Mutiny on Outstation Zori by John Hegenberger

himself to the floor and belly-crawled the last ten meters. When the corridor flared ahead, Jamie noticed the slight brightening of the light long before the opening yawned into view. Despite his intense suspicion, he found he was alone in the passageway.
    Riding one of the tubes down to the reactor core, Jamie mentally reviewed a map of the station's layout. There were three levels to the core. First, the monitor sector where a few service techs and bots kept control over the ion accelerators, matter annihilator, and fusion backup systems. Then, the ion accelerators themselves, humming their lonely, deadly tunes to no one. And, finally, the huge field coils of the matter/antimatter reactor where constant bombardment and flux took place.
    It was at this lowest level that Outstation Zori maintained its brig; two small cells, three by three by six meters, each cubicle set solidly behind thick bars of duralloy. He had expected to find Aura occupying one of these chambers, but both cells were vacant.
    Okay. So where are you?
    He caught a lift and rode back up through the barracks, noticing that hardly any of the people there were doing anything except eating and sleeping. The large recreation center and pub, called the "Space Rock Cafe," was completely empty. No music, no dancing, no drinking.
    People stationed on Zori seemed intent on something very important. The individuals who were awake seemed to be concentrating inwardly on serious calculations or weighty issues. Jamie got the impression that, if he were to turn off his stealth suit, the single-minded crowd around him would still fail to take notice.
    He followed three somber marines into a lift and came into the drydock module, slipping silently past a security guard station. Most of the inner walls of this chamber, the station's largest, had been raised to allow personnel and equipment to flow between a dozen large knots of intense activity. People were scaling ladders and gantries, crossing catwalks, lowering null-gray cranes around what Jamie suddenly recognized as the twelve missing Esper Shadow ships.
    The sleek little vessels were being dismantled—no, modified—at a furious pace by the company of no-nonsense technical personnel.
    Jamie's curiosity kicked into hyperdrive. This was a major military operation, one certain to be rated as top security. What had he stumbled into? And where the hell was Aura?
    Clamber glided carefully along an outer bulkhead and approached one of the translight vessels. Cool blue lasers chewed through duralloy steel, sculpting away portions of the small crafts' fuselage. Fatigue-clad marines labored quietly to re-distribute engine components.
    The lack of conversation lent an eerie quality to the work. These people seemed hollow of any emotion, intent on their task and purpose, which was...what? The full power of such a dedicated military force combined with advanced vessels like the Esper Sha—
    Someone plowed into him from behind. He kept control of his wits enough not to make or utter a sound, but it was clear as he toppled to one knee that he'd forgotten about the downside of his invisibility.
    The confused technician rubbed his left shoulder and looked around as if he'd awakened from a dream.
    Jamie held his breath.
    The tech's brow knotted, his eyes darted. Slowly, he stepped back, turned, and dashed away down the passage.
    Jamie knew this meant trouble. He, too, rushed back down the passageway. Edging past the security station as slowly as possible to avoid creating even a faint draft, he listened while the alarmed technician urged the guards to issue an alert. The man gestured and pointed to where he had bumped into the soft, invisible object. The security officers looked at one another skeptically, at last deciding to investigate, just as Jamie eased past their station.
    He rushed to one of the lifttubes that had brought him to the drydock. Clamber stepped inside once certain that he had a tube to himself. But he caught the