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  If he’d known when he took the DayStar that the navigational beacon had already been removed, he would have reconsidered taking the ship. He had been at the controls for several hours when the navigation board lit up then shut down.

  "Now what?" Delmar asked aloud as he looked over and checked the settings. He had been plotting his route off of the few ancient star charts he’d found and was using different stars as vector points along his projected path. In the Patch all he had to do was enter the coordinates of the star system he was visiting and the computer did the rest. But without an automated navigational system, he knew he’d eventually vector off course and have to reset manually.

  He surveyed the local star systems with his sensors. Noting no Axia or affiliated independent planets in the area, Delmar felt safe enough to slow the DayStar to a virtual crawl while he recalculated his bearings.

  Taking one of the charts from where he had stuffed it beside the control chair, he consulted the reference points he had so carefully marked out. Finding his supposed location, he consulted the display on the sensor screen and grunted.

  "Well, if I'm lost, at least I’m making good time.”

  He looked down and picked out his next reference point. Then he reached over and programmed it into the navigation console. He could see the starfield shift through the front window as the ship took a new bearing in preparation for the next leg of his journey.

  Advancing the throttle once more, he felt the DayStar leap forward along his new flight path. Relaxing a bit, Delmar again found himself comparing the old DayStar to his precious Cabbage Patch. Though slower than his FAR scout ship, he had to admit the old patroller could still get the job done. With a little luck and the blessing of the Unseen One, he might even arrive at his destination in one piece.

  Deciding he could trust the autopilot system, Delmar got up and stretched the kinks out of his back.

  "I've got to do something about that,” he said to himself as he looked down at the worn seat.

  He stood and watched the heading indicator for a minute to be sure it would hold steady. Satisfied, he headed back to the small galley and to get a glass of juice and a slice of synthesized bread.

  Even though he had only been on the DayStar for a couple of days now, Delmar was getting mighty tired of the limited fare. Taking his food forward, he set his snack beside the control chair and sat back down. A glance at the heading indicator showed a slow lateral drift starting to develop which Delmar corrected with a gentle nudge of the axis ball.

  "This is going to be a long trip,” he said to himself as he picked up his cup and took a drink. "But at least it'll give me something to do."

  Delmar checked the detector screen and noted that it was clear of any sensor return which might indicate a ship in the vicinity. After wiggling around a bit to get comfortable, he relaxed and considered his next move.

  Far out ahead of him, another set of eyes watched a detector screen. Since it was on passive mode and the ship powered down, the red craft was virtually undetectable to any other ship. The DayStar’s sensor system was like a beacon in a dark room during the brief sweep Delmar had made.

  The Red-tail pilot snarled and bared his fangs while plotting the likely course of the lone Axia scout coming into his range. The projected course would bring the incoming ship close enough to him that he wouldn't have to use much power in pursuit. The pilot was glad of this because he was hungry.

  ∞∞∞

  The smell of decent cooking filled Robert's nostrils as he and Daren sat in the front room watching little Del-Robert play on the floor. It had taken some effort but Robert had finally forced himself to relax while he waited for word of Delmar. Robert privately hoped the boy had been called away on some official business that couldn't be disclosed, but he doubted it. If that had been the case, at least the liaison officer would have notified the family in one of the subtle ways known to the Service. Robert's gut still told him something was wrong.

  "So you think the association should create an improvement district?" Daren said in an effort to talk about anything but what was on their minds.

  "Probably,” Robert said absently.

  "I mean, we need to improve the road between here and town,” Daren continued doggedly. "At night it's especially bad."

  "It's been good enough all these years,” Robert finally offered. "Why change now?"

  "Because the traffic has increased out this way in the last few years,” Daren said. "I know it's not much, but I think it’s a trend we should pay attention to."

  "You young people take care of it then,” Robert said with a wave of his hand. "Time for…Hey did you hear something?" he said as he cocked his head.

  "What? All I hear is RoseMary in the kitchen and Del-Robert playing on the floor."

  "Listen," Robert said, signaling for quiet.

  Just when they were about to give up, a barely audible beep sounded from another room. Robert and Daren got up and started looking for the source of the noise. Maintaining their silence, they moved carefully toward the doorway that led off the main room.

  Again, both heard a beep. Daren seemed to be closer to the source and followed the sound. Walking into Robert's office, he noticed something.

  "Robert,” he called softly.

  Robert appeared at the door. Just at that moment they both heard another beep, though louder this time. It was coming from Robert’s computer.

  "Seems you left your computer running,” Daren said. He sat down in front of it. The blinking cursor blinked on the screen.

  "Don't turn it off!" Robert said just as Daren was reaching for the switch. He stopped.

  "Why?" Daren asked. "It's just wasting power."

  "Because I didn't turn it on,” Robert said. "Last time anyone was in here was yesterday, and I definitely saw them turn it off."

  "That's strange,” Daren said.

  "Let me at it,” Robert said, motioning for Daren to get out of the chair. As soon as Daren was clear, Robert sat down and reached for the keyboard.

  "I have an idea."

  "What?" asked Daren as Robert opened a drawer and consulted a note pad. Then he entered a code.

