Chapter 516
Lt. Hannah Damon
It's been a while since I've been on old Earth.
The oxygen masks are uncomfortable. They always have been. The air on Earth is toxic, thick with pollution and decay. The domes filter out the worst of it, but the masks are still necessary for extended exposure.
I'm on a protection mission. Getting award-winning professionals to the Bastion and Nea Gaia for their research. I don't understand the science, but apparently, they are very important. The Council is paying a fortune to transport them safely.
I stand at attention as the group of twenty gets into the spaceship. Others say goodbye to their families, standing in the dusty orange hue of Earth's atmosphere.
*
Eventually, they all board the ship. I get on with the other ISA soldiers. There's a captain explaining the safety protocols to the scientists. I don't listen. I've heard it a hundred times.
