“Then it’s their base.” Erik scoffed. “It’s been hiding the entire time, maybe years.”
Jia shook her head. “It can’t be.”
“Why can’t it be?” He asked. “They’ve gone out of their way to hide it.”
“Because it’s too far away from Earth or even the HTP.” Jia’s brow crinkled as she thought through the possibilities. “Way too far. Are they going to control things with a year's delay or half a year to get to Sedna?”
“Comms aren’t that slow,” Erik replied. “They don’t have to be there in person.”
“But sometimes you need a personal touch like Sophia Vand showed us, or the Ascended Brotherhood.” Jia sighed. “It can’t be their base. It’s just not logical.”
“Then what the hell is it?”
“A comet,” Alina explained. She waited until they looked at her to continue. “All our instruments suggest it’s a comet in terms of spectrographic and other signatures, but it’s a comet that’s not a comet.”
Erik groaned. “Now what? Is this a joke? When is a comet not a comet?”
“Or is this more a philosophical thing?” Malcolm asked, breaking his silence.
“A comet isn’t a comet when it makes minor course adjustments over several years that can’t be accounted for by other gravitational influences,” Alina answered.
Malcolm’s eyes widened. “Oh, man.”
“You’re saying it’s a ship?” Jia asked, her disbelief clear.
“That’s the working theory, though it does appear to have a legitimate icy shell around it. Once we knew what we were looking for, we were able to locate old data concerning the relevant comet the conspiracy didn’t manage to erase. That’s the problem with data. Once it’s out on the net, it’s hard to find it all, but someone with massive resources connected to the Vand Foundation and the conspiracy went to a lot of trouble to conceal its presence.” Alina added, “I’m not going to downplay the efforts of the ID analysts who helped track down this data, but we got lucky this time. We found an old tertiary backup archive that happened to have a couple of years of historical data on the comet, and that was after finding a potential data source that disappeared while we were checking into it. A lot of things fell into place for us to locate a clue, including that conspiracy theorist friend of Erik’s.”
“What’s the deal with the icy shell?” Erik questioned aloud. “Why would a ship be flying around pretending to be a comet?”
Alina shifted in her seat, discomfort playing across her face. “Given where it is in the Solar System, one theory is that it accumulated material over a long period of time until it effectively was a comet, just with a ship at the core.”
“But that would take…” Jia shook her head. “Centuries? Millennia?”
“My people say most likely tens of thousands of years. The data we have on hand suggests it’s been tracked for at least a couple of centuries, and it was originally a lot farther out in the Solar System.”
Erik blew out a breath. “Then it’s very old and alien.”
“Yes, that’s the working theory, given the ice layer.” Alina turned around and rested her palms on the table as if afraid to look at anyone else.
Malcolm almost fell out of his chair. “There’s some thousands-of-years-old alien ship at the edge of the Solar System? And it’s still active enough to make course corrections?”
“The systems are probably still active, but I doubt anyone’s alive on it,” Alina replied, turning back around. “Given the length of time a cometary shell would take to form, it’s highly unlikely it’s from a Local Neighborhood Race. The timelines don’t align, even if it was Leem or Vasasalara.”
“If it’s not them, who is it?” Malcolm asked.
“Navigators,” Emma declared, a strange, uncharacteristic look of fear on her face. “I’m betting their telescopes and sensors aren’t picking up any thermal signatures, either. That’s another reason it managed to hide.”
Jia stared at Emma, her mouth open but no words coming out.
Once Emma said it, the explanation made perfect sense. Sending two ships on at least a two-year trip to recover an ancient Leem or Vasasalara ship was a dangerous gamble, given the chance of detection.
There might be some sort of useful and harvestable tech, but nothing wildly advanced. If the Leem ship had a jump drive, it wouldn’t be stuck at the edge of the Solar System, and both races lacked a technological civilization ancient enough to explain the ice layer.
But an active, intact Navigator vessel would be worth almost any risk.
