第9页
“With all due respect, Dr. Halsey, this sector of space is dangerous.”
With a sudden deceleration, they entered normal space. The main view screen flickered and a millionstars snapped into focus. TheHan dove toward a cloud-swirled gas giant dead ahead.
“Stand by for burn,” Dr. Halsey announced. “On my mark, Toran.”
Lieutenant Keyes tightened his harness.
“Three . . . two . . . one.Mark. ”
The ship rumbled and sped faster toward the gas giant. The pull of the harness increased around theLieutenant’s chest, making breathing difficult. They accelerated for sixty-seven seconds . . . the storms
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of the gas giant grew larger on the view screen—then theHan arced up and away from its surface.
Eridanus drifted into the center of the screen and filled the bridge with warm orange light.
“Gravity boost complete,” Toran chimed. “ETA to Eridanus is forty-two minutes, three seconds.”
“Well done,” Dr. Halsey said. She unlocked her harness and floated free, stretching. “I hate cryo sleep,”she said. “It leaves one so cramped.”
“As I was saying before, Doctor, this system is dangerous—”
She gracefully spun to face him, halting her momentum with a hand on the bulkhead. “Oh yes, I knowhow dangerous this system is. It has a colorful history: rebel insurrection in 2494, beaten down by theUNSC two years later at the cost of four destroyers.” She thought a moment, then added, “I don’tbelieve the Office of Naval Intelligence ever found their base in the asteroid field. And since there havebeen organized raids and scattered pirate activity nearby, one might conclude—as ONI clearly has—thatthe remnants of the original rebel faction are still active. Is that that what you were worried about?”
“Yes,” the Lieutenant replied. He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry, but he refused to be cowed by thedoctor—by acivilian . “I need hardly remind you that it’s my job to worry about our security.”
She knew more than he did, much more, about the Eridanus System—and she obviously had contacts inthe intelligence community. Keyes had never seen an ONI spook—to the best of his knowledge anyway.Mainline Navy personnel had elevated such agents to near-mythological status.
Whatever else he thought of Dr. Halsey, he would assume from now on that she knew what she wasdoing.
Dr. Halsey stretched once more and then strapped herself back onto the navigation couch. “Speaking ofpirates,” she said with her back now to him, “weren’t you supposed to be monitoring communicationchannels for illegal signals? Just in case someone takes undue interest in a lone, unescorted, diplomaticshuttle?”
Lieutenant Keyes cursed himself for his momentary lapse and snapped to. He scanned all frequenciesand had Toran cross-check their authentication codes.
“All signals verified,” he reported. “No pirate transmissions detected.”
“Continue to monitor them, please.”
An awkward thirty minutes passed. Dr. Halsey was content to read reports on the navigational screens,