Free First Fleet #1-4: The Complete Saga by Stephen Case

begun to circuit it regularly in the evenings after leaving the lab. It was perhaps a half a mile in circumference, wrapping the outer hull, with portholes on either side looking down into space. These were placed at regular intervals, so the track felt like a bridge spanning an abyss at times. She counted laps by how many times the white flare of the dwarf star swung into view.
    She slowed her pace to fall in beside Tsai-Liu. The track was usually crowded in the evenings. He slowed a bit further to answer her.
    “Who?”
    “Eleanor,” Beka answered. “The woman no one the lab can seem to ignore except Davis.”
    “Ah.” Tsai-Liu huffed and smiled wryly. “She actually does have a rank, though I’m not sure what it is. She’s the admiral’s eyes and ears in the lab.”
    “Is that why she annoys Davis so much?”
    Tsai-Liu shook his head. “The admiral has more than just her eyes and ears, if you know what I mean.”
    This was news to her. “Are they Licensed together?”
    His laugh trailed into a wheeze, and they slowed further.
    “I don’t think the admiral needs to worry about that sort of thing out here. But their relationship is clearly more than simply professional. Frankly, I think Davis simply hates having someone around he can’t bully.” He grimaced. “It’s hard not to be a little envious of Tholan though, I admit. A woman like that out here.” They jogged in silence for a dozen paces or so. “What about you? Did you leave someone behind in System?”
    “No. I Licensed once, just after graduation. We had been roommates. We didn’t renew it though. She left System.”
    “Ah.”
    “You?”
    “Harriet and I were on a long-term License after our son was born. When he matriculated at the academy we let it lapse. We still get in touch occasionally, though of course she doesn’t know I’m here.”
    They went on in silence again for a while.
    “Davis said we’re done trying to dump ghosts into the blanks the admiral has been providing.”
    Tsai-Liu nodded. “He told me about the conclusion you and Aggiz reached. It seems reasonable.” He held up a hand and they slowed to a walk. A wide, black window opened out of the shipyard hull beside the track. “I’m glad. I don’t know where they were getting those regenerated bodies, but I don’t regret being finished with them.”
    “What’s next? Davis mentioned having another option.”
    “I’m sure he has several on his mind.” He bit his lip. “But I think we’re running out of time.”
    They walked on in silence. Beka thought, again, of the bodies on their tables in the laboratory bay and of the silver figures in her dream. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what other options Davis had in reserve.

Thirteen
    T he long-range scout ship Grenada dropped off the terminus of the light line, near the First Fleet’s last known coordinates. The vessel was small, barely large enough to power the jump-set that protruded from either side of its hull like a pair of oversized headphones on a child. The jump-set was necessary though. It gave the lone, tiny scout ship its only chance at locating whatever was left of the Fleet.
    This was where the First Fleet had been deployed. No light lines could reach farther than this. From here, given that the First Fleet had followed Command’s orders, its ships should have diverged for various approaches to the Colonizing mining worlds nestled within the Perseus Limb. Several medical frigates should have held back, stationed in a high orbit around a cluster of singularities several parsecs to the rear.
    The Grenada ’s captain sent a transmission back to System.
    “Command, this is Grenada . We’ve arrived at the end of the light line.”
    “Copy,” came the reply after a brief delay. “Commence scanning.”
    Magnetic and imaging sensors blinked to life along the tiny ship’s studded hull. Fields swept out into the night, returning with information and the lack thereof.
    “No picket ships in