Chapter 35

James and Dusty enjoyed some alone time.

With their AIs monitoring space for them, once they turned on the autopilot, they didn’t really have to stay on the bridge. They spent some time mapping the Uno system as they left it. Dusty released a probe on the outer edge to monitor the route that the navigation beacons directed the ships to enter and leave the Uno system.

Any ship entering or leaving would be at sub-light speed when they passed what they thought was a normal, innocuous beacon. The probe, however, gave Sheldon at least a day’s warning if any ship came into the system from this direction. A little spell helped.

The passing ship could be hailed from the probe, which could relay messages to the next system, Dos, when they released the next probe. The probes would also speed up communications between Earth and Terra.

They had released one on the other side of Uno when they first entered the system, and they would leave one on the other side of Dos when they headed to Terra.

The micro-jumps went as smooth as a silk hanky through a ring. They dropped the next probe and watched as the data for Uno and Dos was collected and added to what they had already recorded. They picked out the differences between the two systems.

Dos’s inner asteroid belt was lightly populated. The second belt was further from this sun and more heavily populated. The little planet had a mate who orbited between it and the sun. It was as big as mercury and as lifeless. It was closer to Venus’s relative orbit and similar in temperature.

The habitable planet had a land-locked moon that was smaller than Luna, but it was still effective as it influenced the tides, just not as much. This system had a giant gas and a large ice planet like its sister system. They were also outside the second asteroid belt.

James and Dusty were fascinated by the information on the planet as it came through. While this planet also had four main continents, one was much larger than the other three and lapped over the North Pole. It could almost be considered two continents because of the ice cap.

Two of the other contents were widely spaced in the southern region, one below the twenty-five-degree mark and the other closer to the equator, though still about ten degrees shy of it.

The smallest continent stretched along the equator like a souped-up New Guinea. Most of it was in the northern hemisphere, but to the west, it trailed off to the southern side.

The planet had many strings and chains of islands near the edges of the continental plates. A good number of the islands were very large, and several were volcanic in nature. It was also a green, blue and white planet.

As they got closer, more information came in.

The probes were scanning the new system for ships and communications, as was their ship.

“Mistress, we have received an interesting communication. Would you like us to play it back for you?” Zed asked Dusty.

“Please do, Zed,” Dusty replied.

She was sitting naked in James’s lap at the time. She wiggled her hips, and James groaned because he was embedded deep inside her. He humped up his hips as she rolled hers to get the maximum effect.

Dusty continued to rock and squeeze as a male voice speaking in an Arabic dialect said, “Tahm, has that settlement ship shown up?”

“Josh, why are you bothering us? As soon as we see a ship, we will call in,” a voice answered testily.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. The Boss Lady asked me to call,” Josh answered surly.

“Look, it’s more than a week late, that bloody idiot, Rupert, probably snavelled it,” Tahm replied.

“He knows better than that. Ships from Morpheus are ours. If the Boss finds out, she will be on the warpath,” Josh added with a warning tone.

“Well, if it broke down in his system, it’s his. Those stupid Africans probably thought they could do it with less food and crap crews. They probably tried killing each other and broke the ship,” Tahm suggested.

“Quite possibly. Even so, we have been waiting on that ship. Have you had any comms from Java? He should have reported in,” Josh asked this time.

“Nada, we tried sending him several messages, but no replies. Rupert may have found out about him reporting to us. He is probably too busy helping Rupert work his way through all those young virgins on the settlement ship,” Tahm came back with a chuckle.

“Dumb bastards, they are worth more unsullied,” Josh said in disgust. “Well, let us know if anything comes into the system. Vezir Hasan Arfa is due back from Terra. He is a couple of days late as well,” Josh told Tahm.

“Will do,” Tahm finished, and the communication stopped.

“Interesting, they have a ship out there somewhere. Have you located it at all, Zed?” Dusty asked.

She was still rocking and working James’. Despite the distraction, his desire for Dusty hadn’t waned, and neither had hers for him.

“Not yet, Mistress. Thanks to the communication, we have picked up another probe. I hope you don’t mind, but we hijacked it, so it can’t report on our position.”