Polaris Read Online Free Page A

the ship he didn’t expect to find. Miguel sent off a message to Indigo, bringing them up to date. Then he asked Sebastian, Shawn’s experimental AI, when they could expect to locate the lost vessel.
    â€œIf it is in the area,” Sebastian said, “and if it maintained course and speed, as one would expect, we should see it within a few hours.”
    â€œWhat happens,” Shawn asked Miguel, “if they’re not there?”
    â€œWe’ll look elsewhere.”
    â€œNo. I mean, what happens if they’re on their way back to Indigo?”
    â€œI guess,” Miguel said, “we’ll be stuck here until Indigo tells us they’ve shown up.” Walker looked distressed. “You okay, Shawn?”
    â€œI know Warren. Mendoza. He was on board. He’s an old friend.”
    â€œI’m sure they’ll be all right.”
    â€œAnd Tom Dunninger, too. Not well, but I met him.”
    They had dinner, played cards, watched a video, went back to the bridge, and looked out at the relentless sky.
    Miguel didn’t sleep well. He wasn’t sure why. He’d done a rescue mission once before, bailing out a ship whose engines had exploded. That had been the Borealis. Ten years ago. They’d been lucky: The captain had eleven people on board, and ten had survived. They’d given him a citation for that, and the rescued passengers had thrown a party for him. It had been one of the great moments of his life.
    But there was something different about this. He wasn’t sure what was bothering him, but his instincts kept him from closing his eyes. Kept him from relaxing at all.
    In the morning there was still no sign. He had an early breakfast, then an hour later sat drinking coffee while Shawn ate. Sebastian was still reporting empty skies.
    He prowled through the ship. He wandered from the common room to the bridge, took the zero-gee tube down to the cargo hold, glanced toward the two additional cabins they maintained just off the main storage bins, and inspected the Makumba shipment, which they were supposed to deliver in a couple of days. Eventually he climbed into the shuttle and took a seat. Shawn came down and asked if he was okay.
    â€œSure,” he said. “I’m just not anxious to spend the next two weeks here.”
    â€œMiguel.” It was Sebastian. “We have searched the entire area in which they should be. The Polaris is not there.”
    â€œSo they jumped?”
    â€œOr changed course. Or accelerated.”
    Miguel had no doubt the Polaris was on its way home. “Okay,” he said, “if we have to hang around, let’s do it right. Sebastian, expand the search. Let’s assume they got blown off course by the event. We’ll look deeper. Away from wherever the central luminary used to be.
    â€œWaste of time and money,” he grumbled. “But we’ll do it by the book.”
    Miguel was becoming annoyed with Maddy. It would have been thoughtful of her to leave a satellite at the place where the ship should have been, informing any potential rescuer that she was okay and on her way to Indigo. It would have saved all this hassle.
    They played some more cards. He started the latest Chug Randall thriller, in which Chug has to outwit a gang of interstellar pirates who are after a shipment of priceless works of art. He watched some talk shows. (Miguel loved watching people argue. He didn’t much care what they argued about, as long as it got loud and passionate. And nothing got louder than panels on politics and religion.)
    He was eating more than he would have on a normal flight. And skimping on his daily workout. He promised himself that he’d get back to his routine the next day.
    Then they were at the end of another evening, and he said good night to Shawn, who seemed able to entertain himself going through Sebastian’s specs. Miguel had not slept well the first night because he was worried that they would