Hunt for the Saiph (The Saiph Series Book 3) Read Free

but eventually the senior scientist was satisfied his team had narrowed the location down to fifteen meters below the dwarf planet’s surface in an area maybe 100 meters squared. It was as good as he was going to get. Philippa relayed the message to Travis, who came to a quick decision.
    "Corporal, tell the scientists to seal up. I think it’s time we stretched our legs. Between our suits’ sensors and their portable gear, we should be able to get an exact fix on this thing. If it’s buried, we need to know where to dig."
    Travis had the Tanto set down a couple hundred meters from the source. As the dust settled, Travis’ marines disembarked and shook out into a skirmish line, while Philippa and her scientist charges, along with two more marines as escorts, followed close behind.
    The marines advanced toward the lip of a large meteorite crater, its bottom shrouded in darkness thanks to the high sides of the crater’s walls blocking out the light from the distant red giant. Travis bounded to the lip and used his suit’s passives to give the crater floor the once-over. Nothing. However, Travis had learned to trust his instincts and the tickling sensation at the back of his neck was telling him something wasn’t quite right about this. Well, his mission was to locate and identify whatever was generating the power source and the only way to do so, apparently, was to go inside the crater. He chose to ignore his instincts just this once and activated his link to the platoon’s first sergeant.
    "First Sergeant. Take half the platoon around the lip of the crater and set up a fire support position at ninety degrees to our current location. Sergeant Morales will go firm here with the remaining marines while I go forward with Papadomas and the eggheads and check out the crater floor."
    As the marines sprang into action, Travis continued to scan the crater’s floor with his passives. Nothing seemed out of place, but buried in the center of the crater, not a hundred meters from him, was a functioning nuclear reactor. The question was: Who did it belong to? A telltale signal in his HUD changed from amber to green. The first sergeant was in position and happy with his marines positions. Travis continued to ignore the tickling sensation at the back of his neck as his well-honed instincts told him something was not quite right here; he took a deep breath before activating his link to Philippa and her charges, "Let’s move out. Eyes sharp, marines."
    With the two scientists between them, Travis and Philippa stepped over the lip of the crater and descended into the darkness below. As the inky blackness swallowed her up, Philippa switched her suit’s optics to image intensifier mode and the floor and walls of the crater jumped out at her in mixtures of green and gray. Cautiously, they advanced, reaching the center of the crater’s floor without incident, but the nagging sensation at the back of Travis' neck was still there and judging by her overly cautious movements, he guessed the normally ice-cool Philippa could sense it too.
    "Are you getting the same bad feeling I am, Corporal?" Travis asked over their link.
    "You betcha, sir. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I get the distinct feeling we're not alone down here. I'm going to go to thermals to see if it makes any difference. Suit,” she ordered. “Thermal image mode."
    The world around Philippa shifted to a mixture of blues, reds, and yellows as the suit showed her the crater according to temperature variations. The crater’s floor and walls were in shadow and should have been a uniform cool blue, but as Philippa scanned one small patch of wall, it appeared slightly warmer than the rest.
    "Lieutenant, I have a heat variance on the crater wall at ten o'clock."
    Travis switched to thermal imagery himself and quickly spotted the anomaly. "OK Corporal, go check it out. I'll cover you from here."
    "Aye-aye, sir. Moving now."
    Travis dropped to one knee, brought up his rifle,