  "I remember Delmar telling me something like this happened to him at computer school. I'm going to try something he told me about."

  With a final tap, he finished typing.

  "There,” he said. "Now we wait and see if my hunch was right."

  Both men stared at the screen. Daren absently put a hand on his son's head as little Del-Robert came to see what his daddy was doing. The seconds seemed to drag out while they watched the line of code. Both men flinched when the line disappeared. Almost immediately another line took its place.

  WHO IS THIS?

  Robert Hassel. Who is this?

  YOU ARE DELMAR'S FATHER? I AM ERT, DELMAR'S FRIEND.

  "Just as I thought!" Robert exclaimed. "Delmar told me about this friend on one of his earlier visits.”

  Did you turn on this computer remotely? Robert typed.

  "You can't do that!" Daren said. "This machine isn't part of a network."

  "Shhhh.” Robert said and pointed at the screen.

  YES I DID, the screen answered back. I NOTICED SOMEONE USING IT ABOUT THE TIME I WAS TRYING TO REACH DELMAR. WHOEVER IT WAS LOGGED OFF BEFORE I COULD MAKE THE CONNECTION.

  Why did you want to contact Delmar? Robert typed, trying to puzzle things out. Maybe this will help us find out where Delmar is.

  I WAS TRYING TO CONTACT HIM ABOUT SOME CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, the screen answered. IS HE THERE?

  No, he's not, Robert typed back. The last I saw him, he was headed to Jasper Station concerning repairs to his ship.

  I WILL CHECK THERE, the screen said. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE.

  Does your information have something about where Delmar might be? Robert hastily typed. He told me he'd be back here by evening, but we haven't seen him for almost two days now."

  I CAN'T DISCLOSE THAT. BUT I WILL LET YOU KNOW IF I HEAR FROM H
IM.

  The screen went blank and the computer shut down on its own.

  "Must be quite a computer whiz,” Daren exclaimed as he watched this performance.

  "He is,” Robert replied. "From what Delmar told me, this friend Ert can make computers do things no one has ever heard of."

  "Well, at least we got a clue about Delmar,” Daren offered as he picked up his son.

  “Meaning?”

  “Just that it’s pretty obvious that Delmar has been dispatched on a classified mission, which explains his sudden disappearance.”

  “You really think so?” asked Robert.

  “Absolutely. You don’t really think he would just vanish for no reason, do you?”

  Robert just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know what to think.

  Daren continued.

  “And here we are worried that he’d run off and done something stupid, or just plain disappeared again.

  Together the three headed back into the front room.

  "If I read between the lines, something important must be going on."

  "I see your point,” Robert said. "But somehow I think there's more to it than we know."

  Chapter Thirteen

  Less than an hour earlier, Security Officer Rome had been pleasantly dreaming about an upcoming leave he had scheduled. Now he was jammed back into uniform and fortified with too much coffee. He found himself in a storage area of Jasper Station while the day security detail swarmed around him.

  He looked around him, both to clear his head and to take in the scene. In front of him was an open area of gravel, grass, and weeds. All around him were rows of derelict ships, each waiting for its scheduled time for dismantlement or scrap. Even now, shipyard workers and security men were inspecting each one of them for any clue of Captain Eagleman’s disappearance. A foreman approached him and broke his concentration.

  "What do you have to show me?" Rome asked, forcing back a yawn. "All I know is that I was rudely awaken and told to get down here pronto. Something about our missing captain, I hope?"

  "We think so, sir,” the foreman said.

  "Well, tell me from the top so I can get it straight in my befuddled mind,” Rome replied. "And you can drop the sir. You're a civilian now."

  "Our first clue was noticed by one of the shuttle pilots,” the foreman began. "He’s here to shuttle a ship out for scrapping."

  "And it’s not here, right?” Rome offered.

  "Correct,” the foreman answered. “That's not all that unusual,” he continued sheepishly. "We process so many ships that we occasionally double schedule them."

  "So what tipped you off?”

  "We consulted with the registry and found that the ship only arrived a few weeks ago. With exception to removing the navigational and emergency distress beacons, we haven’t had time to process it yet,” the foreman answered. "By all rights, it should still be here."

  Rome thought for a second.

  “But you’ve removed the navigational and emergency distress beacons? Which means the ship can’t be traced.”

  “Yes sir,” the foreman answered. “And most of the onboard systems are still functional.”

  "And what makes you think this has anything to do with our missing captain?" Rome asked. His head was starting the low throb of a kick-in-the-teeth headache.

  "We came back to the spot where the DayStar was parked,” the foreman said. "One of my men noticed the grass and weeds had been recently ripped up from the ground by a ship's skids. Clear evidence the ship had only been moved in the last day or so."

  "And let me guess,” Rome continued. "The weeds are the same as those found on the fence yesterday."

  "That's right,” the foreman agreed.

  "So what are these men doing now?" Rome asked, waving his hand to indicate the workers and security men searching the remaining derelict ships.

  "Just to be on the safe side, we thought we'd better check the ships for the missing captain,” the foreman said. "I mean, where is a more natural place for a captain to sleep than a ship's bunk?"

