Barbeth took his hand. "Nobody is checking up on you," she reassured him with a slight smile. "We just need to make use of your records to try to track down someone who might have passed through here."
Peyers grinned back. "We just try to be of service as best we can. I'm here to help, not to put a good face on for what might be someone poking their nose into our business."
"Should someone be?" Barbeth said.
Peyers laughed. "Please come with me," he said, leading her into the heart of the building. "What is it you are looking for, then?"
"Some salvaged scrap that might have passed through here recently. Anything that looks like it was just picked up from space."
"You'll have a lot of searching to do then, I'm afraid," Peyers told her. The room they entered was equipped with a variety of computer interfaces. A couple of chairs were sat at a desk, a coffee machine stood in one corner. Barbeth looked at it curiously.
"It's an antique," Peyers said. "It's not very valuable, though, and getting coffee for it is pretty difficult. I wouldn't bother trying it anyway if I were you. It's a traditional 'Makes undrinkable ditchwater' model."
"Some things never change. I've got everything I need here. Thankyou for your assistance." She waved Peyers out, ignoring his slightly indignant expression at being so swiftly dismissed.
The scrap merchant who had led them onto the trail of the debris had received it two months ago, and it would have taken a minimum of another four weeks for it to have reached him from here. At the other end of the scale the Constrictor had been destroyed two years ago. The amount of debris so far accounted for suggested that it had not had a chance to drift too far away from the place of destruction. So, anywhere within a twenty-one month period was the possible time-frame, probably nearer to the start of it than later. With hundreds of spacecraft passing through the system a day that was a dauntingly large time. The search parameters were entered into the computer. If nothing could be found she would know about it in an estimated three hours time.
As expected the Orarra government was not particularly helpful. Ahcal Jalsa had spent four hours being told that the matter would be under the jurisdiction of some other department until the planet's more senior authorities dumped the problem onto their local police force. This was not a helpful start since planetary police were usually relatively small organisations, their influence extending no further than the world's surface, having little to do with interplanetary issues. As the local expert he had expected no less.
The inspector who talked to Jalsa was clearly unhappy at being thrust into meeting with a Co-operative official, and began by insisting that there was very little chance of him being in a position to provide any information. To be fair to him his department had been quite thoroughly scrutinised at the time of the original incident.
"Then give me everything that you gave us last time," Jalsa told him. "And see if anything else has happened." The policeman gave him an exasperated look and passed the orders on through his intercom.
"Give me your number and I'll call you back when I'm done," he said. Jalsa did so and terminated the link.
It was whilst he was waiting that three of the group returned, having found nothing. Barbeth arrived back half an hour later.
"Some debris from the Constrictor definitely passed through here," she informed them. "It looks like the scavenger who found it had no idea what he was carrying and tried to sell it in the general market."
"Any luck in tracing the purchaser?" asked Kirrik, the Disian.
"Yes and no. She left for Tiriusri but never made it. She could have been the victim of a random pirate attack. Tiriusri's listed as a feudal state."
"It's an unusual place," Jalsa intervened. "It's much safer than most such worlds. The ruling family has a history of being keen on working for the planet and kept good order before it even became a member of the Co-Operative. I think such an attack could easily be more than coincidence."
"Perhaps." Barbeth continued with her information. "There's more alarming news, though. In amongst the debris was more than just pieces of hull plates and bulkheads. Nothing was complete enough to identify from a visual recording but there were several bits that could have been critical technology."
"We'll have to find out what as soon as possible," said Erain Kalangu, the final member of the group.
"All in good time," replied Barbeth. "Tiriusri might be the next place to look at, though."
"Chasing around after hints?" said Kirrik. "That didn't get us very far originally, and I can't see it getting us anywhere now. We need something substantial, as soon as possible, not just flying around to see what we can pick up."
Kalangu looked over at him. "So what do you suggest?"