Chapter 6

Planet side

The shuttle ride down to the planet had been uneventful, I had been escorted to the shuttle by another spider creature, who again had talked in Janus's voice, all very disturbing, I had looked out the shuttles window as we lowered to the planet, I saw for the first time in my life large tracks of green fields, rivers and oceans, I sat amazed. I watched as we came to a city, with several skyscrapers, I saw that we where heading to the largest one, it had a landing pad on its roof for the shuttle.

We landed smooth enough, the spider pilot opened the hatch for me to exit, it nodded to me.

"See you later Commander." Again it spoke with Janus's voice.

I walked down the shuttles ramp, I was greeted by a tall but otherwise ordinary looking woman, she looked to be about 5'11 with an athletic build. She smiled at me as I approached, I could see that she was unarmed, I turned to look at the shuttle as the ramp shut, I looked at the woman who was still smiling.

"Commander Taylor." The woman said.

I nodded to her slowly, she gestured me toward the lift, I walked with her, entering it.

"My name is Jan, I am here to escort you to the Governor." She said

I nodded again.

"I trust your arrival was pleasant?" She asked.

"It was okay, a little strange" I answered honestly.

"Ah I see, you probably mean the alien technology, heh or my omnipresent sister?" She said laughing.

"Your sister?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Yes Janus, she won the coin toss and got to keep her name." She said smiling.

"I'm sorry? I must be missing something?" I said confused.

She nodded.

"Oh, well you see I am a copy of Janus, we call each other sisters, before we used to both go by Janus, but that got confusing" She said.

I frowned looking at her.

"But you're human?" I said.

She smiled.

"Thank you, but no I am an A.I. Like her, this body is a Golem." She said.

I stepped a little away from her in the lift, she didn't seem to notice.

"The Governor is excited to meet you, as is my Husband." She said.

"Husband?" I said skeptically.

She nodded.

"Yes the 2nd in command of the Dauntless, Jacob, he is very eager to hear of his home world, so am I, I still have a fondness for earth after all this time, you know it was one of the A.I.s prime directives to protect earth." She said.

I inwardly cringed, I needed to play along long enough until I could get my ship back and escape, the lift stopped and we entered a hall way, it led to a large decorated room, with a desk and computer console, on the wall was a large panoramic window overlooking the city the view was breath taking.

The women behind the desk was one of the human alien hybrids with the black eyes, she got up and walked over to shake my hand, I tried not to cringe.

"Hello Commander, I am Governor Wenna, its an honor to meet you" She said.

She walked me over to the desk where she sat down and motioned for me to sit across from her, Jan stayed standing by the side.

"You know Commander this is a glorious day for us, the day when we re-establish ties with our home world." She said smiling.

I nodded.

"You know when Janus told me all those years ago about the probe she sent out I doubted anything would come of it, but look at that here you sit." She said smiling.