Jason stacked his fifth coffee cup. The top of the operations console was beginning to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He checked the monitor and sighed. Not a single scrap of evidence Iota particles had existed anywhere in the region.
He picked up the guitar Tyler had left and ran his fingers over the strings. After their two-hour poker marathon, where Tyler had done surprisingly well, his brother had shown him some basic chords. He’d even taught him how to play the chorus to Black River Sky. Jason twanged a few notes and imagined he was Hunter Ellis, rocking out on vocals.
Wow. That was terrible.
Footsteps sounded outside the bridge and Tyler appeared at the hatchway. “It’s time,” he whispered.
The chronometer had just ticked over the forty-eight-hour mark. Jason understood how fickle the cargo business was and knew the crew of the Argo hadn’t had the best run of luck for a while. Who was he to ask for more time for something that was nothing more than a wild goose chase?
Althaus and Kevin walked in behind his brother. Althaus didn’t even glance at Jason and took his seat at the systems station, while Kevin put a solemn hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry we didn’t find anything.”
“It’s fine.”
Kevin took the helm as Jason stood and walked to the hatchway while Tyler took his seat at the center of the bridge. No one uttered another word.
Jason stepped onto the elevator, and Aly peered through the engine room door at him. She went to say something, but Jason raised his hand. He wasn’t in the mood for people feeling sorry for him. He activated the elevator and stepped out onto B Deck.
He entered his quarters and fell backward onto his bed, his head throbbing. He couldn’t tell what it was. Guilt? Anger? Sadness?
Dragging himself up, he pounded his fist against the frame of his bed. He’d failed. He’d failed himself, and he’d failed Nash.
From the corner of his eye, he caught something shining in the light. It was his bottle of Blue Jacket bourbon sitting on the bedside table.
He reached over to the bottle and raised it in the air.
“Here’s to you, old friend.”
Aly approached the slightly ajar door of Jason’s quarters and knocked. Nothing. Going against her better judgment she pushed it wide open.
Jason’s eyes lit up at her as he was about to neck the bottle of bourbon in his hand. His glare burned through her. “What do you want, Aly?”
“Well, you didn’t answer, so I figured there might be something wrong.”
“You got that right.”
Jason drew the bottle closer to his lips.
“You realize that stuff doesn’t help, right?”
Jason chuckled, then his mood again darkened. “More than you could know.”
“May I come in?”
“You know, Aly, this really isn’t the time.”
Regardless, she stepped over the threshold and took a seat at the end of his bed. “I’m sorry you weren’t able to find anything out here, Jason.”
“So am I.” He swished the bottle around in his hand, staring beyond her.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked.
His eyes closed. “I…” The weight of the world seemed to be on his shoulders.
“Tell me, please.”
Jason sighed. “Okay.” He put the bottle down on the bedside table and opened his eyes. “When Nash’s pod exploded inside the nebula, the Raptor was still crippled. We did however have the ability to take scans.”
“That’s when you discovered the Iota particles?”
“Right. It wasn’t till a few hours later that we recovered some wreckage.” He turned away. “By the time we’d got there, there wasn’t a single Iota particle on anything we salvaged.
“It’d dispersed?”
Jason shrugged. “There was the theory that other particulates inside the nebula may have broken down the Iota particles to the point our scanners no longer recognized them. We just didn’t know. I guess now we do.”
“So, you put everything on the line knowing we might not find anything at all?” She tried not to sound judgmental, but it came out that way, regardless. She put her hand on his and he turned around. “I think Nash would’ve appreciated the lengths you went to. Unfortunately, in life, we have to know when to let go.”
“Since when did you become so philosophical?”
“I’m no Socrates, but I know what it’s like to lose someone.”
He furrowed his brow.
“Your father.”
“My father?”
“You realize we were close, don’t you? I didn’t call him Uncle Ben for nothing,” she said. “In the later years before his death, he showered so much affection on me. I think when you left there was a void.”
“He always wanted a baby girl. I guess you were the daughter he never had.” Jason frowned. “How did you let go of Dad’s death?”
“I didn’t.” Aly bit her bottom lip. “I’ve told no one this, but not long after you left for the academy, I was having trouble sleeping. On a job near Aquaria, I bought some stims off a shifty merchant. Got hooked bad.” She remembered back to how they’d made her feel. “They really screwed me up.”
Jason’s jaw dropped. “What did your old man say?”
She smiled, though she was, in truth, ashamed. “He never knew.”
“You sly bitch.” A grin appeared at the edge of his mouth. “So, what changed? How did you stop?”
“Uh, well, that’s not one of my finer moments.”
Jason sat forward. “What happened?”
“I nearly blew up the ship.”
“What?”
“Well, I had planned to do a clean out of the plasma waste exhausts, and uh, well, I didn’t do it, for months. The stims made me more alert most of the time, but it messed with my brain. I forgot stuff.” Aly gazed down at her shoes. “Dad was at the helm and noticed a spike in radiation coming from the Argo before we jumped to FTL. He decided to abort. If he hadn’t, we would’ve been blown to bits.”
“What did he say when he found out?”
