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returned to camp was
still asleep and safely tucked up inside the darkened dome. Bellona and Philyra
were terrified of what she might do should she wake and learn of their
impromptu jungle trek and so quietly followed suit. Endymion stayed awake a
little longer, calmly munching upon the zero-gravity rations he had found
aboard the Nellie Chapman as he tried to
make sense of the data obtained from the ship’s computer. The mining ship’s
last flight remained a puzzle; before it returned to Ascension, the vessel had
ventured into deep space, far away from the asteroid belt and nowhere near any
of the other major planets of the Barnard’s Star system.
    It was a mystery that would have to wait. The scientists
at the research station were exobiologists, not astrophysicists and their
limited network did not hold the information he sought. Admitting defeat,
Endymion eventually joined the others in sleep.
     

Chapter Three
Newbrum Spaceport
     
    MAHARANI UMA did not repeat her visit to Dockside but her
plea for help struck a chord. The Dandridge Cole ’s sensor arrays had tracked the kidnappers’ spacecraft to Ascension,
yet nearly two days had passed since Raja Surya’s disappearance and discrete
enquiries to Newbrum and the black-market haven of Lan-Tlanto had so far drawn
a blank. Fenris had been back to Dockside several times since the Maharani’s
visit and now approached Quirinus and Ravana, who were in one of the hangar
workshops getting ready to refit an auxiliary life-support module removed from
the Platypus for repair.
    “Can you smell something?” Quirinus asked Ravana. “Oh
look, it’s Fenris.”
    Ravana giggled. Her father had confided to her that
although he was happy to help the Maharani and speak to his contacts on
Ascension, he had no intention of being nice to Fenris.
    “The Maharani wishes for you to take me to Newbrum,”
Fenris said urgently, looking flustered. “She is keen for me to speak directly
with Administrator Verdandi. Are the repairs to your ship complete?”
    “The Platypus is
available for hire, if that’s what you mean,” Quirinus told him. “I hope you’ve
got deep pockets. I don’t go to Newbrum without a very good reason.”
    “Ever the mercenary,” Fenris murmured. “Money is no
object, as you know.”
    “In that case, you’ve got yourself a ship!” said
Quirinus. “We’ll be ready to depart in an hour or so. Ravana, do you fancy a
trip to Ascension?”
    Ravana nodded and grinned. “Do I get to be co-pilot
again?”
    She watched as Fenris stomped away to find somewhere
quiet to sulk. She got the impression he was not so keen on taking the trip and
could not help wondering why.
     
* * *
     
    Bellona unzipped the door of the darkened dome and gazed
out at another dim red day. High above the Eden Ravines, the sun had started to
edge towards the eastern horizon but otherwise had barely moved at all. Behind
her, she could hear two totally different musical alarms clashing dissonantly
as Endymion’s and Philyra’s wristpads tried their best to rouse their owners
from dreams made strange by the jungle’s alien murmurs.
    Miss Clymene acted cordially enough at breakfast, but
there was a certain coolness to her manner that suggested she was not entirely
unaware of her students’ jungle adventure. Endymion, Bellona and Philyra had
not stopped to talk on their hurried trek back through the alien forest and the
girls were still waiting for an opportunity to ask Endymion about what he had
seen inside the abandoned mining ship.
    Upon their return to the research station, Miss Clymene
was informed that her friend had been called away on urgent business. The
scientist she spoke to was reluctant to elaborate but eventually revealed that
there had been a security alert and research station staff had been told to suspend
all duties pending the arrival of a government official from Newbrum. Miss
Clymene made some comment about the wheels of bureaucracy moving notoriously
slowly on