It would be unprecedented in UTC history, perhaps galactic history. The vessel might be enough to change the balance of power among the Local Neighborhood races.
Malcolm swallowed, his face pale. “I’m totally fine with staying on Earth,” he stammered. “For the next couple of missions.”
Alina’s gaze slid to him and some of the concern left her face, replaced by amusement. “That’s all it took to change your mind?”
“The more I think about it, the less I want to participate in a test of an experimental FTL system and get shot by Navigators.”
“Then I’m glad we agree.” Alina retook her seat. “What about the rest of you? Malcolm's not wrong. This is dangerous on a level none of you have dealt with before.”
“I can hardly ignore my alleged reason for existence,” Emma replied. “And I wish to prove how much you sad little fleshbags need me.”
Erik nodded. “I don’t care if it’s an old Leem garbage scow or a Navigator warship. The conspiracy won’t get it while I’m breathing and can do something about it.”
“I’m starting to see the advantage of not being a police officer anymore,” Jia added with a grin.
“I’m glad you’re all on board,” Alina replied. “But this is one time I don’t expect you to be perfect heroes. What good is an Argo without Argonauts?”
“You’re going to send an ID strike team?” Erik asked.
Alina shook her head. “No, military. You’ll meet up with them at the base. Assault infantry.”
“Yeah. That’ll do it.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
May 10, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Cargo Bay of the Argo
Erik closed a crate of plasma grenades and set it with the others.
They had plenty of weapons and ammo and their exos. He had chosen to leave the MX 60 in the hangar and off the ship. Assuming they made it out to the edge of the Solar System, he doubted his flitter would be useful.
Wouldn’t it be a kicker if he was wrong? He sure hoped he didn’t regret that.
A small part of him didn’t like the idea of the MX 60 being lost in space, but an amusing idea surfaced. If something bad happened, the MX 60 could become the core of a comet to be tracked by future humans tens of thousands of years in the future. What a gift for future scientists.
Astronomy and archaeology, all in one.
Erik chuckled and finished checking the straps holding the crates. There were also magnetic seals, but a good low-tech solution could gracefully degrade in combat situations.
“What’s so funny, Blackwell?”
Erik turned to find Lanara standing near the door leading farther into the ship. Dark smudges covered her face, and some of the tears in her coveralls made it look like she’d lost a fight with out-of-control security bots before showing up to talk to him.
“Nothing’s that funny,” Erik replied. “I was just thinking about things.”
“I forgot to tell you.” Lanara tried to wipe a smudge off her face, only spreading it farther. “You wanted more firepower, and I happened to have a couple of plasma turrets lying around, so I went ahead and added them. One on the top and one on the bottom.”
Erik chuckled as he scratched his cheek, buying him a moment to think that statement from Lanara through. “You happened to have plasma turrets lying around?”
“You’d be surprised what you find when you start digging around in your old junk.” Lanara st
rolled his way, looking pleased with herself. “I haven’t optimized them for the reactor, and without some of my efficiency tweaks, it’s going to be a potential strain, but you’re the one who wanted more firepower. Don’t bitch if I can’t do everything for you.”
“A laser cannon would be nice,” Erik replied. “While we’re on the subject of adding weapons.”
Lanara leaned forward, her nose wrinkled in such disgust that someone watching from afar might think she was standing above an open sewer.
“A laser cannon?” Lanara asked. “Did you seriously say you want a laser cannon on the Argo?”
“I said it’d be nice.” Erik patted his holster. “It’s like when I’m not in a ship, a pistol’s nice, but the TR-7’s nicer. Sometimes you win because you’re better, and sometimes you win because you have the bigger gun.”
Lanara waved her tiny hands in front of his face. “Did you not hear anything I just said, Blackwell? The weapons and shields on this bucket are already straining the reactor. We’ll need a major reactor upgrade if you want to add serious cannons to this thing. I’m a good engineer, but I’m not magical!”
