Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)(68)

I nodded my understanding. “Thank you, Rhys.”

“If you need an opening, ask him about the Genesis Project.” He stood. “Tell him I told you to.” With those cryptic words, he left.

I tried searching for anything related to the Genesis Project but we were too far from a net node to get live data, so I had to make do with the cache on the ship’s computer. Nothing came up, but it was hard to target such a generic search term.

Rhys knew me well. The curiosity would eat me alive until I had to talk to Loch. It was a genius plan on Rhys’s part, but I vowed to hold off as long as I could because he was also right that I needed to get my head straight.

A glance at the commander’s console showed our orbit had covered 75 percent of the planet’s surface. I decided to wait to jump until the ship scanned the final 25 percent. It was unlikely anything would be found, but if I didn’t know for sure, I’d wonder about it later on.

I drifted in the realm between awake and asleep until the gentle beeping of the ship’s alarm pulled me fully alert. The planet’s entire surface had been scanned and no life-forms were found. No radio transmissions or signs of human settlement were found, either. As far as the ship was concerned, nothing man-made existed on this planet.

The feeling of defeat was unexpected. I’d known this planet was a long shot, but subconsciously I must’ve been hoping to find something that would allow me to stop here. Without that find, I had to move on to more dangerous waters and drag the rest of my passengers along with me.

The door slid open again and Lin’s excited chatter entered with him. He went silent when he caught sight of the planet through the window. Veronica nudged him forward.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said, “but this is his first space voyage. Rhys said we were over a planet, so I hoped it would be okay for Lin to look.”

“Of course it’s okay. I’m sorry, I should’ve offered. Lin, if you’d like to sit in the navigator’s chair, I’ll stream over the data we’re getting from the planet.”

He looked at me with wide eyes, then a grin split his face. He looked up to his mama for permission and she nodded solemnly at him. She smiled when he turned and raced to the chair. I duplicated my display on his console but locked him out of input.

Veronica came to stand on my left while Lin marveled at the console and window in turns. “How are you?” she asked quietly.

The simple, genuine concern almost unraveled me. “I’ve been better,” I allowed. “But I’ve been worse, too.”

“I know we are not close, but if you need to talk,” she said, “I’ve been told I am a good listener.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Same thing goes for you. And if Loch bothers you or if you decide you’re done with Rhys and he won’t take a hint, definitely let me know.”

Color rose on her face. “I don’t think that is going to be a problem,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see Rhys again, but now that he’s here . . .” She trailed off, her expression going warm and distant. She had it bad, but from the heated glances Rhys had been throwing her at dinner, he was in the same boat. Maybe she’d end up settling down after all.

While I continued on alone.

I turned back to my console to hide the pain I couldn’t keep off of my face. I knew it was better that everyone was getting settled, especially if House von Hasenberg was going to war, but I envied her future.

Sensitive to my mood, Veronica called Lin away from the navigator’s chair. “Time for bed, pumpkin,” she said.

He cast one more awed glance out the window then moved to her side. “Thank you, Lady Ada, for letting me visit,” he said in carefully formal tones.

“You are welcome to come back anytime,” I said. “When we have more time, I can teach you about the various console displays.”

Joy suffused his face, so bright I had to smile back. “Thank you!” he said. Veronica mouthed the same words then ushered Lin out of the flight deck.

I pulled up the list of reachable locations. Xi Antliae Dwarf Six, Rockhurst’s closest planet in this sector, was first on the list. Two more Rockhurst planets and the gate completed the main list.

I could dig deeper to find planets without human occupation, but most of the time pilots never bothered unless they were specifically looking for a place to disappear or had a dire emergency. Most of those planets were unsettled because they were inhospitable to life.

I plotted our course to XAD Six, then, in an abundance of caution, plotted the continuing jump to the gate. I needed to be sure we would only be stuck in Rockhurst territory for a little over an hour.

A red warning flashed on-screen: insufficient alcubium. The second jump required a six-hour cooldown. I plotted a third jump. The same warning appeared and the third jump required a forty-eight-hour cooldown.

My pulse quickened. I’d never heard of alcubium, but it seemed to be responsible for the faster FTL jumps. Originally, I’d thought House Rockhurst was mining a resource needed to manufacture the faster FTL drives. But if alcubium was instead used on a per-jump basis, Rockhurst would absolutely go to war to corner the market on it.

I checked the ship’s manifest, but alcubium was not listed. Did we not have any extra? I looked more closely, checking each line against what was normal. I found the most likely option buried deep in the engineering section: a hundred units of copper. It wasn’t strange enough to raise flags, but with synthesizers on board, ships usually didn’t carry raw minerals.