Astro Equinox's Arc

Chapter 4 of 6

Astro reached the lab door with the sound tracker clutched to their chest. Jeta Halo stood behind them, cable coiled on his shoulder. The faster count still beat overhead. But the moment Astro stepped onto the threshold, the dial dimmed. The indicator rings slowed. The bearing line thinned to nothing. "The signal dropped," Astro said. They stepped back inside. The rings brightened at once. "It only reads when the device drinks full power. The cable runs to the lab wall. Out there, it dies." Jeta set down his coil and traced the thick cord to its panel. "It can't leave the building. The feed's fixed here." He pressed a hand to the casing. "We can't follow a line we can't hear." Astro stared at the tracker. It was built to sit in a cradle, wired to a wall, not to walk a trail. Without steady power, the bearing went blank mid-journey. The whole plan broke at the door. A woman stepped in from the inner room. Her dark hair hung in a ponytail. Mud marked her boots. Astro had met her once before, when she warned them to leave the signal alone. She crossed her arms now and looked at the dead dial. "You," Astro said. "Me." Jeta Warnson nodded at the tracker. "Still chasing that thing in the sky. I told you to stop." She stepped closer and tapped the casing. "But I know this box. I helped haul it here years back. It ran once on its own cells." Astro gripped the device tighter. "It has no cells now." "It has a port." She turned the tracker in Astro's hands and pointed to a small panel on its base. "Right there. The wall feed hides it. Pull a pack off the lab lights and clip it in. Then the box carries its own power." Jeta Halo was already moving. He opened a floor panel and lifted out a battery brick. Astro unlatched the base panel. Three gray fingers worked the clip. The brick slid home. Astro twisted it until it caught. The dial lit. The rings spun up to full. The bearing line snapped back, sharp and bright, even as Astro lifted the tracker off the cradle and carried it toward the door. Astro stepped outside. The line held. The signal stayed loud. It no longer died at the threshold. "It works on the move," Astro said. Their voice stayed flat, but their hands shook. Jeta Warnson did not smile. "It works. That's the problem." She stood in the doorway. "If you reach that ground device, you'll stand right where the sky is aiming. You'll be on the mark when it lands." Astro looked at the bright bearing line, then down the trail it drew. The count beat on above them, faster now. They had a working ear and a clear path. They stepped out, and Jeta Halo followed with the cable he no longer needed.