His face barely reacted as Colonel Stone explained the theory about the chimera, and his voice was perfectly calm as he spoke.‘Let me check I fully understand this. It’s possible the true home world of the chimera is in Zeta sector?’‘Yes, sir,’ said Stone.‘The chimera infiltrated an alien ship and reached Fortuna. They then moved on to Thetis, and possibly other worlds as well, in other alien ships.’‘Yes, sir,’ repeated Stone.‘Something has destroyed all life on Fortuna. Was that a deliberate act by the aliens when they found they were losing to the chimera?’‘It seems highly probable, sir,’ said Leveque. ‘The extinction event may not have reached Fortuna’s moon, so that should still be regarded as suspect.’The General Marshal sat in silence for a long minute, before finally speaking again. ‘Chimera will still exist on their world of origin, and on an unknown number of other worlds as well. How do we find those worlds?’‘The chimera world of origin will be in a star system neighbouring Fortuna system,’ said Leveque.
