Earth 1, A.R.G.U.S.

'Panic stations' was how John Diggle referred to the events of that day.

He was right, Lyla Michaels thought.

So far as she could tell - and information about this was still coming out slowly - some of the 'powers-that-be' (which thankfully didn't include A.R.G.U.S.) had detected an alien presence on Mars weeks ago. Apparently, the first signs of the alien presence had resembled the explorations carried out by Earth. Samples of rocks and soil were being collected. But those had been taken personally rather than by robots. A satellite had apparently picked up fuzzy images of a vessel and humanoid-type figures on the surface of the fourth planet.

It might well have been right to keep this information under wraps, she admitted. No one knew who or what was on Mars and public speculation and panic wouldn't help the situation. Social media and conspiracy theorists would have had a field day. Instead, those 'powers-that-be' had waited and watched, while secretly drawing up plans for how to respond to - no, how to deal with the alien presence was a better description. Predictably, the hawks had favoured using a nuke - targeting either one of the Martian moons or one of the alien's sample collection sites. The latter idea made her wince - she sided with those who thought that showing aggression towards what appeared to be a more advanced species technologically could easily backfire.

Fortunately, as this information gradually rippled outwards, common-sense prevailed. There needed to be contact with these 'newcomers' - a deliberately neutral term - and for a dialogue to be opened. Attempts to transmit a message had got no response - it couldn't even be said with any certainty that the message had reached whatever technology the others used.

Someone had to go and meet them.

How? It would months to get a vessel ready to make the journey. The crew would have to selected and trained.

Then it emerged that someone was already on route for Mars. A vessel had left Earth heading for the fourth planet. No, make that two vessels. No official bodies claimed ownership of either vessel. Who were they? Panic stations indeed.

Lyla was afraid that she already knew the answer to part of that. The vessel nearest to Mars had hailed the occupants of the red planet and got a response. The voice coming from the outward-bound vessel had been identified as that of Professor Martin Stein. It looked obvious to her that Stein, Jax and an unknown number of other Legends had gone there on the Acheron. Why? She knew what Watson would think - and was trying to decide whether to keep that information from the woman.

X Unit was turning out to be a disaster for A.R.G.U.S. Even John was urging her to cut ties with the group.

And now the Kaznian government was complaining about the abduction of a man who was becoming one of their leading citizens, together with three (or four) of his associates. Apparently, they had been taken onto the second vessel that was heading for Mars. From the satellite images, it was obvious that Savage and the others were prisoners. Knowing who and what Savage truly was might make anyone think the aliens were doing Earth a favour.

Lyla doubted it. She felt as if her head was going to explode from all this.

X

They were back. The priorities for most of those who'd stayed at home were simple. Hug Nora. Ask who the extra member of the party was.

''She's Grace'' Nora told them.

Grace - she must have been about four - was a rather grubby little girl, who'd so far resisted the ideas of soap and water. Her main interest was in food, which had been in short supply where she'd been.

''She's a scavenger child'' Rip guessed.

''She was. And didn't want to be'' Nora corrected him. ''We'll find a good home for her later on.''

In the meantime, she's with us, Rip thought with a sigh. As if they didn't have anything else to do.