EIGHT
Theta turned out to be an irregular lump of rock with a mass twenty times smaller than Earth’s. It orbited its star at such a distance that it could only be seen as a spot against the constellations of the central part of the Galaxy’s arm with difficulty.
Morrisey, chewing constantly, looked at the planet through bloodshot eyes and listened to the reports as they came up. The probes, sent an hour earlier, should have been transmitting direct information from the libration point any time soon. Nike’s several days long research confirmed that the cluster in question had already existed when the colonists started to populate the V3A13 system. The data obtained from the only probe that had reached Theta orbit before the destruction of the transit station suggested the existence of a wreckage, similar in mass to the one in Delta’s Lagrangian point. A hundred years before, no one had been interested in analyzing these data, which at first had been treated as an indicator of just another asteroid field and then been lost in the terabytes of coming in information, and quite simply forgotten.
“I said it was a pure waste of time!” the captain interrupted after the first officer had barely begun his presentation of the available data. “In a few minutes you’ll see for yourselves that it’s some fucking lump of rock packed with iron ore.”
“I don’t think so,” Iarrey responded with his customary calm.
“Oh?” The amusement flickered across Morrisey’s face.
“I compared the data with similar results gathered from a few hundred asteroid belts, including those from the most high-yield mineral deposits we know—”
“And what did you discover, First Officer?” the captain asked, suddenly interested.
“The content of rare and heavy elements in this place is at least ten times higher than in the most concentrated deposits in open space, sir.”
Morrisey turned around. One might have concluded from his expression that even a hundredfold difference wouldn’t have made an impression on him.
“With all due respect, Mr. Iarrey, even if we’re really dealing with asteroids which consist of metallic ores in their purest form, there’s still too few of them. What company would build an entire mining infrastructure here for such a small amount of raw material?”
“I’m not saying that—”
“I’ve got visuals,” Annataly interrupted, plunging the bridge into darkness again.
First they saw a panorama of the entire L-point. The visual representation of the space surrounding them was filled with small, difficult to identify fragments circulating around the immense irregular shape, which resembled a tuber covered in patches of lichen rather than an asteroid.
“I still think it’s what’s left after some sort of collision,” Morrisey muttered. “Do a close-up of the edge. And now, Ann, choose one of the stones and maximize it.”
“Yes, sir.”
A second later, the cameras of several probes had homed in on the selected target.
“Up clone’s—” They all cursed simultaneously.
On the screen whirled a fragment of some kind of structure. There was no doubt. In spite of the horrible distortions, one could still distinguish several elements. Nature doesn’t create trusses, cables, or pipes inside rocks.
“Home in on something else,” the captain requested.
They looked at around a dozen other similar fragments. Only one of them was an ordinary piece of rock; all the others betrayed their artificial origins to a greater or lesser extent.
“Let’s find daddy,” Morrisey said, suddenly animated. “Let’s see who’s sitting in the middle of that spider’s web.”
The cameras switched to the next target at once. An immense irregular lump occupied the screens’ central fields. It revolved slowly around its vertical axis, in the same direction as all the particles surrounding it. After the general view they moved to close-ups of specific fragments—these, however, came as a disappointment. The object’s surface was uniform and resembled the skin of a prehistoric reptile. An unending sea of blisters covered every bit of the lump except for six bulging rings distributed evenly over the entire surface.
“Weird, but seemingly inert piece of rock,” stated Morrisey after seeing the next few identical images.
“I don’t think so …” Nike said, carefully examining the regular bubbles covering the irregular surface of the object.
“Be more specific, Mr. Stachursky!” The captain graced Nike with one of his habitual looks.
“Have any of you noticed even one impact crater on that … that thing?”
“He’s right!” Iarrey rushed to the control panel and began to enter some commands.
“What do you mean, he’s right?” The disorientated captain glanced at the screen to check what Heraclesteban was doing.
“I mean that in open space there’s only one kind of object that doesn’t have collision scars … and that’s ships protected with deflective field.”
“You’re wrong, Iarrey,” Morrisey said coldly.
“I’m not wrong, sir,” the first officer protested.
“Stars don’t have craters either.”
Annataly was the first to crack, bursting out in loud laughter. She was followed by Bourne, and a moment later, everyone joined in—including the astonished Iarrey.
“I beg your pardon, sir, you’re absolutely right, sir. There are two kinds of objects like that,” he admitted a moment later.
“Three …” Nike managed to utter that word, still laughing.
“What?”
“The effects of impacts aren’t visible on gas giants either. After some time, of course.”
“That’s enough of this yap!” Morrisey pointed at the object on the screen. “I want a full analysis of that shit, right now! If that rebel scum were capable of doing something like this, it can’t—”
“It’s not the work of separatists,” Annataly cut in.
“Who did it then?”
“If I’m not mistaken, Nike has found some data suggesting that the probes registered a cluster near Theta during the colonization of the system.”
“So who could have built something like that?” Morrisey laughed repulsively. “Not Aliens, for sure.”
“Why not?” Nike asked.
No one was able to answer that question sensibly. No one protested either; Father Pedroberto was already sleeping soundly in his cryo-cabin, probably dreaming about the riches he had acquired. The chaplain always ended up in the cooler right after praying for those who had passed on, and counting up the loot. He only made an exception when something interesting was happening. The expedition to Theta’s orbit was nothing special to him; he shared the captain’s opinion on that subject. And anyway: if something were to happen, Morrisey ought to wake him up. However, there was nothing to suggest that the captain intended to do that.
“Look at that, guys!” Iarrey shouted a few seconds later, pointing at the screen.
The close-up showed one of the domed growths adorning the lump’s entire surface. A small fragment of rock, or possibly a broken-off piece of the structure—it was difficult to judge precisely—unhurriedly drifted toward it. When it was still fifty yards away the dome suddenly brightened up a tiny bit and the intruder slowed sedately, coming to a halt, and then—as if repelled by a magnet—moved right toward the belt of similar objects.