But things were different up here at the station's top, a sanctuary where antennae rose and wind moaned through pipes. Up here, gazing through the porthole, Rowan saw the most beautiful lights. The stars.
She sat on the ledge, pulled her knees to her chest, and gazed out at those distant lights. Fillister sat on her shoulder. She could only see a handful of stars from here—only four tonight. But Rowan imagined that one of them was Sol, Earth's star. She had read that the stars were so distant that light took centuries, even millennia to arrive here. Maybe the light reaching Rowan now was two thousand years old. Maybe it was the light from a living Earth, light from a world where humans still thrived, still made movies and wrote books and sang songs.
Her eyes dampened, and Rowan sang the song of her childhood, a song she could remember her parents singing. A song called Earthrise. A song of home.
Into darkness we fled
In the shadows we prayed
In exile we always knew
That we will see her again
Our Earth rising from loss
Calling us home
Calling us home
She yawned, then quickly covered her mouth, hiding her crooked teeth. She was shy even around Fillister. Her stomach rumbled. She should try to sneak into the kitchens; they would be closed now, and she could find some scraps, maybe even some paper for writing movie scripts. But she was too weary to climb all the way down, even to make her way back to her living room. She curled up on the ledge, and she slept with the starlight upon her. She dreamed of green hills, of blue skies, and of a lost home.
CHAPTER THREE
Emet stood on the bridge of his flagship, faced the towering viewport, and gazed upon his fleet.
The Heirs of Earth. Some called them freedom fighters. Most called them terrorists. Twenty starships. Five hundred warriors, all of them human. It was barely an army. It was the flicker of a dream. It was humanity's only hope in the darkness.
Humanity had no more homeworld. But they had this fleet. They had the Heirs of Earth. They had a dream, and they had Admiral Emet Ben-Ari.
"Wherever a human is in trouble, we'll be there," Emet said. "And right now, all across the galaxy, there's a whole lot of trouble for humans."
He stared beyond the fleet, narrowing his eyes, trying to penetrate the darkness of space. The darkness loomed.
They should be here already, he thought. Where are they?
His warships hovered ahead, most of them rusty and aging, even older than Emet. And at fifty-five, he was not a young man. They had been cargo ships once, alien vessels he had purchased for cheap and refitted, adding armor and torpedo bays. Emet himself now stood aboard the flagship, the ISS Jerusalem, an old tanker converted into a warship.
And beyond them—the vast blackness.
The abyss.
Hierarchy territory.
Emet placed his hand on Thunder's wooden stock. Thunder was his rifle, a heavy double-barreled beast of a gun. Not just a gun—a companion. Rifles were of little use on a starship, but he found the touch of wood comforting. The stock was carved from an alien tree—wooden artifacts from old Earth had rotted thousands of years ago. Emet had carved it himself, sanding and polishing and staining, emulating an antique double-barreled rifle he had seen in the Earthstone. The Earthstone was gone now—the traitor had stolen it—but Emet still had his rifle, and the touch soothed him.
Thunder was his main weapon, but he also carried a pistol named Lightning. That smaller weapon hung on his hip, though "smaller" was relative. Lightning too was a heavy machine, shaped like an antique flintlock from Earth. It was all iron and brass gears, its handle curved and wooden. In battle, Thunder roared in fury, blasting bullets the size of Emet's thumbs. But Lightning was fast and deadly and fired electrical bolts. Both weapons had been with Emet for years. Both had saved his life countless times. Both had shed rivers of alien blood.
His eyes refocused, now seeing his reflection in the dark viewport. He was a tall man, among the tallest in the fleet. He wore the uniform of his people: brown trousers, symbolizing the soil of Earth, and a blue overcoat, symbolizing Earth's lost sky, inlaid with polished buttons like the stars. A wide-brimmed black hat completed the outfit. Cowboys on Earth used to wear such hats, Emet knew; he had watched several Westerns in the Earthstone. It seemed fitting. He was a shepherd here in the sky, herding his people home. The uniform was old, shabby, patched and stitched many times, its colors fading. Like everything in the fleet, including himself, it was old.
Many called him the Old Lion. It was easy to see why. Emet had long shaggy hair, once blond and bright, now strewn with many white strands. It framed a craggy face, flowing past his shoulders like a mane. His beard had once been golden, yet the frost of time had invaded it too. His eyes were amber, almost feline, and drooping now, filled with old pain. The Lion of Winter. Old Fang. He had many nicknames.
Yet they called him a lion not only because of his appearance. His surname was Ben-Ari, which meant "son of lions" in an old human tongue. He was descended of Einav Ben-Ari herself, the great heroine of Earth, the Golden Lioness, the warrior who had defeated Earth's old enemies and raised the planet to glory.
That was two thousand years ago, Emet thought. Einav Ben-Ari is gone. Earth is gone. But I'm still here. The Old Lion. And I can still roar.
"Any sign of them yet, lad?" The gravelly voice came from behind him, and a thump thump of heavy boots echoed through the bridge. "The poor bastards should be here by now."
Emet turned to see Duncan McQueen, the fleet's doctor—and a dear friend. Duncan was a stocky man, sixty years of age, with a glorious white beard and bald head. He too wore brown trousers and a blue jacket, though his were of a different design, personally sewn and dyed. Until the fleet owned a textile operation, every man and woman made their own uniform. So long as the pants were some shade of brown, and the top some shade of blue, Emet was happy.
"No sign yet," Emet said.
Duncan approached him. The man never walked so much as stomped. He came to stand by Emet, a foot shorter but just as wide, and gazed out into space with him. He huffed. "Trouble, lad?"
"Do we ever avoid it?" Emet said.
Duncan snorted. "Someday before I die, a mission will go smoothly. I know it."
Emet smiled thinly. "Glad to hear you plan to live to be two hundred. I could use you for a couple more centuries."
Especially now. Duncan was loyal. A good friend. Over the past few years, Emet had lost too many people. David Emery—his best childhood friend, cofounder of the Heirs of Earth—had betrayed him, had stolen the Earthstone, had defected from the fleet. Emet's own son had run, stealing a shuttle, leaving the fleet and vanishing into the darkness.
Being an Inheritor was a hard life, Emet knew, and he was a demanding leader. But every betrayal stabbed.
They abandon me, Emet thought, but I will never abandon humanity.
"Wherever a human is in danger," he repeated the old words, "the Heirs of Earth will be there."
Duncan nodded, stroking his luxurious white beard. "Aye, that's us, laddie. We chase trouble." He sighed. "I should have been a country doctor. I was happy down on Aberglen. Until you damn lot picked me up."