Page 46 of Commander’s Mate

The bridge seemed to narrow.

Degatu’s voice went dangerous. “Careful with the terminology.”

Tivid grimaced. “Auction logic, Admiral. Not mine.”

“Can we trace the transport route?” I asked.

“Not from the auction ledger alone. The women passed through at least two holding points before Ursaga. Broker identifiers are false or recycled. The ship tag appears cloned from a vessel decommissioned eighty years ago.”

“Slavers covering tracks,” Degatu said.

“Very effectively.” Tivid brought up a star map. “Harper’s description of a yellow star near the rim is technically useful but practically useless.”

“How many possible stars?”

“In this galaxy? Millions. If they crossed from another galaxy, the number becomes absurd.”

I hated the word absurd. It made her home sound like a joke told by the universe.

“She said third planet.”

“That helps after we identify candidate systems. We do not have resources for a blind survey. The Consortium might, if they cared, if Earth is in this galaxy, and if we were still on speaking terms.”

No one laughed.

“What about linguistic records?” Degatu asked. “Homo sapiens. Earth. Sol. English. Ohio.”

Tivid entered the terms. Multiple windows flashed and failed. “No match in the Consortium registry available to us. That does not mean no one knows them. Only that we do not.”

“Alliance?” I asked.

“If the United Galactic Alliance knows of Earth, we would need Alliance access.”

“We do not have it.”

“No.”

“Picorans?” Degatu asked.

“They know many illegal routes. They also sell knowledge only when it profits them.”

I studied the file.

Harper Avery. Earth. Homo sapiens. Female. Lot number.

Lot number.

I wanted every being who had reduced her to a number to answer for it.

“Keep searching.”

“I will. But Commander—”

“Say it.”

“With current data, we cannot locate Earth.”

The bridge fell silent.