The Search by Jim Laughter

Author:Jim Laughter [Laughter, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Axia Books
Published: 2019-02-24T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Less than an hour earlier, Security Officer Rome had been pleasantly dreaming about an upcoming leave he had scheduled. Now he was jammed back into uniform and fortified with too much coffee. He found himself in a storage area of Jasper Station while the day security detail swarmed around him.

He looked around him, both to clear his head and to take in the scene. In front of him was an open area of gravel, grass, and weeds. All around him were rows of derelict ships, each waiting for its scheduled time for dismantlement or scrap. Even now, shipyard workers and security men were inspecting each one of them for any clue of Captain Eagleman’s disappearance. A foreman approached him and broke his concentration.

"What do you have to show me?" Rome asked, forcing back a yawn. "All I know is that I was rudely awaken and told to get down here pronto. Something about our missing captain, I hope?"

"We think so, sir,” the foreman said.

"Well, tell me from the top so I can get it straight in my befuddled mind,” Rome replied. "And you can drop the sir. You're a civilian now."

"Our first clue was noticed by one of the shuttle pilots,” the foreman began. "He’s here to shuttle a ship out for scrapping."

"And it’s not here, right?” Rome offered.

"Correct,” the foreman answered. “That's not all that unusual,” he continued sheepishly. "We process so many ships that we occasionally double schedule them."

"So what tipped you off?”

"We consulted with the registry and found that the ship only arrived a few weeks ago. With exception to removing the navigational and emergency distress beacons, we haven’t had time to process it yet,” the foreman answered. "By all rights, it should still be here."

Rome thought for a second.

“But you’ve removed the navigational and emergency distress beacons? Which means the ship can’t be traced.”

“Yes sir,” the foreman answered. “And most of the onboard systems are still functional.”

"And what makes you think this has anything to do with our missing captain?" Rome asked. His head was starting the low throb of a kick-in-the-teeth headache.

"We came back to the spot where the DayStar was parked,” the foreman said. "One of my men noticed the grass and weeds had been recently ripped up from the ground by a ship's skids. Clear evidence the ship had only been moved in the last day or so."

"And let me guess,” Rome continued. "The weeds are the same as those found on the fence yesterday."

"That's right,” the foreman agreed.

"So what are these men doing now?" Rome asked, waving his hand to indicate the workers and security men searching the remaining derelict ships.

"Just to be on the safe side, we thought we'd better check the ships for the missing captain,” the foreman said. "I mean, where is a more natural place for a captain to sleep than a ship's bunk?"

"But there's more, right?"

"Yes,” the foreman replied. "We also found that someone has very recently rummaged around in most of the ships as if searching for something.

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