The Titan vault was easier than expected. Corrupt security, half-dead drones, a single guard who was more interested in his crossword puzzle than his motion sensors. The second core—DC60.008.v4.0b—sat in a dusty cradle, humming the same low, contented note as its twin.
“DC60.008.v4.0a,” Kai recited, tapping the screen. “Not the prototype. Not the public-beta disaster. This is the final, un-crippled version of the Sol-7 jump drive. The one they said they deleted.”
The plan was simple. Retrieve the second core, pair them, and sell the set to the highest bidder. The Belt Syndicates. The Jovian Free Navy. Hell, maybe a lonely billionaire who wanted to commute to another galaxy for the weekend. Kai didn’t care. He just wanted to be rich enough to never smell recycled air again.
Kai’s fingers flew across the keyboard. “That’s… that’s not right. There’s no destination set. There’s no third core.”
The shuttle’s computer spoke, in a voice it had never used before: