“So who else is on your list of suspects?” I asked TenSix.
“If I am not mistaken, the port of Ganga Kos has a population of approximately ten thousand—”
“Had, Short Stuff. The Mayir have been kicking everyone out over the past six months. I doubt there are a thousand people left.”
“What about the criminal element?” I asked. “Pirates, smugglers, caech gangs.”
“I doubt it,” Kira said. “Who is going to truck out two hundred kilometers—”
“It’s two hundred and thirty-eight kilometers from my camp,” TenSix said.
“Whatever. It’s a long way, however you look at it. Plus, like I said, you have to cross the Mothaatas Wastes and deal with the Nabas. That’s no one’s idea of a good time. And for what? We don’t have a lot of expensive equipment. It doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes sense if someone wanted your research,” I said.
“Exactly!” TenSix chimed in.
Kira was silent for a few moments, as if running through the possibility in her mind. Finally, she said. “That’s a deep rabbit hole. There are dozens of companies and institutions who would love to get their hands on our field research and samples. But I still can’t see them traveling to this backwater moon and hitting our camp the day before we are supposed to come home.”
“What if they are already here?” TenSix asked.
“What, like another research group?” Kira asked.
“I doubt that,” I said. “Your competitors would hire someone to do their dirty work for them. An IE outfit.”
“Industrial espionage, huh? Kind of close to your line of work, eh Adventure Boy?”
“The Mayir,” TenSix said suddenly.
Kira and I both stopped in our tracks.
“You think the Mayir hit the camp?” Kira asked.
“I don’t know for certain, of course, but I wouldn’t put it past them.”
“I don’t think that makes much sense. If they own the moon, they could just kick your parents off,” I said.
“Which is exactly what they are doing,” Kira said.
“Why would they attack the camp?” I asked.
“I don’t think they would,” Kira said.
“We’ll see,” TenSix said ominously.
Kira turned to me. “I want to hear more about you not being into industrial espionage.”
I smiled at her. “We’re more procurers of rare antiquities.”
“You told me about that Edilaceae you snatched for the Zygeeto. That’s not an antiquity, is it?”
“No, but that wasn’t a typical job. We were—”
“Hey, hold up a sec,” she said. “I think Short Stuff broke down.”
“Huh?”
“He’s not moving.”
I turned to see TenSix frozen on the path behind me.
“TenSix?” I called. “What’s going on, buddy?”
His head swiveled toward me. “Your last name is Beck.”
“Yeah.”
“And you work for Beck Salvage.”
“Yeah. If I still have a job, that is.”
“Your father is Sean Beck…”
“Yes.”
I didn’t think it was possible for a bot to be star-struck, but for the next ten minutes, TenSix couldn’t stop asking questions about my father, what he was like, and his various missions. He was in total fan-boy mode.
Finally, I said, “How do you even know about him? You’re a utility bot!”
“Popular culture module,” he said. “What else?”
We climbed one more leg of a switchback and made it to the top of the canyon. I carefully eased Kira off my shoulder.
“Just in time,” she said. “I really was going to barf on you.”
“Any time, sweetheart.”
According to Kira, we were about three hours or so from her camp and if we didn’t stop, we’d get there by nightfall. Thankfully, the route was a more or less a straight shot through the jungle. So no more climbing through canyons or cutting our way through thorns. Not that it would be easy, just no more difficult than most of our travels.
As we hiked, we debated whether or not Kira should try to contact her parents on the comm. In the end, we thought that the element of surprise was too essential in this situation.
“But we still need a plan,” I said. “We can’t just bust in there unarmed.”
“Who’s unarmed?” She patted the blaster on her hip holster.
“I am.”
“As am I,” TenSix said.
“We have more guns at the camp. In a locker in one of the equipment sheds. Also my mom and dad each have an RB. They mostly leave them in their bedrooms unless they are going out.”
“Okay, you need to sketch out a map of the camp for me,” I said. “I want to know what’s in each building.”
“I can do that.”
“The one good thing is that we’re coming in under the cover of darkness. We want to do a recon around the perimeter of your camp. Look for ground vehicles or a ship.”
“You also want to determine whether the hostile forces have reserves,” TenSix added. “If there is a ship, there could be additional hostiles waiting.”
“Good point,” I said.
“I get it,” Kira said. “Locate the bad guys first.”
“Not just the bad guys,” I said. “We need to know where your mom and dad are as well.”
“All the game pieces need to be on the board,” TenSix said.
“Game pieces? Those are my parents you’re talking about.”
“Sorry, that was my Sun-Tzu module.”
“Once we have the lay of the land, we’ll need those weapons,” I said. “We have to hit the equipment shed first. Maybe after we create a diversion.”
“A diversion would be good,” TenSix said.
“I’m going to shut you down right now,” Kira said. “We don’t have any explosives at camp.”
I laughed. “Not all diversions involve something blowing up.”
We continued to strategize and during our next rest break, Kira drew me a map of the camp.
“May I get a quick scan?” TenSix asked.
“Sure,” I said, holding the datapad up so the bot could see it.
“Okay, let’s hit the road again,” Kira said.
“You sure you don’t need five more minutes of rest?” I asked.
Kira didn’t answer. She just gave me a sharp look and started walking.
The sun started to sink low in the sky, and as the jungle darkened, the sounds of birds gave way
