Reckless Rescue Read Online Free Page A

gripped by the same dream that had haunted him every night since leaving Urslat. Some corner of his mind was aware that it wasn’t real, but that didn’t stop him reliving the embarrassment of showing Milandra the letter and having her walk out yet again.
    He sat up in bed in a cold sweat, almost bumping his head on the steel bunk above him. Staring around the room, he tried to reorient himself. That’s right. He was onboard the Hylista, searching for the mysterious anysogen planet.
    The sooner he found it, the sooner these recurrent dreams would stop.
     A persistent beeping echoed around the cabin, and Tyris shook his head. What was that noise?
    The planet detection alarm! He threw back the covers in a sudden rush of adrenalin. He had set it to sweep as he entered another empty area of space, one that might be big enough to house a solar system.
    He tried not to get his hopes up. This wouldn’t be the first false alarm. Despite the Hylista’s advanced features, the planetary detection system could still be tripped by a large asteroid or comet. There was no reason to assume that he’d found the planet he was searching for.
    If it even existed.
    A week into the search, having checked at least half of the sites he’d marked as being big enough to contain a solar system, he was beginning to doubt he’d ever find it. Perhaps it had been removed from the star maps because it wasn’t here anymore. If it contained enough anysogen, there was every possibility it had been hit by a meteor and exploded. Hadn’t he heard that explanation before? Probably on some conspiracy forum. But he couldn’t shake the idea.
    He ducked his head automatically and stepped through the doorway, leaving behind the living quarters which seemed warm and comfortable compared to the cockpit. Out here, nearly every corner of the bare metal surface was covered with the many instruments needed to control the ship and the sensitive scanning equipment it contained.
    Tyris’s attention was drawn to the large monitor taking up most of the space on the right wall. His breath hitched. A single planet filled the screen. Brown mists swirled over the surface, hiding it from view.
    As the radar images slowly built up on the screen, Tyris’s eyes widened. A huge crater tore a hole in the large southern continent, a chilling indication that some tragedy had happened here. Battered and broken, it was hard to believe this planet had ever supported life.
    Yet around one edge of the crater, the radar simulation built up little cubes and blocks, neatly divided by straight lines. At some point, there had been a settlement on this planet. Not a big one, perhaps only twenty thousand people, but a settlement nonetheless. As the scanner continued its replication of the surface, he spotted two other areas of buildings, both smaller than the main one. He shivered a little. Surely the people who’d once lived here left the planet years ago?
    He shook his head, and focused back on the task at hand. He couldn’t perform a mineral scan with the shields up. His hands shook, and he begrudged the moments it took to switch between each of the external cameras and check the surrounding space for debris. Nothing he could see would pose a risk to the ship, so he lowered the shield and started the scan.
    Could this be the planet he was looking for? His heart rate accelerated. What other reason could there be for its absence from the star maps? This area had been explored long ago and the surrounding star systems mapped. Why not this one? For the first time since he started this journey, he started to believe he might just do this.
    The computer spewed out a lump of data onto the screen, superimposed over the image of the devastated planet. Tyris’s eyes went straight past the environmental data indicating that the planet was uninhabitable, to the information he sought.
    Nothing! Only negligible usable minerals. No sign of anysogen.
    He took a deep breath and forced himself to