The last person came through the portal and Noah sealed it.
Five hundred of them on an alien shore. Ares soldiers, task force, Eclipse mixed together, nobody talking much because there wasn't much to say yet. The water behind them was doing something slightly wrong with its rhythm, the waves coming in at intervals that weren't quite Earth intervals, and the sky ahead was darker than it should have been for what the mission clock said was early morning local time.
Noah looked at the city in the distance.
Angel appeared beside him. "How long do we have before first light."
"Two hours local," Noah said. "Maybe less."
"Then we need to move."
"We need eyes first," Noah said.
That was where Kelvin came in.
He had built the drones over the last three weeks of transit. Ten thousand of them, each one fist sized, matte black casing that absorbed light rather than reflected it. The principle behind them was simple and the application of it was what made the whole operation possible.
