“The lower engine rooms are in there,” he says to Ellin. “If the thrusters or Hyper Drives give out, our techies do the repairs. Officer Weck will show you around later.”

Officer Remmit walks us to his lab. He taps a code and the door slides back to reveal a wide room full of screens and workstations. Information scrolls across the panels and data orbs float above silver disks that are spread on top of a desk. Wavy lines slide up and down the screen of another machine, a constant pattern with no odd fluctuations—that I can see.

“Wave monitors,” Officer Remmit says when he sees me watching the screen. “That particular reading is from a radio source in Centauri.” He points at another reading. “This is an X-ray from the black hole at the Milky Way’s nucleus, and over here are some gammas from Andromeda.”

He swipes his hand through the air. The images morph into maps of our solar system.

“As my friend Aaron mentioned, I also happen to be a planet hunter. I search for certain patterns in radiation emissions, spectral readings, red shifts…all that sort of stuff. What Aaron failed to mention is that Horizon pays me to conduct experiments in the Perihelids. They are the least-explored region of our local interstellar sector. My data is sent to Horizon Tower for analysis. Narviid aids our efforts. You’ll notice that Narvidians play many roles for many planets,” he adds.

“Have you ever found a planet?” Glacia asks.

“Not yet, Miss Haverns, but we’re always searching. Many great pioneers have planets named after them. I can see it now”—he waves one hand outward—“planet Lars.”

The four of us can’t help but laugh, and Officer Remmit takes it as a compliment.

“I’m serious! Horizon Tower and I have an agreement: if I come across readings that resemble the signatures of known planets, Horizon will send out a team to investigate. Mark my words, Planet Lars will go down in the history books.”

He takes us to the other end of the lab, where a holographic asteroid rotates above one panel of another workstation.

“Is that from the Perihelids?” I ask.

Officer Remmit opens a drawer and straps on a pair of tendril gloves. “This connects to that processor”—he points at a small square box on the wall—“and that is linked to a receiver outside the station.”

He pushes the asteroid sideways. The image transforms into what must be a section of the Perihelid asteroid field: dozens of asteroids drift across the workstation and slide out of view beyond some invisible barrier. The flow never ceases and many of the tiny holographic boulders bump against one another.

“Is this any particular region?” Glacia asks.

Officer Remmit expands the image again. It zooms out until it is nothing more than a flat plane sprinkled with static. He draws a line with his finger from one side to the other.