two feet, boy. Let me use them. I will not be the burden of any man."

  Oh, you won't burden any man, thought Bingwen, but you will burden me.

  Then he instantly felt ashamed for having thought such a wretched thing. It was Grandfather who had believed him about the aliens when no other adult had, Grandfather who had helped him pilfer cans of food and bags of rice and bury it all in the earth, Grandfather who had shown him how to build the ladder to get into the library many years ago. Always Grandfather.