Heirs of the New Earth Read Free Page A

redundant?"
    "That the Cluster's from a cluster.” Gibbs smirked, impressed by his own clever remark. “What is a globular cluster, anyway?"
    "They're like balls of stars that orbit the Milky Way Galaxy,” she explained, thinking back to the images that had been displayed on the news. “Kind of like little mini-galaxies, except the stars are older."
    Gibbs nodded, then sipped his coffee. He held the cup out at arm's length and realized it had been manufactured at the factory where his mother had worked. He sighed and took another sip, then poured out the remaining coffee and crushed the cup. He looked up into Louise Sinclair's soft brown eyes. Briefly, he imagined himself asking her out to dinner, but quickly threw the notion aside, knowing he didn't have the money for such an extravagance. “So tell me,” he began, his tone softening, “who made this discovery?"
    He was pleased to see her smile. “It was a mapping ship called the Nicholas Sanson. They interviewed the ship's senior officers: a woman named Smart and the captain—a man named Ellis. They followed the Cluster to its home.” Sinclair wrung her hands and turned away. Gibbs swallowed, realizing he had been staring at her. “I guess the Sanson barely got back to the galaxy in one piece. It was quite a space opera,” she finished quietly.
    "Hey Gibbs,” called a voice from the door of the break room. Looking up, Gibbs saw his supervisor, Jerry Lawrence, a tall man with a rumpled uniform shirt. “We've got thirteen teleholos lined up in the back. We need to get them out by five,” he said, looking at his watch.
    "Sorry, Mr. Lawrence, I'll be right there,” he said. Lawrence turned on his heel and left. Gibbs looked up at Sinclair and smiled sheepishly. “I guess I need to get to work."
    "Me too,” she said, quietly. “Sorry I kept you. I didn't mean to get you into trouble."
    He resisted the urge to reach out and touch her shoulder. “No problem,” he said.
    "I need to get back on the floor. Customers, you know.” With that, she led the way out of the break room. She resumed her narrative, though it seemed that the enthusiasm had gone from her voice. “It turns out the cook aboard the Sanson was that McClintlock guy who had that wacky Cluster religion up in the New England Sector."
    They stopped at the workshop door. He tried to think of something witty or charming to say. Instead, looking up, he saw two people browsing the displays. “I think you've got some customers.” He shuffled his feet. “I need to get to work."
    "I know,” she said, turning away.
    Pursing his lips, Gibbs entered the workshop, feeling a little relieved that he would be spending the day with computer chips and electronic components that only spoke when he hit the on switch and if he didn't like what they said, he could always change the channel.
    * * * *
    As the star cruiser Nicholas Sanson limped toward the colony world of Alpha Coma Bereneces, the captain, John Mark Ellis, went to his quarters to wash up after the news interview. Sensors tracking the mapping vessel had seen it wink out of existence, then come back a few days later. People were amazed to learn that the Sanson had, in fact, followed one of the enigmatic Cluster ships to its home in a distant globular cluster. Not only had the crew of the Nicholas Sanson learned where the Cluster had come from, they had accomplished the first interstellar jump outside the Milky Way galaxy.
    Washed, Ellis put on clean clothes and sat down at the table in his quarters. Activating the computer interface, he dictated a short message to his mother, Suki Firebrandt Ellis. He told her what he thought he knew about the Cluster and its connection to the leaders of the Confederation of Homeworlds—the Titans—and asked if she had learned anything. A few months before, Ellis had asked his mother to research any connections between the Cluster and the Titans. Now, Ellis strongly suspected that the Cluster and Titans were symbiotic