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dawned on him until then which planet they actually lived on.
    “Lopez? You ok?”
    The first officer sat stock still, gazing at the images passing on his screen. As the camera zoomed in they could make out the details. The city on the screen looked as if several high-yield thermonuclear bombs had hit it. A few scattered buildings still stood around the edges of the city, but it was mostly a barren, ash-stricken wasteland.
    “My grandparents are down there. And cousins. And my ... my sister.”
    LaPlace snapped his attention back to the tactical officer. “Confirm—are those nuclear blasts?”
    “Unknown. Maybe, but they’re ... off, somehow. I’m reading some isotopic signatures similar to those of a thermonuclear explosion, but the blast characteristics are wrong. It’s like....” He looked up at LaPlace. “It’s like the blasts came from under the surface, and exploded upward.”

Chapter Twelve

    L-2 Lagrange point, Earth
    Long-range Comm Center, ISS Constitution

    Lieutenant Jessica Miller had only been aboard the Constitution for less than two months, but somehow it felt like an eternity. Especially on days she called home.
    “Are you being good for Grandma and Grandpa?”
    Her son, whose small face filled up the entire left half of the split screen and whose eyes continually darted offscreen, only said, “You fly today?”
    “Yes, baby, I fly every day. Momma’s a pilot! Momma flies spaceships!”
    “You go fast?”
    She smiled and nodded. “Super fast!” Winking at the right hand side of the screen, she added, “But Dad flies faster! He flies a big spaceship.” She held her hands out in front of her and apart by a meter.
    The big blue eyes grew as round as cookies, and her husband’s voice cut in—he was orbiting the Earth, though usually the ISS Clyburne was on patrol duty out in the Paredes Sector. When he came in from deep space on occasions like this, they always tried to set up a three-way call between them and Jessica’s parents in Sacramento.
    “Zack, Momma asked you a question. Are you good for Grandma and Grandpa?”
    “Yes,” came the small reply, and Zack’s big eyes darted momentarily offscreen.
    “Do you do what they say?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you—” Her husband cut off as Zack ran offscreen, and they could hear his voice hollering at the dog. Jessica’s mother’s face appeared on the screen.
    “Oh, sorry, I’ll go get him.”
    Jessica waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry, Mom. Let him play.”
    “Well, all the same, you two talk while I go sort things out—” The older woman glanced offscreen, and winced. “Oh, he’s into the dog food again. ZACK! No, no !”
    She disappeared, leaving Jessica to talk to her husband, who she’d not seen in over a month. “So, how long is the Clyburne here for?”
    “A few days. Then we’re off to Lunar Base as escort for some diplomatic shindig—”
    Jessica could hardly believe her ears. “You’re going to Lunar Base? But that’s for us! I was going to tell you in a few minutes—”
    He furrowed his brow. “Tell me what....”
    “They’re decommissioning the Constitution ! There. At Lunar Base. I’m sure we can get shore leave at the same time. At least for an evening.”
    His furrowed brow had given way to a smile. “Yeah, I’m sure Commander Ashworth will let me coordinate our schedules.”
    “Did you talk to him? You know, about what we discussed?” she asked, expectantly.
    His smile broadened. “I did.”
    “And?” She both loved and hated it when he played coy with her. He hadn’t changed a bit in their four years of marriage. Not that she’d know—they’d both been on nearly constant duty for the last two years, ever since her maternity leave ended.
    “He said ... probably.”
    She squealed. She hadn’t squealed since she was a little girl, but even with the looks the other officers and pilots threw her way in the Comm Center, she let the giggles fly. “Perfect! Tom, don’t you realize?