Dawn of Procyon Read Online Free

“Here she is.”
    Landry dropped his toolkit on the floor and rummaged inside, bringing out a compact electric screwdriver. He felt his way along the craft as he got his bearings.
    “Okay, the transponder’s under this panel,” he said after a moment. “Go and find something we can hide it in until we get back.”
    “Okay.”
    Gus disappeared into the gloomy recesses of the hangar while Landry got to work on the panel. He had sure fingers and made quick work of it, getting inside without too much difficulty. The transponder was buried beneath a couple of other boards, and that was where things slowed down. Within a few minutes he’d cleared the area around the transponder, but before he could unfasten it, a thudding noise echoed around the hangar.
    Someone had come in through the door.
    “Who’s there?”
    A woman’s voice. Landry thought he recognized it.
    “Cait?” he said.
    “Yeah. Who’s that?”
    “It’s Landry.”
    Cait’s silhouette shifted as she tried to locate him in the gloom. “Landry, what are you doing in here with the lights off?”
    He dropped the screwdriver back in the bag and began to walk toward her. “Just catching up on some overdue patch-ups,” he said casually. “No biggie.”
    Cait glared at him skeptically as he neared her. She was wearing her short blonde hair tied back in a little spout ponytail. Under her navy blue work coveralls she possessed a thin frame, but there was a wiry toughness about her. An Optech like Landry, she carried out the physically demanding vocation without fuss.
    Still, Landry didn’t like her. She seemed normal enough around the rest of the Optech clique, but she resented that he was her superior, and often found excuses to pick apart his performance. In fact, she could be a downright nuisance at times.
    Wouldn’t you just love to see me in trouble? Landry thought.
    “What patch-ups?” Cait said. “These Seagulls got a clean bill of health three days ago, and they haven’t been out since.”
    Landry scratched at his chin thoughtfully. “Well, that’s the thing. One of the pilots has been reporting to me that his transponder has been dropping out intermittently, so I thought I’d take a look.”
    “In the middle of all the stuff we have to do before the Marines lift off? Are you insane?”
    Landry gave her a patient smile. “Why don’t you head over to the workshop and get started? I’ll be along—”
    There was a noise behind them, something being kicked over in the darkness, and Gus appeared in his EVA suit, standing there stupidly with a small grey box clutched in his hands.
    “Uh, hi,” he said.
    “What are you doing there, Gus?” Landry said, grating his teeth and nodding surreptitiously toward Cait.
    “Thought I’d get suited up and uh . . .” He shrugged uselessly. “Didn’t hear we had a visitor.”
    Cait rounded on Landry. “Why is there a pilot suited up for an excursion? What’s going on? Did OC sanction this?”
    “He’s goofing around, don’t worry about it,” Landry said. He gripped her by the shoulder and turned her toward the door, propelling her with a hand on her back. “I’ll see you at the workshop.”
    She scowled and shrugged his hand away, then reached for the door handle. Glancing back at the two of them, she gave them a disdainful shake of her head, and left without another word.
    “Nice work, spaceman,” Landry said as he walked back toward Gus. Gus glanced down sheepishly at his suit. “What were you thinking?”
    “I was just getting ready,” Gus said. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “Got a suit prepped for you, too.”
    “Yeah, great. I thought you were going to find somewhere to put the transponder.”
    “I did,” Gus said. “Right here.” He held up the container he’d been carrying, a generic-looking grey box about the size of a cinder block.
    “That? It looks like somebody’s lunch box.”
    “It was all I could find.”
    “Gus, someone’s going to come in here