  "But there's more, right?"

  "Yes,” the foreman replied. "We also found that someone has very recently rummaged around in most of the ships as if searching for something. We surmise that it may have been supplies needed to make the DayStar serviceable."

  "Was the DayStar really space worthy?" Rome asked as he surveyed the other wrecks.

  "It is possible,” the foreman admitted. "DayStar was retired only because her captain died, not because she isn’t space worthy. She might be old, but she still has plenty of life left in her."

  "So what we have is someone taking one of these ships and sneaking out of here with it,” Rome said. "Either the missing captain or someone else doing the flying. Why didn't the ship trigger the motion detectors?"

  "I'm not sure,” the foreman said. "However, if one moves very slowly so the motion detectors can adjust, it might be possible to sneak past them."

  Rome groaned inwardly and made a mental note to correct this problem.

  "Your logic's sound,” Rome finally said to the foreman. "Keep up your search and bring me a list of anything else missing from these other ships. Look especially for anything like charts and maps that might pertain to navigational protocols. I have a few calls to make,” he added, thinking of Robert Hassel.

  “There is one more thing, sir.”

  “Isn’t there always?” Rome said. “What is it?”

  “Like I said, the navigational and emergency beacons have already been removed from the DayStar,” answered the foreman. “So if that young captain did take it, he better be one heck of a pilot and navigator, because if he gets lost out there, or strays from the regular shipping lanes, or gets jumped by a Red-tail...”

  “We’ll never find him,” Rome finished the foreman’s sentence.

  “That’s correct. He could drift alone in space for decades before another ship might happen upon him.”

  “How about his comms and weapons?”

  “According to the logs, his short-range comms should be working, but his long-range and deep space directionals have already been removed,” the foreman answered. “And with exception to limited energy rays, he’s defenseless. The torps were removed upon arrival on station.”

  Heading back to the security office, Rome made a quick mental review. A missing captain and a missing ship. He had already personally checked the gate logs so he knew no one had officially come into or left the repair station. So that meant it had to be someone on the facility that flew the ship. The only person unaccounted for was this Captain Eagleman. To top it all off, to fly any ship, much less an old derelict, out of here undetected would require great skill. It all added up to one conclusion – their missing captain was probably the one who took the DayStar. Now if he could only figure out why this kid would do such a thing.

  ∞∞∞

  At that very moment Delmar was wondering the same thing. One moment he had been calmly staring out the front windows eating his simple but monotonous meal. The next moment his food and drink were flying across the cabin as he grabbed the controls and dodged a series of heat ray beams that were lashing across the bow of his ship. He twisted the DayStar around in an effort to avoid the deadly rays and catch a glimpse of his attacker. One word screamed in his head – Red-tails!"

  His experience and training took over as he all but turned the poor old ship inside out in an effort to stay alive. At the same time, he was also trying to get the old detector system reset in hopes of picking up some indication of the number of attackers. He hoped there was only one, but where was he? Finally, the old screen reset and displayed the red trace of a single Red-tail ship.

  "Good, there's only one!" Delmar said to himself through clenched teeth as he maneuvered the old ship.

  The deadly rays lashed out repeatedly but he was able to anticipate the pattern and avoid them. He could hear the strain on the old patroller around him while he tried to buy time to live and fight again.

/>   While this was going on, a different part of Delmar's brain coolly and methodically evaluated his situation. In a word – grim. Delmar had never figured on taking the old DayStar into combat. He considered it fortunate that she was even flyable. Now she was coming up short in critical areas. Delmar could hear this analysis going on as if it was another voice in his head:

  "Number one,” the voice inside said, "you are in an old, retired ship. It has less than half the speed of the Cabbage Patch. If I push it into the red arc, it will probably blow every system on the ship. You’re just going to have to adjust your reactions for the ship’s limitations or get burned."

  Delmar gritted his teeth and changed both speed and direction in an effort to throw off his attacker.

  "Number two,” the voice inside said, "you have no torpedoes. And considering the weakening power supply, a heat ray would probably be both short range and about half strength. If you counter-attack, you'll have to get in close and make the best of it, which could prove fatal."

  Delmar didn't care for the way things were adding up. He also envied the calmness of the voice inside, especially since it felt like his heart would beat right out of his chest.

  "Number three,” the voice continued, "you are far off the usual shipping lanes and Axia outposts. Help is unlikely at best. However, it is also likely that your attacker doesn't have any help nearby either or you will soon be the main course for a Red-tail dinner."

  "I hope they starve!" Delmar snapped back at the voice in his head.

  All around him he could feel the effect of the terrible drain on the old power supply. Lights were dimming and the ship seemed less responsive. Delmar rapidly made a decision.

  Reaching over to the dead comm unit, he hit the power switch. He wasn't sure if it even worked. He had not intended to use it so he hadn’t checked it out when he evaluated the DayStar's systems. Now he hoped against hope it would work.

  As again the DayStar twisted in flight, Delmar heard an unwelcome crackle from the emergency broadcast speaker. It was clear that no signal was going out, so there was no automated call for help.