I was afraid of that. Jelena was about to ask about the second ship, but Thor had more to say.
I’m having a conversation with the captain of the ship—he’s not the full-on leader of the expedition. That seems to be a government busybody.
And?
They want a map that Brody supposedly took from the archaeological team.
Yeah, I learned that earlier.
They say they won’t let us head back into the system unless we hand over the physical copy and also let a boarding party onto the Snapper to wipe the databanks to ensure we didn’t make copies.
Wipe the databanks? What the hells? Alfie’s favorite dog-biscuit recipe is in there.
If you’re referring to those burnt discs you attempted to bake, I think she’d prefer ration bars.
She loved them.
The smell still lingers in the mess hall.
If I make them again, will the odor drive away a boarding party?
Unlikely. But I suggest we say no to the boarding party. And sharing the map.
Because you’re still hoping to get to the artifact first? Jelena thought of the way he’d looked like he was memorizing the coordinates to that big asteroid. He might have been willing to accept that she didn’t want to help him find the lost ship, but that didn’t mean he didn’t plan to return on his own.
No, because I’m almost positive he’s lying. It’s hard to slip through back doors at this distance, but I get the feeling he’s trying to lure us out with a fairly reasonable demand—
Wiping my databanks is not reasonable.
—but that they think we know too much already and plan to destroy us instead.
Jelena blinked. Destroy us? Only villains destroy innocent freighters. And they’re… They shouldn’t be villains. They’re Starseers. Not rogue chasadski, but legitimate Starseers sent by the government, right?
Many Starseers care little for the lives of grubs—or those who aren’t a part of their society. That aside, I believe they now consider us villains. We killed three of their pilots.
We? Jelena asked, alarmed at the idea that anyone would consider her villainous. That was Brody. I was just running away from them.
We willingly took Brody on board and have been giving him a ride for what they believe is an illicit mission.
We’re going to see a centuries-old wreck on an unclaimed asteroid. How can that be illicit? And we didn’t know Brody wasn’t with the Starseers. I thought he was a part of Young-hee’s archaeological team and that their mission was sanctioned. Can’t you tell them that?
Jelena eyed the comm buttons. Maybe she should tell them that herself. Could she possibly explain things to the Starseers at this point? The images of the crashing fighters replayed in her mind, and she grimaced deeply. Would she forgive strangers who had killed her colleagues?
“Damn,” she whispered, rubbing her eyes. How had they ended up on the wrong side? Again?
“Are the sensors telling you more than they’re telling me?” Kiyoko asked.
“No, but Thor is speaking to me. His information is more alarming than this.” Jelena flicked her hand toward the sensor display, then frowned again.
That other ship had flown closer. They seemed to be heading directly for the Snapper. She tapped the display to get a readout on it—a mid-range converted freighter with weapons. A lot of weapons.
Thor? She meant to ask him about the ship, but he must have been working on an answer for her previous question.
No, I’m not having luck explaining it in a way that’s changing the captain’s mind about anything. He knows who I am, and he believes I’ve willingly joined forces with Brody because I want the artifact aboard the ship for myself. I’m getting the impression he may even believe I’m the one who paid Brody to sneak away with the map.
Jelena rubbed her eyes again, feeling lost. They weren’t the villains, but how did they prove that to a bunch of Starseers angry at having lost comrades?
I don’t know, Thor replied quietly.
What about that second ship? Jelena changed to a course that would take them away from it and away from the Starseer vessel too. They would stay in the asteroid belt and hope… hope for inspiration, she supposed.
Those are mundanes. Maybe a few androids. They have a lot of weaponry, double shields, and an enhanced hull. Pirates seem like a good guess.
Pirates who think we have something they want to pirate?
We are a freighter. Freighters carry freight.
Right now, all we have is an apparently rogue archaeologist and a gullible friend of the family.
Don’t forget Zhou, Thor said. Or was he the latter one?
