Vigilante by Laura E. Reeve Read Free Book Online

Gamma
    indicated the Pilgrimage ship line, which had expended the years to drag a precious time buoy
    out here.
    She started the gravity generator and the incoming message signal
    beeped, making her jump. Someone sent a package to Matt before the ship entered N-space, and
    the Pilgrimage crew had allowed delivery through the G-145 buoy. After she acknowledged
    receipt, the envelope flared into the center of her display. She saw the seal of Athens Point
    Law Enforcement revolving above angry red text that said, “Positive identification of receiver
    required for service.”
    Uh-oh . That might indicate a remote
    subpoena. This package wouldn’t open for anyone but Matt, so it ended up on his queue. She
    shrugged and pushed the wake-up alarms for Matt and Joyce, even though they might have wakened
    naturally since the ship systems would have signaled their implants to stop the
    D-tranny.
    “Hey, Ari, you don’t look too bad. Must have been an easy drop,” Matt
    said when he eventually climbed up on the control deck.
    Meaning I still have my hair and I only lost a
    little weight . Ariane’s mouth twitched as she turned in her chair. In that motion, she
    realized how tired she felt.
    Matt’s shirt trailed on the deck from one hand while he stared at the
    in-the-round display above and in front of her console. His bare chest was exposed and she made
    herself look away from this close sample of a lean, muscled male abdomen. After all, Matt was crew .
    “An awesome sight, right in the middle of our front window,” Matt said.
    Of course, Aether’s Touch didn’t have real windows because of
    radiation.
    “What is that ?” Joyce was dressed in crisp
    civilian clothes, though they somewhat resembled a uniform. “Hey, don’t you guys require shirt
    and shoes to work here?”
    “That is the Pilgrimage Three , one of the
    largest generational ships ever built. What a beauty!” Matt pulled on his shirt and padded over
    to the front console, ignoring Joyce’s barb about not wearing his sticky-soled shoes.
    “We’re on approved docking vector and our gravity generator is aligned.”
    Ariane looked up at the display. True, the Pilgrimage III was
    impressive. Currently configured in habitat mode, the generational ship looked like a fairy
    castle with spires bursting upward from her bulky engines and gravity generator.
    “Have you done voice check-in?” Matt looked at the console, examining
    the status.
    “No. I only sent our ship key and got our docking vector. If you want to
    formally check in, be my guest,” Ariane said.
    Matt tapped the console. “ Pilgrimage Three ,
    this is the Aether’s Touch on approach as directed. We’re carrying
    three crew members, with the following authorization keys.”
    The response was immediate and cheery. “Welcome back to Gamma-145, Aether’s Touch . Looking forward to greeting everyone. Pilgrimage Three out.”
    “What do they mean by ‘greeting’?” Joyce said suspiciously.
    “It’s tradition for everyone to disembark upon entry to the solar
    system, tour the controlling generational ship, and meet with the command staff. It allows them
    to catch up on Autonomist, or Terran, idioms and customs. A dinner is usually involved.” Ariane
    swiveled her chair around to look at Joyce. His dismayed expression didn’t raise any sympathy
    in her.
    “Is there a problem, Mr. Joyce?” Matt’s tone
    was acidic. “Please, enlighten us.”
    “I need to get to Beta Priamos Station. Quickly.”
    “Well, well.” Ariane saw Matt’s brown eyes flicker, then harden.
    Priamos was the moon with ruins of an ancient, but non-Minoan, culture;
    Ariane and Matt had first prospected it months before. Orbiting Priamos, Beta Priamos Station
    had an elevator down to that moon, as well as the best access to “the artifact,” as everybody
    called the possibly defunct buoy. Not only was the artifact firmly anchored in Aether
    Exploration’s claim, but Matt and Ariane had left their most expensive