Return to Earth

Chapter 23

The door hissed open as Petrovitch barked out his command. "Keep your sidearms holstered unless I tell you otherwise. I'll take point. Kierst and Victor, stay here just in case we need the Medjay to do a little firing. The rest of you, follow me."

They responded their affirmatives as he and Victor watched them leave one after the other. Victor wanted to go, but said nothing that would jeopardize his place. Kierst knew there was more to leaving them inside than being in need of the Medjay. Petrovitch didn't want to get Victor fired at by anything, since he had never been under fire before.

The door hissed closed as he took the pilot's seat with Victor next to him. From where he sat, there wasn't much to see except mountains and trees.

Sitting there in silence brought on the idea that he dug himself deeper than he realized. It wasn't just Lita he had to make things up to by earning her respect back, but Petrovitch's as well. Kierst would do what was needed, even if it meant sitting there with Victor while the others put their lives on the line.

It was strange to sit there in silence waiting to hear from Petrovitch, since Victor must've had many questions about the controls before him without a word being spoken. Victor was worried about something, but couldn't quite place it. There would be time to ask things of him later, since he had to wait no matter how long it took.

Only a minute had passed before Petrovitch called out to both of them, but had felt much longer. "It's safe to leave the Medjay. Come out and join us with sidearms in holsters."

There was no need to call them by name as they responded. Kierst wondered why nothing had been spoken that they could hear, but Victor remained too excited to know there was anything off by the silence. Even if he didn't know there should've been something spoken before, he should've at least sensed something was off.

Kierst led the way to shield Victor in case it was a trap without letting him know his concerns. There was no need to say anything that would cause him to loose the excitement, since it was little more than suspicion on his part.

Not that it mattered, since there was no way they could harm any of them without overwhelming them. Had there been a rush of any kind, Kierst and Victor would've heard something. They couldn't even poison the air to dampen their senses or kill them, since the visors protected them. No order had been given to raise them and Kierst didn't need to look back to know Victor's was still down.

His hand hit the button to open the door and could just make out boots from where he was. No call to go back came as he continued to move with cautious steps. Kierst wasn't about to be reckless, no matter what he was told by Petrovitch. Safe could be taken any number of ways and chose the one that made the most sense to him.

No arrows came as he left and found everyone turned to the side looking at something he couldn't see. Both crews were there with sidearms holstered, but no one else. They had to be looking at someone, but he couldn't help but wonder why no one was looking anywhere else.

He turned to see what they were staring at before reaching them and understood the silence. There was a massive hole built into the mountain where people watched and waited who were unlike any others he had seen on Earth. Their hair was shorter and cleaned and wore clothing that appeared rather out of place.