Zhou isn’t gullible. Or at least, he wasn’t in this case. Jelena picked up their speed as the Snapper flew past a trio of asteroids. That pirate ship had increased its pace, and the Starseer ship, though still outside the belt, was moving to parallel them. He came because Leonidas asked him to.
He came because he’s missed you terribly.
Maybe you should stay out of people’s minds.
I wouldn’t need to be in his mind to see that.
Jelena shook her head. This wasn’t the time for this.
His intentions are honorable, if you’re curious, Thor added.
Of course they’re honorable. He’s Zhou, not some sex-starved inmate.
You’d be amazed at how similar the lustful thoughts of sex-starved inmates are to sex-starved college students.
Well, I guess if you’re prancing about in people’s heads, you learn more than you want to know about humanity.
Indeed. And I don’t prance. I slip in and out with a deft touch.
Uh huh.
Another ship appeared on the sensor display. This one was in the belt ahead of them.
Jelena groaned. “Now what?”
Another pirate, Thor said. Maybe working with the first.
To surround us?
Likely so. I may be able to dissuade them, but maybe not. They’re aware of the Starseer ship out there, and I think they may have been in contact with them. They may have even been offered a reward if they take care of us. I got the sense from one of them that the Starseers threatened them too. Yes, I see from this one that the pirates definitely have a reason to fear crossing them. It’ll be difficult to manipulate them if they’re afraid of the consequences for going against the Starseers.
How many ships do they have? More than these two?
Maybe.
Thor. Jelena couldn’t keep her exasperation from slipping through. This situation is intolerable. I need you to find a solution.
If we stumble across an asteroid with a crater or cave to hide in, I might be able to fiddle with their equipment and make it difficult for the pirates to find us. But I doubt that will work if the Starseer ships come in after us.
I suppose the odds of the Snapper simply outflying all these ships and escaping are nil.
The odds of us outflying any of them are poor. The Starseer ship and the biggest pirate ship, in particular, look like modern vessels that could set some speed records.
Jelena eyed the blue asteroid on the display again. With a frustrated hiss, she turned the Snapper, mentally plotting a course that would take them back toward it without flying too close to the pirate ship along that route. Unfortunately, the pirates, if they were paying attention, could easily react in time to alter course and cut them off. Still, she would rather deal with them than the Starseers. They would have to be quick in doing so, however. Even with Starseers of her own on board, she didn’t want to pit the Snapper against a multitude of pirate ships.
She grumbled to herself, annoyed anew at the situation. If she was going to end up visiting the asteroid anyway, she wished she’d done it before all these ships had shown up. This would teach her to try to be prudent.
You’re planning to go in? Thor asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
Maybe he’d been busy reading the thoughts of people on those ships and hadn’t been monitoring her.
It’s
either that or get in a fight with a legion of Starseers and pirates.
Flying into an asteroid won’t save us from that.
You just said you could hide us.
From the pirates. The Starseers, probably not.
Then we’ll let the Starseers know that we’ll destroy the asteroid if they don’t leave us alone, Jelena said. Or the artifact inside. I guess we have to get to it first if we’re going to make that bluff.
They could simply trap us inside and not let us out. We don’t even know if there is an inside. The lost ship could have crashed on the surface.
Then what does Brody have a map of?
I don’t know.
I don’t know, either. Guess we’re going to find out soon. I hope you satisfactorily played with your puzzle, just in case it’s the last thing we get to do.
I haven’t solved it yet. We’ll just have to make sure we live.
Kiyoko looked over at Jelena, her face grave. Even though Jelena and Thor had been conversing telepathically, she seemed to have caught the gist of the problem.
“You may get to put your doctoring skills to use today, after all,” Jelena said.
Chapter 9
Jelena licked her lips, watching the blips on the sensor display close on the Snapper. Another ten minutes, and they would reach the asteroid, but in less than five minutes, what appeared to be the kingpin pirate would cut across their path where it could stop and block them.
