VaireWe entered Vaire's orbit four hours after my conversation with Lianne. I filled that time with some much needed rest. I hoped to get more, but Gard startled me out of a sound sleep.
I bolted into an upright position. “What the hell are you doing in here?”
He looked at me with that maddening blank stare of his. “I'm sorry, Nathan, I just thought you would like to know that we are making our final approach.”
“And you couldn't knock?” I barked.
“The door was open,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“What?” Lianne closed it before she left. All of my internal alarms systems went off at once. I shot out of bed and surveyed the room, but nothing seemed out of order until my eyes fell on my desk. The box containing the Talaan was gone.
“Lianne didn't want to disturb you,” Gard explained. “S
