by Max Swan
“For fuck’s sake Captain, will ya suck it up? You know why Nadir sent you on this mission. So stop complaining about it.”
Blake’s answer riddled with sarcasm. “Yes, sir!”
Paul felt like doing some complaining himself. Being cooped up in a mining rig with Blake who’s also one of the prime suspects in the sabotage, is not his idea of a good time. It’s bad enough I have to face a few weeks of back breaking work here, Paul thought, but having to watch my back the whole time in case Blake tries something is fucked up. Paul’s console showed that the rig had landed, so Paul left his shuttle, and began to walk toward the area. He couldn’t see the rig, as the holographic camouflage kept it well hidden. As he got close to it, a tall, dark, stocky figure appeared, as if out of nowhere. A bright red glow briefly came from a cigar that seemed permanently attached to the corner of Blake’s mouth. The smell of cigar smoke wafted in the air reminding Paul of another reason why he isn’t looking forward to this.
“G’day Major,” Blake said trying to put-on an Australian accent, and doing it badly.
“Come on, we’ve got work to do,” Paul said walking next to Blake, and vanishing into the rig.
*****
Ten days after they had begun mining for xelion crystal, the relationship between Blake and Paul hadn’t improved one iota. In fact, as they became increasingly exhausted from working in the conditions, they gave up talking altogether. They had one thing in common during the experience, small blackflies had found their way into the rig, and were a constant pest. However, despite their turbulent relationship, they’d managed to mine a shaft one-hundred and eighty meters into the ground in that time. Mining used a modified disruptor beam that turned the overburden into a fine dust that’s extracted by a vacuum system that dumps it into the upper compartments of the rig. The mining part of the rig is now covered in dust and smelled like old cigar smoke, sweat, and dirt. The drill is a circular platform where a beam shot out beneath, this caused a bright yellow light to shine from the bottom of the shaft. On top of the drilling platform the operator stood, their job to monitor the drill, and spray the newly exposed shaft walls with a resin that prevented collapse.
The drilling platform moved around in a circular motion to cut out the shaft, as it had to be bigger than the crystal sphere they were going to extract. The working conditions inside the shaft is claustrophobic, hot, and dusty, so each man needed to swap over every four hours to make working inside the shaft bearable. Paul worked in the shaft when the intercom light began to flash on the drilling control console.
Paul stopped the drill and clicked the switch.
“Yeah Blakey, what’s up?”
“You’d better come up here, Major, there’s some activity outside,” Blake said.
Paul got out of his safety harness, and hit a button and stepped back. A small elevator attached to the main cable, descended from above, and he stepped into it, and it shot up to the surface.
A dirty looking Paul entered the control room of the rig. “What’s going on?” Paul asked.
Blake puffed his cigar, and pointed to the screen. “Helicopters have been circling the area for the last twenty-minutes, and now several have landed about three-kilometers from here.”
Paul looked at the monitor showing the two black helicopters circling the area. “They don’t look military. Send a drone over there to get a closer look.”
Blake touched the console, and one of the drones above them shot off toward the landed helicopters. Several men had climbed out, and were looking around using binoculars. All were dressed in military uniforms, except one tall man who had on a linen suit and wore a fedora hat.
“Turn up the audio,” Paul said
The speaker crackled. “There’s nothing here, Your Majesty, except flies and snakes,” an Australian voice said.
The tall man spoke English with a slight Mediterranean accent. He continuously swatted away the little blackflies that assaulted him from every angle.
“Our informant was sure they’d be here, and we did detect that anomaly near the Moon. No, they’re here all right, and the game is to find them.”
“Them?” the soldier asked.
“Aliens, Captain. They want something that’s here, and if they want it, I’m sure we’ll want it too,” the tall man said.
“Aliens? Nobody said anything about aliens,” the Australian soldier sounded cautious.
“You’ll need to search this area on foot, I’m afraid. They probably have some kind of cloaking device in use,” the tall man said, unconcerned by the soldiers fear.
