The Sundering by D Rae Price

Author:D Rae Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798985204346
Publisher: DRaePriceBooks

24 WANDERING

Jarvie checked into the Med Bay, saw the bodies had been taken to the cold vault and Beezan was strapped to the exam bed, unconscious. He fled, going back to the Command Bay, spun up the ship, and checked their approach to the black moon Nocturne. Iricana brought him his dinner, but he had no stomach for it. “No beacon,” he whispered to her.

“From Cheetah? Lag time should only be a few seconds.”

He hesitated to drop more bad news on top of the deaths, but Reeder would be here any minute demanding answers. “They’re not here.”

She froze, then sat down in the pilot 2 chair and studied all the screens Jarvie had up. “We left a repeater at the hangar.”

He pointed to a screen. “Yes. I’ve got the hangar beacon and the repeater. Nothing. Drumheller tested the repeater and it’s working.”

“My God.” She slumped in the chair. “Not here. No signal. That means . . .”

“If they left on 9 Sovereignty, and we still don’t have a signal, that’s at least 21 weeks lag time. If they actually jumped here . . .” Jarvie trailed off.

Her pale skin went white. “They’re over 5 years out!”

“That’s what Drumheller calculated. Minimum.”

“The known record for survival is 3 years,” she whispered.

Jarvie nodded his head. “Let’s hope they’re still at Harbor.” He’d barely survived his 17-week run with Beezan. Five years? Sometimes ships did disappear, assumed lost too far from their target star. He hoped Lanezi didn’t face that fate.

Then Reeder marched in. “Why haven’t you reported on the Cheetah?”

“I was just about to tell you. They’re not here.”

“You must be mistaken. Let me check.”

“Reeder,” Iricana scowled. “That’s not necess—”

But rather than sit in the nav chair, he tapped Jarvie’s shoulder presumptuously, so Jarvie hauled himself out of the pilot 1 chair and moved over. Iricana closed her eyes and meditated, and Jarvie rolled his eyes and silently fumed for half an hour while Reeder repeated all the work Jarvie had done, and quizzed the Drumheller. “They’re not here.”

Well, we’re all agreed then.

“They must still be at Harbor,” Reeder said.

“They were supposed to leave on 9 Sovereignty.”

“Wouldn’t they have sent a message if they didn’t?” Reeder asked.

“Yes, but if it was at the last minute, that packet may have gone out on 9 Dominion,” Iricana said.

“The day of the Harbor accident,” Jarvie explained.

Jarvie could see that as painful as it was, Iricana wasn’t one to dodge logic. She continued, “So either they’re stranded in the deep, or they were destroyed in the Harbor accident, or, best case, they’re stuck at Harbor.”

“Our mission will be compromised without Thayne,” Reeder said.

“Our people may be dead, or facing a long death,” Iricana said, scowling at him. “I’ll talk to Katie.”

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