I do not seek. I find.

--Pablo Picasso

On the third day of the search, digging through boxes, checking contents against inventory lists, Buddy Garrison found an object that didn't belong.

"Mr. Smeed? I think I may have something."

The captain swooped in, Kam and Julian on his heels. Over the past couple of days, Kam had begun wondering if they were looking in the right place.

"Jack? Are you sure the object is something from our last salvage job? Couldn't it be—" even though they were alone in their cabin, he glanced around before dropping his voice to a near whisper and continuing, "that object you found in your friend's cabin on the Janus and Hestia?"

But Jack had shaken his head. "I've wondered that too, but I just don't see how it could have been. John had it for so long before we recovered it. How could the GBHE possibly have known…"

And now it looked as if he might have been right. Again.

"What do you have, Mr. Garrison?"

The big engineer indicated a sleek two-handled device lying in the crate where he had discovered it.

"I haven't touched it, Sir, just opened the box it was in. The lid was tough to open, and on the inventory just the box is listed. It may be that whoever packed this crate wasn't able to open it. Not without…" He held up his arm, indicating the exoskeleton that enhanced his upper body strength. "But it, it doesn't fit with the rest of this stuff. The rest is basic, utilitarian, old, beat up, recognizable. This—I don't know what it is, but it's beautiful. I've never seen anything like it." He moved away, allowing access to the open crate. The new arrivals crowded closer, peering into the crate. Kam gazed at the alien-looking device carefully nestled in a tin box, then glanced up at his companions. Julian Kyle's face bore the same blank lack of recognition that he was sure was plastered across his own mug, but Jack, Jack's expression seemed more—pensive.

"So, do you know what it is, Old Man?" Jule asked, not taking his eyes off of the device.

"No. I've never seen one before," the Captain answered. He looked up at the trio of crewmembers who had been engaged in the search. "Good work, Mr. Garrison. But I think it pays to be thorough. Let's keep going through the rest of the crates. With careful attention to anything that came from the same quarters as this box." He glanced over at the rest of the room's occupants. "And let's move this to my quarters, shall we?"