CHAPTER 3
“The three biggest ships will pass within ten to the four standard units,” Tarkos said. “They might detect us from gravitational pull alone at that range.”
Bria blinked agreement. Tarkos held his breath. The cruiser was completely silent, adrift—the only active system was the chameleon skin running its reverse quantum computation to cool the ship’s outer surface. In the silence, Tarkos could hear the quiet sounds of his armor: the click of the small in-suit robots crawling about, looking for problems to repair, the hiss of the regulator equalizing pressure against his breathing, the light crackle of the helmet collar when he turned his head. These were the sounds of danger: he never heard them unless things were going badly, and he drifted in space under radio blackout.
