Rebel Stars 1: Outlaw Read Online Free PDF Page A

as a reference point, then we can see if we've got any vape trails to follow."
    "Sorry, still shrugging off the sleep." She unbuckled and walked closer to the screens. "Any debris?"
    "Some. But this is the Belt. Would be weird if there weren't any." He frowned over his device, which he'd detached from the dash so he could hold it on his knees. "Hang on. It's not gone. It's moved."
    A map appeared in the 3D display above the main screens. It was off scale, with the asteroids represented far larger than reality. Two lines appeared across space: one red, one green. Toward the right side of the screen, the lines converged. The Tine was currently just a few thousand miles away from the end of the red line.
    "Red is the original path," Simm said. "Green is the new. Based on this, it altered course a little less than 36 hours ago."
    "Almost a day exactly before Kayle Needled us." She pointed to the green line. "Intercept the asteroid's new course. We'll see what's there, then follow the trail back to the inciting event."
    He nodded and fed the orders into the ship. Rada buckled in. Once she was secure, the ship flipped around—they'd been approaching the asteroid's previous location tail-first—and accelerated toward the head of the green line.
    "Should I upload the rock's new course to the net?" Simm said.
    "Not yet. I want a better idea of what we're getting into before we let anyone know we were here."
    "Getting traces of engine sigs. Wait much longer and they'll be gone."
    "How much longer?"
    "I don't know. That would depend on the sig."
    He meant no malice, but if you were the slightest bit less versed on a subject than he was, his explanations had the tendency to make you sound like an idiot. Mentally, she bumped his SUP to a 5.5.
    "We're operating on the assumption she sent the Needle so we'd come find her." As she said this, it struck her that it could also have come from someone pretending to be Kayle. "First priority is finding out whether she's here. She could be troubled. Disabled. For all we know, she's floating around with nothing more than a blanket and a plastic bag of O2."
    "Well, I think we know enough to rule out that much."
    Ahead, she saw nothing but stars. On the 3D map, the ship inched nearer the tumbling rock. It was gray, potatoid, rotating crazily.
    "There's some debris around," Simm said. "Might not want to get too near."
    That was about as close as he ever came to trying to give her orders. "Debris? What kind?"
    "The kind that will shred us like something you put on top of a burrito." He frowned. "Lot of heat on that rock."
    He flipped a map to infrared. The rock was largely a dull, deep red, but parts of its surface were a warmer orange. A few speckles were all the way to yellow.
    "Oh stars," Rada said. "She crashed."
    "We don't know that yet."
    Typically, she appreciated his refusal to jump to conclusions, his dogged maintenance of an open mind until all the facts were in hand. But this time, she knew Simm was wrong. The ship flashed a warning about micro-gravel and suggested a course change. Simm glanced at her. She nodded. He punched it up. The views shifted dizzyingly; the acceleration pushed her into her seat.
    Simm navigated to a clear spot above and to port of their initial approach, then parked the ship, matching the asteroid's trajectory. Rada floated against her straps. They were now close enough to see the heat signature for what it was: a messy crater. Scans confirmed the concentrated presence of minerals often found in starship engines and weapons arrays.
    "We still don't know it was her ship," Simm said. "Or that she was in it."
    "She's dead, Simm," Rada said softly. "Do you know what this means?"
    "Not necessarily. It could be an accident. Coincidence."
    "It means that whatever she was going to tell us was worth killing for."
    Simm looked abruptly uncomfortable. " Now should we alert the authorities?"
    "First, let's pick up those e-sigs. Right now, we are firmly in the Middle of Nowhere.