The Salvagers (14 page)

             
"Why? What's wrong?"

             
"Just get these people off the
Cape Hatteras
."

             
I ordered the third officer of the
Hyperion
, the most senior officer who hadn't been aware of the plot, to start the process. I also ordered a drone to remove the remaining bars of gold from the derelict. It did in minutes what had taken us days. Janet and I then suited up for the journey to
Neptune's Revenge
.

             
"Let me get this straight," she said. "You captured the pirate ship, yet you couldn't defeat a pair of unarmed salvors."

             
"There's a big difference between shooting a pirate captain aboard his own ship and trying to escape a salvor that's trying to ram you."

             
"Wait, you shot the pirate captain?"

             
"Well, I didn't. Sister Mary Joanna did."

             
"A nun shot the pirate captain?"

             
"She's definitely not a nun. She's a UNAG spy."

             
I thought I deserved to pass out when I outed her. After exchanging waves and giggles, Mary Joanna left us alone on the bridge, though I'm virtually certain she had it bugged.

             
"Cam, the Cherenkov radiation returned while you were gone. It took two more people."

Chapter 18
    
Day 251

              "December 21, 2259. 1400 hours. Log of Captain John Andrew Nelson, Commanding Officer, UNAG Mining Vessel
Cape Hatteras
. The first sled of samples has arrived. They are full of a kind of crystal, uniquely formed in the low gravity of the asteroid. My mineralogist on the surface believes they are completely new to astrogeology. I expect several more sleds as the men descend deeper into the cavern."

              A week later a pair of ominous-looking UNAG warships positioned themselves near our fleet. These weren't the usual patrol ships; they were Poseidon-class cruisers, the biggest guns of the fleet. Normally having one those off your starboard bow would be one the most frightening sights imaginable. In my circumstances it meant safety and security accompanied by a huge element of uncertainty.

             
I had transferred back to the
Amaranth Sun
, from which I could see several guns on those warships trained on both the
Neptune's Revenge
and the
Hyperion
. That was a natural precaution because they were recently enemy ships, but I also noticed a smaller gun dedicated to my ship and the bulk of their weaponry targeted on the
Cape Hatteras
. That was the clearest sign yet that they feared something on that ship so much that it warranted the presence of two armed cruisers. I had to find out what it was.

             
I had been judicious about the information I was giving UNAG up to that point. I felt it best to save news of the missing people until I spoke directly with whomever was in charge.

             
"Camden Hunter," came a radioed message. "Please dock your vessel with the UNAG battlecruiser
Portsmouth
. Clearance is issued on our mark. Mark. We will expect you within the hour."

             
It sounded more like a summons than an invitation. Intimidating, to say the least. Docking rings were extended from both warships, so I had Stacey make extra certain that she got the right one. A mistake might have gotten us fired upon.

              Clearly the enormous ship was not designed for any commercial or recreational purpose but instead for a battle in space that would probably never come. Most of the room onboard was dedicated to the weapons systems. I doubt that even Finley's ramming bow could have knocked it out of commission.

             
"Our companion battleship will be docking with the
Cape Hatteras
immediately. It's a good thing you evacuated ahead of time," the ship's captain said as he greeted me near the airlock.

             
"Just holding up my end of the bargain. I said that I'd allow two days’ access. It's all yours, but I do need to give a warning before your people go aboard. I'm not certain whether I should tell you or a specialist. I think you'll want to discuss it in a more private setting."

             
"Come with me."

             
I followed the captain into a small room that looked like a laboratory. A balding man in his sixties turned from behind a workstation.

             
"Mr. Hunter, this is Dr. Westmoreland, Director of Research at Titan. He's the de facto head of this operation."

             
"Pleasure to meet you, Captain Hunter," he said. Finally someone was getting my title correct.

             
"A pleasure, Dr. Westmoreland. I've heard that your people have done great things at Titan, especially the work on methane as a fusion catalyst. That promises to do great things for our engines."

             
"Thank you. I'm certainly glad that the captains of the solar system are paying attention to us. If the funding I get from Earth is any clue, you're probably the only people who are."

             
"Do you have any theories on how to fix the fusion interflow problem?"

             
"Yes." He seemed a bit hesitant. "I'd love to tell you about it, but time is rather short."

             
"Mr. Hunter said he had a warning for us. I felt it best for you to hear it as well," the captain interjected, rescuing Westmoreland.

             
"I do, but I'm curious about your fusion work and what it has to do with what's on the
Cape Hatteras
. Its fusion reactors are two centuries out of date."

             
Westmoreland sighed. "I can see you're very perceptive. Fusion engine research isn't the only thing we do on Titan."

             
"Oh? What else do you do? Since I am the legal owner of the derelict, I should be aware of what's going to happen while you're onboard."

             
"Alright, Captain Hunter. You win. Of course, this falls under your obligation of secrecy as a citizen of the UNAG."

             
"I understand."

             
"The engine research is real and successful, but it's a front. I have nothing to do with it. I specialize in black projects and secret research."

             
"Black projects? As in secret weapons and new orbital interceptors?"

