"Let's see what's behind the curtain," Hye said, his curiosity finally beginning to outweigh his worry. He felt the old thrill of the unknown, the same vibes that had carried him through the apocalypse.
The first instruction from Moth was a shock: he was to completely deactivate his ship's shields and defensive systems. It was an absurd, vulnerable request, but Moth explained that the automated sniffers in the rock belt would detect any active energy signatures as a hostile breach, triggering an immediate and overwhelming offensive.
Reluctantly, Hye reached out and flipped the master switches. The hum of the shield generators died, leaving him sitting in a thin hull of carbon-composite, a completely defenceless ship. Then, Moth sent an even more bizarre command.
[Kill the engines. Let the ship float using only its residual momentum to pass through the rock belt.]
