Operation Lorelie

After twelve years of devastating war, humanity has finally driven its invaders from Earth—or so the survivors believe. In the ruins of a once-great city, soldiers Mark and Jarvis are sent to investigate why three earlier teams have vanished without a trace. The air is clean, the streets are silent, and every instrument reports that the area is safe, yet a faint trail of footprints leads deeper into the wreckage.

As the two friends pick their way through twisted girders and dust-covered ruins, their relief at the war’s end is shadowed by unease. They dream of returning to the women and children waiting on a sub-satellite, but the abandoned city offers no comforting answers. With headquarters urging them onward and danger hidden somewhere beyond the reach of their instruments, their mission becomes a tense search through a world that may not be as empty—or as safe—as it seems.