“Come on, the others are waiting for us.” Justyn led her through more corridors. He paused outside a set of double doors. “Nissa, while you’re here, you’re not Patrol anymore. You’re one of us.”
Something fluttered in her chest. “I know.”
“Beyond the galaxy’s edge, we only have each other to depend on. You can’t have mixed loyalties. You’re loyal to the hunt, otherwise you could get us all killed.”
“I understand, Justyn.” And she did. Beyond the edge, she wasn’t Captain Sander anymore. She was just Nissa, part of the Phoenix crew.
With a nod, he pushed through the doors and they entered Rynan’s domain.
The security center was all slick, flat holo-screens and humming computer consoles. Most of the screens displayed various star maps with color-coded marks flashing on them and various routes marked. One map was projected in three dimensions, hanging in the center of the room. Rynan sat in a big black chair, working at a computer console. Dare was there as well, leaning against the wall, one leg crossed in front of the other.
“Just in time.” Rynan swiveled his chair to face them. “We’ve linked up with Dathan and Eos.”
Nissa turned to the holo-com where a man and woman appeared.
She recognized both of them. The year before, the dashing Dathan Phoenix and Dr. Eos Rai had been all over the galactic news with their discovery of Star’s End, the legendary resting place of the Terran treasures of the New Louvre. The treasure hunter and his beautiful wife had donated the fabulous treasures to the Institute of Historical Preservation, although the last surviving fragment of the Mona Lisa had never been found.
Nissa suspected it was nestled safely in the Phoenix’s private collection.
“Dathan, Eos, I’d like you to meet Captain Nissa Sander,” Justyn said. “She’ll be helping out on the hunt.”
On the screen, Eos nodded with a smile while Dathan’s face remained impassive.
“Captain?” Dathan said.
“GSS,” Nissa said. “On leave.”
The treasure hunter raised his eyebrows. “Not like an employee of GSS to slack off and go on a treasure hunt.”
“She’s here to make sure I don’t do something nefarious with the Constitution,” Justyn said. “She thinks I’m a scoundrel.”
“Youarea scoundrel,” Nissa said.
“Ah, makes sense now.” Dathan’s smile was wide.
“The document you recovered was really a fake?” Eos asked.
Nissa nodded. “My science team verified it. It’s the document that was in the museum but it’s not the real deal.”
“Incredible.” Eos’ gaze turned inward. “My contacts at the Institute tell me they’re busy running the other key artifacts through a battery of tests. There are quite a few embarrassed astro-archeologists. So far, everything else is coming up legitimate.”
“Good to hear.”
Eos played with the end of her dark braid. “So now we need to work out what happened to the original Constitution.”
“Yes.” Justyn pushed a chair toward Nissa and settled into the one beside her. “Eos, do you know how the Constitution and the other Galactic Constitution Codices came into the Institute’s hands?”
“It’s a fascinating story.” The woman’s golden eyes lit up. “I’ll just focus on the Terran documents. The Rendarian Codex and the Pact of Star’is, while very important, are obviously not from Earth and not as old as the others. The three Terran documentswere found together in cache buried on Alpha Centauri Bb, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system.”
“That’s the closest star system to Earth, right?” Dare asked.
“Correct.” Eos steepled her hands. “It’s a binary star system with only one habitable planet very similar to Earth.”
“I’ve heard of it,” Nissa said. “The location of Earth’s first space colony.” Back in the early days of interstellar travel.
“It was also the location of the Uffizi Gallery II, a museum named after a famous old Earth museum. Records tell us that the original US Constitution and Magna Carta were displayed there, along with an e-record of the United Nations Charter.”
“Go on,” Justyn prompted.
