She glared at him. “I see. So while the plane was careening down out of control, you unbuckled yourself to help me, and put yourself in danger.”

  “So what?” he said.

  “Isn’t your job to protect Huber?” Dawnstar asked.

  “Yes, but I also have to be true to myself.”

  “Oh brother, true to yourself, and now you came running out at the jihadists. You almost got me killed with that crazy stunt. You shot the leader and shot another. What were you thinking? What if that rocket hadn’t been coming down?”

  “I would have adjusted accordingly,” John said.

  Dawnstar stared at him. “You’re crazy. You’re a madman.”

  “Audacity,” John said.

  Dawnstar sputtered a moment before saying, “That wasn’t audacity. Audacity is doing something courageous, maybe even a little wild, but not insane, not out-of-this-world stupid.”

  “You’re alive, aren’t you? The jihadists didn’t take you with them.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that,” Dawnstar said. “Maybe you did help me. I don’t know.”

  “You helped me,” John said. “You pulled me out of the submarine. You dove into the water after me.”

  “I caused those things, you idiot. And now you’re thanking me for them?”

  “I’m paying you back for your good deeds to me,” John said.

  “What’s wrong with you? Good deeds? You’re really John Steele the son of Colonel Mike Steele?”

  “I am. What’s your first name?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “The VDS came down from space. I think you’re going to be the guest of Mr. Petty for a while.”

  “No, no. Let me go.”

  “Where are you going to go?” John asked. “You likely have a concussion. You can barely walk under your own steam. And you’ve bungled your mission.”

  “No, you bungled it,” Dawnstar said. “My mistake was in taking you. I never should have taken you. Everything would have been okay then.”

  John couldn’t help but take that as praise for him. He beamed like a fool.

  “Great. Now you think you’re the world’s greatest commando.”

  “Not yet,” John said. “But I’m working on it. I want to learn. Maybe you can teach me.”

  “Me? I’m going to be a prisoner, remember?”

  “Not necessarily. I have a little pull with Mr. Petty. After I tell him what you did—”

  “No, you moron,” Dawnstar said, interrupting. “Don’t you get it? This was for big stakes between Petty and Livia. They’re both ruthless. I’m ruthless.” Dawnstar closed her mouth and turned away.

  She groaned, stumbled and almost fell as her knees collapsed. Luckily, John had an arm around her shoulders and he grabbed her waist even harder. She had a slender, nice-feeling waist.

  John grinned. This was a daring, courageous woman of spirit. “How old are you?”

  “Now you’re asking me how old I am? Are you going to ask me out on a date next?”

  “Maybe,” he said. It was crazy, but his heart was pounding at the idea.

  Huber emerged from hiding and walked toward them.

  A team of space marines wearing the special armor his dad had used at Neptune moved closer. They looked massive and quickly covered ground with their exo-powered suits, which made strange humming sounds.

  Soon, the marines stood before them. One of the faceplates opened, showing a forty-something black man.

  “Garvey,” John said. “Can I introduce you to Jondelle Dawnstar?” He had remembered her first name.

  Garvey stared at her with almost blank-seeming eyes until he peered at John. “You okay?”

  “I am now,” John said.

  “You’re going to have to explain everything to me,” Garvey said.

  “I will,” John said.

  “Major Garvey,” Huber said. “It’s so good you could assist us.”

  “What happened to everybody else?” Garvey asked.

  “They’re still in the submarine,” John said, answering for Huber. “It was gassed—” He turned to Dawnstar.

  She didn’t say anything, just looked away into the distance, her shoulders slumped and with almost no strength in her knees.

  It was mainly John holding her up.

  “All right,” Garvey said. “We better get out of here. Dr. Huber, I’m glad you’re fine. It looks like the transponder was a good idea.”

  “Indeed it was,” Huber said. “But I still want to see the proto-Sumerian site.”

  Garvey glanced at Dawnstar. “Do you know anything about that?”