Three more pirate ships were gaining ground quickly, coming from behind. Jelena was starting to think this outfit had an entire fleet out here. The Starseer mother ship was still waiting outside of the belt. Waiting and watching.
“How much did you slackers offer the pirates to capture us?” Jelena muttered. “Or destroy us.”
Neither Starseers nor pirates had commed the Snapper. Maybe they’d found speaking with Thor sufficient. He had come down to join Jelena and Kiyoko in NavCom, and Erick must have figured out that trouble was afoot, because he’d just popped in too. Jelena, focused on the big ship heading to cut them off, didn’t say anything to either of them.
On a whim, and because she hadn’t done so yet, she tried to hail the Starseer mother ship. She trusted Thor and believed what he’d told her, but it was possible the captain might be more likely to believe her than him.
The pirate ship decelerated prematurely. Surprised, Jelena checked and double-checked the sensors. It was definitely slowing down. Maybe even stopping.
I’m threatening the captain, Thor told her from his spot behind her seat. Ostberg is trying to find someone to manipulate on the three ships coming from behind us too.
“Good,” Jelena said.
Kiyoko glanced at her.
“We may be able to get past them,” Jelena explained.
Two of the three ships in pursuit accelerated. Erick groaned.
“Too many of them?” Jelena drew a little more power from the Snapper’s engines. The route was clear between them and their target asteroid now. If the big ship didn’t pick up speed again, they could make it.
“Not exactly,” Erick said, as Thor said, “Ah, I see.”
“Yeah,” Erick said. “They’re automated. The ships have AIs that are doing the flying, and I think they may be taking commands from an android on the other ship. The Starseers probably warned them that our crew was special.”
Jelena looked over at him, specifically the blue socks and rumpled asteroids-and-spaceships pajamas he was wearing—he’d been on his sleep shift when the excitement started.
“We are indeed special. But you are the man who likes manipulating mechanical things. Any chance of making those AIs implode?”
“Implode?”
“Or explode. Or get stuck in a logic loop. Or find sexy AI girlfriends to send dirty pictures back and forth with—I’m not particular.”
“I can’t imagine what a computer considers a dirty picture,” Erick murmured, his eyes closed, his face scrunched in concentration.
Jelena toggled the sensor display, minimizing the view of the ships and focusing on the asteroid looming ahead of them. She doubted Thor’s suggestion that the lost Starseer ship could have crashed on the surface would prove true. Even though there were millions of asteroids in the belt, corporations had been mining out here for centuries. There weren’t many asteroids that hadn’t at least been cored for samples, and a wreck on the surface should not have gone undiscovered all this time.
Zhou poked his head through the hatchway. “Am I allowed in NavCom?”
“No,” Erick said as Jelena said, “Yes.”
“Is that the asteroid we voted not to go to?” Zhou stayed in the hatchway, probably not certain of his invitation.
“Yes. Apparently, it’s a tourist hotspot, and we’d be fools to miss it.” Jelena pointed at the sensor display. “Want to take a look and try to find any tunnels or caves or something out of the ordinary in it? I have a feeling I’m about to be very busy with those three ships.”
“Sorry,” Erick said. “I’m working on it. I’m not familiar with the ship designs. I tried pushing buttons in engineering, but nothing happened. I think the AIs have disabled all the human interfaces.”
“We’ll take them out the old-fashioned way if we have to,” Jelena said as Zhou slipped in beside Thor to peer at the sensor display.
“I sense a whole warren of tunnels inside the asteroid,” Thor said. “If he doesn’t find an entrance in short order, I’ll help look, but I’m having to focus on keeping the pirates in the lead ship from getting it going again. The captain has a stubborn mind, and there are some androids on the bridge crew that have been warned about us. Also, I think there’s actually a Starseer on board advising them.”
“Interesting,” Zhou said.
