The Time of The Cat: Reprise

REPRISE

I’ve got to add this update about a recent happening before I finish telling this story.

My memories from the ‘Ancient One’ tell me that the aliens came to our solar system from a red dwarf in the direction of what seems to be the Orion area of the sky. They have a form of space travel close to light speed, but it still takes them many years to travel to our solar system. I was relieved when I remembered that fact. We’d previously thought that they must have FTL travel. At sub-light speeds, I didn’t think we’ll have to worry about another invasion for a long time.

On the negative side, I remembered that there was a reserve base that we hadn’t known about. It was on Oberon, the second-largest moon of Uranus. There was a transporter link from there to Titan, but I believe it’s probably broken. It should have gone down when the primary network blew.

The Titan location was the central installation. The distance to Saturn is about eight hundred million miles, and the distance to Uranus averages a little more than 1.6 billion miles. That planet has an eccentric orbit, and it is much farther away than that during parts of its long year.

Based on those facts, I’d assumed that Michael would be nearly grown by the time the aliens could use a conventional space craft to return to Earth. We believed we would have ample time to rebuild before facing another threat from them. I sometimes worried that I could be wrong about my assumptions, and that bothered me considerably.

Last night, Liz and I were standing in the yard watching the summer stars wheel overhead. It was a romantic night, despite the lack of the moon. The wind was from the south, and the air, while cool, wasn’t too cold. The fragrance of spruce and pine was all around us, and I had my arm around her. Michael was in bed, and we were clinging to each other, thinking adult thoughts.

We’d stopped talking, and she had turned to face me. I placed my arms around her, and we kissed. When we paused, she looked over my shoulder and took a deep breath. I was breathing rather heavily also, but I suddenly realized that she was gasping in surprise and not at our kiss. I turned rapidly, ready for anything, and she stepped up by my side.

As we stood there, the western sky lit up as a bright falling star shot by. It appeared to have flames trailing behind it as it moved steeply downward. It passed our location, heading eastward over the mountains, leaving a trail of sparks in the air. I could hear a low rumble from the disturbed air.

The thing disappeared over the eastern mountain peaks, and I judged it probably hit just over the pass near Estes Park. The sight keyed my ‘Ancient One’ memories, and I recalled that they’d sent an automated space craft carrying a transporter link to Earth when they’d first begun their invasion.

I somehow have the feeling that we aren’t done with them yet. This time, though, they won’t take us by surprise.

THE END