  She still did not say anything but continued to peer into the distance.

  “All right,” Garvey said, “let’s get a move on. I don’t know how this all happened.” He looked intently at John. “I’m not sure I want to hear it. It’s probably going to be crazy as can be. Just another addition to your impossible stunts.”

  Dawnstar turned to stare at John.

  “Oh,” Garvey said, noticing that. “I see. He did something crazy and impossible here too?”

  Dawnstar looked at Garvey and nodded the slightest bit. Likely, because of the concussion, she then fainted.

  It was all John could do to set her down prone on the ground without bumping her head.

  “Right,” Garvey said. “We’re going to board the VDS and blast up to the station. From there… we’ll see what happens next. I’m glad you’re still with us, Dr. Huber.”

  “As am I,” Huber said. “It is thanks to Mr. Steele’s quick thinking, I assure you.”

  “Uh-huh,” Garvey said. “I’ll have to hear that for myself.”

  -13-

  Using its massive thrusters, the VDS blasted off from where it landed, escaping before any land-based interceptors or missiles could target it.

  It turned out later that there had been a sharp debate between certain Earth Defense Forces on the surface and others in the orbital stations. Some of the personnel served Livia Drusus, the ones in orbit obeyed James Petty. There had been threats and counter-threats from the two factions, but no one had launched missiles or fired railguns at each other.

  Thus, the VDS reached O.S. Aphrodite safely and disgorged its passengers, leaving only bad feelings among the various factions of the Earth Defense Forces. Dawnstar went to medical, John went to a debriefing, and Huber went to speak with Mr. Petty.

  It turned out that the Abyss Explorer did not sink, nor did the majority of its crew and passengers die. Instead, after seven hours and thirty-two minutes elapsed, the first of the crew began to revive. Soon enough, the submarine surfaced, opened all upper hatches, and cleared the contaminated air. Eleven people had died, which was far too many from the 47-member crew.

  Dr. Huber did not return to Dubai to head underwater again. Instead, after three days in the infirmary, Dawnstar spoke to Huber and an interrogator in a special interrogation room. They did not use torture devices or any coercive infrastructure on her. Instead, they sat around in chairs in an otherwise bare room, and Huber asked questions.

  Dawnstar must have decided, why not let them know the truth. So, she related what she knew about the strange underwater site. The ruins could be ancient marble columns, but they needed further study to find out, preferably by a trained dive team. The problem was the eighty-five-foot depth, and the currents weren’t the easiest there.

  “So, you’re telling me,” Huber said as he leaned forward, “that there really is something down there.”

  “That’s what I just said,” Dawnstar replied.

  “But someone in Livia’s intelligence agencies built that up by using fakes?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Dawnstar said.

  “In order to lure me down to Earth, as they so successfully did?” asked Huber.

  “You were the target, Dr. Huber.”

  “Why me?” he asked.

  “Because you’re a good idea man,” Dawnstar said. “Because you help Mr. Petty control space and make wise decisions.”

  “Ah, I see. And Livia Drusus understands this?”

  Dawnstar shrugged.

  “How did Livia come to believe that I was so valuable to our CEO?”

  Once again, Dawnstar shrugged, even as she thought, ‘You’re looking at the reason, me, but I’m not about to tell you that.’

  Huber eyed Dawnstar. “You seem to know quite a bit for a mere action operative.”

  “I learned what I could so I could do the best task possible.”

  Dr. Huber nodded slowly as he continued to question Dawnstar further.

  Later, the interrogation specialist asked a few questions.

  Jondelle Dawnstar answered everything according to a preset theme. During her three days of medical care and rehabilitation, she decided to play the part of an action operative, or muscle, for lack of a better term. She wouldn’t let them know that she had been the brains behind the operation.

  Besides, it was crazy to think the mastermind had accepted the action part. She had gone only because she desperately needed to succeed. This had been her big chance to shine before the Director, and she deemed herself the best operative of her group.