“Not to me,” Jelena said. “I feel betrayed that other Starseers are telling pirates how to beat us. Thor, are you sure we’re the villains here?”
Kiyoko’s eyebrows flew up. Jelena needed to fill in the rest of the crew on the developments at some point.
Thor, his own face locked in concentration, did not reply.
“I meant the asteroid,” Zhou said.
“Ah. Tell me about it. No, wait.” Jelena hit the comm button. “Brody, I need you to come up here and tell us all about this rock. The time for being secretive is over, assuming you want to survive your expedition.”
Despite her increased speed, the three automated ships drew closer, close enough to fire. Jelena scowled at their images on the rear camera display, at the weapons dotting their hulls. One articulating protrusion looked like some kind of prototype weapon. Whatever it was, those ships had far more than blazer banks.
E-cannon ports flared white on all three ships at once.
Jelena spun the Snapper to the side. The shields were up and back to full, but they wouldn’t last that long against a coordinated e-cannon attack.
“You can tell me about the asteroid, too, Zhou,” Jelena said, realizing she had cut him off. She had a few things on her mind. “Is it clearly the answer to the mysteries of the universe?”
“I suppose that’s possible, but I’m referring to its makeup and terrain.”
“Terrain? It looks like a cratered-up asteroid to me.” Jelena banked hard as an e-cannon blast streaked past. It clipped their starboard shields for a glancing blow. The shield power chart jumped up to hover beside the navigation display, showing a dip from 100 percent. “Yeah, yeah, quit harassing me,” she told it.
“Yes, it’s an asteroid,” Zhou said, his tone like that of a patient professor addressing a dense student.
“Look, there’s a big canyon,” Kiyoko said. “The other ones we’ve flown past haven’t had anything like that. Is that the terrain you’re talking about? What does it signify?”
“I’m reading a mountain range too on that bottom side.” Zhou bounced from foot to foot, excitement in his voice. “I’d say we’re dealing with what was once part of the surface of Trajea.”
“Trajea? Is—was—that a pla
net?” Jelena knew the Kir Asteroid Belt contained the remains of the planet Kir but she’d been taught that the Trajean Belt was simply comprised of debris that had been leftover after the planets and moons formed around the three suns. Much like the asteroid belt in Old Earth’s solar system.
“It was a planet, yes. A massive ice ball of a planet, as you can imagine, would be the case for anything this far out. The astronomy books speculate that a collision long ago caused it to break up.” He leaned even closer to the sensors. “Hm.”
The pursuing ships had halved their distance to the Snapper, and the next e-cannon blast came too quickly for Jelena to dodge. A jolt rocked through the ship as the energy weapon slammed into the rear shields.
“The asteroid’s history isn’t important,” Brody said coolly, stopping in the hatchway. There wasn’t room for more people to come into NavCom.
“Tell us the part that’s important then,” Jelena said as Zhou frowned back at him. “Like where the door inside is. I assume your map is supposed to take us to this lost ship?”
Brody squinted at the sensor display. “That canyon… no, that’s too small. There should be another one, a very deep one, on the far side from here.”
“Of course it’s on the far side.” Jelena turned the Snapper to follow the contours of the lumpy, oblong asteroid. “Erick, return fire, will you? I may not want to make enemies of the Starseers, but I’m not opposed to blowing automated pirate ships out of the stars.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Erick asked, reaching for the blazer controls.
“I also need someone in the turret. We’ve got… a seven minute ETA to get around this sucker.” She tapped the navigational display. “I think I see the canyon you’re talking about, Brody.”
“Wonderful.” Brody sounded bored, as if the pirates didn’t worry him at all.
“Is there a party in NavCom and I wasn’t invited?” Abelardus called from somewhere behind Brody.
Another blast struck the shields. Erick hammered at the blazer controls.
“Turret.” Jelena looked at Thor, but his face was a rictus of intense concentration. “Turret?”
He was her usual gunner up there when they needed it.