The holo-table blossomed to life and a detailed rendering of the dwarf planet materialized. Curved lines scribed up from the surface, each tagged with alphanumeric data. Scott, Miranda, and Cyrus moved over to the holo-table and studied the scene.
“Good job, Max,” said Miranda.
“Thank you. I’m glad to be of service.”
“Can you show us all traffic to and from the area around the research station?” said Scott.
The projection rotated to the location of the Rondo Crater. “This is from two days ago, just before we arrived at Ceres.” A new marker appeared in orbit above the crater, moving in a gentle arc down to the planet’s surface. “This is most likely the craft you seek. It landed near the research station, where it remained parked for several hours before departing again.” The marker again scribed a line on the projection, this time leaving the planet. It abruptly terminated only a few hundred kilometers into its journey.
“Is that as far as you tracked them?” asked Miranda.
“I’m afraid so. My attentions, at the time, were focused on the planet’s surface.”
Scott moved slightly away from the holo-table. “Got any details on that ship?”
“Yes. It a standard-class transport registered to a mining consortium out of Vesta.”
“That could be a false flag—a decoy identification beacon they’re using,” said Cyrus. “I wouldn’t read too much into it.”
“Well they’re doing what all these scumbags do, and that’s to head straight into the central asteroid belt where there’s a million places to hide. We’ll never find them in there,” said Miranda.
“My guess is they haven’t gone very far. Not in that ship,” said Scott. “And at least we know the general direction they’ve taken. So, assuming they’re using unused or semi-derelict facilities for their bases, then we could narrow down the possible options.”
“Max, can you highlight any abandoned facilities within range of their ship along that vector?”
The projection zoomed and shifted as the ship’s AI rendered the information. A slice of the asteroid belt came into focus, illuminated with hundreds of identification markers.
Miranda sighed. “This whole area of the Belt is littered with old outposts and mining junk. There’s just too many to search.”
“Max, can you only show us those facilities that have been recently abandoned in, say, the last five years? Ones that can support a minimum of ten people.”
The number of markers reduced considerably. Now there were only around fifteen or so. Scott, Miranda, and Cyrus moved in closer to study the map in more detail.
Scott touched one of the markers, and a detailed 3D image of the facility appeared along with a stream of technical data. “This is an old AsterX mine.”
“The research station was also AsterX,” said Cyrus.
“Max, can you show only the facilities owned by AsterX?”
Seven markers remained.
“What makes you think they’re only using these places?” said Miranda.
“When we were talking to Dogg, I got the impression he had some deal with AsterX, that they were turning a blind eye to their operation. I don’t know why, but…” He shrugged. “Maybe they only use their old bases?”
Miranda turned her gaze back to the map display. “Max, chart a course through the Belt so we can take a closer look at these facilities.”
“Will do, Commander.”
She turned back to Scott. “Any ideas what we’re going to do if we actually find them?”
Scott shrugged. “Not a clue.”
16
SN376
For the next few days, the Perception cut a swath through the Belt. The ship was outward bound from the dwarf planet Ceres, heading for an area known as the Vanderbeit sector. It had been named after the first mining consortium to exploit the region’s resources, and consisted of around fifty asteroids of varying size, the largest 170 kilometers across. Since it was relatively close to Ceres, it had been one of the first areas to be mined, and there was still considerable activity in the region. But over the decades, as resources were exhausted, the mining companies found it more cost-effective to simply leave the infrastructure abandoned rather than strip it down and move it elsewhere. As a result, the entire area was littered with derelict sites, equipment, and orbital infrastructure.
They had identified three potential sites that fit their criteria, and were now headed to the last of these, having found nothing at the other two. This was a small mining outpost on a now-deserted asteroid, VH-114b. As the Perception maneuvered itself into a high transit over the asteroid, Scott, Miranda, and Cyrus convened back in the library, the only place on the ship approximating a bridge. The holo-table projected a 3D real-time image of the vast rock’s cracked and craggy surface. The image moved and shifted as the ship gently maneuvered itself into a position to visually scan the derelict site. As it came into view, the three of them studied the surface for any signs of recent activity. They spent several minutes going over the area in great detail, but there was nothing to suggest that this was where the smugglers had taken Aria. There were no transports, no heat signature emanating from the structure, no tell-tale blast marks on the surface to indicate a shuttle had recently touched down or lifted off.
Scott slumped back in his seat. “I really thought this might be the place.” He shook his head.
“So where to next?” Miranda’s hair was still wet from the swim, and she was casually drying it with a towel as they talked.
“The Novak sector, but that’s at least another day away.” He sat up and studied the image of the derelict site again. “I still think we’ve missed something.”
“We’ve searched all three sites in this sector. There’s nothing there. If there was anyone hiding out, we would have at least picked up a heat signature.”
“Yeah, I know. But it’s taken us nearly two days to get here, and the Novak sector is farther away again. That’s a long way to travel in a small, standard-class shuttle. It’s not impossible, but would they really go that far?”