“Alina scored us a heavily armed jumpship.” Erik hoped his grin hid his uncertainty. “Upgrading the Argo doesn’t seem crazy anymore.”
“Assuming we all don’t die on this stupid mission.” Lanara scoffed. She brushed by Erik on her way to a crate. “The jumpship is overrated, too.”
“You think being able to jump around without an HTP is overrated?” Erik watched as Lanara opened a crate and rifled through an assortment of tools and probes, most of which he didn’t recognize.
“Even the Leems still mostly rely on HTPs,” she called over her shoulder, “and they’ve had jump drives for a while.” Lanara lifted a slender cylindrical silver probe and squinted at it. “There’s got to be a reason, and right now, we’ve got one ship in the entire UTC for the foreseeable future that will be able to jump. I prefer reliable, scalable tech to pipe dreams that sound good.” She tossed the probe back into the back and pulled out some tool that looked like the unholy child of a stun pistol and a plasma torch. “History’s full of too-clever-by-far inventions that end up changing nothing.”
“But what if Alina’s right about an intact Navigator ship being out there?” Erik asked.
Lanara’s harsh laughter echoed through the cargo bay. “Those dead losers?”
“I’ve never heard anyone describe the Navigators that way.” Erik chuckled quietly, genuinely amused by the engineer’s take on the ancient race.
“We’re here, and they’re dead. Hard to be winners when you’re dead.” Lanara set the tool back in the crate before retrieving a tiny spherical maintenance inspection drone. “I don’t care if they were practically gods a million years ago. They’re done now. They had their shot at history, and they’re now gone, less than dust. They just…annoy me.”
“To be fair, a lot of things annoy you.”
Lanara dropped the drone, spun, and stomped toward Erik. “It’s frustrating. I don’t like the idea of humanity not living up to its potential. We shouldn’t be relying on sloppy seconds from those long-dead losers.”
“You’re saying you would have rather we’d never left the Solar System?” Erik asked with a frown. “The HTPs let us spread out.”
“Screw that, Blackwell.” Lanara balled up her fists. Her reddening face was beginning to match her hair. “All the damned races have them!”
“Yeah, and they all did the same thing we did to get them: ripped off the Navigators.”
“But we didn’t need to,” Lanara ground out. “What can be done will eventually be done. So what if we had to wait a couple more decades or even centuries? From what we’ve seen of most of the other Local Neighborhood races, humanity has advanced a lot quicker, so we have greater potential. If the Navigators hadn’t given everyone a big head start, we wouldn’t have to worry about all this galactic war crap.” She pinched her fingers close to his face. “We’re all too close together in tech.”
“Don’t you think not being close would make things worse?” he asked, pulling his head back a touch.
Lanara shook her head, then took a deep breath and loosened her hands. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t much care about all that political garbage. I just hate us not getting a chance to figure it all out ourselves. It’s an insult to our human spirit.”
“But you had a good point,” Erik replied. “All the races aren’t the same, and we all have different advantages, like the Leems having a jump drive for a while. No one’s that far ahead in tech, but that’s only because we all had to rely on reverse-engineering broken-down tech that’d been sitting in the dirt for hundreds of thousands of years.”
“Yeah, so?” Lanara turned back toward her crate.
“If this is a functioning Navigator ship, it might change all that.” Erik craned his neck upward as if he could peer through the cargo bay roof and see the stars. “The balance of power will be altered.”
Lanara scoffed. “I see your point. The space raptors wouldn’t be nice if they had it.”
“Probably, but let’s hope we get to it before those conspiracy assholes.”
“Don’t worry. Our ship will probably blow up during the jump test.”
Lanara reached into the crate and pulled out a tiny black sphere. Erik had no idea what it was. She smiled brightly at it and hurried back out the door, not offering another word or opinion.
There can’t be anything left alive on that thing, Erik thought. Can there?
