The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

An atmosphere flier had come to rest nearby, the occupants walking out to stand amid the desolation. “Earth once endured orbital bombardments, and many other ills,” one of them said, her face saddened. “This is the place where Lyons, Kansas, once stood. Like many such towns, it could not survive the great changes in climate, the wars, and the many other troubles Old Earth has endured. People stayed and tried to keep this place and many like it alive, but in time their efforts were not enough. Here you see what became of the dreams of many people because of the folly of many people.”

“Such places are not disturbed, except by natural processes,” a man from Earth added. “They are a reminder, and a monument.”

“Like living in a graveyard,” Desjani muttered in Geary’s ear.

Another woman smiled and knelt to touch sprigs of brighter grass that were springing from the side of a mound. “We’ve finally managed to reverse the climate processes that led to this area’s becoming so dry. It was hard, reaching agreement with everyone on this world, but the steps have been taken to slowly bring the planet back into balance, avoiding the sort of shocks inflicted upon us in the past. The rains are coming back. They will bring back the rivers and the creeks and the lakes, then the trees and the animals of the plains will return. In time, so will the people. Perhaps they will build new homes here and rebuild this town,” she added with a sharp look at the man who had spoken of not disturbing such places. “This is a living world, not a museum.”

“We shouldn’t argue this in front of others,” the man replied, looking cross.

“If they’re not going to repeat all of our mistakes, they need to know all about those mistakes and how we’re dealing with them.” The second woman straightened, brushing dust from her trousers. “Though from what I hear, there have been a lot of mistakes made among our world’s children. Has the never-ending war between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds indeed finally come to an end?”

“Yes,” Geary replied. Mostly, he added silently. “Seeing this, actually grasping how many people died on Old Earth, I wonder how we survived long enough to reach other stars.”

“Survived to repeat the same follies,” Senator Suva said, her eyes tragic as she scanned their surroundings.

“I am certain that we would recognize both the follies and those who pursued such policies,” Senator Costa added in a caustic voice as she gazed meaningfully at Suva.

“I am certain that we would,” Suva said, with a scathing glance at Costa.

“We may lack for answers,” Rione said, as if commenting to no one in particular, “but we have a great deal of certainty, don’t we?”

“Do we have to carry our quarrels to this place?” Dr. Nasr asked before either Suva or Costa could lash out at Rione or each other again. “Your ancestors, my ancestors, may have lived here, may have visited this very spot. Do not their memories deserve respect rather than discord?”

Geary looked around, seeing that Senator Sakai and Charban had also joined him outside. “What do you think?” he asked them.

“Home is the worse for wear, isn’t it?” Charban remarked.

“We were fortunate,” the woman from Earth who had first spoken said. “The lessons we learned and the technology we developed in making Mars habitable played a large role in helping this world recover from the damage we inflicted upon it. And what we learned about a functioning ecology in order to build crewed ships that could carry generations of people to other stars during voyages lasting more than a century in normal space has guided us in repairing the ecologies of the Earth.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” another of her companions added. “Only by leaving our Home could we find the means to save our Home. You should come to other places. See our forests, our cities. Not all of Home is like this, and even here the scars of the past will soon be covered by new life.”

“A living world,” the woman agreed pointedly, with another look at the man who had spoken of leaving all undisturbed. “A tired world, but still living, and not every person here is tired. The restless ones often go off world, though. The stars are an important safety valve for us.”

Nice for you, Geary thought. But that leaves us to deal with whatever those restless people want to do when they get out among the stars. He had noticed that none of the people from Earth had brought up the fight with the Covenant warships and those warships’ deliberate attack on an Alliance ship. They were deliberately avoiding any discussion of that matter.

Any further conversation was forestalled as one of the Dancer shuttles, a smooth ovoid similar in shape to their ships though much smaller, came to rest on the ancient roadway near the human shuttles. Everyone watched the gleaming Dancer craft, which balanced gently on the soil like a ballerina poised on one foot.