“Unless we’re missing something—an older site, or a facility not previously owned by AsterX?” Miranda had finished with the towel and started scanning through the data on potential targets.
“It would take us weeks, if not months, to investigate every possible site just in this sector. It’s impossible,” said Cyrus.
“What about orbitals?” Miranda pointed to an item on her data screen.
Scott stood up and moved beside her to get a better view. “What have you got there?”
“This.” She tapped on the dataset and swiped it over to the holo-table. A 3D rendering of a small orbital space station appeared. It was a standard configuration, with a torus to provide artificial gravity. “It says here it was an AsterX asset.” She looked up at Scott, who was on his feet, moving around the holo-table, studying the slowly rotating object.
“Where’s it located?”
Miranda consulted the data screen again. “It’s SN376, a triple asteroid system around half a day from here.”
“Hmm, a triple asteroid system. Some very tricky orbital mechanics needed to keep an asset like that from wandering out of position. It could be long gone, smashed up, or heading off into deep space.”
“It’s marked here as a navigation hazard,” said Cyrus.
Scott scratched his chin. “It would be a good place to hide out. Most people would avoid going anywhere near a triple.” He turned back to Miranda. “How long ago was it abandoned?”
“It was never abandoned,” said Miranda, scanning the data. “It was put into maintenance mode two and a half years ago.”
Scott mover in closer to the holo-table, resting a hand on the edge and examining the image of the orbital like he was trying to stare a hole through it. “I say we go and check it out.” He looked from Miranda to Cyrus.
“Absolutely. It would be the perfect place to set up camp if I were a smuggler,” said Cyrus.
“Agreed,” said Miranda. “Max, chart a course for SN376.”
“Certainly, Commander.”
As the ship powered toward the location of the unused AsterX orbital, Scott thought he might get a chance to talk with Miranda alone. They were sitting in the tropical garden that started at one end of the pool and seemed to extend at least a hundred meters along the inside rim of the ship’s torus. Miranda had wanted to show it to him, and he also got the impression that she wanted to talk to him in private, too.
But as she talked, he felt extreme fatigue pulling him downward. He found himself sinking into the deep, luxurious sofa that had been positioned to offer the best view of the garden. She mentioned Earth, and friends, and something important. But he couldn’t keep his concentration; his mind began to drift, and her voice seemed to recede into the distance. A few seconds later, he was asleep.
He awoke sometime later to the sound of Cyrus’s voice calling his name. “Scott? Scott, wake up.”
“Yeah… what?” He lifted his head and rubbed his face. He still felt tired; the sleep hadn’t made him feel any better. Worse, he had blown his chance to clear the air with Miranda. He sighed.
“It’s there. The old space station—it’s still where we thought it would be.”
Scott sat up straight and considered this news. “Any activity?”
“We have a heat signature, so it’s using power. But we’re a bit far away yet to know for sure. You’d better come and have a look.”
“Sure, okay.” Scott raised himself from the sofa and felt like it was trying to suck him back down again. He steadied himself and followed Cyrus out of the garden.
Miranda was already in the library, studying a 3D rendering of the space station. She looked over at him with a smile as he entered. “Good sleep?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was.”
“No problem.” She gestured to the slowly rotating image of the station. “I think we may have found them.”
Scott came over to the holo-table. “Is this real-time?”
“Real-time,” said Cyrus. “This ship has some pretty good long-range sensors—we’re still over an hour away.”
“Look at this.” Miranda tapped an icon on the holo-table and the image zoomed in on the bow of the station, where the docking ports were located. The image became a little blurry, but Scott could still make out two shuttles docked to the station. He looked back to Miranda and Cyrus, raising an eyebrow. “Visitors?”
“We’re pretty sure one of them is the same shuttle the smugglers were using,” said Miranda. “However, there is a chance that the other one was used on the Hermes attack.”
Scott stood back as if the image of the space station had somehow become toxic. “Are you kidding me?”
“It’s still just little more than speculation, but it fits the data we have from the Hermes,” she continued.
“If that’s the case, then we’ve found them. Steph, Goodchild, the others.” Scott began to work through the implications of this. “This is big. Bigger than us.” He studied the image for a moment. “Do they know we’re out here?”
“Hard to say. Depends on how good their systems are. If they have spotted us, then who knows, maybe they’re simply waiting for us to do something that would indicate our intent,” said Cyrus.
“Then we need to slow down and back off. Let’s not spook them,” said Scott.
“We could head for the lee side of SN-Alpha. That’s the largest of the three asteroids in this system,” said Miranda as the projection zoomed out to show all three asteroids of SN376. “They wouldn’t be able to detect us behind that.”
“If they’ve spotted us already, then they’ll know we’re out there somewhere. But it’s as good a place to hide as any until we figure out what to do.” Scott stepped back from the holo-table and started to pace.
“We should get the word out to Ceres,” said Cyrus. “Let them know we might have found them.”
“No, wait.” Scott raised a hand. “Let’s think about this. We still don’t know for sure what we’ve got here. There are possibly two groups: the smugglers on Ceres, and the crew that attacked the Hermes. Are they the same group? Or are they trying to do a deal for Aria’s core? Or what?”