             
"Something like that. Titan is a natural place for that kind of work. It's isolated and difficult to get to. In this case, it's research on dark matter. What's happening on your ship involves that. I can't say more."

             
"Dark matter?" I was shocked. "It's supposed to be entirely non-interactive with our matter."

             
"It interacts only through gravity."

             
"I was under the impression that it was useless."

             
"It is."

             
"But you said we're dealing with that."

             
"We are. Now if you'll get to your warning, please."

             
"We've had people disappear on the
Cape Hatteras
and in our fleet
. Three to date, gone without a trace. The only thing we know is that whatever happened was preceded by a blue light."

             
"We expected that, Captain Hunter."

             
"You expected?"

             
"Yes. I also suspect that your people have been dreaming and hallucinating."

             
"Something like that," I said curtly.

             
"I apologize for not being at liberty to say more, but what I can tell you is that you were in grave danger every moment you spent on that ship. Danger that we'd hoped would stay bottled up in space for at least a few more centuries until we could figure out a way to deal with it. Your discovery of the derelict has changed that."

             
"So whatever it is, UNAG felt it was better off left alone. Was it some kind of experiment?"

             
"You could say that. Don't worry, Captain Hunter. We have some working theories that they didn't have 200 years ago. We think we can deal with it. And it won't affect your derelict once we've finished our work. You'll have your ship."

             
I didn't believe him. They'd have salvaged it themselves if they thought it could be made safe.

             
"I don't suppose you could tell me what happened to the crew? I mean, I don't want to know specifics, but is the blue radiation why there aren't any bodies on that ship?"

             
"Yes and no. The crew froze to death on 974-Bernhard. The UNAG secretly recovered their remains about a decade after the disaster. Captain Nelson died on the
Cape Hatteras
. We think that he disappeared like your men."

             
"How do you know what we're dealing with? Have UNAG personnel been aboard the derelict? The ship looks mothballed, as though someone cleaned it up."

             
"We did send an exploratory mission, the same one that visited 974-Bernhard, but you were the first person to set foot on that ship in centuries."

             
"Why didn't the UNAG recover the ship?"

             
"Because there were two other disappearances."

             
"Two others?"

             
"Yes, part of the recovery mission. After leaving the asteroid, they were sent to the position of the wreck. They boarded the
Cape Hatteras
in hopes of returning it to Earth. They spent several days preparing for a cold restart of the engines, and then two members disappeared. We ordered the ship abandoned after that."

             
"That's why the
Cape Hatteras
was spotlessly clean. You were preparing it for a new crew. And the engineering section was full of water and frozen solid. Was that related?"

             
"Call it a last-ditch effort to make the ship safe to sit out here forever. But I've said enough already. Just two days, that's all we will need, and then the relic is yours with our blessing. Are you going to display it?"

             
"It's classified," I said.

             
He chuckled at that. It diffused the tense background of the discussion.

             
"Yes, it's slated to be a museum ship."

             
"We would appreciate it if you stayed here with us for the duration. We'll probably need more information from you."

             
"Of course."

             
I wouldn't have missed that for the world. I wanted to glean whatever bits of information I could. The
Cape Hatteras
tale was already a great story, but it was getting better—and more valuable—by the minute, and I was the first member of the public to hear these new parts of the saga. I was given quarters that consisted of a desk and a sleeping bag on the wall. I spent most of the first day in my room twiddling my thumbs and doing backflips in zero-G. Sometime late in the afternoon an excited ensign poked his head through the door.

             
"Captain Hunter, you're needed on the bridge."

             
I shot to the bridge as best I could without banging my head on an armored bulkhead. I found Dr. Westmoreland and the bridge officers floating around a map table and talking feverishly. On the table was a large diagram of the
Cape Hatteras
.

             
"What's wrong?" I asked.

             
"We've lost our crew," Westmoreland answered.

             
"Your boarding party?"

             
"No, Captain Hunter. The entire crew of that warship has gone silent," he said as he pointed out the window.

I glanced out but had to take a second look. The other warship was listing and tearing away from the derelict, the pressurized corridor between them fluttering as its air released into space. I hoped to Pluto that didn't include the
Cape Hatteras
's
atmosphere.

             
"Disappeared like the others?"

             
"We're not certain. Someone will have to go over and see. It could have been a simple accident that killed or incapacitated the crew. We don't have any information yet. May we ask you some questions?"

             
"Certainly."

             
"When your first crewman disappeared, what happened?"

             
"Well, he just disappeared. One moment he was there; the next he wasn't. And then the radiation went away."

             
"What do you mean?"

             
"It was just
gone
, completely. I walked around the engineering section afterwards myself. It seemed safe, at least until the scientists were marooned. They said that the radiation appeared again in the engineering section and that the other people who disappeared were near that part of the ship."

             
"Near the engineering section?"

             
"Yes. One of the people was in the hold outside where we had found the gold."

             
"It hasn't lost any energy, even after centuries," Dr. Westmoreland said to the
Portsmouth
’s captain.

             
"What hasn't lost energy? The blue radiation?"

             
"I'm sorry, Captain Hunter. I can't say. It might be best if you go back to your ship and move it to a safe distance. Have that pirate ship and the salvor do the same. This may take longer than two days."