“I won’t be able to make a determination on that for several hours. But it is highly likely.”

“Okay. We won’t be taking any action for a while, Barry. I’ll get back to you.”

“There’s another feature. A crosspiece, quite small, near one end of it.”

That brought a jolt. “Is the object a religious symbol?”

“Certainly not Christian. The crosspiece is too short.” At this point, nothing would have surprised her.

•  •  •

She called Derek.

He listened while she told him about Barry’s discovery. “How long will it take to reach it?”

“It depends how close the jump takes us.”

“And Barry thinks it’s a station?”

“He didn’t say that. He just doesn’t know.”

“What else could it be? If it’s not a ship or a station?” She could hear him breathing. “But it’s big. I can think of one possibility.”

“What’s that?”

“Maybe they were trying to escape. Maybe they built something oversized and didn’t make it out.”

Hutch was beginning to wish Barry hadn’t seen the thing. She’d had enough depressing news for one mission.

•  •  •

In the morning, the AI confirmed that the object was in orbit. They talked about it at breakfast. Beth looked puzzled. “And there’s no sign of power?”

“Not that we’ve been able to pick up,” Hutch said.

“Then I don’t see any point bothering with it. If it’s just a ship they tried to use for an escape, and they didn’t make it . . .” She glanced around at the others. “Haven’t we had enough? What can we really get out of it except more bad news?”

Derek’s eyes closed momentarily. “We might be able to find out whether that statue outside the church was what they really looked like.”

“Maybe they were plants,” said Wally.

The comment drew a glare from Derek, who was in no mood for jokes.

“Aren’t we going to figure that out anyhow,” said Beth, “when the follow-up mission comes in? I mean, they will send another mission out here eventually.” She frowned at the skeptical faces around the table. “They’ll have to.”

Ken looked as if he’d been intending to jump in, and when Derek hesitated, he took the opportunity. “So, we go home and spend the entire trip back wondering what the thing was? And maybe the rest of our lives because there is no next mission? Does that really make sense? Besides, I can’t write the book and have somebody else supply the answer. Or worse, without getting an answer.”

“Absolutely,” said Wally. “Let’s go see what it is.”