Chapter Nine
JAS WAITED, SQUATTING on her heels. When the shuttle had landed, and she’d heard the ramp descend and two sets of footsteps walk down it, then silence. She racked her brains as to what was going on, but none of it made any sense. Two people weren’t enough for an RA team, and the teams weren’t due out until morning anyway. An RA team also wouldn’t go on a trip without equipment. She wondered if Lingiari had taken the shuttle on a whim and flown down with a friend. But he would never have gotten clearance from the bridge, and even Lingiari wasn’t stupid enough to fly without clearance. He’d be sacked and blacklisted in the industry forever.
Who had the authority to order an unscheduled visit to the planet? Only Loba. But why on Earth would he do it? His was the archetypal hand
