»According to my sources, the Triton-Base detected the energy echoes of four powerful explosions, which were interpreted as the end of the four Circle battleships,« recapped Fosset. »The explosions were so powerful that they could only have come from the Circle ships.«
»That may be,« Welf Rouven replied dryly. »My common sense tells me, however, that something’s fishy.«
»The analysis is completed,« reported Gamze and raised an eyebrow. »The object consists of …«
»… ice, dust, and debris?« Welf Rouven asked bored. The screening of comet nuclei didn’t seem to interest him much right now.
»No,« Gamze Acun refuted. »The object has rocky and terrestrial features with a crust-like structure. No comet his time.«
Welf Rouven looked up surprised and checked his display. With two quick moves, he transferred the data to his console to verify them. He puckered his lips.
»Strange. Such objects are rare, but it’s still possible to find an asteroid out here.«
»Please, run an isotope analysis,« Fossett demanded tensely. »I want to know if this chunk actually belongs here. Welf, we go on an intercept course. Correct our trajectory at your discretion.«
»As always,« grinned the Navigator and quickly entered a few commands into his computer interface. »Are five kilometers close enough for the flyby?«
Fosset nodded.
»When will the rendezvous take place?«
»In exactly three minutes and twenty seconds,« confirmed Welf and briefly turned toward Fosset. »Do you want to do anything special with that rock?«
Fossett winked at Welf.
»Wait and see, Welf. Don’t forget that I founded my industrial empire with the extraction of raw materials in the outer Solar System. I can certainly evaluate that rock.«
While the Solar Pride approached the asteroid, Fosset prepared a specific query for the neuronal computer.
Then, a minute before the intercept, Welf Rouven transferred the outside view to the central display and remarked, »Even though we won’t see more than just a fleeting shadow … Gamze can record all information about the object.«
Fosset’s eyes were glued to the display, searching for the oncoming asteroid, but even seconds before the encounter, he couldn’t see anything.
»A dark, fast moving object with unusually low albedo,« Fosset muttered to himself and added, »I hope you didn’t make a mistake with your five kilometers. Otherwise, we won’t even notice the impact when the asteroid hits us.«
Fine beads of sweat were forming on Welf’s forehead. Frantically, he entered a couple of data sequences into his computer interface.
»Don’t scare me like that, boss!« he sighed aloud.
Then a pitch-black object darkened the display and swallowed the visible stars. Fosset winced slightly when the asteroid shot past the Solar Pride at that distance. He held his breath for a moment and then asked Gamze, »Have you recorded everything?«
»All data of the object captured,« she replied and activated a small sub-holo next to the central display. Then she added, »The diameter at the thickest point is 283 meters. The object is irregularly shaped. However, the high density is a bit out of the ordinary. I measure a significantly higher mass than we would normally expect from an asteroid. Also, the rock has a very low albedo. That means that it is virtually free of ice.«
»How fast is the object?« Fosset asked.
»The asteroid has a high relative speed,« said Gamze. »It’s much quicker than all previously registered comet nuclei of this sector.«
Fosset was reading the values from the holo in disbelief.
»What caused this high speed?«
Gamze seemed unsure.
»I can’t explain it. Perhaps a collision with another celestial body?«
»Please, transfer the isotope measurements to the central computer and make a comparison with the archived data of our mineral searching drones,« Fosset asked anxiously.
»The archive contains hundreds of thousands of isotope data sets, primarily from the asteroid belt and the outer moons of our Solar System,« Gamze replied irritated. »These references won’t help us much, I guess.«
»Do it anyway, please,« Fosset asked friendly, leaned back and closed his eyes.
If it confirms my hunch, then we have a hot lead.
