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Tania returned to her cabin only an hour before the in She closed and locked the door, then went straight to her ter series of chi?" he asked ienuine For the most part the infors"

"I haven’t hadano breath and then exhaled

"Which is what?" Neil asked

"Itmarked as an ‘unknown entity,’ standard classification when soh, there is a handwritten note to go with it: ‘Abnormal vector,’ and instructions to confirust 2277"

"What does abnormal vector mean?"

"A trajectory that doesn’t match the typical objects that cross our path," she said "Satellites in orbit follow certain paths Coles"

Five seconds passed "A year before the SUBS began," Neil said, to hiet a position? Somewhere to look?"

"It’s only listed twice," she said, "and these logs don’t contain that kind of detail Just vector analysis, the positions must have been stored elsewhere What we need are the finer details"

"A R Shu"

"See in the old data vaults about this person?"

"A bit of luck there," she said "Nothing on this subject specifically Most of the data we’ve collected from NASA is rocket schematics and procedure manuals However, we also have their employment records, and I found an Andrew Ryoko Shu"

"If you tell me we need an expedition to America …"

"The mainland, no," Tania said "Our Mr Shu was stationed at the University of Hawaii, in Hilo They had a contract to store all the data for Keck"

She could hear Neil preparing tea in the background, and waited "Okay," he said at last, "I’ll get my teaet it"

"It’s not that si antiquated storage techniques, crude even by the standards of their tirunted "I see"

They both went quiet for a while

"I’, here," Neil said

Tania snorted "The best option is to try to get their data center online, search for the data we need, and hed "Do you have any idea how unlikely it is that any of that equipround data vault According to the archive, a microthorium reactor was installed in 2112 for backup power It should still be purring away With a few hours of work, and the right equipment, it should be possible"

"We need to supply them with a portable Ferrine array, too? Jesus"

Tania hesitated Only a few Ferrine arrays still existed They’d been designed in orbit, after the disease, for the purpose of interfacing with as ile devices had been invaluable in syphoning old data before such ventures became too risky

"Yes" She dropped her voice "And so ers you hire would not be capable of it"

"Who, then?"

Tania bit down on her lower lip "We recruit a data tech, so to happen"

"Well, it’s ht we’d talked about her already Keep her out of it"

"Yes," Tania said, "about that She caught hed "She was an enormous help We can trust her And, for what it’s worth, it feels good to have a friend I can confide in up here"

Tania could hear Neil’s breathing on the other end of the line Short and sharp She waited, letting it return to normal

"I don’t want to send you down there, Tania," Neil said "It’s far too risky"

"I can’t ask her to go I think it has to bemy room"

Neil didn’t respond She waited, and waited "

Tania said, "You don’t have to decide now"

"No, no I can’t think of any other way to do this, and there’s no time to waste," he said "Get on the next transport down I’ll start e A trip to Earth A trip beyond Aura’s Edge I ht Yet no enuine discovery called "On my way," she said

"And Tania," Neil added, "if anyone asks, you’re just co on Platz Station I’ve briefed Zane; he’ll confiroing to need a disguise"

Chapter Fourteen

Darwin, Australia

26JAN2283

"Nice and easy, Angus" Skyler peered out the dirty cockpitand watched the twenty-e passed beneath theuards patrolled the top of the structure, between us placed a hand over his headset et the idea"

"Sorry, sorry," Skyler said "I’h "You don’t say"

"Cleared for staging pad four heading zero niner zero," a voice said over the cockpit radio

"Copy, tower," Angus said, "landing pad four at zero niner zero"

He slowed the craft evenpads just beyond the wall Vertical thrusters howled under the strain

"Angus," Skyler said

"I’us shook his head and chuckled "Such a wanker"

"This insubordination is intolerable"

"Discipline is in order, I think," said Sareed," said Skyler "Angus, I’us said "You keep records?"

"Of course Highly detailed"

Angus began to descend toward the landing pad "How many demerits am I up to?"

"Let’s see," Skyler said "Five"

"What about me?" asked Samantha

Skyler checked over each shoulder to us’s blind spots "Two thousand, four hundred twenty"

The craft gently settled onto the asphalt pad Hydraulic landing skids creaked as they took on the weight

"Tower, this is the Melville We’re secure on pad four," said Angus