Three hours after the carriers left the prison, they alighted at the receiving field of the mining facility. The children, lethargic after three hours of forced inactivity and bored with seeing the same scenery from the tiny viewports, exited the vehicles slowly. Within minutes, though, their arrival at the new location kindled sparks of excitement and the chattering began anew as they lined up to be processed into the camp.

The receiving personnel a.s.signed to record each arrival and get the new visitors situated went about their tasks professionally and calmly. They had been processing evacuees for over a week and knew their business well.

When three of the expected guests were found to be missing, the supervisor was not overly concerned. It was not unheard of for expected arrivals to miss their a.s.signed flight. It happened daily. He simply followed the process that his superiors had developed and entered a note into the system. Because they were children, he also made a mental note to check the status of the three prior to the end of his shift. If they did not arrive on site within that four-hour period, he could take additional steps to find them and get them to safety.

Unfortunately, mental notes often get misplaced.

CHAPTER 19.

Eli, Jonah, and Adrienne hid out in vacant rooms while the exodus continued from the prison. As they watched from darkened doorways, cooks, administrators, and technicians-basically, all the remaining civilians left in the building-made their way to the exit in this wall of the square to board their a.s.signed carriers. When the opportunity presented itself and the corridor was vacant, they bladed farther south. Each small bound took them a bit closer to where Treel was being held. In between their quick dashes down the long east corridor of the Outer Square, they took turns sleeping and keeping an eye out for their next opportunity.

After a few hours of this wait-dash-wait movement, the hallway was finally empty. Eli a.s.sumed that all the workers who lived here were either busy elsewhere in the prison, or they had already been evacuated. Whatever the reason, it made their lives easier. They rolled without incident the last two hundred meters to the corner where the east and south corridors met and stopped. Treel's room was around the corner and fifty meters down the south corridor. Like all the apartments in the Outer Square, it was located on the outer wall of the structure.

Using a tactic he learned on the paintball course, Eli knelt down near the floor and quickly poked his head past the corner and back. As expected, the guard was still stationed outside the alien's room. He did not see anyone else in the entire length of the corridor, which extended for a long, long way.

The six-year-old stood up, gave his partners a quick thumbs-up, and skated into the nearest dark doorway.

"Now what?" Adrienne asked when they were inside the vacated apartment.

"Now we wait."

"What are we waiting for?" Jonah was obviously not used to taking orders from someone much younger. He also seemed to have picked up the taste of Adrienne's fear. He was no doubt questioning his earlier rash decision to follow the two purple team members on this adventure.

"The alien ships to arrive," Eli stated. "Duh."

The door to the lab slammed open and Avery looked up to see Mouse and a half-dozen armed soldiers stomping toward them. She, Tane, and Ceeray were gathered around Tane's desk, comparing notes on what had been completed and what still needed to be done.

"I don't believe it," Mouse accused. "All four of you should have been out of here by now!"

"That's what I have been saying," Blue sniped from the other side of the room. The administrator's uppity tone irked Avery as usual, but to his credit, the man had been urging them to leave for the past hour. On the other hand, his urgings were based on a highly amplified sense of self-preservation. The four civilian members of Mouse's "inner circle" were scheduled on the same carrier, and Blue could not depart until the others did. In other words, he was stuck with them, for good or bad.

"We're just finishing up some last-minute items, Mouse. Then we will be on our way."

"Not acceptable, Avery," the general replied. His normally pleasant countenance had been replaced by a mask of tense anxiety-an obvious result of being in charge of Earth's defense against the approaching motherships. "Your pilot has been waiting to lift off for two hours. He raised the issue with one of my commanders, who finally escalated it to me. Frankly, I don't need to be thinking about the four of you. I don't need to be wondering if you're safe or not. I need to be thinking about a hundred things right now, but not this."

Avery was tempted to reply that she was an adult and could make her own decisions, but she knew Mouse was right. Grant had put him in charge-not just of the army, but of making sure she and Eli were safe. Her urge to retort was overridden by pangs of regret and guilt. He did not need another thing to worry about.

"How much time do we have, General Mouse?" Tane asked. His voice was soothing and brought a feeling of rationality to the discussion.

"The Minith will be able to land in just over four hours, Tane. You know this." Mouse's terse reply made it clear that he was not easily influenced by the scientist's calming demeanor.

