down? He's hot on the trigger, but he's not up to potting microbes just yet!' Behind her, the sharp-faced man shrugged in self-deprecation and grinned.
'So, if you've got a probable, let us know so we can keep an eye on you. Otherwise,' she spread her hands, 'there's nothing we need you for. Fly free, little birds. The records you so thoughtfully bounced all over the sector are all we need to convict these perps, wrap them up, and stick them where they have to pump in daylight'
'Here's what we have,' Tia said before Alex could respond. She sent Pol duplicates of their best guesses. 'As you can see, we have narrowed it down to three really good prospects. Only one of those has a record of sentient ruins, so that's the one we think is the most likely. I wish they'd logged something besides just 'presence of structures,' but there it is.'
'Survey,' Pol said succinctly. 'Get lots of burnout cases in Survey. Well, what can you expect, going planet- hopping for months on end, dropping satellites, with nothing but an AI to keep you company? Sometimes surprised they don't go buggy, all things considered. I would.'
Pol seemed much more convivial than Tia recalled him ever being, and completely happy with his brawn, and Chria had that relaxed look of a brawn with the perfect partner. But still, Chria had been an odd one, and Military and Central Security didn't let their brainships swap brawns without overwhelming reasons. Was Pol happy?
'Pol,' Tia sent only to him, 'did you get a good one?'
Pol laughed, replying the same way. 'The best! I wouldn't trade off Chria or Neil for any combo in the Service. We three-up over here, you know, it's a double-brawn and brain setup; it's a fail-safe because we're armed. Chria's the senior officer, and Neil's the gunnery-mate, but Neil's been studying, and now he can double her on anything, fully qualified. That's not usually the case, from what I hear.'
'Why didn't he get his own brainship, then?' she asked, puzzled. 'If he's fully qualified, shouldn't he get a promotion?'
'Who can figure softies?' Pol said dismissively. 'He and Chria share a cabin. Maybe it's hormonal. How about you? You were saying you planned to be pretty picky about your brawns. Did they rush you, or did you get a good one?'
There were a hundred things she could have said. Many of which could have gotten her in a world of trouble if she answered as enthusiastically as she would have liked. 'Oh, Alex will do, when he's not shoving his face into chairs.' she replied as lightly as she could. Pol laughed and made a few softie jokes while Alex and Chria tied up all the loose ends that needed to be dealt with.
They were the only ship permitted to leave Presley space. Chria hadn't been joking when she'd said that there was going to be a thorough examination of everything going on out here. On the other hand, not having to contend with other traffic was rather nice, all things considered.
Now if only they had a Singularity Drive.
Nevermind, she told herself, as she accelerated to hyper, we can manage without it. I just hope we don't have any more 'help' from the opposition.
This place didn't even have a name yet, just a chart designation. Epsilon Delta 177.3.3. Pol had called it right on the nose. Whoever had charted this place must have been a burnout case, or he would have at least tried to name it. That was one of the few perks of a Survey mission; most people took advantage of it.
It certainly had all the earmarks of the kind of place they were looking for; eccentric tilt, heavy cloud cover that spoke of rain or snow or both. But as Tia decelerated into the inner system, she suddenly knew that they had hit paydirt without ever coming close enough to do a surface scan.
There should have been a Survey satellite in orbit around their hot little prospect. This was a Terra-type planet; even with an eccentric tilt, eventually someone was going to want to claim it. The satellite should have been up there collecting data on planet three, on the entire system, and on random comings and goings within the system, if any. It should have been broadcasting warnings to incoming ships about the system's status, charted but unexplored, under bio-quarantine until checked out, possibly dangerous, native sentients unknown, landing prohibited.
The satellite was either missing or silent.
'Accidents do happen,' Alex said cautiously, as Tia came in closer, decelerating steadily, and prepared to make orbit. 'Sometimes those babies break.'
She made a sound of disbelief. 'Not often. And what are the odds? It should at least be giving us the navigational bleep, and there's nothing, nothing at all.' She scanned for the satellite as she picked her orbital path, hoping to pick something up.
'Oh, Tia. Look at that rotation, that orbit! It could have gotten knocked out of the sky by something.' he began.
'Could have, but wasn't. I've got it, Alex,' she said with glee. 'I found it! And it's deader than a burned out glow-tube.'