Needle in a haystack
Gamze Acun and Welf Rouven looked surprised. Acun compared the data again and again and then shook her head. She ran her hands through her hair, perhaps an unconscious gesture of helplessness, before she remarked, »It must be an accidental match. I can’t explain the results otherwise.«
Welf Rouven placed the asteroid’s holographic isotope map over the master reference and tried to find even the smallest deviation, but he couldn’t find any. The Solar Pride’s neuronal computer also confirmed the comparison as an identical data pattern.
»According to our measurements, a fragment of Neptune’s moon Despina had just flown past us,« Welf said dryly. »That’s impossible!«
»There’s indeed an explanation for this,« Fosset corrected and smiled knowingly. »We’re indeed dealing with a crustal fragment of the former Neptune moon. The fragment obtained its high-speed impulse during the explosion of the pyramid Circle battleship. You probably remember the reports that the Neptune moon was broken up to serve as building material for a Circle fortress.«
Welf Rouven rubbed his eyes. Apparently, he still didn’t seem to believe what the analysis had confirmed.
»If your conclusion is correct, then we have found the proverbial needle in a haystack,« he said stunned with squinting eyes.
»More a particular grain of sand in the Gobi Desert,« Gamze Acun corrected with mild irony. »To find this particular fragment in the vastness of this space sector falls into the category of impossibility. Out here, you could hide our entire inner Solar System! That was no coincidence, or am I wrong?«
Faucet seemed reserved for a moment. He gnawed on his lips. At this point, he wasn’t willing to say more than necessary. He would not or could not name his source.
»You just have to research well and know where to look,« he just said.
»We’ve traced the trajectory of the asteroid,« Welf said, breaking the silence in the command central. »If your assumption is correct, then we can use the speed of the asteroid and the time of the suspected explosion, which we all know, to calculate the original coordinates of that space battle! Starting from those coordinates, we can establish a much more efficient search pattern, and it is possible to significantly narrow the search sector.«
Satisfied, Fosset smiled over his navigator’s conclusion.
»That’s exactly my plan. Would you, please, calculate that for me?«
»Target on the scanners!« Gamze interjected.
Her eyes sparkled pugnaciously.
»Fast flying object, coordinates: Alpha-Zero-Five! Energy scanners indicate a small spacecraft, which has just come from tachyon space. Photometry confirmed! The hunter is back! The distance to the object is about one astronomical unit.«
Fosset got up and grimaced.
»Damn, we couldn’t shake him off! Welf! Keep working on the asteroid trajectory! We won’t enter the data into the course computer yet. Let’s keep flying on our original course.«
»You know that our efforts are in vain. We cannot permanently hide inside the Solar System, Welf Rouven replied calmly. »This is like a cat-and-mouse game, but we’re not the cat. If the Union Fleet wants to find us, then we can’t do anything about it. They have far reaching long range scanners everywhere in the outer ring and outlook posts.«
»That’s perfectly clear to me,« said Fosset, grinning. »I just need to make some time. It’s okay if the hunter knows what we do and where our ship is presently located. We just need to be the first to claim the valuable treasure.«
Gamze Acun nodded slowly. The scientist understood Fosset’s intention.
»You actually want to resort to this outdated law and just take pos
session of the wreckage?«
»You bet on it!« Fosset replied firmly. His eyes sparkled adventurously.
Gamze couldn’t detect if it was in his eyes or in his voice. Fosset suddenly seemed like a stranger to her. His passion appeared to have shaped his character deeper than Gamze had thought. Her eyelids fluttered slightly as she said, »Now, I’m not surprised anymore why you’re like a red flag to the Union Fleet.«
»I’m surprised about something else,« Welf Rouven replied. »Since when are the Solar Union Hawks equipped with FTL drives?«
Fosset’s eyes moved between Welf and Gamze for a moment, then he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
»Good observation! You’re right again, Welf.«
The unknown follower
The small boat had so suddenly and quickly disappeared from the acquisition scanners as it had appeared. There was no contact, no change of course in response to the presence of the Solar Pride in this space sector, no active or passive scans. Kokrint made some unique sounds as he ate another leaf. His spacesuit ballooned slightly around hips and then deflated again. A strange smell suddenly filled the command central.