Chapter Thirty-Six
May 17, 2230, Solar System, Asteroid Belt, Approaching UTC Space Fleet Base Penglai
The asteroid on the camera feed wasn’t large by the standards of the belt.
It was just another rock floating through space almost a million kilometers from its nearest neighbor—except this modest rock had been excavated by the UTC Space Fleet to provide a dock for the jumpship project.
Jia sat in the cockpit next to Cutter. She’d stayed at the helm during part of the trip, but Cutter was the primary pilot during the final leg. He’d just finished communicating with the base to receive information about their final docking procedure.
Aft and port feeds, along with the sensors, marked two Fleet destroyers trailing the Argo. Jia thought it was conspicuous to have several Fleet ships in an allegedly unused part of the Asteroid Belt, but she didn’t run the military.
For now, Jia was more concerned about the ships getting twitchy and firing on them. Their ID codes and demonstrations hadn’t cured the military’s paranoia. Jia wasn’t insulted, despite her worry. If she’d learned anything since the start of the hunt for the conspiracy, it was that people could never be too paranoid.
Their current mission proved that. She’d come a long way since investigating fraud for the NSCPD.
“Weird ships at the edge of the Solar System,” Cutter commented with a shake of his head. “And hidden factories in the Asteroid Belt. If you ask me, we could have never left this system and been plenty busy.”
“As people keep telling me, space is vast. But it does make you think.” Jia offered him a weak smile.
“Yeah.” Cutter whistled. “Doesn’t it? If comets aren’t always comets and asteroids aren’t always asteroids, then nothing out there could be what it seems. Pluto could be a giant space monster waiting to wake up.”
“I’d hope they would have figured that out once we set up a colony there, but I can’t say you’re wrong.” She looked at the instruments. “I’ll leave fighting giant space monsters to the Fleet.”
Jia was transfixed by the slowly enlarging base in the camera feed and the huge ship draped in cables and swarmed by drones.
Visual contact with objects in space was almost superfluous except during docking and landing, but every pilot craved being able to see what was out there. Humanity hadn’t climbed into the stars to stare at blinking shapes on data windows.
“Okay, we’re bringing her in.” Cutter angled the Argo for a smoothe
r approach.
The two destroyers drifted away. There was no need for an escort now that they were in range of the dozens of turrets and launchers.
“Welcome to Fleet Base Penglai,” Cutter announced.
The minutes passed, and the Argo’s reverse thrusters kicked in under Cutter’s careful control. The Bifröst remained nestled in the primary dock like a bent leg inserted into an overly large boot.
Now that they were so much closer, Jia scanned the jumpship. While it didn’t look any different than the images Alina had sent along, there was an excitement to being so close.
Cutter altered course, bringing the Argo in line with the back of the jumpship extending from the station. Some small shuttles and tiny transports were docked nearby since the arrangement of the base wouldn’t allow the smaller ships to dock inside.
“That thing is huge,” Jia murmured. “Though it’s strange. It’s more a big engine than a ship, but I like all the guns.”
“More guns are nice,” Cutter agreed. “I don’t like how close we had to cut it with that last fight.”
“I suspect we’re going to be fighting in the Argo more than the Bifröst.” Jia grimaced as a realization sank in. “I’m good, but it’ll be a while before I’m qualified to fly a ship that large.”
Cutter shot her a huge grin, but there was no cockiness in it. “Don’t worry, Lin. I’ve got this, and Holochick’s the brains. She’ll do the hard parts.”
“That’s only partially true,” Emma replied, a ghostly voice with no visible form. “Everything I’ve learned suggests my original purpose was focused on the jump drive navigation system, but your point is otherwise accurate, despite your continued insistence on referring to me as…” she let out a long, weary sigh, “Holochick.”
The Argo continued moving forward, passing the outer edge of the base. Mixed among the drones and cables were men in pressure suits, probes or torches in hand. Three men crouched around an exposed plasma turret. They looked up as the ship passed over them on its way to the docking port.
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