Shadows in Flight, enhanced edition Read Free Page B

"Sergeant," as if he were a mere noncom, never to be a commander.
    The bitterness quickly faded, however, and now he had to face the realization that all he felt, day after day, was a growing dread. No, not dread anymore. Raw fear, that's what he felt. All his military study and planning had been theoretical or historical. This was real.
    He began to have nightmares. Vids of the Formics replayed in his mind, always tearing apart Ender or Carlotta or the Giant, as they screamed, "Sergeant! Help me! Save me, Sergeant!" And in the nightmare, he stood there with powerful weapons in his hands and he could not aim them, could not fire, could only stand and watch his family die.
    The three of them bunked together in the upper lab, but when the nightmares began, Cincinnatus began sleeping in the Puppy, or in some other place in the ship, wherever he could curl up and catch a few hours of sleep before the dreams began.
    So it was that when they began to get visuals from the tiny drones they sent on ahead of the Herodotus , Cincinnatus was already so terrified he could hardly breathe. He could not believe the others didn't notice. But they didn't. They kept deferring to him as they discussed possible strategies. And when the visuals began coming back and the sheer size of the monster starship became clear to them, they openly showed their fear -- nervous laughter, lame jokes, outright declarations of awe and dread. But Cincinnatus showed them nothing, and they continued to rely on him.

     
    The odd thing was that even though he was absolutely consumed with his own fear, the analytical part of Cincinnatus's brain didn't freeze up at all.
    "I see no sign that the bogey has spotted our drones," Cincinnatus said. "In fact, I see no sign that they're doing any kind of recon on the planet, even though they're in geosynchronous orbit around it."
    "Maybe they have instruments that don't have to penetrate the atmosphere," said Carlotta. "We do, after all."
    "We can determine the oxygen content and so we know that it's a plant-dominated world," said Cincinnatus. "But if we were going to settle there, we'd be sending drones to pick up samples of the biota to determine the chemistry of life to see if it's compatible with us."
    The Giant hummed a long low "Ummmmmm" and said, "The Formics didn't have to do that because when they colonized, they had this gas that broke down all life-forms into a protoplasmic goo. Their strategy was to get rid of the local flora and fauna and replace it with fast-growing flora of their own."
    "So when the Formics came to Earth, they didn't probe or test at all?" asked Carlotta.
    "Not as far as we could tell," said Cincinnatus. "I've been going over all that during the past couple of months and the Formics didn't do any of the things we would have expected. Now we understand why, but at the time we had no idea of their mission."
    "So are you saying that these aliens are like the Formics?" asked Carlotta.
    "No," said Cincinnatus. "What I think is that this ship isn't like the Formics. It is the Formics."
    Carlotta and Ender were so surprised that Ender laughed and Carlotta even let out a single derisive hoot. "The Formics are all dead."
    "It's got the Formic look. No attempt at grace or proportion. The colony expedition they sent to Earth was a new model. Smaller and leaner than this one. Also faster. Not as close to lightspeed as the Herodotus , but near enough to get relativistic benefits. But this ship -- do you see anything that could possibly cope with relativistic speeds?"
    Carlotta blushed. "No. This is a slow ship."
    "Well, what do we do? If it's really a Formic ship," said Carlotta, "we can't exactly call it with our ID code."
    "I think there's no choice but to send an ambassador," said the Giant. "Or, if you prefer more accurate terminology, a spy."
    "Who?" asked Ender.
    "Well, I can't fit in the Puppy," said the Giant. "So I think it has to be one of you."
    "The Puppy can't leave the Herodotus ," said