Gamze Acun wrinkled her nose and threw some punitive glances at the extraterrestrial.
»Really?« she asked, breathing shallowly.
»What needs to get out, needs to get out,« explained the Zerbite with big eyes and smiled. His thick lips curled backward, displaying green remnants of Jabba-Jabba leaves on his teeth.
»Some phrases seem to have evolved independently among different peoples,« Welf Rouven said dryly. He was squinting at Gamze, who was holding a small refreshing towel against her nose.
»Truth is the truth, indeed everywhere in the cosmos,« explained Kokrint cheerfully and changed his skin color to a warm purple. Then, with a quick movement, he took out a holographic marker pointer from his suit pocket and pointed it at the central display where the data of the unknown ship was still available. »You didn’t need to reject too many skorzups to understand the meaning of this maneuver.«
Nobody in the command central knew what he wanted to say with skorzups and reject, but they, nevertheless, got the gist.
Hugh Fosset followed Kokrint’s pointer with his eyes and played dumb.
»How do you interpret the data, my friend? Please, help us out and jumpstart our brains.«
Kokrint came a bit closer to Fosset, before he said, »Jumpstarting isn’t necessary unless it is indispensable to stimulate the thinking process with you Humans.«
Welf Rouven grimaced.
»What?«
»The re-entry vector indicates a jump point somewhere in the Neptune sector,« concluded Kokrint confidently. »The unknown ship has followed a straight course after re-entry and then transferred to tachyon space again. The crew wants us to believe that the Solar Pride wasn’t detected. Considering the technical equipment employed on the other ship, this is very unlikely.«
»I don’t know any Hawk with such a technology,« Fosset said.
»Why do you think that it was a Hawk?« Welf asked. »A GCC ship of similar size would suffice, right? I’m pretty sure that the Neo-Sapiens, Krolakans or who else have something like that available. Unfortunately, the distance was too great to make an accurate determination of the ship type.«
»Our long-distance scanners cover a sphere-shaped space sector with a radius of just one astronomical unit,« said Fosset firmly. »Maybe they’re still within sensor range?«
Welf Rouven shook his head slowly.
»Currently, there’s no vessel within the scanner range. The ship has either jumped very far or possesses an advanced concealing technology.«
Fosset suddenly looked nervous and impatient.
»We won’t let them play with us! Welf, please, set course to the predicted target area. If we can’t shake them off, then, I would, at least, be the first one to find the wrecks.«
In the debris field
As the first debris was banging on Solar Pride’s hull, the computer issued an immediate alarm. Welf Rouven twitched reflexively.
Gamze Acun paled and threw Fosset a surprised look. The shock paralyzed her for a second, then she quickly called up the ship status. With disbelief in her voice, she said, »The Solar Pride is colliding with countless matter particles, the biggest ones are about two to three centimeters in diameter. The entire space sector is filled with these strange granules.«
Another impact, whose dull sound could be heard throughout the ship, made Gamze Acun hold her breath. Hesitantly, she continued, »That was a larger chunk! These particles possess a high kinetic energy and can cause damage to the outer cell. Thanks to the nanobots, the integrity of the hull is still guaranteed.«
»Yes,« Welf Rouven acknowledged. »The little beasts have already begun the repair work.«
Gamze’s cheeks glowed. The oriental beauty was extremely excited.
»Are we flying through a meteorite field? Why is this cloud not included on my maps?«
»Neither in mine,« Welf replied suppressed. »We just detected an extensive debris field in our flight path. The Solar Pride flies right into it. Our course alternatives are limited due to our high speed. The debris cloud can be seen on the front holos.«
Hugh Fossett clenched his fists triumphantly and was obviously the only one delighted about this critical and dangerous situation.
