Betrayal: The Mars Frontier Series Book 5 by Paul Rix

Author:Paul Rix [Rix, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Fallacy, Somewhere in the Oort Cloud

Falmas was troubled, although he had no hard evidence to explain why. His ship, the Fallacy, had been drifting between the Oort Cloud and the orbit of Neptune for twelve hours, its shields raised. The ship’s sensors had detected an anomalous signal, but it was so weak Fallacy’s AI could not determine the origin or even whether it was naturally occurring.

For most of the week, Falmas had dismissed the signals as false echoes, radio waves reflecting off dust or rocks within the Oort Cloud. There was no discernible pattern to the signals or the source of the location. Yet this was a recent phenomenon; one he had not encountered in the three thousand years he and his fellow Sentinels had kept watch over Earth’s inhabitants. He had even checked the archives to verify his own memory bank.

Three diagnostics tests revealed no systems failures within the sensor array. He was therefore sixty-eight percent certain the random signals existed. The AI had ruled out the source as being human and, as far as it could determine, there were no Confederacy or enemy ships within forty light-years.

Mysteries such as this intrigued Falmas; they added to the enormous mass of data he continued to accumulate. He would not rest until he had revealed its source, or confirmed there was no genuine signal. This was not the first time he had conducted a similar exercise, yet something about this occasion seemed different.

Of paramount importance was ensuring Earth and humans remained safe. He could not forget the threat of war stretching into this remote part of space. The Arethusans knew of humanity’s existence thanks to Georgia’s encounter with their ancient probe. What was less certain was if the Arethusans had located the source. Three years into the conflict, humanity remained safe. That did not mean he could relax his watch. The enemy had proved tenacious in their desire to colonize the galaxy. Falmas had to remain vigilant for any type of intrusion.

Early on, he had suspected the signals were a diversion, designed to lure him away from Earth and Mars. Fallacy’s long-range surveillance systems were tracking the inner solar system. He had also launched remote drones to the far edges of the solar system for additional security. Fallacy’s propulsion system was primed at all times, able to take him to the site of danger within minutes.

“Any news?” Grant asked, on the latest of their regular updates. Falmas found these conversations soothing, although he did not understand why. Although Sentinels operated in pairs, this was not the first time he had worked in a solo capacity. The desire for companionship made no sense.

“Three more pings. On investigation, two turned out to be spurious. The third was another mystery signal, like the others.”

“How about analysis?”

Falmas had sent all data back to the Confederacy in case there was anything in the central data that might shed light on the anomalies. “Central Library has no information that can be of help. They request I send new sensor readings.

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