Page 44 of Healing Creek
“I asked Pillar to identify this one for me a while back.” Samantha reached over and covered Toby’s hand where it lay on the table. “Seneca told me you were able to identify the marking on your necklace.”
“Sure. My mom taught me a few of the old symbols.”
Feeona touched the tap-panel on the table. “I’m sending the list we came up with.”
The table’s display lit up with e-copies of some drawings with handwritten notes.
Toby tapped the lit panel. “Seneca and I put our noggins together and drew out all the ones we could think of. Some I knew, but there was a bunch we don’t know what they mean.”
Pillar touched the panel, too. Enlarging the images. His lips pursed and slid right and left as he thought. “Interesting! I wasn’t able to find a meaning for the symbol on the disk, but I found mention of chunks of the alloy turning up on several colony planets on the Delvinci Union border.”
Feeona put an arm across the back of Toby’s chair. “We’re from Petro-5, that’s on the Delvinci border, too.”
“The Delvinci Union?” Grace had been trying to stay out of the conversation, but she couldn’t help herself. “We have quite a few Dreat onboard. Maybe Creek could talk to them about this.” The Dreat were from that area of space along with the more dangerous hive-like Rettins.
“Splendid,” said Pillar. “I’ve al-rea-dy spoken to some of our traders that venture into the territory, and I’ve heard that this alloy has turned up on several planets on the other side of the border as well. The story that goes around is that this alloy comes from a race that lives beyond the Union. That they tried to settle this area at some time in the past but abandoned their colonies and pulled back for some reason.”
“Maybe the Dreat will recognize the symbols. Toby, do you know the native pronunciation on any of the symbols,” asked Grace.
“A few,” said the boy.
“Great, that’ll help.”
“Help with what?” asked Samantha.
Grace hesitated. They hadn’t asked for her help, but… “The more pieces of information we can get the more likely we are to find an algorithm that will help us decipher more of the language.”
Feeona lifted an arched eyebrow.
Grace shrugged. “One of my sisters is a linguist.”
Samantha leaned forward in her chair. “I think I know a place where we can find a lot more of this language.” She traced a finger over the alloy disc. “In the solar system where we found this there are several old terraforming platforms. I suspect they were built by the same people who used this language.”
“How ex-cite-ing.” Pillar tapped the tips of his fingers together in a steady rhythm. They came to a sudden stop and he put his palms down on the table. “Sadly, I must return to Haverlee.” He pushed to his feet and thanked them all for sharing their puzzle and root beer with him. “You will let me know what you find out, yes?”
Samantha nodded. “Of course. Now let me walk you back to your ship.”
After a round of farewells, the two left and Toby wandered over to the VR pod.
Feeona swiveled in her chair to face Grace, suddenly looking very serious. “There is something I have to tell you.”
Grace’s heart crawled up her throat. She knew it wouldn’t be good. “What is it?”
“A sizable bounty has been posted for you through dark channels. I’m sure it’s Roma.”
Of course it was.
Chapter Eighteen
TheAbundance
EarthAllianceBetaSector
2210.198
By the end of the day, there was no one left on the ship who wasn’t trusted. The mood had shifted from cautious and reserved to relaxed and hopeful. With all the new people on the ship and fresh supplies, dinner had been a loud and joyful event.
Creek had stayed close to Grace all evening. Despite the good mood of the pack and crew, he’d seen worry in her eyes. He suspected all the celebration only aggravated her worry for her sister. Together they walked hand in hand back to the room that had become theirs. The door slid open and the change from the first day they’d shared the room was immediately apparent.
