Lita Generus had no problem making eye contact today. The captain smiled at her across the table and raised his coffee mug in salute. She grinned back.

“I guess we’ve made break-even,” he said.

Generus snorted, and Cirila Heinrichs laughed out loud. Normally her laugh was mildly annoying, but today, nails on a chalkboard would barely register.

The bridge officers sat around the conference table in the captain’s Ready Room, several of them nursing coffees. Heinrichs, despite being halfway down the long side of the table, seemed to dominate the group as every other person in the room was turned to face her.

The captain put down his mug. “All right. Enough suspense. Status report, Ms. Heinrichs?”

Heinrichs made a show of getting comfortable, lining up her tablet on the table, and moving her mug to just the right spot. She grinned at Generus when the latter made a growling sound.

“I can only theorize that this chunk must have been a core fragment of some planetoid that formed in the early solar system. Most of the silicates and other surface comps are late accretions. It’s very possible that, under the top layer, this rock is an almost solid chunk of metal.”

She paused to look around the desk. “Besides the expected iron and nickel, we’ve got a significant smattering of rare earths and a really strong showing from the platinum group.”

“No gold?”

“A little bit, sir. But with all this other stuff, the industrial conglomerates will be very interested. They tend to bid faster, with fewer conditions and less concern about market saturation. I think we’ll get a better, quicker sale than we would if the precious metals specialists were in charge of the bidding.”

Jennings nodded. “Excellent. We’ll need hard numbers for the auction, of course. Let’s get the core samples done as soon as possible.” The captain looked at the first mate.

Aiello smiled. “I predict much less grumbling than usual. As soon as Cirila has the detail maps done, sir, we’ll get started.”

“Ah, before I forget. Mr. Micoroski, deep sky scan?”

“No ships in the area, sir. The Sino-Soviet ships aren’t especially stealthy.”

Jennings nodded. “There hasn’t been an incident since the Free Fall, but why take chances? Do at least one more full scan before we send in our claim. And make sure we’re using the latest encryption when we do send it.”

8.Paydirt

8.Paydirt

A feeling of holiday pervaded the ship. Ivan’s eyes widened as he looked over the crowd gathered at the airlock.

“We need to name it,” someone said.

Seth turned to the onlookers and grinned. “Tell you what, why don’t you poor rubes work on that while we’re out there digging for gold?”