“What happens if we find them, Your Majesty? You’ve seen what they done to the planet already.”
The tall man looked down on the soldier, slightly screwing up his nose. “You’ll do your job, Captain. Now I must be going, these flies are enough to drive any man crazy.”
The tall man walked to his helicopter, ducking under the blades, and holding his hat firmly to his head. Once he boarded, the helicopter lifted off, and flew eastward. The soldier called his men back, and they left too.
“Looks like we’ll soon have company,” Blake said.
Paul touched the console and Nadir appeared on a monitor, and replayed what they witnessed for him. “How the fuck do they know about us? A tip off? The anomaly near the Moon?” Nadir asked with a deep frown.
Blake looked sheepish. “That’s my fault, Colonel. I forgot to activate the stealth generator, and flew a few minutes in their detection technology before I realized my mistake.”
“Gordon, what the fuck were you thinking?” Nadir shouted his black eyes bulging, his wrinkles moving quickly.
Paul enjoyed seeing Blake look embarrassed, but he knew that mistake alone isn’t responsible for bringing these soldiers to this location.
“Colonel it’s the informant that concerns me most. Blakey fucked up, sure, but he did get the stealth generators going. So they couldn’t have tracked him to this location.”
“Nobody knew about this, except us. So who told them?” Blake asked, looking at Paul.
“Maybe the saboteur is at work here,” Paul said looking at Blake, then Nadir.
Nadir laughed coldly. “Since you consider Gordon and myself the prime suspects, you must be having a terrible time down there.”
Paul ignored the comment but thought, laugh it up, you old cunt.
Blake noticed the look on Paul’s face and spoke to redirect the conversation. “Let’s keep it in our pants eh? We’re too close to our objective to start bickering now,” Blake said looking at each.
“How close?” Nadir asked.
“We only have about twenty meters of rock to get through before we reach the crystal. If we hustle we could have a sphere cut in three to five days,” Blake replied.
“I’m not confident you have five days. Better try to make it three days. I’ll send more drones to cover the area, and provide some aerial firepower, in case you need it,” Nadir said.
“Yes sir, can you ask Dexter to run a check on that man who seemed in charge?” Paul asked.
“You can count on it. Good luck,” Nadir said and the connection severed.
The issue of the saboteur still hung in the air as Paul looked at Blake for a moment. If Nadir and Blake are out to kill me why jeopardize the mission at this point, he wondered. I’m beginning to think something else is at play here. All I need to do is figure out what.
He sighed, and said, “Back to work eh?”
“Fuckin’ A” Blake said.
Chapter 12
They turned up the drill to maximum power, so it took them another thirty-six hours to break through the last layer of overburden. The conditions inside the shaft went from being tolerable to unbearable with the heat at the platform being around fifty-eight degrees Celsius. Paul and Blake had to swap over every two hours so they could rehydrate and rest before going back in. To save time they didn’t shut off the drill when changing over, so eventually the bluish crystal began to emerge. They had to hau
l the drill out and pack it away and setup the crystal cutter. The cutter used a laser system to cut out a perfect sphere of crystal the size needed for their qdrive. As they worked together to get the equipment in place, they barely spoke. However, Paul couldn’t stop thinking about what the tall man said about an informant.
If Nadir is behind the sabotage, why would he put Blake at risk, Paul wondered? The circumstantial evidence seemed overwhelming. The meeting before leaving Bolaris, Blake’s history as a Garan POW, the detonator in Blake’s toolbox, Blake forgetting to turn on his stealth generator, and someone informing the authorities about them. If the evidence is so overwhelming, why am I feeling it’s wrong, Paul thought. Someone else is playing us here, but whom?
The crystal cutting process isn’t fast. Once they set the cutter in place and activated it, they left the shaft feeling exhausted. The cutter could do its job automatically, it didn’t require the monitoring that the mining rig did.
As they headed out of the drilling area Blake wearily said, “Hopefully we can get some sleep for a few hours. I’m fucking exhausted.”
An alarm sounded prompting Paul to reply, “I wouldn’t count on it.”
