The Watcher [Alien Nation #1]

Chapter 8

The invaders had set an armada, and the Terrans were giving them the welcome of a fleet of luxury cruise ships.

Jules kept one eye on her datapad as she stuffed a change of clothes, her toothbrush, and a fresh towel into her duffel bag. She'd barely unpacked, and now they were sending her back out to the void.

"Attempts to hail the fleet are ongoing, but so far there have been no signs of imminent hostilities," a tired-looking Terran reporter was saying on the screen. "The British government, as well as the leaders of several other countries in Europe and beyond, have received signals that may be an attempt at communication. Scientists in Britain and around the world are working on decoding them. Prime Minister Julian Hawthorne is expected to make a statement outside Downing Street shortly. In the meantime, the public has been urged to remain calm and go about their business as usual." The fact that she said this as the newsroom behind her was a flurry of rushing interns and loose paper was almost comical.

Almost.

Jules huffed in frustration. Erri still hadn't answered her message. She knew Cass-and all of the other observer-class vessels-had a while to go before their software update was finished, but she had no idea how long. He'd get an official alert soon, but she thought it was only fair he heard it from her so he could have more time to get ready. She knew the ghraals didn't see their free time the same way humans did, but it seemed wrong to drag him back into a cockpit with such short notice.

To make matters worse, there hadn't even been any word from Josh, even though she'd been refreshing his website at least every five minutes. She'd thought he'd be all over this, but nothing. No videos, no blog posts, or even a status update. It was downright eerie.

She ran her hand through her hair, bunching it up in her fist in frustration, then leaned her head back against the wall and huffed out a sigh. She could always just go talk to Erri. He'd be at the Quays, in his favourite bar. But did she want to go? Nebula was a dive. Then again, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to just sit at home alone, waiting.

Fuck it, she thought.

XxX

Jules had been to Nebula only once, and that was on a quiet weeknight after she and Erri had returned from a long assignment and the thought of going back home to silence and solitude was unbearable. The place had been dead, the only other patrons being a couple of human dockworkers asleep in a booth in the corner, and a small gang of ghraal ice haulers lining the bar.

Now, the place pulsed like a living organism. As soon as Jules walked in she was blasted with a wave of noise. It was like music, but not quite, and it took her a moment to place it-StarCrossed, the Commonwealth's first cross-species musical project that just happened to be what Terrans might call a techno group. Two humans, two ghraals, and a hauna, all making music together. It was beautiful, in a way, if you ignored the actual music.

The club lay squashed up against the rim on the outskirts of the Quays, and was one of the only places on the Hub that truly reflected the station's purpose. She wove her way through members of a myriad of species; there were the ghraal and the folna, of course, who were everywhere, but also hauna staff snatching up empty bottles in their many slender tentacle-like limbs; humans who, surprisingly, dominated the dance floor; and even mu'ka, who Jules had previously thought were immune to frivolities such as 'alcohol' and 'fun,' scuttling underfoot. There were even some beings from outside the Commonwealth. Some Jules recognised-there was a huge humanoid with a long coat of fine fur woven into an intricate pattern of braids, who could only have been a doroanir, and a tolo, an amorphous mass of undulating lilac light emanating from a hovering mobile platform. They were allegedly some kind of semi-hivemind made of individual A.Is, the remnants of a small but powerful people, but none of them had ever been inclined to share their history or their tech.