Soon Greeley arrived and cut a hole in the door. And once Koba found the backup board, they headed back to the Argossy.
……
Back on Duval, Katy expertly dove straight down into the ravine at speed, clearances so tight that most Federation boats would have alarms going off, then turned at the bottom and soon guided the old boat right to Marco’s hidden landing bay on the sheer cliff face.
Jolo stepped off the ship and Marco gave him a hug like they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. Jolo looked into the old man’s red, watery eyes, standing there in the large bay where they’d first met, or reunited, Jolo reminded himself.
“Your message scared me. Glad you guys got home okay,” said Marco. “Something ain’t right out there.”
“No, it ain’t, but here’s a clue,” said Jolo, handing him the logic array.
“What’s this?” Marco said.
“It’s the backup off the Fortinbras. Can you crack it and find out what was in the black box?” said Jolo.
“Not me, but maybe George. BG boats attacking Fed property is a strange thing.”
“Yeah, I know. Maybe it’s the beginning of an offensive against the Fed planets? Could this be it? Our food stores are good, right? I just gave Bertha four and a half boxes. We may have to hole up.”
“We’ll be okay for a long spell, but let’s see what the black box says before we jump to conclusions.”
That night after dinner Jolo stopped by Katy’s room. After the attack on Montag everyone had decided to stay at Marco’s. Katy had turned a tiny storage bay into a livable space complete with a pull down cot and some plants from the atrium. Merthon had installed a grow light so they’d stay green. Jolo found her reading up on the Argossy spec and repair manual. “I didn’t mention it at Bertha’s, but I’m sorry you had to float out there in space. I should have been more careful.”
“We made it home. That’s what counts. None of us were expecting a monster ion cannon on a UFP freighter.”
Jolo sat down on Katy’s one piece of furniture, a metal box with a pillow on top for a seat. “The BG is up to something and I think things may get worse, but we’ll do what we do and lay low and not stick our necks out. Let the Feds and the BG kill each other.”
Katy looked up from her manual, “Jolo, if you don’t want to get involved, then why go back for the manifest.” said Katy.
“Self preservation,” said Jolo. “I don’t trust the BG or the Fed. We need to know what they’re up to so we can protect ourselves. So we don’t end up dead or on a work planet like Barthelme.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Honestly, I didn’t know him for long, but yeah, in a weird way, I do. I want to help him.”
“You know we can’t get past the outer patrols in our little Argossy, sturdy she may be.”
“Yeah. I know. Maybe there’s another way. I’m gonna talk to Marco about it.”
The next day, after getting cleaned up and feasting on some of Marco’s atrium spinach and butter squash, everyone met in the computer room where George had been busy.
“We’re here to suss out exactly what our black metal friends are up to,” said Jolo. “They’ve been installing listening stations on Duval, which is part of their mandate to protect shipping lanes, but their actions lately don’t add up.”
“There’s too many of the damn things,” said Marco.
“Yeah, and they’re too close to each other for a planet this size,” said Jolo. “Add that bit of dodginess to the attack on a Fed boat they were supposed to protect, then the theft of a black box, and something ain’t right.”
“And the fact they killed Fed citizens,” said Katy.
“They wanted to make it look like a pirate attack,” said Marco.
“But we don’t operate that way,” said Koba.
“We don’t. But some have,” said Jolo. “Which brings us to the logic array. George?”
“Well, it took a long time to crack the Federation encryption, but once I got through that, it was just a matter of time before I found the manifest list, including the contents of the black box. Federation encryption is the finest in this corner of the galaxy so it did take some time…” George paused here for effect and gave everyone a look with his glass eyes. He waited some more, smiling. “Long time,” he said. “Long time.” Everyone stared at him blankly, clearly missing the point.
Finally, Katy got it. “Oh, so George, how long did it actually take? Must’ve been hours and hours.”
George smiled. “Yes, you would think. But it only—”
“What was in the dang box a’ready?” yelled Greeley.
“—forty-two seconds,” said George. “Not my best time, but fairly respectable.”
“The box?” said Jolo.
“Yes, of course. The box contained 182 metric tons of galaxite.”
“Galaxite?” said Jolo. “The rocks the astral projectors use?” Everyone stood around and pondered exactly why the BG would think to steal galaxite, a shiny rock that
