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“I’m not giving up. Did you see how that pilot flew fearlessly through the asteroid belt? It’s like he has done it often enough to feel confident it won’t kill them.” Marisol paused, staring at the moon. The scans showed no structures or signals. Nothing lived on it or had been built there.
“What do we do now?” MC-3 asked the question.
“We’re going to stay here and wait,” Marisol informed them. “At some point, I feel confident that the shuttle will fly this way again. We’ll block it before it can lose us through the asteroid belt now that we know what to expect.”
MC-1 didn’t appear happy as their gazes met. “You don’t know if that shuttle will fly this way again.”
“It’s not like we have anywhere else to be.”
Marisol stared at the moon. Huge craters pitted the surface. There were too many to count. It was also possible that the other shuttle had flown into one to hide. For all she knew, that might be where they had set up a home. It was also possible that they occasionally visited an uninhabited planet to find water to refill their tanks and hunt for food.
She started to look up the navigational charts to see if any live planets nearby would fit that bill. There were none. “That’s actually good,” she muttered.
“What is?”
She looked at the clones, making eye contact. “There’s no place for them to resupply water and food when they run low. The closest and only options are Vista or Clone World. No way they are venturing onto heavily protected stations or landing on defensive heavy planets to buy that stuff from humans. That means they must be stealing food and water from other vessels.” Marisol leaned back in her seat. “We’ll just wait here until that shuttle comes back.”
MC-1 drew her attention by scowling. “We’re going to die out here doing nothing.”
“I’m not doing nothing.” She leaned forward again, checking the signal strength of her communication broadcasts. It was best to only send short bursts that wouldn’t travel out of that solar system. “I’m going to keep trying to reach out to them at regular intervals.”
“Why? They are long gone.”
Marisol looked at MC-4 and jerked her head toward the moon taking up most of the front viewscreen. “Maybe not.”
“We’d pick up the signature of a shuttle on our sensors if it had landed on the moon.”
MC-1 was really starting to irritate Marisol. “Wrong. Check out the readings of how dense that moon is. See those craters? They could hide an entire army of authority shuttles. The dense rock and minerals would fool our sensors into seeing nothing if they were as deep as I suspect. Not that I think any authorities are this far away from where they patrol. It would be a waste of fuel, resources, and manpower.”
“That’s your plan?”
“Yes, MC-1. That’s the plan. We’ll keep sending a low burst hail every six hours.” She felt a little depressed. “That way, it won’t travel far enough to reach the travel path of Clone World visitors or the authority patrols that Vista uses to keep them from being attacked by pirates. Who wants the first shift?”
“I’ll take the first one.”
It didn’t surprise Marisol that MC-1 offered. He was the one she’d have to watch out for if the clones decided to oust her from being in command. She had a feeling that he’d gladly take her place. “I’m going to get some sleep. Wake me immediately if we get a response or something shows up on long-range sensors.”
She rose, going to the back of the shuttle. Once she used the bathroom and ate a nutrient bar, she sprawled out on one of the chairs that converted for sleeping. Their escape had gone well, but finding Free and the other five clones he’d left Clone World with wasn’t panning out at all.
Marisol slept seven hours and then went back into the cockpit, taking most shifts so she’d be on hand if they got a response. Two days quickly turned into three. Her hope was dying that the other shuttle would return. It was possible that she’d gotten all five of them killed.
The tension between her and the other clones was palpable. MC-1 kept arguing that they should search navigational charts to find a planet on which they might be able to settle. The ones that humans hadn’t colonized had been rejected for very good reasons. Either the environment of those planets was too harsh or the wildlife too dangerous. Some had major weather anomalies that made living on the surface impossible. It was impossible to build a city when tornados ripped them apart faster than they could put them up.
MC-1 entered the cockpit and took the other chair. “I have spoken with the others. We’ve decided it’s best if we leave this area.”
It was as she feared. They weren’t going to listen to her anymore. Marisol met his gaze, her anger rising. They were only away from Clone World because she’d refused to leave them behind to die. That’s the thanks I get. She debated how to respond, but a beep had her startling.
The sensors were picking up another shuttle. It appeared out of what seemed like nowhere, but it had come from the moon. Specifically, shot out of a deep crater. She immediately sent a hail, her fingers flying across the console as she started the engines, too. There was no way she wouldn’t pursue them if they tried to flee.
MC-1 jumped out of the seat and rushed to the back, probably to get the other clones. It was tempting for Marisol to seal off the cockpit to block them. She didn’t, though. It would only make the tension between them worse.
Marisol gasped when the other shuttle responded. A male voice filled the cockpit as he spoke. “Why do you keep hailing me?
Pain sliced through her as she realized that wasn’t Free’s voice. She’d been so sure it might be him. The disappointment was that great. Marisol swallowed hard before responding, using her words carefully to verify that the male was at least one of the six clones she was looking for.
“I’m one of three. Do you understand?” She let that sink in. Her, Free, and Figures had worked together on Clone World. They’d also come up with the plan that had helped the six clones escape. “I mean no harm. Can we dock together and speak in person?”
The unknown male responded. “Nine, bar, seven, one, dark, quad, ten.”
