Read Skye Object 3270a for Free Online

instrument. She wondered how many centuries old it might be. “So you tracked the fragment with the . . . primary telescopes?”
    â€œWell, no.” His voice was soft and low and almost . . . uncertain? She still could not make out the features of his face. “Actually, the fragments were all located and tagged in the first few years after the swan burster was hit, so all I did was track the signals from this particular fragment. The challenge came in predicting when its orbital path would bring it close to the city . . . close enough to stimulate the defensive lasers, you see . . . ?”
    She did, only too well. “So you didn’t actually find the fragment at all?”
    â€œNo. That was all done before . . . well, it was done before I was born. I wish I’d been in on it.”
    â€œBefore you were born? But the swan burster was shattered only twenty years ago.” As soon as she said it, she understood. Her hand went to her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle a giggle.
    â€œWhat?” M. Hand demanded.
    â€œNothing,” she choked out. “Sorry. Except . . . I thought you were some awesome old man.” And she started giggling all over again.
    â€œOh. It doesn’t matter. Does it?”
    Skye’s humor vanished as she remembered why she had come. “Actually, I think it does, M.—” She caught herself. She was not going to address him formally if he was only a dumb ado like her. “What was your first name?”
    â€œDevi.” He said it quickly, as if afraid it might turn on him, or get away.
    â€œDevi,” she repeated. “I think it does matter. I wanted to talk to the person who found the fragments. The person who picked them out of the dark.”
    â€œOh. That would be Tannasen. He helped me with my project, but he’s not in the city now. He spends most of his time aboard Spindrift .”
    â€œThe research ship.” Skye shivered as vague memories surfaced. Her lifeboat had been found by Spindrift . She’d spent over a year aboard the tiny ship, though for most of that time she’d been kept in cold sleep. Tannasen had brought her to consciousness only in the last two weeks before Spindrift returned to Silk. She’d been hardly two years old, so almost the only thing she could remember was being afraid.
    Devi stirred. “What . . . did you want of Tannasen? If you don’t mind my asking . . . ?”
    Skye wrinkled her nose. Devi was an ado. At most he was only a few years older than her, yet he spoke like the formal old man she had expected to find. “I wanted to ask him how small objects are found. Can a telescope like this—”
    â€œOh no. It’d be hard even for the big orbital scopes to see a piece of the swan burster after all these years. The fragments don’t reflect light.” He leaned over the telescope, gazing along its line. “Look at the construction zoo again before it sets. All those objects are gleaming bright because they’re lit up by Kheth. The city is in the planet’s shadow, so it’s night for us. But the construction zoo’s orbit is so high it’s still in the light. Everything that reflects that light is highly visible. The only object that doesn’t reflect light is the lifeboat that was picked up several years ago. If you watch the construction zoo long enough, you can sometimes see one of the lights dim, or even go out. That happens when the lifeboat drifts across your line of sight, blocking the view of the brighter object, eclipsing it. If that didn’t happen from time to time, it would be impossible to tell the lifeboat was there . . . at least with a scope like this.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Skye whispered. “Lifeboats don’t reflect light.” Of course they could not be seen with a telescope. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?
    â€œAre you all right?” Devi asked.
    She shook her head, glad that