The Girls From Alcyone: Merchantman Read Online Free PDF Page A

so much? She had to inform the captain.
    "Captain Trybuszkiewicz," Sigrid signaled through her comlink. "Come in. Captain."
    Nothing. Static.
    " Ōmi Maru , this is Sigrid Novak. Are you there? Andrzej?"
    Again, nothing. Sigrid felt the panic well within her and quickened her pace. Her search through Bernat's bag revealed little. Notebooks filled with illegible scribblings, empty meal wrappers, old tissues, a scarf. There was nothing here. Had she missed something? Perhaps on his person—perhaps him?
    No. There was no package. The entire operation had been a ruse. But for what?
    Sigrid stopped in her tracks. There was indeed something of value on the station? The bounty on her head was no secret, but Corbin Price had expressed little interest. If he was really after her, why not set a trap? Why send her on this goose chase—what purpose would it serve?
    Sigrid felt the cold realization creep along her spine.
    It was the ship. It was the Ōmi Maru, or rather, what it held. The freighter's navigation computer held one thing of tremendous value: the location of New Alcyone.
    Sigrid turned back the other way, ran for the docking platform as fast as she could. If only there was time.
    * * *
    The docking platform lay abandoned, the laborers gone. And the Kimuran crews were missing. Unstowed cargo lay strewn about, dropped and forgotten. Sigrid called with her comlink again, but still there was no answer. Her heart sank as she entered the hold. Blast marks scorched the walls, evidence of the recent skirmish—a skirmish that Sigrid knew she was responsible for.
    Sigrid leapt up the ladder and ran down the narrow corridor, her boots clanking on the metal deck plates.
    "No…"
    Andrzej Topa, the ship's chief engineer, lay slumped against the helm. Sigrid ran to him, sensed his pulse, the shallow breathing.
    Alive. He was still alive. Sigrid lifted the man in her arms. His face was bruised, his shirt torn and bloodied where a shot had grazed him. But he was alive. Sigrid popped a stimtab beneath his nose and gently rubbed his cheeks. The chief stirred in her arms and stared up at her, eyes struggling for focus.
    "The captain," Sigrid said. "Where is he?"
    Andrzej looked about, blinking, trying to remember. "Left. Told me to stay…to watch over you."
    She could see the stimtab taking hold, the chief regaining his faculties. He saw Wereme's case by her side. "Is that…?"
    "It's garbage," Sigrid said, kicking it aside. "Worthless. It was just an excuse to get me away."
    Sigrid took him by the shoulders, holding him firmly. "Andrzej—the captain. Where did he go?"
    The chief struggled to stand; Sigrid helped him. "He went…he went to see the trader. Price. But then, his men…came. There were too many. We tried to defend… They took the crew."
    "Took them? You mean alive?"
    "I don't know—I think. I'm not sure." More alert now, remembering, the chief's eyes shot to the navigations console. "Sigrid, they got the—"
    "I know!" Sigrid had already checked the navigations computer log, verified the breach and confirmed her fears. They had stolen the data—downloaded the location of New Alcyone. Corbin Price had exactly what he'd come for. And Sigrid had delivered it to him, boxed and wrapped.
    "We have to stop him," Sigrid said.
    "Stop him? We don't know where he's going."
    Sigrid rose, walked to the helm, and punched up the forward navigational monitor. "Yes, we do."
    There was little traffic in the space surrounding Konoe Station, fewer places to hide. There was no missing the single lumbering freighter, her bright colors garish against the black backdrop. Large and slow, she turned, her course taking her straight to the Warp Relay. Even without its transponder blinking out her identification code, Sigrid would know this ship; she was the Merchantman.
    "We have to go after her," Sigrid said. "We can't let her escape through the Relay. If she does…" Sigrid didn't want to think about it.
    The chief leaned heavily on the console