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moment. He disliked this whole arrangement before he even knew what it was about. However, he did respect Jason Tolbert.
    “All right, Director,” Carr conceded grudgingly. “So where are we going in this craft that only Ms. Sanchez can fly?”
    “Earth.”
    Carr and Sanchez gaped at the Director for a few seconds. “Good Gods, why?” asked Carr finally. “There’s nothing at Earth.”
    Tolbert smiled and brought the briefing display to life.
    “Ah, so there IS something at Earth?” said Carr. “You have my attention, Director.”
    “About five months ago, a Threnn miner strayed into the Sol system with an apparent mechanical problem. They collected this data and tight-beamed it to Rusalka Station.” The projector was flashing images above the briefing table and both operatives were now viewing the displays and flipping through their datatabs.
    “Ten weeks after that, two Quest class robot probes we had dispatched finally arrived in Sol, jumping in system close to Earth. They sent back this data. You can see for yourself that there are ships and sats of unknown configuration. And there’s also this big thing they’re constructing out there,” the Director said pointing at a large shape floating beyond the Earth’s moon.
    Etta Sanchez looked like a child that didn’t know which birthday present to open first. She was drinking in the data—Carr was drowning in it.
    She motioned toward the holo display. “I’d wager more than one of those vessels are warships, Director.”
    “You think these,” Carr gestured, “are weapon arrays?”
    “Yes, I’m sure of it. And look at those drive signatures. What kind of propulsion are they using? Could that be some kind of Kojima Drive?”
    After a few minutes of discussion about what they were or weren’t seeing in the probe data, Carr tried to bring the briefing back on track. “Director, any speculation on all of this from the science people over at the Centroplex?”
    “For security purposes, only a handful of people have seen this information and they’re pretty much stumped. We certainly don’t think these are pirates or any kind of independents, and we’re equally certain it’s not the Gerrhans, or the Jangsu, or the Pontians, or any other Renaissance Sector government. We know a lot about what it isn’t, but not enough about what it is. That’s why you two are going there.”
    Sanchez closed her eyes, then spoke as if she were about to personally ruin her own dream of a lifetime. “But surely sir, a military expedition, a task force would be more suited for this.”
    “You’re right, and a task force is being sent. They’ll arrive after you two have had a chance to scout things out. What that military force does when they arrive in the Sol system will largely depend on the information you provide to them. We may be looking at a first contact situation here.”
    The enormity of that statement took a few seconds for Carr and Sanchez to process. As they did, Director Tolbert pulled up a new image on the display. It was a representation of Earth, zeroed in on a continent once called Europe.
    “You haven’t even seen the best part yet,” Tolbert said.
    “There’s more?” Sanchez muttered.
    Carr stood up and walked closer to the floating image of Earth. “That spot—there,” he pointed. “Is that a… settlement?”
    “It is, indeed,” Tolbert nodded.
    “How can that be?” asked Carr. “Earth is poisoned, ruined. It’s only been, what, three hundred years since the last humans left. The planet couldn’t have restored itself in that amount of time.”
    “You’re correct and that’s another mystery. However, the probes indicate much of Earth’s biosphere has been revitalized. There’s clean air, fresh water, fertile soil, and that.” The Director pointed at the map display. “The data indicates a settlement along the Dordogne River in what used to be France, about seventy klicks upriver. We see one town with somewhere between