Trajectory Book 1 (New Providence) by Robert M. Campbell Page B

It’s either coming in from out-system or is accelerating from further out in the belt. If it is accelerating, well…” he swallowed, his moustache obscuring his lips. “It’s under power, David. A probe or something.”
    Mancuso absorbed this, blinking. He opened a drawer and took out a roll of antacid tablets. He popped a couple into his mouth and started chewing. He realized he hadn’t eaten in fifteen hours. The pain in his chest reminded him why.
    “You’re kidding. It can’t be one of ours…” He trailed off. Incredulous.
    Powell leaned closer to the camera. “Grayson’s putting together a committee meeting to discuss Pandora. He doesn’t know about this thing. Yet.” He cleared his throat. “I … my students think the object… It’s heading straight for our ships. If it’s still out there after the collision or whatever happened… At this speed it’ll reach Calypso in less than fifty hours.”
    Mancuso couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was this a joke? “Good Christ. What do you mean if it’s still out there? Send me everything you’ve got. Can you keep this from Grayson until we know for sure what we’re up against?”
    Pause. “I don’t know what to say to the Council. If they ask me, I’ll have to tell them what I know.” More tapping.
    “I know. I just.” Mancuso felt like chewing through something. “Why didn’t we see this sooner? Tell the kids… just thank them for me, will you?” Mancuso stood up.
    Powell frowned at the screen, his lips bunching up under his moustache. “What a time for this to happen, hey David? How are you doing anyway? Any results yet?”
    Mancuso was already leaving the boardroom. He didn’t see the concerned look on his friend’s face as the screen switched off leaving the old professor frowning at the blank screen in his office.
    He walked through the red-lit command room and sat down in his chair. “Someone give me a status update.” He ignored the inbox messages growing on his dashboard. Wilkins was coming onto his shift. Ortega was getting ready to bug out for some necessary rack time. They all needed some sleep. Jill Sanchez had already relieved Pradeep an hour ago.
    “Come on, people, give me some good news! Anything to report?”
    Bryce shook his head. “No sir. No change.”
    Mancuso looked around the room from his seat. People had stopped what they were doing and were looking at him. Wilkins had stopped on his way to his seat to stare, having just come onto his shift. Ortega went to him and whispered something in his ear.
    Powell had informed him that there was something out there. Something tracking directly for his ships that he hadn’t known about. There had to be something wrong with Watchtower’s processing. No way it could have missed this.
    Mancuso stood, walked forward a few steps and turned back to face the room. “OK, everyone, listen up.” The room turned to watch him. “I’ve just received word that Pandora’s accident may have been the result of a collision with something. Some students on the ground picked up an object in some images taken by the array on Olympus Mons. They plotted that thing and predicted it was on an intercept course.” He looked around the room, looking at each of the faces watching him. He looked pointedly at Wilkins and Ortega of the science team. “Could someone explain to me why the fuck we didn’t spot this sooner?”
    The room collectively exhaled. Looked away. “Do we have any more information from that video?”
    Wilkins’ mouth opened and closed. He got it under control and blurted. “We’re still running through the analytics, sir.”
    A couple hours earlier, Chairperson Grayson had demanded answers from him that he didn’t have. It was an accident. An anomaly. A collision with some kind of debris. An engine mishap. He didn’t have a lot to offer. He realized he just did the same thing to his crew and felt bad for it.
    He remembered the conversation with Grayson. Yes, he was