Dathan’s hands curled. “I’m so much like him, I hate it.”
“No.” She shifted onto her knees. “He was a quitter. It sounds like he wasn’t the father he should have been, and he never succeeded, while you’ve turned treasure hunting into a viable business. I might not always agree with your profession, Dathan, but you’re the best in the galaxy.”
He shrugged a shoulder.
She cupped his cheeks, made him look at her. “And you’d never hit someone weaker and smaller than you. All I’ve ever seen you do is look out for those who need your help.”
“Eos, I think you see things in me that just aren’t there.”
“Those street kids on Souk? And I know you overpaid Sel.” Her voice lowered. “Me.”
“Don’t try and turn me into a hero.”
She sank back. “Don’t worry, I won’t expect more than you can give.” She looked down the dune. At the place where her colony should lie. “I’ve always remembered my mother as my hero. I never learned her flaws, her weaknesses. She’ll always be perfect to me. But I know that no one is perfect.”
He stared into her golden eyes. She was right. No one was perfect. He knew that better than anyone.
“But she left her young child and took risks that stole her life.” Eos glanced at him. “And your father, he didn’t protect and love those who depended on him. They were selfish.”
Dathan rubbed a hand against his chest. Didn’t she see that he was the same?
She ran her fingers through the sand. “So, if the treasure’s here, how come BEll’s scans can’t find it?”
He stood, held out a hand and tugged her up. “Well, either BEll is broken…”
“Wouldn’t Zayn know if she was broken?”
“Yep. He’d know in an instant.” Dathan tapped the grass against his lips. “I’d say something or someone is jamming her scanning ability.”
Eos blinked. “Who?”
“My money’s on Darc.” He moved toward the shuttle. “Let’s go hunting.”
It took three hours of searching the interior and exterior hull of theInfinitasto find the nano scrambler.
Zayn had a few choice words to say, and Niklas looked mad. Dathan eyed the tiny device. “I guess Darc’s ploy to ‘kidnap’ Eos was just a distraction to get the scrambler onto the ship.”
“I carried it on?” Eos squeaked.
“Probably tagged you with it and it deployed within a certain distance to the ship.”
“She’s good.” There was reluctant admiration in Eos’ voice. “Why didn’t we detect it?”
“Because Darc is very good.” Niklas shifted and took the bug. “This doesn’t look like any tech I’ve seen before. Darc’s been stealing some military-grade stuff, I’d guess.” He crushed it under his boot.
BEll made a huffing noise. “Well, I’ve taken scans of the scrambler and am already updating the ship database. She won’t catch us with that again.”
Dathan turned to the holo-table. “Speaking of scans, BEll, run the area scans again.”
“Ruins of a colony housing approximately two thousand humanoids five meters under the sand. Some buildings appear intact.”
Eos leaned forward. “Intact? No damage at all?”
“Correct.”
“Can you detect any wood? Any gold?”
“Unable to determine due to the sand. It has an abnormally high level of the mineral xalica.”
