Lt Leary 03 - The Far Side of the Stars by Drake David

Author:Drake, David [Drake, David]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780743471589
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2003-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

While the Princess Cecile continued to orbit eighty miles above Morzanga, Daniel locked the frozen image of the village adjacent to their intended landing place on his display, then increased the magnification to where he could see the poles supporting the individual houses. A central circle contained about half the fifty-eight dwellings, and the remainder straggled away into the jungle in several directions.

Natives walked among the houses and tended fish weirs in the broad, mud-brown river nearby. A border of jungle concealed the village from anyone in the channel, but the weirs were a dead giveaway to its presence.

"According to Commander Bergen's logs, he landed the RCS Granite in the slough just east of this village," Daniel said. Ships, even exploration vessels like the Granite, didn't land in moving water if they could avoid it. Besides, landing directly in the river would destroy the weirs and very possibly incinerate some fishermen as well, not a good way to make friends of the locals. "It doesn't appear to have changed in the twenty-seven years since the Granite landed. Now, you'll notice here—"

He was speaking to the Klimovs, but he suspected half the crew was listening to his exposition. The riggers had come aboard after they retracted the antennas and stowed the sails, and so long as the Sissie was orbiting the Power Room technicians had nothing to do but watch gauges which didn't flicker more than an eyelash from a flat response.

"—the jungle is unbroken," Daniel continued, sliding to another portion of the main image. "When we scan for magnetic anomalies, however, we get this."

He cut in a cylindrical overlay which a ragged shadow spraying out to one long side where a crash had thrown debris. As with the optical image, the software had sharpened this considerably, though in a fashion that only an expert would recognize.

"Uncle Stacey—Commander Bergen, that is," Daniel continued, "noted this wreckage in his log, but he didn't bother to explore it. His orders were to chart a course through the cul-de-sac in which Morzanga lies, and from the anomaly's dimensions he assumed that the ship had been a Commonwealth vessel. They're known to trade in the region occasionally, and no doubt to raid as well."

Daniel cleared his throat. "Now, the chances are that the wreck is a Commonwealth ship," he said. "But it might just possibly be the yacht on which your John Tsetzes escaped. There's no way to tell without examining it on the ground, but that should be easy enough to accomplish."

"What do you mean by 'cul-de-sac'?" Valentina asked. "Space is space, not so?"

From the first the Klimovna had been the one to take an interest in the working of the ship. Her husband was good enough company, but he spent his time either drinking alone or playing cards for rice grains with Hogg. To Daniel's amazement, Hogg barely held his own. According to him, the Count's real edge came from equipment that allowed him to deceive sharpers who cheated with electronic aids.

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