»We made it! This isn’t just a meteorite field; we found the remains of the four Circle battleships!«
A new blow struck the Solar Pride and silenced Fosset for a moment. An ominous sounding crackling filled the command central. The noise sounded as if somebody had thrown fine sand against the hull.
»We shouldn’t stay too long in this space sector,« advised Gamze Acun. »These particles can be dangerous to our vessel. If one of the particles is large enough to penetrate the hull, then we’ll face a disaster. Are you listening to me, Mr. Fosset?«
Fosset seemed to be absentminded.
The Solar Pride can take that! he thought.
»Welf, slow down and fly us to the nearest, larger chunk of debris. Uh … let’s say, everything with a diameter greater than ten meters is worth screening! If we don’t find any useful technology, then we look for another piece of wreckage.«
Welf Rouven checked the scanner results again and shook his head faintly. After a brief eye contact with Gamze Acun, he whispered to Fosset, »Boss, there’s no object target greater than a pebble out there.«
Fosset seemed puzzled for a second. His face froze while his eyes stared at the holos.
»That’s impossible. Something must be left of these massive battleships! Recheck the scanners and analysis results.«
The Zerbite came over to assist Gamze.
»The Circle battleships were not just destroyed, they were atomized,« Kokrint remarked coolly, chewing thoughtfully on a Jabba-Jabba leaf. »Whatever collides with our hull are tiny melted and then solidified metal droplets.«
»Unfortunately, our ceaselessly chewing friend is right,« Welf agreed. »The four Circle battleships were probably almost entirely evaporated.«
»I can’t accept that,« Fosset shouted dissatisfied. »Think of the asteroid that has shown us the way to this sector! If that chunk survived the destruction, then there must be fragments of the former battleships which can be salvaged. The debris cloud has spread for several years. We’ll increase our efforts and keep searching!«
»Commander,« Gamze remarked grimly, »these particles … we shouldn’t underestimate the danger to the ship and crew.«
»We can manage! Issue the necessary safety guidelines to the crew and extend the frontal bow armor!« Fosset commanded sternly. »We won’t leave this sector without a sizable chunk of debris!«
Deep Frozen
Welf Rouven’s gaze was fixed on the holographic scanner image. Gamze’s face expression was hard to read and reflected a mixture of disgust, surprise, amazement, and dismay. Even Kokrint didn’t have his emotions under control and always changed his skin color.
For a little more than forty minutes, the receivers of Solar Pride had picked up weak radio signals. Their origins came from somewhere inside the widely scattered debris field. Welf had reduced the ship’s speed to fly alongside a drifting body which had just been detected.
Fosset swallowed hard and looked around.
»To be honest, I haven’t expected to find this. What are your suggestions, what should we do now?«
Gamze Acun looked at Fosset with narrow eyes. She frowned.
»What kind of question is that? We need to recover the corpse and bring it to the nearest Union post! This man is definitely MIA for a long time. They have to identify the body and notify the next of kin.«
Fosset stared at the central holographic display which showed a lifeless body, twisted in the fetal position, floating in space in front of the Solar Pride.
How did this corpse end up here, so far away from any Union Fleet outpost? What connects it to the destroyed Circle battleships? Was my information inadequate? Were perhaps Union forces involved in the destruction of the enemy spaceships? Fosset contemplated, but couldn’t find a reasonable answer.
»The dead body is drifting at the same speed and momentum as the ubiquitous debris fragments,« Welf said hoarsely. »The stranger was probably aboard a Circle battleship, killed during the destruction and then hurled into space. The question why the dead body still appears relatively unscathed, while the former battleships were virtually pulverized, I can’t answer. We would’ve never been able to detect the body if it weren’t for the faint distress signal emitted by his spacesuit. Unfortunately, we come a few years too late to the rescue.«
»What makes you so sure that this is a male corpse?« asked Fossett softly.
NEBULAR Collection 7 - Guardians of the Continuum: Episodes 31 - 34 Page 15