"Yes, and it is only a three-hour flight to the safety of the mines, correct? We still have time."

"That's where you're wrong, Senior Scientist Tane Rolan. You don't have any time. You and your friends are leaving now. Whatever you're taking with you had better be in your hands in the next fifteen seconds or you're leaving without it."

"Excuse me?"

"Thirteen seconds, Tane." Mouse waved to the six soldiers standing behind him, and they moved forward. None of them said a word, but their intent was clear.

"You can't do this!"

"Ten seconds."

"But . . . but..."

"Nine... eight..."

"Ack!" Whatever Tane was going to say was cast aside as the reality of the situation finally sank in. He quickly began grabbing and shoving memory wands, compu-disks, and random sc.r.a.ps of paper into a cloth bag that he yanked from beneath his desk. Avery knew the items contained the scientist's latest ideas and projects. Tane was a genius, but he was not the most organized person on the planet.

"Avery, Blue, Ceeray... anything you want to grab before my friends here escort you to your carrier?"

Avery and Ceeray looked at each other, then reached down for the bags they had stashed next to Tane's desk. They had packed earlier-just a few changes of clothes and some personal items for each of them.

"My belongings are already in the carrier," Blue announced with a sniff.

"Well, aren't you prepared?" The sarcasm in Mouse's voice caused the administrator to blink in surprise. The same snide comment, just a few years earlier, might have resulted in a formal reprimand. Now, such mutterings were becoming commonplace.

"Everyone ready, then?"

"Just another few moments, General."

"Sorry, Tane. Time is up." He nodded to the three soldiers standing closest to the scientist. Two immediately latched onto Tane's arms while the third relieved him of the cloth bag.

"But... but..."

"'But' nothing. Get him out of here," Mouse ordered. The two half-dragged, half-carried the small scientist across the room. The third followed behind, the scientist's belongs safely tucked under one arm.

Mouse then turned his attention to Ceeray and Avery. With a smile and a gentle wave, he politely indicated that they should follow the scientist and his escort.

Neither of the women hesitated.

CHAPTER 20.

He had never before been presented with a choice between attacking a military target or a political target, but General Soo did not hesitate. He and four thousand warriors in two ships would attack the human military center. The other two vessels, with their four thousand fighters, would target the political center on the far continent.

He did not expect the human leadership to be in their headquarters, so the choice had been a simple one. The genetic makeup of the humans would undoubtedly require that they flee the approaching armies. Regardless, the commanders in charge of the attack on the political target had been given the simplest of orders: land near the target, wipe out whatever humans got in the way, and destroy the leadership building. The act would send a powerful signal that resistance against the Minith would not be tolerated. What happened after that could wait until Soo and his forces accomplished the same mission against the military structure of Violent's Prison.

"How much longer, Lieutenant Sczlo?"

"Initiating landing sequence now, General. We will be on the ground in ten minutes. We are on target to land in the area you specified."

"And the other two ships?"

The lieutenant checked a readout before responding. "The forces being led by Master Shan are scheduled to land on target, two minutes after we touch down."

"Excellent." Soo's ears twitched as he paced the perimeter of the command center. "Are all forces ready?"

"Yes, sir. Personnel vehicles are loaded and ready for departure at your command."

"Good, good." Soo stopped pacing and thought of the battle to come. He had not felt this alive in a long time. "It's time to cull the flock."

Mouse stood outside his command carrier and craned his neck toward the starlit sky. The twin glows of the approaching motherships grew larger and larger. Unable to wait any longer, he joined the pilot and three crew members a.s.signed to his carrier.

His vehicle was parked in the inner courtyard of the Inner Square. As the most experienced pilot on the planet, he would have felt much more comfortable staring out the tinted wind screen of his jet, but the burden of command had removed that possibility. Instead, he had the pleasure of being cooped up in a small, slow carrier filled with communication and video equipment. He could talk to any military vehicle on the planet from the carrier. He could even access each vehicle's video feeds if he wanted. It was an impressive setup that would allow him to monitor and direct the battlefields both here and in Urop.

But it wasn't his jet.

"Do we have a location yet, Colonel?"

"Sir, um... it looks as if the Minith plan to land here."

"We guessed they would land here, Tom. But where is 'here,' specifically?"

"Sir, it... it looks like they plan to land right on top of us!"