“He didn’t say much at all. I think he assumed I’d just forgotten.” She pushed a lock of hair from her face. “The bonus was that Althaus didn’t speak to me for at least two weeks.”
Jason chuckled. “Well, they say there’s a silver lining to every dark cloud.”
She tried not to laugh. “So, yeah, it was at that moment I stopped. I threw the last of the stims out the airlock. It wasn’t worth killing all the other people I love aboard this ship because I wanted to feel sorry for myself.”
“Is that what you think this is? Me feeling sorry for myself?” Jason sneered.
“No, I didn’t mean—”
“Aly, I lost my best friend, all because I should’ve been the one to go out in that pod. I was in command. It was my decision. And I messed up. Instead, he dies, and I get left behind to—”
“Feel sorry for yourself.” Aly winced, knowing she shouldn’t have been so blunt.
“I think it’s time you left.”
“Answer me this: would your friend have wanted your life to end up the way it has? Drinking it away in some hole on Odyssey Station, or would he have wanted you to make something of yourself?”
Jason’s mouth quivered.
“Lieutenant Nash is dead, Jason. Your father’s dead. Your mother’s dead, and if you keep doing that to yourself,” Aly said, pointing to the bottle, “you’ll die, too.”
She’d hit a nerve. But she was sick and tired of seeing what had become of him. He’d changed so much. He was a shell of the person who had left the Argo ten years ago. Perhaps she’d been too harsh. She couldn’t imagine what he’d seen during the war. And maybe that was what she couldn’t understand.
“Get out,” he told her. “Get out now, Aly!”
Aly struggled to remember the last time he’d looked at her with such demonic eyes. She stood and edged toward the door. Jason grabbed the bottle and tightened his grip o
n it. She sighed and slinked out into the corridor.
Damn it…
Fifteen
Decium Ore Mining Facility - Orion V
“And this is where we maintain the facility’s climate-control system.”
Nicolas viewed the active monitor of the web-like network that spread throughout the underground of the facility. He was impressed, but had trouble showing it. All he could think about was Susan.
Before Mister Bloch moved on, Nicolas pointed out a series of red lights blinking across various worksites. “Have you been having issues down there?”
Bloch checked the monitor and waved it off. “You have to understand, with such a large system it’s difficult to keep it operating at one hundred percent all the time. Work crews are constantly doing maintenance.”
“Like your landing pad?” Nicolas said, laying the bait for the young man.
Bloch seemed at a loss for words, which Nicolas had already figured out was very unusual. Before he could grill him anymore, an alert rang out from one of the consoles on the opposite side of the operations center.
Saved by the bell, kid.
Bloch hurried over to it and Nicolas followed, peering over his shoulder at the scanners. “We’re picking up an unknown bogey.”
Beyond the blip representing the Vanguard in orbit, another contact appeared on the outer edge of the star system.
“Does it have a transponder ID?” Nicolas asked.
“No. It’s running dark.”
“And heading straight for us. Are you expecting any company?”
“No.” Bloch shook his head and activated the intercom while grabbing a blue rubber ball and squeezing it tight. “Operations to Koeman. Can you come up here, Chief?”
“On my way.”
Administrator Koeman arrived quickly and stared at the monitor with pursed lips.
“It’s the same bogey, I’m sure of it,” Bloch said.
Nicolas raised an eyebrow. “You’ve seen this before?”
Koeman nodded. “On and off for the last week.”
“And you didn’t think to let us know about it?”
“The bogey made no movements. It appeared and disappeared at random locations beyond the star system.”
“We came to the conclusion it was a malfunction with the satellite,” Bloch said. “We assumed the system was picking up scanner ghosts.”
“That’s no scanner ghost.” Nicolas pointed at the monitor. “It seems to be making a pass by the satellite.”
Koeman tapped Bloch on the shoulder. “Can you get hold of Jensen?”
Bloch punched in the commands and opened a commlink.
“Jensen?” Nicolas inquired.
“When we thought we were having issues with the satellite, we sent a man out there to run manual diagnostics on it.”
“You have a man out there?”
Koeman nodded, biting his bottom lip.
Orion VIII Tracking Satellite
“Diagnostic underway.”
The voice of the satellite computer beeped while Noah Jensen made another check to ensure his harness was latched to the satellite properly. He hung off it in the same vein he’d seen construction workers do so on old Earth skyscrapers in photos. He always thought they must’ve been crazy. One slip, and they’d fall to their deaths. But as Noah looked around at the pod he’d parked a hundred meters away, and the large gas giant of Orion VIII beyond, he knew he was just as crazy. If he fell from his harness and his booster failed, he’d tumble to oblivion, too.
While Noah had trained for extravehicular activity before entering the mining business, it’d been a long time since he’d needed to use his training. He relished getting a chance to use his skills. Sometimes he forgot how exhilarating a spacewalk really was.
Static filled his helmet, then a voice filtered through. “Can you hear me, Jensen?”
Noah opened the commlink with a press of the comm panel on the wrist of his space suit. “I can hear you, Chief. Go ahead.”
“We’re detecting a bogey coming through Orion VIII’s orbit,” Koeman said. “Have you got a visual on your end?”
