The Cold Light of Stars (The Icarus Code: A Sci-Fi Thriller Book 1) by Rysa Walker

Author:Rysa Walker [Walker, Rysa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Starry Night Books
Published: 2023-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

“But you don’t believe it was an accident, do you?”

Kolya shrugged and poured himself another shot. “Let’s just say there have been threats. I was hoping they were idle ones, similar to the saber rattling that the new iteration of Shepherd’s Flock has been doing on Earth.”

“Are those threats why Stasia edited out every reference to the location where the chamber was found? Twenty-five hundred kilometers or so from Daedalus City is really vague and that lack of precision about the location is one of the most frequent complaints we’re hearing about the story.”

He nodded. “It’s also why I wanted to have both chambers excavated and transported back here. As I said before, it wasn’t just convenience, but also security.”

“That’s troubling, then, because I don’t think you can count on the location being secret much longer. Two of the people who were in the elevator with us knew the name of the contractor whose workers found it. I heard them talking just before your negotiations with the MFL came to an abrupt end. She didn’t mention the crater or even Icarus Camp, but she knew it was a firm called Pada.”

“I’m not too worried about Elizabeth. Who was she talking to?”

“The man in the Jodhpuri jacket.”

“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll have Macek increase security at Icarus, again, given the attack on Cerberus. This whole thing is going to piss him off royally. It’s hard to add new security personnel quickly and Macek hates being spread so thin. Most of the threats have been at locations connected in some way to KTI.”

“Does that include the Cerberus mines?”

Kolya nodded. “They’re in an unincorporated area, operating under one of our contractors, Miller Excavation, usually known as Millex. But they supply about a third of the tridymite for our operations, so yeah, there’s a definite connection. They also supply Elysia, which is the colony they’re closest to, and apparently, they have a new contract with Lyot.” His huff with the last part suggested to Claire that he wasn’t exactly happy about the new contract. “But, yeah, we’re still their biggest client.”

“Tridymite…that’s a form of silica, isn’t it?”

“Yes. A form that works better than others as an insulator. It’s a major component in KTI’s tridygel—which is the aerogel that Daedalus and most of the other colonies use to make the domes. We’re still at least a few decades away from being able to dispense with the domes entirely—possibly more than a few decades, but I’ll deny the hell out of that if you repeat it. And even after we’re able to slow down the rate at which we’re building domes, there’s maintenance to consider. The sheets have to be replaced periodically. And even after that, tridymite is a component in another project in the developmental stages…” He stopped and shook his head, glancing down at his drink. “Whoa. I need to watch my rambling tongue. And maybe I should pat you down for hidden recording devices.”

Claire raised an eyebrow. “You could try. But since

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