Page 36 of Taurus's Quest
“Tripiti Gorge in Crete.”
“You know, you could take the portal to Athens and then make your way over.”
“Which would take what, a day? Starbeaming gets us right there.”
“I know. I’m just grumpy and tired. Keep hitting a bunch of dead ends.”
“You, the master hacker of the world?” Taurus teased.
Aquarius snorted. “Hardly the best, and never more apparent than now. Aries wanted me to find out who Andreas associated with, and I can’t find anyone. The man stopped socializing with people about five months ago. No messages, no emails that weren’t work related, no phone calls.”
“Seems odd.”
“No shit, especially seeing as how he used to have an active social life before, especially with the ladies.”
“Something changed.”
“Seems to be right after he returned from a trip to Antikythera.”
“Where the device was originally found,” Taurus murmured. The fact it had been named after a location probably had much to do with the reason why they couldn’t find any information. After all, its original creator likely had a different appellation for it. “I’m going to assume he went diving, found the rock, and, from there, got infected.”
“Doubtful he dove. The wreck is too deep for normal scuba gear. More likely the rock we’re seeking either ended up in the belly of a fish that got caught by a fisherman or it washed ashore and Andreas came across it.”
“I was just talking with Circe, and one thing that came up was the fact none of the other observatories are concerned about the asteroid. Meaning their data likely was tampered with as well. Could be Andreas’ associates aren’t people he usually would be hanging with but those with crucial positions in other establishments.”
“That he never contacted with his phone or computer?” Aquarius poked a hole, and Taurus immediately found a plug.
“If this thing that controlled him was smart, it might have had him use a burner phone and email.”
“Doubtful he could convince these science-y types to fudge numbers just because he asked.”
“Maybe he didn’t ask. Maybe they were infected too. Did Andreas leave Athens at all after his trip to Antikythera?”
“Not that I found.”
Taurus snapped his fingers. “Circe was mentioning someone he sometimes has drinks with who travels often. Guy called Demetrius.”
Aquarius spun back to his keyboard and began typing. “I remember seeing that name.” The fingers kept tapping before Aquarius murmured, “Works for the Athens Observatory, but in the last five months, he’s been all over the world. This might just be the break I needed.”
“In case that’s not enough, you might want to look and see if any astronomers have recently croaked unexpectedly. Circe might not be the only one who tried to give warning, and seeing what Andreas tried to do?—”
“Fuck me. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.” Aquarius groaned. “Guess I won’t be sleeping anytime soon.”
“You’re welcome,” Taurus crowed.
“Asshole.”
“Does this mean you won’t help me with my calculations?”
“I’ll have them for you by morning. Now, shoo. I’ve got some digging to do.”
Taurus left and headed back down to his room, only just before he would have entered his apartment, Circe’s door opened.
“Going to bed?”
He whirled to see her in a pajama set, a pair of flowing pants and matching top, her hair loose around her shoulders. Not lingerie, and yet she looked utterly delectable.
“We should get a good night’s sleep since it will be a busy day tomorrow.”