“They must be the same group,” said Cyrus.
“Not necessarily. Remember when we were talking to Dogg? He seemed very surprised about the attack on the Hermes.”
“Maybe he was just bullshitting us.”
“I don’t think so. True, the two groups might know each other—they’re probably from the same scratcher gene pool—but I don’t think they’re working together. My guess is that Dogg is just looking for a potential buyer for Aria’s core. Like I said, I don’t really think he knows what he has.”
“Be that as it may, this is too big for us to handle,” said Miranda. “We’re way out of our league here. We need to call it in and let the big boys take over.”
Scott hesitated. “If we do that, then we run the risk of tipping them off. These guys are connected. If we call it in, then—bang, they’re gone.”
“We could still follow them if that happens,” said Cyrus.
“We could follow one shuttle, but it’s a lot harder to follow two. We also need to consider that Steph and the others might still be alive. In which case, we could be putting their lives in danger.”
They remained silent for a while, each considering the implications of any future actions, as the ship slowly adjusted its vector to take them behind the primary asteroid.
Scott abruptly stopped pacing. “Max, what does this ship identify itself as?”
“As the Perception, passenger transport of the VanHeilding Corporation.”
He looked over at Miranda. “If your hunch is correct, and the Seven were ultimately behind the attack, then maybe the crew on that station doesn’t view this ship as a threat.”
“And how does that help us?” said Cyrus.
Scott shrugged. “We might be able to get close without spooking them. Close enough to… maybe EVA and disable their shuttles.” He looked from Cyrus to Miranda. “There would be no way for them to escape. We could call it in then.”
“Risky. Very risky. What’s more, we’ve got no weapons and no way to stop them boarding us and taking control if we get found out. Like I said, we’re way out of our league on this one,” said Miranda.
“That’s not necessarily so,” said Max.
“What’s not?” said Miranda.
“Being unarmed. This ship has a weapons cache available for use in emergencies.”
They all paused for a second and exchanged conspiratorial glances. “A weapons cache? Where?” said Miranda.
The holo-table flashed up a schematic of the ship, and a marker pulsed over a sector deep within the cargo hold. “This is the location of the handheld weapons locker,” said the AI. Several more markers flashed up in each of the main state rooms. “There are also lighter weapons hidden in these locations.”
Scott, Miranda, and Cyrus looked from one to the other, and just when they had all assumed that this was the full complement of weapons, another marker pulsed on the bow of the ship. “This is the location of the external plasma cannon.”
“Ho-ly shit. This ship is badass,” said Cyrus.
“All these weapons on a civilian passenger transport. This is highly irregular,” said Miranda.
“Indeed. However, their location can only be revealed by me in an emergency—such as this.”
Cyrus sat down and shook his head. “This is getting heavy. Are we seriously considering using these?”
“It’s just an option, Cyrus,” said Scott. “Got any other ideas?”
Cyrus just shook his head.
“Miranda, how about you?”
She had a concerned look on her face. “You know me: I’m all for direct action. But I need to process all this. I don’t like the odds, even with all these weapons.”
Scott didn’t push it; he decided to le
t her mull on it for a while. “Max, how long before we’re in the lee of SN-Alpha?”
“Fifteen minutes, sir.”
“Then I suggest we park ourselves there for a while so we can discuss our options.” He looked from Miranda to Cyrus. “Agreed?”
Cyrus nodded.
“Yeah, it will give us time to think. Agreed,” said Miranda.
Scott sat down with a sigh.
“Commander.”
“Yes, Max, what is it?”
“The station is hailing us.”
“Shit, what?” Scott was back up on his feet again.
“Just ignore it,” said Cyrus.
“Wait. Max, what are they saying?” Miranda had moved to the edge of her seat.
“Relaying,” said the AI, and with that a crackly message broadcast around the room.
“This is Dain Tiber. If that’s you in that fancy ship, Renton, then you’d better be bringing us our money. We’re getting pretty pissed off waiting around for you to get your goddamn act together.”
For a moment, there was only silence in the library.
“Who the hell is Renton?” said Cyrus.
17
Deception
According to Max, Renton was a high-ranking lackey in the VanHeilding Corporation. So, it was understandable that the crew on the space station might think he was on board the Perception. This also went a long way to implicate the Seven in the attack on the Hermes, and to underscore Miranda’s own suspicions. But they soon realized that this was all academic. They had been spotted, and worse, they needed to reply to the message—and soon. The longer they waited, the more suspicious it would look.
Miranda being Miranda was anxious to get armed to the teeth. She was not going down without a fight, and now her suspicions about her stepfather’s involvement—no matter how indirect—were strong enough to push her into a single-minded quest to exact revenge for what they did to the Hermes. The Perception had enough firepower to blow the space station into an alternate dimension, and Scott sensed that Miranda was itching to pull the trigger on something that reckless. Such was her anger.
The Belt: The Complete Trilogy Page 29
