in space. A very lonely pearl. So far as I could see, we were the only ship in orbit.
“Where the hell are we?” I asked over the com.
“IoFive,” Nova replied, her dreamy voice breathless. “Isn’t it pretty?”
I scowled at the white clouds. “Looks cold to me.” Cold and empty. Forget other ships; I couldn’t even see a traffic control satellite. “What are we doing here again?”
“Work,” the captain said dryly before cutting off the channel.
Since that was clearly all the answer I’d be getting, I ran Io5 through my suit computer. What I found wasn’t reassuring. Io5 was a research planet under the jurisdiction of the Republic Scientific Council, though it wasn’t currently in use due to the harshness of the planet’s fifty-year winter. Not the sort of place you took an empty trade freighter unless you were shipping snow, but I knew better by now than to question the captain, and I kept my mouth shut as we passed through the cloud cover into the worst blizzard I’d ever seen.
Below the shell of clouds that gave Io5 its smooth, pearl-like appearance, the planet itself was a crag-riddled mass of black rock, ice, wind, and thick, blowing snow. I’ll never know how Basil found the ground in that mess, but we made our final descent with only a few hairy spots. Ice pelted our hull the whole way, rattling off the Fool ’s heavy sides like gunshots.
By the time we finally set down, I was good and ready to be on the ground, snowball planet or not. When the entry shutters rolled away, though, I almost changed my mind. I’ve been to some dirt-scratch operations before, but this was ridiculous. The “starport” was a stretch of icy cement hidden from the worst of the wind in the lee of a small mountain. There was a generator building, a tiny equipment garage, and one floodlight. Other than that, there was nothing. I didn’t even see a signal tower. Though, to be fair, there could have been a thousand signal towers and I wouldn’t have known. Even with the mountain to block the worst of the storm, the falling snow was so thick I couldn’t see more than a dozen feet in any direction. I was watching drifts pile up against the Fool ’s side when Caldswell came into the lounge.
The moment I saw him, my heart began to sink. The captain was suited for cold weather in a huge, heavy coat, eye shield, and thick boots. Oddly, the cook was right behind him, dressed the same, but what really blew my mind was Ren. She was standing beside her father, wrapped head to toe in so much snow gear I could barely see her face.
“Going out?” I asked, though the answer was painfully clear.
“Just for a bit,” Caldswell replied, putting on his gloves as he walked past me and down the cargo bay stairs. “And you can stop making that face, Morris. You’re not coming.”
Relief washed over me. Neither my suit nor I like snow. But the feeling left just as quickly when I realized this meant the captain would be going out alone. I followed him down to the cargo bay while I tried to work out a way to tell him how stupid that was without getting yelled at. In the end, though, I didn’t have to say anything, because Rashid beat me to it.
“You’re not seriously considering going out in that, are you, sir?”
My new partner was standing at attention at the bottom of the stairs in his tactical armor with his pistols at his hips, every inch the good soldier, but the expression on his face was anything but obedient. “It’s thirty below with no visibility. That is killing weather. To take a child out in such—”
“I take my daughter anywhere I please,” Caldswell said without missing a beat. He walked to the cargo bay door and hit the button to release the lock before looking pointedly at me. “We’re meeting a contact. It shouldn’t take more than two hours. I want you to keep everyone on the ship and in position. Basil has orders to take off as soon as we get back.”
“Yes sir,” I said. That wouldn’t be
“Where the hell are we?” I asked over the com.
“IoFive,” Nova replied, her dreamy voice breathless. “Isn’t it pretty?”
I scowled at the white clouds. “Looks cold to me.” Cold and empty. Forget other ships; I couldn’t even see a traffic control satellite. “What are we doing here again?”
“Work,” the captain said dryly before cutting off the channel.
Since that was clearly all the answer I’d be getting, I ran Io5 through my suit computer. What I found wasn’t reassuring. Io5 was a research planet under the jurisdiction of the Republic Scientific Council, though it wasn’t currently in use due to the harshness of the planet’s fifty-year winter. Not the sort of place you took an empty trade freighter unless you were shipping snow, but I knew better by now than to question the captain, and I kept my mouth shut as we passed through the cloud cover into the worst blizzard I’d ever seen.
Below the shell of clouds that gave Io5 its smooth, pearl-like appearance, the planet itself was a crag-riddled mass of black rock, ice, wind, and thick, blowing snow. I’ll never know how Basil found the ground in that mess, but we made our final descent with only a few hairy spots. Ice pelted our hull the whole way, rattling off the Fool ’s heavy sides like gunshots.
By the time we finally set down, I was good and ready to be on the ground, snowball planet or not. When the entry shutters rolled away, though, I almost changed my mind. I’ve been to some dirt-scratch operations before, but this was ridiculous. The “starport” was a stretch of icy cement hidden from the worst of the wind in the lee of a small mountain. There was a generator building, a tiny equipment garage, and one floodlight. Other than that, there was nothing. I didn’t even see a signal tower. Though, to be fair, there could have been a thousand signal towers and I wouldn’t have known. Even with the mountain to block the worst of the storm, the falling snow was so thick I couldn’t see more than a dozen feet in any direction. I was watching drifts pile up against the Fool ’s side when Caldswell came into the lounge.
The moment I saw him, my heart began to sink. The captain was suited for cold weather in a huge, heavy coat, eye shield, and thick boots. Oddly, the cook was right behind him, dressed the same, but what really blew my mind was Ren. She was standing beside her father, wrapped head to toe in so much snow gear I could barely see her face.
“Going out?” I asked, though the answer was painfully clear.
“Just for a bit,” Caldswell replied, putting on his gloves as he walked past me and down the cargo bay stairs. “And you can stop making that face, Morris. You’re not coming.”
Relief washed over me. Neither my suit nor I like snow. But the feeling left just as quickly when I realized this meant the captain would be going out alone. I followed him down to the cargo bay while I tried to work out a way to tell him how stupid that was without getting yelled at. In the end, though, I didn’t have to say anything, because Rashid beat me to it.
“You’re not seriously considering going out in that, are you, sir?”
My new partner was standing at attention at the bottom of the stairs in his tactical armor with his pistols at his hips, every inch the good soldier, but the expression on his face was anything but obedient. “It’s thirty below with no visibility. That is killing weather. To take a child out in such—”
“I take my daughter anywhere I please,” Caldswell said without missing a beat. He walked to the cargo bay door and hit the button to release the lock before looking pointedly at me. “We’re meeting a contact. It shouldn’t take more than two hours. I want you to keep everyone on the ship and in position. Basil has orders to take off as soon as we get back.”
“Yes sir,” I said. That wouldn’t be
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