They looked at each other like men fed up, climbed around the gear, and went to the control room to see what’s happening. On the monitor they could see a long line of trucks heading toward them, still around thirty kilometers away. Several helicopters were flying toward the area as well. The images streamed live from several recon drones.
“We’ve got company,” Blake said slumping into a chair with a deep sigh.
“Fuck it! All we need is another twenty-four hours and we’re outta here,” Paul said wiping the sweat from his brow. The intercom beeped, and Colonel Nadir appeared on the monitor. “Hi, Colonel, we’re watching it as well,” Paul said.
“They got organized much sooner than I expected. What’s your status?” Nadir asked, looking concerned.
“We’ve just started the cutter,” Blake said.
Paul said, “I don’t think they’ll begin searching for us until daybreak. I suggest we activate a Y-field, which should buy us more time.”
Nadir said, “I agree. I’ll monitor things from up here while you two get some sleep. Nadir out.”
Paul reached toward, and hit a switch, that activated the Y-field and set the range to twenty-five kilometers. A Y-field is created by a device that sends modified electromagnetic pulses causing any electronic devices to stop functioning in the area it covers. The reason for its name comes from the question that enemies ask when they encounter this field. Nothing works, despite what enemies try to do to fix their equipment, because the pulse keeps recurring. Once the field went up, a helicopter that flew inside the range of the Y-field fell to the ground exploding in a large fireball.
“Oh, that’ll hurt,” Paul said to Blake as the helicopter crashed.
“Serves em right. At least now we can get some shut-eye before we have to lift that fucking crystal sphere out,” Blake said pushing himself to his feet with a grunt.
After a quick bite to eat, and a wash, they bedded down feeling weary all over. Their muscles ached, and bones creaked. The mining rigs sleeping area is a dorm with antigrav beds stacked on the floor. Paul climbed on one and hit a button, it floated toward the ceiling. Blake did the same, and eventually the lights were extinguished.
After about fifteen minutes Blake called out, “Major, you awake?”
Paul inwardly groaned and said, “What’s the matter, Blakey?”
“Do you believe Nadir and me are trying to kill you?” Blake asked.
Paul sighed. “As I told the Colonel, it’s not up to me to make judgements. All I do is collect the evidence.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Major. You think we’re out to get ya, don’t ya?” Blake rolled over so he could see Paul.
“I don’t want to discuss it,” Paul said snappishly.
“Nothing worse than thinking people you should be able to trust, are nothing but traitors. I know how that feels,” Blake said, rolling on his back and looking up at the ceiling.
“You mean Major Moyse?” Paul asked, his interest suddenly peaked.
Blake fell silent for a moment. “Man, when I first met that guy he was like everything I thought being a marine was about. Here was me the ‘FNG’, looking to find his place on his first posting. Our Greeter was Major Moyse, the Corps poster boy, and as dazzling as a super nova.”
“I never knew him, but he’s well regarded as a Greeter,” Paul said.
“Yeah, he disappeared, so no one ever seen the real Major Moyse, except me. You remind me of him, you have a similar aura about you,” Blake said quietly.
Paul chuckled. “Coming from you, I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
Blake ignored Paul’s crack. “Looking back, I now see Moyse was a man that got his fame by riding on the work of others. Taking credit for shit he had no right to.”
Paul felt skeptical. “Wouldn’t that be reported? You can only get away with that shit for so long.”
Blake rolled over looking at Paul again. “He had a way with people you know. He could take all the credit for your work, and you’d give it up gladly thinking you done a good thing. He was a total con man.”
Paul shrugged. “I wish I could say he’s the exception to the rule among Greeters, but I can’t.”
“Watchin’ you work during this operation has taught me more about you than you’ll ever know,” Blake said making Paul feel nervous.
“What do you mean by that?”
