Humanity Unlimited 1: Liberty Station Read Online Free

there were a few undiscovered bodies out there of significant size, but this one is almost as big as Earth. Quite the discovery, if true. How could the Mayan’s know any of this?”
    The archaeologist shrugged. “I have no idea. And that’s not all. See this?” He pointed to another orbit, this one going around the sun inside Mercury and out beyond Eris. Its orbital path was inlayed with what looked like oxidized silver. “This looks like a comet. And here along its path? These markings are faint, but I think they’re dates from the Mayan calendar.”
    The marks meant nothing to her, but she could look them up at some later point. “May I take pictures?”
    “Of course, so long as you promise to keep them confidential.”
    “I don’t imagine I’ll need to talk to anyone about it. There’s a very large database of heavenly bodies and their orbits. I can check it myself and use some computer time to see if these marks indicate a real time that matches any known orbits.”
    He nodded slowly. “Take your pictures and we can go back to camp. Dinner will be ready soon. We have much to discuss.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Nathan Bennett scanned the endless jungle outside the helicopter door. How could anyone find anything in this green hell? They could’ve flown over the target a half dozen times and been none the wiser.
    His money had gotten them information that led to the river drop off, but none of the people he’d bribed had known where the ruins were located. They might be an easy day’s walk or a week down some hidden trail. He had to keep looking, though, because Mommy Dearest wanted this woman.
    Not that he cared, but the target was an important cog in his father’s space hotel scheme. That idiocy seemed to matter to the old man, so his mother knew any disruption she could manage there would hurt him. And that’s what she wanted most in the world: to hurt her ex-husband, no matter the cost.
    He’d rolled his eyes and loaded a team on his private jet when she’d ordered him to do so. He couldn’t imagine what use his mother would get from a space engineer. That made no sense at all.
    Perhaps it was because she’d lost a lot of money and prestige when the US space program had collapsed. A decade ago, the liberal politicians in charge of the Federal government had wanted the money being “wasted” on the new ISS2 space station to go to public projects for the people who’d elected them.
    The conservative minority had gone along so that some money could go to military spending. Unsurprisingly with the reduced budget, the project had come apart. Massive computer design failures crippled the control center when none of the software worked as promised. And his mother had already fired the people who could’ve walked the systems back to something workable to increase her profit margin.
    In space, the station construction fell far behind schedule, even with the corners she’d cut, and the estimated costs rose precipitously. The government didn’t do what his mother had expected, which was to pay through the nose to complete the work.
    Instead, they terminated the contract. Lagrange Multinational—his mother’s space company—had gone bankrupt, saddling her with massive debt and splashing egg all over her face.
    The Russian government bought out all the international partners for pennies on the dollar, though he knew they didn’t have the spare cash to complete the proposed station. They were far too busy subverting and invading the nations of the old Soviet Union while the US stood around uselessly waving its hands.
    Not that Nathan cared. Whatever his mother wanted, she got. So long as she paid.
    “Smoke at two o’clock,” the pilot said over the intercom.
    Nathan looked ahead of them and spotted it. Thin and grey, but undoubtedly smoke. “Find a place to set us down.”
    “I might be able to drop you in the river, but that’s six or seven miles away. I haven’t seen a single break in the