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“Find out how far away it can hear me.”

Dreven nodded. “Together?”

“Yes.”

The locator continued to glow.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Gate Test

The sky above Ash Camp was painfully clear when Kesta met Dreven at the eastern gate. That made his concern about the weather difficult to take seriously. The red sun hung above the western ridges without a cloud around it, while the air inside the gate carried only the familiar smells of hot stone, smoke, and mineral water. Kesta had seen worse weather brewing over an Earth settlement without anyone suggesting she needed an armed commander to walk half a kilometer beyond the walls.

Dreven apparently considered the empty sky threatening enough to arrive in full armor. He stood beside Keth near the gate mechanism while Tavi crouched over the imperial locator they had recovered from the condenser. Wires now trailed from the small metal disc into one of Tavi’s handheld diagnostic units. The blue light in its center remained dark until Kesta approached. It flickered. Tavi looked delighted.

“That is deeply disturbing,” Kesta said.

“It is also useful.”

“Those conditions coexist far too often around you.”

His four hands continued adjusting the equipment while Dreven looked toward the eastern horizon. He had been quieter than usual since Kesta arrived, and she could tell from the rigid angle of his tail that he disliked this excursion despite having agreed to it.

That was acceptable. The protection terms had never required him to enjoy her decisions. Kesta touched the pouch at her belt, reassuring herself that the damaged transport receiver was still there. She had found it during the infirmary inventory the day before, but only after Daren Pell told her about Nara had she thought to test the old emergency frequency. The receiver had answered. Weakly. From somewhere beyond the eastern wall.

“I have something else,” she said.

Dreven turned toward her. She removed the receiver and handed it to Tavi. Its casing was cracked along one side, and the display showed little more than a wavering line.

“This frequency belonged to the human transport bands. I found a repeating signal during inventory.”

Dreven’s expression sharpened. “When?”

“Yesterday.”

A familiar edge entered his eyes.

Kesta lifted one hand before he could object. “Before you begin, I found the receiver yesterday. I identified the signal this morning. I am telling you now.”

His mouth closed. Keth looked away, perhaps to conceal amusement.

Dreven exhaled through his nose. “Where does it lead?”

“Toward the outer marker.”

Tavi connected the receiver to his diagnostic unit. The wavering line strengthened immediately.

“Human coding,” he said, his usual humor disappearing. “Old. Damaged. But human.”

Dreven’s gaze settled on Kesta. “Nara?”

“I don't know. Pell heard her name years ago, so it could be old pod debris. It could be another transport entirely.”

“Or a trap.”

“Yes.”

The fact that she agreed seemed to inconvenience him. Kesta almost smiled.