Roche nodded.
That seemed a depressing prospect to Roche. As much as she didn’t want to believe that Cane would betray her, that would be better than drawing erroneous conclusions about the rest of his kind because he comprised a flawed data set.
she asked.
She shook her head.
A chime interrupted her.
“Marine Commander Gent wishes to talk to you,” said Kajic.
put in the Box.
She ignored it. “Okay, Uri, put him through. Voice only, at this end.”
An image of Gent’s face came to her via her implants. He was standing on the bridge of the Starburst; his eyes wandered, having no fixed image of her to latch onto. “I have received a communiqué from—” he began.
“I know, and I appreciate you going out of your way to help us like this.”
Gent looked flustered for a second, then nodded formally. “It is the least we can do.”
Besides which, thought Roche, he was required by law to assist in any regional disaster.
“Well, Commander,” she said, “if that’s all...”
“Not entirely. I wanted to discuss the matter of Auditor Byrne.”
Roche frowned. “What about her?”
“She requested a ship to conduct a sweep of the outer fringes of what’s left of the system. I loaned her the Lucetice-2 for a couple of hours, once it had finished ferrying passengers.”
“I don’t know anything about this.”
“But she said it was your idea.”
“She did?”
“Yes, and seeing as we’ve now lost contact with her, I thought I’d check with you to see what—”
She cut him off. “Give me its location.”
A chart superimposed itself upon Gent’s face. A red ring enclosed a small dot some distance from those marking the squadron. “They’ve drifted a fair way,” said Gent. “Given that we need to move smartly in order to make this rendezvous—”
Again she didn’t give him time to finish. A cold feeling had blossomed in the pit of her stomach. “Uri, I need Lud— fast.”
“Yes, Morgan.”
