The Inner Ring (gxg)

Chapter 10

After six months underway, they crew had settled into a nice routine. The pilots had their rotation set, and everyone else was busy working. Pepper and Vanessa were kept busy with the photos that were slowly making their way to the ship, even slower than they had back to the earth. But they had a lot of the old pictures to go back through now that they knew what to look for. Pepper had finally gotten over her nerves of having the CEO moonlighting as her assistant, and they were now working together very well. Miles and Anton were alternating reviewing the older moon photos that one of the other photo teams had overseen, while planning on which ship should be visited first. Brody reviewed on his own, alternating with old moon and ring photos, and then checking anything that Pepper and Vanessa had passed him.

So far, they hadn't found any other large ships, but there were at least a dozen objects that could be smaller ones. Privately, Pepper and Vanessa were encouraged by that, as it meant that if Anton couldn't destroy everything, then it would be pointless to destroy anything. At least that was their hope.

"Mister Joseph," Emily's voice came over comms. "There is an incoming message for you."

"I'll be there shortly, thank you," Anton replied.

"We've been getting a lot of those," Vanessa mentioned to Pepper.

"True. Updates from Earth maybe?"

"Probably. Jason might be asking for advice too. Could be a lot of things," Vanessa mused.

The latest image of the inner ring was up, and they were trying to find anything of interest to show everyone. There were several regularly shaped items, almost as if they were smaller broken pieces of that larger piece of ship that Pepper had found that first day. "I bet when we get close and look over that ring, we're going to find it is almost all from those ships. I bet there was some sort of a battle, and the ruins made up the ring," Pepper guessed.

"But why wouldn't the survivors come to earth?" Vanessa wondered.

"That... I don't know. Meh, it's more likely something we just don't understand."

Anton's voice came on over the comms. "Can everyone please come up to the bridge?"

Vanessa and Pepper shared a shrug, then started heading up towards the bridge.

"Good timing, I was getting hungry, and I could use some sleep," Vanessa said while stretching.

Pepper nodded in agreement. "Good plan!"

Once everyone was up on the bridge, Anton held up a tablet with the latest news. "As you know, we've been in constant communication with Earth, both our own command center, as well as those at NASA and the European Space Operations Centre. Evidently, there have been many discussions that include quite a few groups over what this discovery may mean for humanity. The good news is, we have been assured that no other missions will be following us until we have had had a chance to examine whatever we find on this expedition."

"That sounds like there is going to be some bad news," Brody pointed out.

"Yes, there is a large 'but'. The two large ships that are visible in the photos are being declared heritage sites. While we may bring back any artifacts that we find on them, we're not allowed to destroy or move them. Our original plan to see if they can be towed is off the table."

Vanessa quickly grabbed Pepper's hand and squeezed, happier to hear the part about no destruction. "So, if there was equipment that was easily transportable, we could bring that, but not disassemble an engine?" she inquired.