Hutch kicked the heptahedron and then threw the control unit. “It ain’t doing shit!”

“Okay, okay” said Ellie evenly. “Now we know.” She looked sidelong at Luiz who only shook his head.

“Well, they aren’t rolling through the Ring in a takeover, so that’s something,” said Ellie.

“Yet,” said Hutch.

“If they were going to do that, why did they wait until now? It’s been years.”

“Hell if I know.”

Luiz looked up from his book. “Something’s different. Whatever changed it was right after someone launched that satellite.”

Ellie nodded. “Yeah. We need to know who launched it, and why.”

Chapter 57

Chapter 59