Lifting it up, he carries over a cube-like chunk of the ship and sets it on top of one of the others.
“What’s that?” Breaker looks it over from a safe distance as Noa pulls out a scanning device I’ve never seen before.
“It’s the base ID for the ship. Once I scan this in, I can tell you who bought it and anyone who owned it after.”
“What if it was stolen?”
“Command codes are always changed. That’s what this pulls IDs from.”
The scanner beeps, but when he looks at it, his expression fades and he quickly turns the display off.
“Who owned it?” Breaker asks.
“I can’t tell you that.”
But that’s not right. “He means he won’t.”
“Some things are classified. I’ll have to get CSS approval before I can tell you anything.”
He doesn’t look scared. He looks… frustrated.
“Can you tell me how long they’ve owned it at least? Was it stolen?”
He looks at the plate, and I can tell he’s trying to decide how much and what he can say. “It has never changed hands. The command codes are the same. So, no. It wasn’t stolen.”
Breaker picks up a handful of snow and a moment later the electric pulse in his hand melts it. He uses the water left behind to rinse his hands. “Anything else you can tell us?”
“This is a lot worse than any of us thought it was.”
He hurries away, and Breaker and I watch him go. Hopefully he survives long enough for us to find out what’s actually going on.
“So there was a woman on board.”
“You are going to keep that to yourself.”
“I mean… I am going to tell Faith.”
“Yourself included her. But make sure she doesn’t tell anyone either.”
“I’ll keep my mouth shut.” He looks in the direction of my outpost. “Is that why Arc hasn’t come over to play with Mr. Jones lately?”
“He’s hunting down the Company connection in Calisan right now.”
The face Breaker pulls is almost comical. “I do not envy him that.”
CHAPTER
SEVEN
ARC
Three moons rosebefore we saw any movement in the town below us.
Riann hadn’t complained verbally about the hike to the top of the ridge that surrounds the community, but he hadnotenjoyed it.
Even now, he can’t stop thinking about the sticks and stones beneath him and whether or not his shirt will survive the dirt being ground into it.
He’llsurvive. That’s all he should care about.
