Fifty four - EARTH (DIVIDED)

The recruits trotted off the parade ground, missile launchers swung toward the northeast, and the entire base went to the highest stage of alert.

Marco raised his glasses. "Tag the friendly, and order fire control to leave it alone. Tell the poor Special Operation Bases that we will fire the moment they cross the thirty mile marker. And Fo..."

"Sir?"

"Tell them that the first round is beers is on me".

* * *

Due to the fact that Shola's body was so vast, and her intelligence so widely dispersed, she didn't regard herself at being invested in one particular part of her anatomy. The fact that humans were convinced that their existence was centered in their heads seemed strange indeed. 

She could focus her beingness on the input recieved from selected sensors, however, and that being the case, she chose the gulf of Eden. 

Lacking any means of propulsion, the Say'lnt had been forced to expand a considerable amount of time following the Agulhans cu