“Why wait?” Phares asked.
Agot glanced at him. “Big boy, you shouldn’t have to ask me that.”
Jana burst out laughing.
He glanced at her, and she met his gaze.
It took Phares a second, but it dawned on him that Agot referred to taking some personal time.
“Besides, that whole mess, it’s best that you three are not involved,” Driqan said.
“What happened?” Phares asked. “We had worked it out and gotten that asteroid stable. The explosions were all secured and taken care of. How did we have another one, a larger one, than the others?”
Driqan shrugged. “They’re still trying to figure it out. Though it looks like it was operator error.”
Phares shook his head. “Operator error?”
“I have been checking the logs and sending them back to Control, as is everyone that has been on shift since the day before it happened.”
“I haven’t. I was on duty.”
“For like five minutes. You, Olmed, and Erzo were removed from the system the day you launched. Any records you three touched were already confiscated by Control.”
Jana’s brain was dancing around. “Do they think this was something that was pre-programmed to happen?”
“No. This happened the day of. Everything was nominal the night before because I double-checked it all myself.”
“Who was working in the system then?”
“That’s what they’re trying to figure out. From what I could see, it was either covered up or not logged at all. Because I didn’t see anyone working in that area.”
“Control has to figure out who did this,” Phares said.
“Yep. I’m sure they’ll be reaching out to you with questions about your team.”
“Do they think it was my team?”
“We’re one of the few who had the access.”
Phares spit out another one of those interesting curses.
15
Not long after, Phares and Jana returned to his residence. He had been pleased with the time spent with Driqan and Agot. Understanding more of the situation helped him because he had been very concerned about the destroyed asteroid.
Though he did not like knowing that it was likely someone in his team that was responsible. Tomorrow, he would reach out to the higher-ups and find out what he could do to help and figure out who was responsible for this.
“What are they going to do about that asteroid and all its debris?” Jana asked.
“It is being gathered and refined to see what resources can be recovered from the explosion.”
“How long will that take?”
“As long as necessary. I have not experienced a situation this intense, so I can only guess what will happen.”
She walked over to him and put her arm around him. “It will work out.”
“I appreciate your faith.”
