Book 3: Chapter 22: Derelict
Herschel
March 2227
Kuiper belt, Delta Pavonis
Neil and I moved slowly between the drifting hulks, SURGE drives on lowest power. The two Others’ cargo vessels loomed huge around us. Ten kilometers in length and a kilometer in diameter, they felt more like planetoids than something constructed by intelligent beings.
They even came with their own debris field. The derelicts had taken some pretty severe hits from the looks of it. Pieces of cargo vessel drifted lazily in complicated orbits around the two ships. The effect was eerie, like floating through an underwater graveyard.
I messaged Neil. “I’m not picking up anything. You?”
“Nope. Temps are down around thermal equilibrium. These things haven’t done anything but drift in a long time.”
“I’ve been going over the video record from the battle, and I think I’ve identified these units. They were taken out in the second attack wave.” I thought for a moment. “Radioactivity shouldn’t be an issue. Although the insides might be pretty trashed.”
“Oh?”