Noah peered around into nothingness and activated the scanners on the satellite. The monitor blinked on, and the same scans seen on Orion V showed up for him.
“Jensen?”
“I’ve got no visual. But—”
“Can you make it back to the pod?”
“That’s a negative. It’ll take too long—” Noah stopped mid-sentence when something appeared in the corner of his eye. He turned, and it moved toward him. “Whoa!”
“Jensen? What do you see?”
“I—” The shadow of the object hovered over him and he momentarily struggled to find the right words. “This isn’t—”
Static rang in his ears. He inspected the inoperative comm panel on his wrist and pressed it repeatedly. Whatever it was, something was jamming him.
Noah stared at the goliath above. The commlink was the least of his worries.
Part of it opened, and a green bolt of energy burst forth, heading in his direction. Trying not to panic, he unlatched his harness and activated his booster.
But he was too late. The green energy showered over him and the satellite. His last thought was of what would greet him in oblivion.
Decium Ore Mining Facility - Orion V
Susan stepped from the carriage and walked out into the cavernous surrounds of Worksite Fifteen. In the center, was the solitary elevator shaft, which led down to the antechamber. The Marines behind her placed the container on a hover lifter, while the safety rail of the elevator opened and a figure appeared.
“Javier!” She walked toward him, and the man greeted her with a faire la bise.
“It’s good to see you, Susan,” he said to her.
She hadn’t seen Professor Javier Petit since he’d left for Orion V fourteen months earlier. There was a weariness in his features and a slump in his back.
“How are all our friends at TIAS?” he asked.
“Well, Doctor Gregori continues to complain about his deadlines. Professor Walters wants more staff, and Doctor Wells keeps asking for more money.”
“So, nothing has changed?”
Susan laughed. “Nothing at all.”
The Marines brought the container toward them.
Javier put his hand on top of it. “I appreciate you coming along. I know it’s a lot of time to take out of your work.”
“If what’s down there is everything you say it is, I think it might be worth it.”
His rubbed his hands together. “Would you like to see it?”
It’d been the only thing on her mind. Then she thought about Nicolas. Well, maybe not the only thing.
“Come.” Javier ushered her to the elevator shaft and the Marines followed with the container. He closed the safety rail, and they descended farther into the surface of Orion V.
When they reached the bottom, Javier let Susan go first. What greeted her was a small tunnel network, lit up by artificial lighting fixed to the walls. At the tunnel’s end appeared an opening.
“Be careful as we walk into the antechamber,” Javier advised.
She moved down steps cut into the ground beneath her and entered the vast antechamber. It was brightly lit, and at its heart, the object sat. The photos and the data that Javier had sent back to the Institute didn’t do it justice.
The Sphere.
All twenty meters in diameter of it, protruding from the ground beneath it as if it had grown from the rock. Its silver exterior shimmered in the light, creating an almost reflective surface.
“It’s like something out of a dream.” Susan walked toward it, doing her best to avoid all the equipment Javier had scattered around. She put her hand on its metallic skin. There was a softness to it she didn’t expect. She pulled her hand away, turning to Javier, who’d been no doubt waiting to see her reaction for a very long time.
A broad smile appeared on his exhausted face. “Just think, Susan, this artifact
has been down here for six million years.”
Susan could barely comprehend its significance. “Orrorin tugenensis would have been taking its first footsteps on Earth.”
“And Homo sapiens were still millions of years away. Yet there was an advanced civilization in the galaxy that buried this object beneath Orion V all those eons ago.”
Susan looked closer at what was the most peculiar part of the sphere. The pictographic markings scrawled all over it were almost like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. But not. “The language of extraterrestrials…”
Javier walked over to the container the Marines had placed down before them and put his hand atop it. “Let’s hope with some help we can translate it.”
Susan smiled. The excitement had been building inside her ever since she’d left Earth. Now she’d get to finally see if the journey was worth it. She turned to Major Ripken, who stood in front of the container.
“Open it.”
Sixteen
Decium Ore Mining Facility - Orion V
“Chief, incoming transmission from the Vanguard,” Bloch informed his superior from his console.
Administrator Koeman gave a curt nod to Nicolas, allowing him to step toward the console. “Open the commlink.”
“This is Marquez. Go ahead, Vanguard.”
“Sir, what’s your situation down there?” Commander Perera asked him.
“With the destruction of the tracking satellite, we’re down to orbital scanners only.” Nicolas gazed at the blank monitor before him while Bloch activated the perimeter scanners. “Has the unidentified vessel resumed its course?”
“Yes, sir, it’s heading our way.”
“ETA?”
“Just under ten minutes. It’s moving like a bat out of hell.”
A chill ran down Nicolas’s spine. “Check the fleet register and see if there are any other vessels in the region. Also, check the Commonwealth Shipping Network for any civilian flight plans.” He knew it was a long shot, being out so far, but it was worth a look.
As Perera got the Vanguard’s best and brightest onto it, the incoming ship appeared on the facility’s scanners.
Frontier's Reach: A Space Opera Adventure (Frontiers Book 1) Page 8
