The Ripple in Space-Time: Free City Book 1 (The Free City Series) by S F Chapman Page A

else.”
    “Neutron-degenerate matter maybe,”
Lev asked hopefully.
    “Neutron what?” Keira asked.
    “The super compact material that
makes up Neutron stars, and no it’s considerably less condensed than that.”
Carla made several calculations and frowned, “The density of this particular
speck here works out to be roughly equivalent a grain of sand with a mass of a
bowling ball.”
    “So it’s probably some really
weird super heavy ordinary matter,” Lev nodded.
    Ryo squinted at the fuzzy image,
“I believe that’s what they were cooking up at the Ultra Energy Lab.”
    “Exactly,” Carla smiled, “that’s
why I thought you’d be interested in this information.”
    “Where was this load of strange
and possibly stolen cargo headed?” the old Investigator asked.
    “Unfortunately we only captured a
few hours of observations weeks ago and we haven’t seen anything since, perhaps
because they’ve stopped moving; I’d guess the Asteroid Belt in the vicinity of
Lutetia.” She tapped her fingertip against her forehead, “But they could be as
far away as Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids at this point.”
    “Thanks, it’s not much to go on,”
Ryo sighed.
    The warble of a communication
device interrupted the group discussion. Lev stared at his display in disbelief.
    “What is it?” Keira asked in
concern.
    “It must be a joke,” Lev frowned,
“although I’m not sure who would be this cruel.”
    Ryo gently twisted the taciturn
man ’ s hand around and slowly read the short message aloud, “ LEV...I...ON...BU...BEL, MA. ”
    Lev squinted his now misty eyes. “ It ’ s my mom, ” he stared at the tiny screen
with growing resolve, “ she ’ s still alive!”
    Ryo pried the device from the man
and methodically checked the particulars of the cryptic dispatch, “It was sent
about twenty-five minutes ago from an unidentified source somewhere near the
boundary of the Outer Reaches.”
    “Ryo,” Keira stared at the old
Investigator, “Could ‘BU BEL’ be the Butin Belle ? ”
    He hoisted the communication
device up in front of the frozen image of the unusual ripple in Space-Time that
they had been studying in earnest. “ Yes, I suspect that we ’ ve just stumbled upon two clues here. ”
    During the next twenty minutes,
Keira uploaded Carla ’ s information to the Inquisitor's Office and Ryo contacted
Helga to share the startling new evidence.
    Lev stood stiffly considering the
ramifications of the revelations amidst the burst of activity.
    When she had finished her work,
Keira pulled gently at Lev ’ s sleeve and he hesitantly
followed her to the door.
    “ Dr. Stuhr, ” Ryo turned towards the helpful
young Astronomer as the group of investigators shuffled out of the workroom,
“please let me know right away if you spot anything like this again. ”

19. Hot on the trail Ryo regarded the sparkling trove
of billions of stars with interest through the generous front windows of the
new craft. He had rarely been in space and with each visit its cold stark
beauty had amazed him.
    This trip was no exception.
    Weeks had dashed by since Dr.
Stuhr had alerted them to the peculiar gravitational readings in an obscure
section of the Asteroid Belt and Lev had received the unusual message from his
mother.
    Helga had insisted that Ryo and
his team of lucky young cohorts should track down the Butin Belle which
now seemed likely to contain Jana Fesai, the fugitive pirates and apparently a
cache of stolen materials from the Lunar Lab.
    To his left, pressed into the
Second Mate’s seat by the brisk acceleration of the ship, Lev gazed out at the
celestial vista. Ryo had noticed that the young man had been clumsily striving
to avoid watching Keira as she busied herself at the controls of the impressive
and speedy new law enforcement interceptor called the Seiran .
    Ryo mused that the name of the
vessel referred to an elusive and ethereal mist that appeared without warning
in the mountains of ancient Japan. With the