Page 33 (2/2)

His mind drifted back to the Colony Odd that he wouldn’t think about it for weeks or even , the memories would sail into his mind The events that had precipitated his departure now seemed as if they had happened to somebody else-not Lieutenant Peter Jaxon of the Expeditionary or even Peter Jaxon, Full Watch, but a kind of boy-round that defined his entire life How s of inadequacy, manifested in his petty rivalry with his brother, Theo? He thought istful pride of what his father, the great De Rides, would have said to hiht to theiven it all back for just one more hour in Theo’s company

And whenever he looked at Caleb, it was his brother he saw

He was joined at the table by Satch Dodd A junior officer like Peter, Satch had been a toddler when his family had been killed in the Massacre of the Field As far as Peter are, Satch never said anything about this, though the story ell known

"Any idea what it’s all about?" Satch asked He had a round, boyish face that made him appear completely earnest at all times

Peter shook his head

"Good haul up in Lubbock"

"Just tires"

Both theirtime "Tires are tires We can’t doin theto do a hundred-mile sweep toward Midland It was bad duty: the area was a cesspool of oil, bubbling up from old wells that had never been capped

"I’ll tell you so I heard," Satch said "The Civilian Authority is looking into whether or not some of those old wells can still be operated, for when the tanks go dry We "

Peter was startled; he’d never considered this possibility "I thought there was enough oil in Freeport to last forever"

"There’s forever and forever In theory, yeah, there’s plenty of slick down there But sooner or later everything runs out" Satch squinted at him "Don’t you have a friend who’s an oiler? One of your crew from California, wasn’t it?"

"Michael"

Satch shook his head "Walking all the way from California That’s still the craziest story I ever heard" He placed his pal from upstairs, letall of us down to Midland to wade in the slick before too long"

He left Peter alone Satch’s words had done nothing to cheer him; far fro aed, profanity-laced fa for chow Peter wouldn’t have minded a little company to take his mind off his worries, but as they lanced in his direction; the tarnished silver bar on his collar and the poor spirits he was radiating were evidently enough to ward the about?

To abandon the hunt: Peter couldn’t iht of little else He’d signed on with the Expeditionary right after Roswell; a lot of ht, there was a friend, or brother, or son who had taken his place The ones e tended to wash out early or get themselves killed-you had to have a better reason-and Peter had no illusions about himself Payback was a factor But the roots of his desire went deeper All his life, since the days of the Long Rides, he’d longed to be part of soer than himself He’d felt it the moment he’d taken the oath that bound him to his fellows; his purpose, his fate, his person-all were noedded to theirs He’d wondered if he’d be somehow less himself, his identity subsumed into the collective, but the opposite had proved true It was nothing he could speak of, not with Theo and the others gone, but joining the Expeditionary hadthe soldiers eat-laughing and joking and shoveling beans into their mouths as if it were the last meal of their lives-he recalled those early days with envy

Because sons aged andto a, it had slowly slipped away His bond to his ravity, and he would have sacrificed himself for any one of them without a flicker of hesitation, as, he believed, they would have done for hi; he didn’t quite knohat it was He knehat Alicia would have told hi It happens to everyone, be patient Not wrong, but not the whole story, either

Finally Peter could stand it no longer He exited the tent and marched across the co; with any luck, they’d let hilean some sense of what they were up to

He needn’t have bothered As heopen: Major Henneman, the colonel’s adjutant Trihtly crooked teeth he showed only when he s to look for you Come inside"

Peter stepped into the shade of the tent, pausing in the doorway to let his eyes adjust Seated around the broad table were all the senior staff-Majors Lewis and Hooper, Captains Rich, Perez, and Childs, and Colonel Apgar, the officer in charge of the task force-plus one more

"Hi, Peter"

Alicia

"There are two entrances I could find, here and here"

Alicia was directing everyone’s attention to a map spread over the table: US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO Beside it was displayed a second e: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, CARLSBAD CAVERNS

"Theto the cave is about three hundred yards wide There’s no e can seal it even with our largest ED, and the terrain is too rugged to haul a flusher up there anyway"

"So what are you proposing?" Apgar asked

"We box hiain "I scouted another entrance, about a quarter mile away It’s an old elevator shaft Martinez has to be soe of H2 at the base of the main entrance, inside the tunnel that leads toward the shaft This should drive hile ar repeated "Meaning you"

Alicia nodded

The colonel leaned back in his chair Everyone waited

"Don’t get , Lieutenant I knohat you’re capable of We all do But if this thing is anything like the one you saw in Nevada, it sounds to me like a one-way trip"

"Anybody else will just slow me down"