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to the ship. We are way over our heads on this one. This sort of discovery should be explored by people trained in these matters. We're turning this over to the experts."
    Stricklen shut off the monitor and walked over to the communications station. "Send a priority message to sector command. Have the computer summarize what we have found and request instructions. Include the video from Corporal Franks' suit monitor. Send it encoded and send it priority one."
    After making sure that the message would be sent, Stricklen retired to his stateroom. On the way there he kept asking himself the same question, What is it? What have we found?
    3 - The Science Team
     
    The derelict was located 26.5 light years from sector command. The FTL communications equipment aboard the Komodo Dragon could force a signal across that distance at a maximum speed of approximately 41,000c (usually expressed as 41Kc) Although the Dragon could send a signal at 48.4Kc, this speed was limited to a distance of about 8 light years. The power required to boost a signal to higher and higher speeds was tremendous and only a land-based transmitter or a very large spacecraft could send signals any great distance at the absolute maximum speed of 53.6Kc.
    The priority-one signal that had been blasted through space required just over five hours to reach sector command. After a delay of about three hours, SecCom shot off their reply. It took almost four hours to make the return trip. Stricklen was eating in the ship's mess hall when the message arrived. He had the ship's computer store it while he finished his meal.
    In the privacy of his cabin, Stricklen ordered the computer to decode and present the message. Like all fleet communications — the message was in encrypted text. Ken ignored the complex prefix codes that identified the originator, the destination, and the routing codes and skipped to the main body of the message:
     
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    REMAIN ON-STATION UNTIL AUTHORIZED TO LEAVE BY THIS COMMAND. MASTER-DREADNOUGHT MOBIUS EN ROUTE WITH ATTENDANT SUB-FLEET TO PROVIDE AREA SECURITY — ETA 0300.5/02/22. SCIENCE VESSEL S. W. HAWKING EN ROUTE FROM ALMARANUS ETA 2100.5/01/22. FURTHER ENTRY INTO THE ALIEN SHIP IS FORBIDDEN UNTIL ARRIVAL OF SCIENCE VESSEL. ALL PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS AND ORDERS HEREBY CANCELED. ALL INFORMATION REGARDING THE ALIEN SHIP IS HEREBY CLASSIFIED AS LEVEL THREE SECRET. KOMODO DRAGON TO BE TEMPORARILY ASSIGNED TO SUB-FLEET K140 (LEAD SHIP MOBIUS) UNTIL RELEASED BY THIS COMMAND. COMMANDING OFFICER OF KOMODO DRAGON TO COORDINATE ALL RESEARCH ACTIVITIES UPON ARRIVAL OF S. W. HAWKING. DETAILED ORDERS FOLLOW.
    ********************************************
     
    Ken had to read the message several times before he believed what it said. Once again the question popped into his head, What the hell have we found? After reading it and the accompanying detailed orders again, Ken convened a video conference of the senior staff and read it to them. Their response was pretty much the same as his.
    The times and dates specified in the message indicated that the science ship would arrive first in about ten days. Until then, Stricklen had no choice but to wait.
    After considering things for a few minutes Stricklen gave Scarboro a call and told him to give the crew three days of stand down. This meant that if a crew member was not on an assigned watch, he was basically free to do as he pleased. Stricklen was proud of his crew and he tried to make their lives aboard his ship as tolerable as possible.
    Stricklen used this time to visit his new guests. He asked the ship's computer to locate them and found they were all in one of the two staterooms which had been assigned to them. A hardy "Come on in, the door's open!" followed his knock.
    The four miners were gathered around a single table with several piles of poker chips scattered about. The players glanced up to identify the new arrival. One of them placed his cards down and