“No one knows exactly what happened to the colony at Alpha Centauri Bb, but it was destroyed, probably by the Vorta.”
Nissa knew that the Terrans’ first contact with the warlike barbarian species had not been friendly. Even today, the Vorta stuck to their own space.
“No one knew if any of the Uffizi II’s treasures were saved. It was widely believed everything had been lost. Until a woman named Sarah Battista discovered a cache of Terran artifacts while digging on Bb a thousand years ago.”
“Battista? Sounds familiar,” Justyn said.
Eos nodded. “Not surprising. She was one of the early pioneers of astro-archeology and a founding member of the Institute.”
“So, Battista uncovered the Constitution.” Nissa said.
“Yes, and the other documents. And work was done, right there on site, to confirm their authenticity.”
“Truth or lie?” Justyn asked.
“From the records and images I’ve seen, all the documents that came out of the ground on Bb were real. The manuscripts were checked again before they were transported to the New Metropolitan Museum on Davyn V.”
Justyn tapped a finger against the armrest of his chair. “So, the Constitution was either stolen en route to Davyn V, or it was swapped out for the fake in the New Met Museum some time during the last thousand years.”
“I think it’s highly unlikely it was swapped out in the Museum,” Eos said. “It had tight security—” she pulled a face “—although itwasstolen during the gala. But I have it on good authority that the Magna Carta and the UN Charter have been dated again and they are legitimate. Nothing else is turning up as fake.”
“So during transport, then?” Nissa said.
Dathan cleared his throat. “All…people interested in artifacts know they’re most vulnerable during transport.” He shot his wife a rueful look.
Hmm. Nissa wondered how many artifacts Dathan and his brothers had acquired during transport.
“And these documents would have been tempting targets,” Rynan said.
“Very. That’s why Battista came up with an ingenious plan. Each document was transported on a separate ship. Each had a different, circuitous route to Davyn V.”
Now they were getting somewhere. Nissa leaned forward. “Who took the Constitution?”
Dathan lifted a Sync, reading from the screen. “It traveled on a starship called theNero. Captain was a man named Horatio Griffin.”
“We know anything about Griffin?” Justyn asked.
“A solid, experienced captain,” Dathan continued. “Known for getting the job done. I found a picture of Griffin with theNero.”
The image flashed onto the screen. The resolution wasn’t great, but theNerowas a sturdy-looking starfreighter and Griffin was a short, stocky man with a strong jaw.
“Anything else?” Nissa asked.
Eos shrugged. “Not much else. The records from that time are slim and the transport of the documents was top secret. The documents pertaining to it were either not created in the first place or deleted.”
“Anything about its route?”
Dathan stepped forward. “Actually, I found something promising. I tapped a few of our contacts and one of them directed me to a Nabu priest. These guys have records ofeverything.”
Justyn was practically vibrating beside Nissa. “He knew something about theNero?”
“Yes. And he knew of some of the places it visited on its journey.”
Justyn waved his hand. “Come on, spill.”
“TheNeroappears to have traveled along the very edge of the galaxy. And back then things were even wilder than they are now. My Nabu friend said the ship docked at Tyne IV, New Luxor Station, and the Enterprise Colony.”
Nissa knew of all those places. She guessed they were good places to start.