"Oh, h.e.l.l." Mouse froze at the thought. The aliens were going to use the powerful engines as a weapon. He should have expected this.

Grant would have expected this.

He struggled to think, to plan, to develop an adequate response, but the only thing that came to mind was run! Absent any other direction or guidance, he went with his gut and opened up a comm line to all units.

"All units, sitrep! The Minith ships are landing on top of us, over. Move your vehicles now! Units on the south, head south at top speed. North, move north. East, move east. Keep moving until we see exactly where the ships land, then halt and wait for my orders."

Mouse looked up and caught the eye of the carrier pilot. The fear and uncertainty he found there were clear.

"What are you waiting for, Captain Jeene? Get us out of here!"

The pilot nodded, turned to his controls, and lifted the carrier off the ground. When it cleared the roof of the prison, they headed south at top speed. Mouse looked out the small window in the carrier's side and spied the confusion below them as soldiers, tanks, and jet carriers leaped into motion. His army of thirty thousand was suddenly in disarray, and the Minith had not even landed yet.

What the h.e.l.l was Grant thinking when he left me in charge?

General Soo whooped as the vid screens showed the humans start to scatter. They had obviously figured out that grouping their forces together in such a tight s.p.a.ce was not the brightest idea ever developed.

"Time?"

"Three minutes, sir."

"Excellent! The humans might save some of their forces, but not all. There isn't enough time to move that many vehicles and soldiers."

Soo smiled at the knowledge that thousands of sheep would burn in the coming minutes. It was a good start.

The first battle of this war would go to the Minith.

"What do you mean, 'he never arrived?'"

The processing supervisor shrugged, unable to explain how Eli, along with the other two missing children, could have missed their carrier. He was also unable to explain why the supervisor from the previous shift had not raised the issue with anyone.

"There's a note in the system, but nothing more," the man explained. "I would hate to be the guy responsible when Mr. Blue learns of this oversight."

For the first time in her life, Avery considered striking another human being. Her son was missing, left back at the prison-with the Minith landing any minute-and this man was worried about getting in trouble from Blue.

"It's my fault, Avery. I was in charge of loading the carriers. I should have paid more attention," Ceeray said.

She placed a hand on Avery's shoulder, but it offered little comfort. Her son and two other children were still at the prison.

She swallowed a terse reply of agreement. Lashing out at Ceeray-or at the supervisor-would not make her son suddenly appear. She struggled with the options available to her. They were few. She briefly considered reaching out to Mouse and asking him for help, but she quickly discarded that notion. His attention was needed to save Earth-not just her son. Only one other option floated to the surface.

"I'm going back."

"Excuse me?" Avery's announcement got the processing supervisor's attention. "You cannot do that."

"Who is going to stop me?"

"Well, hopefully common sense will stop you. But if it doesn't, then they will." The supervisor uncrossed his arms and pointed to a pair of soldiers guarding the entrance to the processing center.

"But my son-"

"There's nothing we can do about that now. I know your husband, and I am grateful for what he's done for us all. But there is no way I can allow you to go back." The man checked the time and waved the guards over. "It's a three-hour trip and the Minith will be on the ground at any moment."

Avery felt helpless, confused, and angry-emotions she had fallen out of touch with since being rescued from the Minith seven years earlier. She wanted to scream, to argue, to push her way past the supervisor to one of the carriers waiting on the other side of the entrance. Before she could do any of that, the two soldiers joined their small group.

"Jackson, could you and Deacon escort Avery Justice to her quarters, please?" Avery noted that the supervisor emphasized her name so the soldiers understood who they were dealing with.

"Yes, sir," Jackson calmly replied.

Her mind and body fought against the need to lash out, to express her Violence in a physical a.s.sault upon these men. Her son was missing-left behind to possibly face an attacking enemy who had never shown any regard for human life. She needed to get back to him but knew it was useless to argue. In the end, it would get her nowhere. She grasped for a tattered sliver of Peace to help her navigate the situation. The only thing she could think of was to find Tane right away, and enlist his help.

The soldier gave Avery a nervous smile and gently took her elbow in his left hand. With his right, he gestured to the far doorway, indicating she should proceed. He neither pushed nor pulled, seemingly content to let her move at her own speed. She noticed that he was embarra.s.sed at having been involved in the confrontation. That embarra.s.sment, coupled with his polite demeanor, caused her feet to move and her tears to flow.