  One item galled her. She would be free, the mission a grand success if she hadn’t personally gone on the mission or taken John Steele from the submarine. He had wrecked the mission, and thus her career, possibly now her life. Would she ever get a chance like this again, to do what she did best?

  Dawnstar continued to answer the questions by posing as a simple action operative, who did what she was told, and had learned a few interesting facts during the briefings. She did not even hint at the true nature of the incredible discovery at the bottom of the Persian Gulf.

  “Do you know more about this possible archaeological site?” Huber asked.

  “Just the little that I’ve told you,” Dawnstar lied.

  Huber scratched his chin. “I wonder if we learned more, if that would teach us about the aliens, or the common ancestor between the aliens and ourselves.”

  “I have no idea,” Dawnstar said.

  That ended the interview, though it did not end her time in detention.

  ***

  Later, Garvey met with John while John was running around a track on the orbital station.

  Garvey waved him down and walked with him as John took a break from running.

  “You succeeded,” Garvey said. “Huber made it back in one piece.”

  John nodded.

  Garvey eyed him. “You have a thing for the enemy operative, don’t you?”

  “What do you mean a thing?” John said.

  “She’s pretty, smart, has the right frame of mind… she’s a killer,” Garvey said. “You find all that attractive.”

  John shrugged.

  “She also happens to be a high-level operative for Director Drusus,” Garvey said. “We know that despite her attempt to come off as a simple action operative.”

  “I don’t know about that.” John thought a second. “Look, if she’s so evil, why did she cut the hulking bodyguard to protect me?”

  Garvey gave him a wintry grin. “Notice what happened. I think it’s telling. You have a way of making people want to kill you and others want to help you. How you always manage to do that…?” Garvey shook his head.

  “You’re right, I like her. Is she going to be staying a while?”

  “You can’t seriously be thinking about dating her.”

  “Why not?” John asked. “I haven’t seen any other woman I want to seriously date.”

  “For one thing, she’s a prisoner,” Garvey said. “She’s going to be in detention for months, maybe years.”

  “Should I talk to the CEO about her?” John asked.

  “Petty is not going to change his mind about her for you.”

  “I saved Huber, didn’t I? That ought to count for something.”

  “Yeah, John, I don’t know how you managed to do that. This idea that you have of doing wild and crazy things, and then succeeding with them far too often… it’s going to give you the belief that you can do what nobody else can.”

  Those words struck John. Was that true? Could he do what others couldn’t?

  “My dad did that,” John said.

  “I know,” Garvey said. “But your dad had the backing of the whole world behind him to pull off what he did. And frankly, I think he was lucky both times.”

  “You know what the old Viking said. They preferred a lucky captain to a good one. Maybe that’s what I am, lucky.”

  “Right,” Garvey said. “You’ll be lucky until you’re not. Then what will you do?”

  “Wing it. That’s all I do, anyway. I just try to be like Charles XII in modern times, and do my best.”

  Garvey nodded. “You were grossly lucky. I hope you know that. And I hope you temper what you’re going to do next time.”

  “Garvey, I can’t just do nothing. I can’t just stay on the orbital station and twiddle my thumbs. I felt alive when I was down there. It was exciting.”

  Garvey became thoughtful. “You’re young. You want action. I understand that. We were all young once. Just don’t trust Dawnstar, whatever you do.”

  “She cut the big brute that was going to smash me. The bodyguard said she was going to pull my dick off, if you can believe it.”

  “I can believe it,” Garvey said. “They’re savage. You have no idea what the enemy is really like.”

  “Maybe not, but I know what I’m like, and I know what I intend to keep doing. Am I going to keep being a security officer?”

  “About that…” Garvey said.

  “Oh, no,” John said. “I’m pulled off security duty?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do?” John asked.

  The two walked in silence around the track.

