"Silent Earth Ch.5" by Carla K. Anderson

      Terran was nowhere to be seen when Nera got home. Usually he wandered around the Station until the usual hour she was finished working, at which point he’d return home, going through the cat-door keyed by the chip of xeral in his collar, and greet her when she came through the door. Today, however, she was early, and so he had not finished his rounds yet.

      The house was more or less spotless, but Nera tidied up a bit after putting her folders on her desk. The few magazines on the coffee table were stacked, the kitchen checked for dirty dishes (one tea mug from last night) and her bed made. Still in her bedroom she slipped out her Station jumpsuit and put on loose sweatpants and t-shirt, her general clothing of choice while relaxing at home. As she started to hang her laser sword, its holster still attached to the belt, Nera hesitated for a moment, then pulled her small stunner from the closet shelf and slid that onto her belt, too, so it would hang behind her sword hilt.

      “You can never be too careful...” she muttered. Then, feeling silly for her paranoia, she hung the belt up and, without a backwards glance, left the room.

      Back in the living room, Nera keyed in the access code on the console at her desk and pulled up all of the files on Feran that she had, including yesterday’s transmissions. Too restless to sit down with them yet, however, she set everything printing before going into the kitchen and beginning to prepare her dinner—seasoned beans to go in a tortilla, some vegetables, and a salad.

      A sudden furry presence at her feet alerted Nera that Terran was home and ready for his dinner. Leaving the beans in the pan, she pulled a can of cat food from the bottom cupboard and dished some up for him, a process that was slightly hindered by his constant bumping of her hand with his head. Finally, however, Terran was eating contentedly, so Nera went back to her dinner, just in time to save it from browning and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

      Thirty minutes later, her dinner eaten and the dishes saved for later, Nera went back to her living room, a mug of tea in hand, and curled up in the chair in front of her console for a little history review. Feran had been considered uninhabitable by early explorers, and so instead they had settled in habitats on the three Feran moons, all of which were rich in xeral, until a good robotics and satellite system was set up. Even now, some humans remained on the moons, to supervise, perform maintenance, and for the jobs that machines still could not do.

      But what, she wondered, if there was life on Feran? It hadn’t been thoroughly explored, after all, and there did seem, at first, to be evidence of mining on the moons—although the government scientists at the time had said it was merely tracks from ancient water deposits. But wasn’t water a sign of life, too?

      It did seem strange, of course, that no aliens, if indeed there were any, had not attempted to contact the humans on their planet’s moons before this. Although, logically, perhaps it had taken this long to find a way to contact the other race they suddenly found on their moons. However, no further transmissions had been received. Perhaps they were waiting for a response? Or, Nera reminded herself, it could still be a glitch. Nera knew she would have to ask Hadar if the crew he communicated with had reported anything, in the morning.

      Frustrated at contradicting herself and unable to reach a conclusion without further information, Nera went back to the kitchen, dumping the last of her cold tea in the sink and rummaging around for some graham crackers to nibble on while she read until she was too tired to think and it was time to turn in for the night.

      Ralon was standing behind a wall of glass that Nera had built and his eyes were sad. “Why wouldn’t you come?” he asked.

      “I was happy!” Nera cried. “Everything I know is here…why didn’t you stay?” Ralon didn’t answer, and slowly he rose, soaring off across the sky as she watched, sobbing, unable to follow—a heavy earthly weight was pressing down on her, holding her to the ground…

      The fluting ring of her console phone woke Nera. With a start, she sat up, disturbing the heavy Terran, who looked at her reproachfully and slunk off to the kitchen, where he could soon be heard crunching on dry food. Pulling her laser sword from the holster at her head, Nera switched it on and slid out of bed, following the pale blue flame to her living room. The console was lit up, still ringing. Nera reached out and pressed ‘answer.’ Vanya’s face appeared in the screen. He looked a bit startled at first, seeing Nera in faintly flickering blue light, wearing a long t-shirt with faded printing across the front. He soon regained his composure, however, and said,

      “Commander, a few marks ago I received notice that a transmission had just been received—the computer, set on automatic, transferred it to my home console.” Nera’s heart jumped as Vanya continued. “It was from the second Feran moon satellite.”

      After a moment, Nera managed to say, “Please send it to me for decoding. I’ll take care of it tomorrow. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock, which read 2:30 am. “Well, technically, later today.” Vanya protested as she smiled wryly,

      “I do apologize for waking you, Nera, but I thought you’d want to know.” Nera nodded.

      “You did the right thing, Head Vanya.” She hesitated, wondering if she should add anything further. But, no… when she knew for sure or at least suspected... then she could tell him. “Send it to me, please. And get some sleep.” With a smile, she switched off the console and got a drink of water before heading back to bed, this time to blissfully untroubled sleep.