The Juggernaut (Juggernaut #1)

Seventeen

Malachi's ship was broken, and he didn't know why.

He lay on his back, underneath the raised body of the Rhino, making silent threats to a machine that refused to listen.

Holding a hatch open with one hand, Malachi scrabbled with the other until his fingers touched a wire. He tugged it closer until he could reach the infrasound probe attached to the other end. He switched it on and hurried to complete the job before the inaudible tone made him nauseous.

"Is it fixed yet?" asked a familiar voice.

He shut off the tool, grateful for the interruption, and slid himself out to see Tila's upside-down face studying the diagnostic equipment. She offered her hand.

"It's not broken, it's just not working," he said. He took her hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Where have you been? Ellie's worried about you."

"She worries too much. I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"I am now. I know what we need to do."

Malachi wiped the worst of the dirt from his hands and dragged over two stools so they could sit. "Tell me."

She took a breath, anticipating his likely reaction. "We need to find the investors in the mission and tell them what we know."

Malachi blinked. "That's your plan? Okay! Firstly, 'we'? Second, what will they do about it? Why should they even believe you? And third, how are you even going to find them?"

"Firstly, yes. Second, we can take the chip you found, that's our proof. They'll have to believe that, won't they?"

Her eyes told him she needed them to believe that.

"Look, I agree that the only explanation for that data is because a ship made the jump back from Baru, but who's going to listen to us? We're nobodies. Who are these investors, and how do we get to meet them, anyway?"

"But we're nobodies who know something. Plus, I'm the daughter of the people who led the mission. That has to count for something, right?"

"How can you make them believe that? You could be anyone claiming a story like that. They won't have any reason to believe us, uh, you."

He was right, she realised. Her word alone would not carry any weight. "So, is that it? Are you saying it won't work?"

"No. I'm... I'm just saying it might be harder than you think. Let's start at the beginning. Which investors do we talk to?"

"I don't know. I hoped you might."

"Me? What do I know about stuff like that? I build and fix things."

"But you have access to data, don't you? What happened is public record, so it should be on the networks."

"Public records in one star system don't automatically appear in another, and hardly anything useful turns up here," he mused. "On the other hand, the mission was a long time ago and a big event, so there is probably something we can find on local archives. Even the Juggernaut gets news eventually, right? Let me have a look."

Malachi turned to one of his computers and began searching for the old records of the colony mission.

Tila, for once, waited patiently.

"Okay, here's something. A big chunk of the mission was funded by a cabal of investors from the three closest systems; Selah, Kinebar and Jenova. Most of the rest came from Avion, and some of the smaller systems. That makes sense. No one wants to come via our system if they can help it. Baru would have given them an alternate route. It might not make journeys any quicker but it would make them cheaper."