  Finally, Garvey said softly, “Mr. Petty has changed his mind about you.”

  John groaned. “Now what happens?”

  “You did crazy things, and maybe you are half the man your father was, but Petty has made a decision about you.”

  John stared downcast at the track.

  “Petty is going to let you enter space marine training,” Garvey said deadpan.

  John’s head snapped up. “You’re kidding? He’s going against my dad’s wishes?”

  “Yes, because he decided, after what you did in saving Huber, he’s going to go with your wishes. It’s your life. In the end, you should decide how to live it.”

  “That’s awesome,” John said. “Here, high five.”

  Garvey raised his hand and smacked John’s.

  “When do I start?” John asked.

  “In three weeks.”

  “This is great,” John said.

  “Yeah,” Garvey said. “Don’t get your hopes too high, though. I’ve been in training, and I’ve never gotten to do anything in space for real.”

  “You came down and saved my bacon,” John said.

  “I guess I did do that,” Garvey said grinning.

  “Hot dog,” John said. “This is awesome. Thanks, Garvey,” and he held out his hand.

  Garvey shook it.

  John clasped Garvey’s hand with his other hand and pumped it. “Thank you, my friend. Thank you indeed. You tell Mr. Petty I’m grateful, and that he will not be sorry I became a space marine.”

  “We’ll see,” Garvey said.

  -14-

  Livia Drusus stretched out on her easy chair in her favorite room. It was in an upper story in Delhi, India, near a troublesome area that still had pretensions to independence. She had army divisions working on it, taking a little more rebel territory at a time.

  One of the reasons Livia loved this upper room and easy chair was the huge globe floating in the center through magnetic suspension. The globe was a perfect representation of Earth, six meters across. She had a controller to turn or tilt the globe in any direction she wished. On the surface were army, missile, interceptor, and police symbols, both corporation and rebel, showing their respective numbers and greenie, veteran, or elite status.

  Above and around the globe were suspended satellites that perfectly represented the orbital stations. The stations orbited the globe exactly as they did the real Earth. At times, Livia would step close, peer at the satellites, and watch them rotate. They were precise replicas of Orbital Stations Aphrodite, Apollo, Hera, and others. Livia often tried to imagine what life was like marooned or exiled—perhaps exiled was the better word—from Earth and on the orbital stations.

  Livia did not stand now, however. It was late, almost time for bed. She did not stay up late pondering like some dictators had done in the past. She wanted a good night’s sleep so she could think correctly and wisely the next day. So much of her rule relied upon her genius alone, her ability to make the right decisions.

  Livia leaned to the side of the easy chair and picked up a glass of red wine, sipping delicately, savoring the taste. She did not allow herself to become drunk or even buzzed. She wanted to be alert every moment of her existence. In many ways, she despised that she had to sleep. She always wanted to remain alert like some great jungle cat, ready to pounce or slip aside from the giant elephant, say, when it moved through the jungle, crushing trees to make its path.

  Livia had just finished reading a report about the disaster with Huber. Petty’s people had captured Dawnstar, no less. Had they broken the agent, made her talk? Livia’s asset on Aphrodite had said no. Furthermore, it appeared Colonel Steele’s pup was infatuated with Dawnstar.

  How had the mission fallen apart when it started so well? For reasons Livia hadn’t yet determined, the plane crashed in the Zagros Mountains. Jihadists had appeared—then so had the consolation prize.

  Livia picked up her wine glass and took another delicate sip. She yearned for intoxication—

  Livia shuddered. Her youth had taught her why she must never get drunk again.

  She set aside the glass and flicked on a holovid. She watched a hundred-year-old program called I, Claudius. She delighted in the intrigues, reminiscent of what happened these days.

  After a time, she took another delicate sip. If only she could guzzle the bottle and forget her responsibilities.

  “…I must swim,” she whispered.

  She often swam laps, letting her mind go numb. She would stretch afterward, keeping her ageing muscles limber.