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I couldn’t believe this. “We’re supposed to deliver her in three days. Are you suggesting we should hand over an empty pod?”
“No, sir.”
A bolt of pain stung the front of my brain. I massaged my temples. “Who was the last person to see her?”
“Rattigan and Xerxan,” Stryder said. “When we delivered the previous human.”
“And they report seeing her in the pod?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then she must have gotten out recently. No one has reported seeing anything suspicious?”
“No, sir.”
It still didn’t make any sense. There was only one way for her to get out, and that was if someone let her out. But that would have informed Computer…
“Computer,” I said. “Was there any notification of a human pod being opened within the past few days?”
“Negative,” Computer said. “No human pods have been opened.”
I shook my head and returned to the original pod. I paused, noticing something off with the security module. It was responsible for keeping the merchandise alive and functioning.
There was a black hole where something had burned into it. I fingered it, the tip of my finger disappearing inside.
Had someone burnt the security settings to get at the human inside? If so, what had they used to form the hole? What made them think they would get away with it? And how did they think they could keep the human from being discovered? I needed to have the crew’s quarters searched.
As I stood up, I glanced at the front wall that fed into the main hallway. A light blinked at me. I approached the wall and the light momentarily disappeared from view. I ran my hands over it until…
I felt it.
A hole. I slipped my finger through it. It was marginally larger than the one in the security module on the pod. It too was charred around the edges.
Stryder had a confused look on his face. “Sir?”
I stepped through the door and drew an imaginary line from the security module, through the hole in the wall, and then continued it out to the other side and…
Bingo!
There it was—a third hole. A little larger than the previous one.
I waved Stryder over. “Come look at this. There’s a hole here, and in that wall, and finally in the security system on the side of the pod. The other day, we ran into the meteor field. I think a tiny piece of meteor poked a hole in our hull and passed through multiple walls until it stopped… Lodging itself in the security module on the human female’s pod. It must have shorted the security system and shut it down.”
Stryder followed the trail of holes and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned. What are the chances?”
I shrugged. “About the same as it striking anywhere else on the ship. It could have just as easily have blown a hole through our heads. Did no one notice a hole in the hull?”
“I believe they were patched up, Captain,” Stryder said.
“And no one thought to check for other damage deeper inside the ship?”
Stryder had no answer for me. “I’ll have to look into that, sir.”
“Do it, and make sure they patch up the other holes too,” I said. “I don’t want a repeat of this in future.”
“No, sir.”
“Station someone outside the shuttle bay and have them replaced every few hours,” I said. “We don’t want her making another escape attempt.”
