Space Race (Space Race 1) by Nathan Hystad (book recommendations for young adults .TXT) 📕

my job,” I muttered, and when the AI began to log my conversation, I tapped it to silent mode.

Capricious rattled, and I finally relented, checking for alternate paths. The sensors showed ice particles in all directions, as if something momentous had recently occurred. This was abnormal past the Belt. My maps revealed no objects, asteroids, ice moons, or planetoids in the vicinity, but the debris here suggested otherwise.

Now I was intrigued. “CP, can you determine the chemical make-up of the particles?” I cranked her volume to normal.

She spouted off various numbers, percentages of ammonia and methane, and finished with what I was searching for. “Similar matches exist only outside the solar system.”

My first instinct was to disregard it, as I recalled what had happened the last time I’d attempted to play hero. “Gather samples.” I leaned back in my chair and interlocked my fingers behind my head while the drones escaped their cubbies along Capricious’ hull. Oasis would want me to investigate, regardless of the interruption in returning their workers from Eris.

“On screen.” I watched as the image of my surroundings appeared on the wide viewer. I struggled to see the distant stars through the dense ice. I slowed Capricious, settling her into a pocket devoid of danger while I waited for the drones to return with their samples.

I’d been alone for three weeks and couldn’t wait to come home to a paycheck. Oasis wasn’t always prompt at paying, but considering no one else with any substantial jobs was knocking on my door, my loyalty remained with them. Plus, there was that damned binding contract they’d forced me to sign.

“Samples obtained.”

“Good. Let’s see about rerouting. Suggestions?”

I usually performed these calculations myself, but in the spirit of efficiency, I let CP do the math. A few minutes later, I was given two options, and I selected the second. It had a four percent higher chance of hull puncture, but it would save me four hours in the long run.

I set the course, eager to be working my way out of the mysterious ice field, when the alarm chimed. “Now what, CP?”

“Incoming transmission.”

“Who’s sending messages out here?” I tapped the keypad, trying to locate the source. If someone was able to connect within this interference, they had to be nearby. I didn’t like the sounds of that.

“Unconfirmed.” Suddenly, her old-world southern accent felt mocking, and I wished I hadn’t adjusted the cold robotic voice. “I have located the origin and can set course.”

“Play the message, CP,” I growled.

“I am not programmed to interpret the language, but I have relayed the layered text to your screen.”

My heart pounded as the unfamiliar letters scrolled across the main viewer. I hopped to my feet, banging my skull on my lowered dash header. Wires sparked, jolting me momentarily. I needed to fix that, along with a thousand other things. A freighter like this didn’t keep her name by being effective.

“There’s no record of this in your database?” I asked, finding it difficult to believe.

“That is correct. Unknown origin.”

The two words made my skin crawl. “CP, how long until Eris’ atmosphere freezes and collapses?”

“Thirty-nine hours,” she said.

“And our ETA to Eris if we take the selected reroute?” I already knew this but wanted to hear it out loud.

“Thirty-five hours.” I preferred her to round up.

“Damn.” This was going to be tight. “Set course for transmission origin, and make it snappy. I want to be in and out and heading for Eris within an hour, understood?”

“That may result in a higher chance of—”

“I don’t care, CP! Make the adjustments.” I rested my elbows on the keypad, wondering where I’d gone wrong in life to end up alone on a hauler, shouting at a computer program. I faintly recalled the moment and shoved the memory aside.

Capricious began to lower, bumping into chunks of frozen gas. I clutched the worn arms of my pilot’s chair, running a finger over a fray in the stitching.

I continued to observe the alien text, because if CP didn’t comprehend it, that was the only alternative. Alien. I’d never been convinced about life outside our system: not because I was close-minded, but because we’d obsessively dispatched ships and drones for a solid century, returning without any evidence to contradict our solitary existence in the universe. That was empirical data, supported by people much smarter than I was, but I held to the assumption we couldn’t possibly be the only ones. Humans didn’t deserve to be so special.

Thirty tense minutes passed before CP notified me of the object through my screen. I zoomed on it and used the spatial analyzer to determine its size. It was roughly a twentieth of Capricious’ length and far more elegant in its shape. The design was something new to me, and I’d flown a lot of spacecraft since obtaining my commercial license fifteen years ago.

“Radiation?” I asked.

“Within normal range. Suggest counteractive measures before bringing it aboard.”

Aboard? I hadn’t even considered picking up the rogue ship. I checked the two clocks and puffed out my cheeks as I thought about Oasis’ reaction. On the other hand, if this was a rival Corporation’s beta vessel, using a unique language code to avoid deciphers, they would want me to gather and store it for them.

I brought Capricious closer, dodging considerable hunks of ice as I thrusted for the target. The hull was dark blue, and a few letters, similar to the text I’d been sent, were painted on the sides. Wings protruded from the hull, telling me it doubled as a suborbital flyer.

The alarm chimed again. This time, it didn’t stop after the traditional warning bells. “CP, what’s happening?”

“It appears our movement has tripped a proximity sensor,” she said.

“Meaning?”

“I am unsure, but the energy readouts have spiked. Heat sensors picking up a possible detonation.”

It was a bomb. “Record the incident!”

I hoped the computer listened, because the entire screen erupted in a giant explosion. My ship trembled through the shockwaves, and thousands of ice particles battered my hull as the alien vessel vanished. One