Blake sighed and rolled on his back again. “My old man was a hard-ass bastard, but he taught me that the best way to measure a man is by how he works. If a man is lazy, never around when he’s needed the most, and steals others ideas and achievements to make himself look good. That’s a bad man. Then there’s the man who does only what needs to be done. Takes shortcuts, and can be slapdash cos he don’t care. His job is all about the payday, and nothing else. That’s your typical man. Lastly, there’s the man who works hard at everything he does. He prides himself in his work, and takes great care to ensure everything’s done right. He likes the pay, but gets more out of seeing a job well done. That’s a man with integrity. That’s a good man.”
“So I take it Moyse is a lazy man. So what am I?” Paul asked, waiting for the putdown.
Blake laughed loudly. “That’s for me to know and you to find out, Major.”
“You’re fucking crazy, Blakey,” Paul said rolling on his side wishing the old engineer would shut up.
“Maybe I am,” Blake replied. “Six months in a Garan pain collar does things to you. But I swear on my life, me and the Colonel have nothing to do with the sabotage. Someone has set us up.”
Paul wondered if Blake were trying to soften him with this heart to heart. He has barely said anything to him since they started the operation. Now he’s talking like a schoolgirl at summer camp. As much as he would like to believe what Blake said, he knew he could never relax around these men, even if they’re innocent of the sabotage.
Blake had an epiphany. “Fuck! Working with us, and thinking we’re out to kill you the whole time. Constantly looking over your shoulder, wondering where the next attack is going to come from. It sucks to be you, Major.”
Paul sighed. “And the old Blakey is back. Now I’d like to get some sleep so shut-the-fuck-up, and that’s an order.”
Fortunately, Blake got the message and it didn’t take long for them fall asleep.
*****
Eight hours later an alarm sounded in the mining rig again, waking Paul and Blake from what could only be described as a fitful sleep. Paul hit a button on the side of his bed and it slowly dropped to the floor. He scrambled to his feet feeling every muscle ache. Rushing to the control room he found a worried looking Nadir on a monitor.
“Sir? What’s happening?” Paul asked, looking at a monitor showing the view from a drone.
“They’ve started their search as you said they would,” Na
dir replied.
Paul zoomed the picture in to see that all the vehicles were stopped at the edge of the Y-field with some inside. He could see signs of minor accidents, caused by the front vehicles suddenly stopping inside the Y-field. As he pulled the zoom out, he spotted a distinct line of combat armed troops walking five meters apart in single file. A search pattern commonly used to find missing persons. There must’ve been over one hundred soldiers coming this way. The troops were moving quickly and the computer indicated they’d reach the rig in four hours and thirty-six minutes at their current pace.
“What’s the status of the cutting?” Nadir asked.
Paul looked at the readouts, Blake entered holding two cups of steaming coffee that filled the room with their delicious odour.
“Sorry, but I thought I’d leave this one to the military minds to solve,” Blake said with a grin.
Paul rolled his eyes briefly and looked down at the console showing the readouts from the cutter. He looked at Nadir and said, “The sphere is sixty-five percent complete, so we’re still four, maybe five hours from being able to evacuate.”
Blake sat and began sipping his coffee. When he heard Paul’s report, he said, “Getting the sphere out under fire is not a good idea. Maybe we should use a stun wave? That’ll stop the fuckers.”
Paul shook his head. “While the rig is open, it would stun us too. We can’t even use shields with the rig open.”
Electronic shields would cover the whole mining rig and stop them from being able to work in the mine.
“You’re not going to have time to fill the mineshaft either. Just get the crystal on board get out of there,” Nadir said.
“It’s going to be tight, so we’ll need drone support to keep the soldiers occupied,” Paul said picking up the coffee Blake brought him, and drinking some.
“More drones are on the way now. Keep communications open so you don’t have to come into the control room to speak to me. Good luck guys,” Nadir said, and his image vanished.
Paul drank his coffee while he watched the troops moving quickly toward them like a storm. He sat in the chair next to Blake with a sigh. The cutter had now hit sixty-six percent and there’s nothing they could do until it had finished its job.
“I think we’re in deep shit here, Major,” Blake said watching the monitor.