Free Chewing Rocks by Alan Black Page B

forever. I don’t imagine your ships go out stocked with more food, water and air than would last six or seven months at max for a crew of four, even if they try rationing. So, they should turn up somewhere pretty soon.”
    Sheriff Bob was guessing at the mining ships stocks, but it was an educated guess. Most mining ships operating out of Ceres kept their rock chewing to a few months at a time.
    Queene still looked unhappy, “Thank you, Bob. What do I do about our missing ship?”
    “I will send you all of the police reports you need. You just have someone in your office file with your insurance company. That way you can get a new ship, whether 10123 is recovered or not.”
    Queene looked relieved. “Thank you, Bob. You have been such a big help. Sorry, but I do have to go, work and all, but first…I wonder…”
    Bob smiled. “What? Just ask.”
    “Well, I don’t want to appear too forward, but I am having a small diner party tonight. Willem Whyte, Vittie Encarcion and I are getting together for a quiet, intimate meal. Would you please come? Be at my place at eight.”
    “Of course , eight o’clock. I’ll be there.”
    “That would be simply wonderful; because I am concerned those thieves on 10123 might go after Miss Whyte. I certainly don’t want to worry Willem and Vittie, but McNally and Franklin seemed to be carrying a large grudge against Miss Whyte. They must be blaming her for their termination.”
    Bob laughed, “ Guys like that always look for someone else to blame for their problems. I am sure they blame her for everything and that vid on the net is like rubbing salt in their wounds. Even if it is hilarious watching them bumble about getting their collective rear ends kicked.”
    Queene said, “I know they must have seen th e video. Everyone has seen it. I believe it must have just fanned their anger at Miss Whyte.”
    Bob laughed again. “S pace is real big, that’s why it is called space, because there is a lot of empty in it. These four yahoos are more than a full week behind her. I am sure they don’t know where she is going. They don’t have any way to track her through empty space. On top of all of that, Sno is tough. She can take care of herself.”
     
    Chapter 9.0
    Sno froze as the Sedona hiccupped coming out of jump. She had never felt anything like it, in any ship, but hiccup was the only way to describe it. She had cleared the ecliptic, taking the heading her father had given her for the three Earther ships and hit the jump button.
    Normally a jump felt as if the ship w as standing still and the universe shifted around it. Not this time. It seemed as if everything and everywhere quit moving for a tiny fraction of a second. It happened so fast Sno wasn’t sure if she had imagined it or if it had been real.
    All of the Sedona’s sensor boards were reading green. There was no indication anything was wrong. Even the sensor logs didn’t register anything had happened. The Sedona was on course.
    Sno said, “Sedona. Run full sensor diagnostics on all applications.”
    The ship responded with the voice du jour. This month Sno had downloaded a rather brash sounding, pop singer’s voice. “Some applications are in operation. Do you wish to shut down to complete diagnostics?”
    “Negative, Sedona. Do not shut down any application or any part of the operating system. Just check what you can while things are running.”
    The comm unit message light began blinking. Since the distances involved meant long delays in conversations, most people just squirted messages long distance and then waited for a response. The only people who would be sending her a message were on Ceres, so it meant any message had been sent over ninety minutes ago.
    It was a text only message from Vitt ie giving her updated coordinates for the three contracted mining ships. Sno fed the data into the navigation system. She was not very surprised to see they were only one percent off her present course.
    She put two