Chapter 4 Part 6

Nathan burst into Cain Bostik's office unannounced. "I have an idea," he proclaimed. "I think I know what happened to the missing rocks."

"The what?" Cain asked puzzled.

"Remember the recon holos we took of the asteroid belt? We concluded that there was nothing large enough to have destroyed the lunar station that was missing from the holos. But there was some smaller debris that had disappeared."

"Yea, so?"

"So, I know what happened to it." Nathan insisted.

"Big deal," Cain sneered. "That is not what we are after."

"But what got rid of them is," Nathan challenged. "The meteor that took out the lunar facility, and the one that was blasted on its way to Terra, and probably the one that hit in the southern part of Mars did not originate in the asteroid belt, they originated from beyond it. It was when they passed through the belt that they swept the areas they moved through clean of small objects; like a bowling ball knocking pins out of the way or a rubber ball picking up trash on the ground."

Cain looked thoughtful. "That may indeed be true. So you think the meteor came from beyond the asteroid belt? But where?"

"Place a query with the central computer to project the original rock's course back through the asteroids," Nathan suggested.

Cain typed at his keyboard. The antique non vocal terminals were very popular in sensitive areas because the input was difficult to intercept with listening devices or cameras. The keyboards themselves had powered ROM to encode the keyed input and were tamper resistant.

When he finished he leaned back and angled the monitor screen so that it could be viewed by Nathan as well. "This will only take a minute," he promised. Almost as soon as he had spoken, the requested course flashed onto the screen. "This assumes that the meteor came from outside the solar system."

"Can you put the second rock's course up as well?" Nathan asked.

"Not a problem," Cain assured him and resumed his typing. Before long a second course was plotted as well.

"Look," Nathan pointed to a point where the two paths crossed. "This must be the point of origin. Can you elaborate on it?"

Cain entered more data, talking as he did so. "I am referencing the heliocentric longitude and elliptical declination to the computer. That point is on the Jovian orbit, but Jupiter is far beyond that location at this time of the year."

"Then what is?"

In response to his question, the computer screen displayed the answer. Cain and Nathan looked at each other. "The Trojans?" Cain asked.

"I remember them now, they are a collection of asteroids and large meteors that are in the same orbit as Jupiter only offset by sixty degrees from the planetary system both ahead and behind. They are in some kind of Lagrange point, perturbation, or something like that. It is a kind of gravitational anomaly."

"Do we have an accurate star chart of them?" Cain asked as he typed his query into the system.

"I don't know," Nathan admitted. "They were summarily prospected, but when nothing extraordinary was found, they were practically ignored. The asteroid belt is much closer and easier to mine."

The computer display presented the disappointing news. There were no charts available for the Trojan Asteroids. "Another testament to the need for accurate planetary atlases," Cain muttered.

"Well, we need to investigate it," Nathan declared. "What is available and can do the job the quickest?"

Cain keyed his terminal and addressed the monitor. "As I told you earlier, we have the Whirlpool and her battle group in this orbit, and the Andromeda is at the training range in the Jovian system."

Nathan tagged the comm terminal. After a brief pause it was answered. "This is Ares control SDC. Captain Norman speaking. Can I help you?"

"Captain, this is Officer Thomas of the MIRA at the Ares Metro Liaison Office. Could you please put me through to Admiral Fisk?"

The officer seemed nervous and hurriedly complied. "Yes sir, please hold."

After a few moments, the screen changed to view an elderly man in his mid sixties. Though in his decline, the eyes sparkled with the fierce light of a warrior. "This is admiral Fisk," he began. "Is that you, Nathan?"

"Good day admiral," Nathan greeted the man. They had worked together on other occasions and held a mutual respect for one another.

"It is good to see you again Nathan. What brings you so far from Terra? Would it have something to do with the meteor strike on the southern part of Mars and the one intercepted by the Raven?"

"Yes it does," Nathan confirmed. "At first we thought that these meteors were being launched into the inner system by the Syndicate from the asteroid belt."

"And now you think otherwise?"

"More or less," Nathan admitted. "We still think the Syndicate is responsible, but now we suspect that the meteors are being launched from this set of coordinates." Nathan forwarded the heliocentric longitude of the Trojans. "We need a recon probe of that area."

"Hmmm," the admiral sounded as he studied the coordinates. He briefly compared them with his charts. "The Whirlpool has moved too far away in the Martian orbit to do the job and her battle group is tied up with you as interceptors and tracking platforms. The Andromeda is in the right orbit but in the trail of Jupiter several days back."

"But the Andromeda could launch probe drone and sling shot it around Jupiter. The drone would be on location in just over a day." The Admiral smiled regretfully. "I hope that is acceptable because it is the best we can do. The Trojans are one sixth of the Jovian orbit away. That is quite a haul for a massive warship. A small robot probe is no problem though."

"Then it will have to do," Nathan relented. "Could you see to it, sir?"

"I will pass the order on, Nathan. Anything else?"

Nathan could think of nothing in particular. "Thank you," he finally said.

"Your welcome. SDC out."

"Now we wait again," Nathan muttered.