Peter Stone and Espedie Raton examined their map. They took direction and bearing on an old black compass then passed the information to the other drivers. The hovers lifted off the ground and sped across the desert, leaving behind a great cloud of white dust. Manuel and Sam got their own hover, which greatly excited them. They set out at full speed across the sand. Three hours later, they found themselves skirting through a rugged mountain pass; going full-throttle through the forest. Sam had a copy of the map himself, so he knew the course. Neither of them saw the massive tree they were approaching. The hover caromed into the tree, exploding thunderously on impact. Fortunately, the boys were thrown clear. They landed on the ground, laughing.
Half an hour later though, they were still in the forest, hungry. They saw movement in the trees and both of them grew worried. At last, a hover came crashing through the green rubbery plants carrying Espedie, Carmen, and Stone. They picked up the boys and rescued what supplies were salvageable. Carmen lectured the boys about being careful, while giving them food. Neither Espedie nor Stone figured they could do any better in discouraging the boys from driving fast through the mountains; especially since they felt the temptation themselves.
That evening, the expedition arrived at the site of the first Erdonium deposit—a wide, rugged mesa dotted with purple and green scrub, overlooking the forest. The canvas tents were set up in the rock-hard ground only after an hour and a half of hard work and swearing. Most of the people in the party laughed and joked about crazy Peter Stone and his pirate map. Some of them wanted to see it to convince themselves that there was an "X" on that spot. Sam and Manuel ate the dehydrated rations greedily. After dinner, they quizzed Peter Stone and found the site of the dig. They painted a large red X on the ground.
When Peter Stone saw the X he pursed his lips and shook his head. He went to Manuel and Sam's tent. He found the boys inside, laughing about their joke. Peter asked Sam to come outside. Father and son walked side by side for a short distance. Sam could see his father turning a deeper shade of red with each step.
"I bet you thought that was funny," stammered Peter Stone, at last. He waved a thick finger in the direction of the X.
"Wasn't it?" asked Sam, shuffling his feet in the dust. "We're supposed to be leaders," said Peter, putting his hands on his hips. "We're supposed to set an example."
"An example of what?" asked Espedie Raton.
Peter Stone jumped, then turned. He saw Espedie and Carmen Raton standing hand in hand. "I like the X," said Carmen, smiling. Stone fumed as he watched Espedie and Carmen walk off toward the edge of the mesa.
Espedie and Carmen found a rock and sat down to watch the sunset. They hadn't completely adjusted to the time change that resulted from traveling completely around the world. They held each other, trying to abate the chill of the evening.
"Do you really think we'll find Erdonium?" Carmen's eyes were rounded with concern.
"I'm sure," said Raton, his fist clenched with certainty. "I can smell it!"
Carmen laughed lightly. The sun was red on the horizon. They watched the flash of green just as the sun went below the horizon. Raton gently kissed his wife. "You never told me what Stone said that made you decide there really was Erdonium here." She shook her head. "I don't think Ellison even figured that out. You know something you're not sharing with me."
Raton smiled in the pale light. "It's all just a hunch ... really!"
Raton and his wife went back to their tent. They had lived in a tent on the streets of El Paso on Earth while Espedie sold stock in a gold mine on Venus. There really was a mine and it did have gold. It simply hadn't been worked since the midtwenty-sixth century. The con had earned Espedie enough money to pay taxes for a month and still take Carmen out to dinner for the first time since they had been married. But, the streets of El Paso were a violent place. Carmen still had nightmares about the time the police sliced through the side of the tent checking for "moral abuses." When they came to Sufiro, they swore they would never live in a tent again. Somehow though, this was different. Both of them found the experience romantic.
Manuel and Sam spent the night in their own tent. Neither of them had suffered the indignity of abject poverty. To them, the adventure was just beginning. They laughed and hollered into the night. Espedie had to come over to quiet them down so the rest of the camp could get some sleep.
When the boys awoke the following morning, they found that several people were already setting out dynamite charges. Sam Stone found it fascinating that simple dynamite was still one of the best ways to move large amounts of dirt and rock. There had been many advances in explosive technology. However, atomics were too dangerous because of the heavy radiation. The other option was Quinnium weapons, which could shift matter into the fourth dimension. When first invented on Mars in the mid-twenty-second century, this seemed the ideal destructive weapon; simply get your enemy out of the way. Unfortunately, the matter was actually phased out, not destroyed. What would happen was hard to predict. Most of the time, the matter would reappear some hours in the future. Invaders, using Quinnium as an offensive weapon, often died by finding themselves materialized inside solid rock.
Once the dynamite charges were placed, a warning klaxon sounded, and then the charges were detonated. Manuel and Sam were disappointed. There was little sound. The noise was like a whump. Even so, dust and rock flew up in a great billowing cloud. After the broken rock settled, the tedious job of digging began. Heavy force beam dozers were brought in. Other members of the team sifted through the dark, reddishblack basaltic rock looking for Erdonium. At the end of the first day, nothing had been found. Tired, grimy workers settled in for a quiet dinner and a sound sleep.
The next day, more charges were placed and the operation continued. The crews burrowed their way into the mesa, working as rapidly as possible. However, the day proved more frustrating than the day before when again nothing was found. Carmen and Espedie watched another sunset. "Are you sure there's Erdonium here?"
"It'll take time," he tried to reassure her. "Often times, Erdonium is quite deep."
"Erdonium is not often found on habitable planets," she reminded him. He had to concede.
After five harsh, frustrating days, there was a great ragged crater in the mesa. The team grew discouraged. Even Sam and Manuel were bored and ready to go home. Then a member of the geological team made an announcement. They had hit a layer of rock with no quartz at all in it. This did not seem like important news to anyone except Stone. He remembered what Jerome Ellis had said about the Erdonium layer when they were in orbit.
The next day, the characteristic whump sounded. The force beam dozers went dutifully to work. They hit a layer with a large number of black rocks. One of the geologists carefully examined one of the rocks. "My god!" she exclaimed.
She ran to Espedie Raton, nearly tripping on a pile of debris. "Sir," she began, "I don't think this rock was sheered in the explosion."
Raton shrugged. He admitted he was no expert in geology.
"Sir, it's not carbon—not diamond, that is," she said. "It's metal of some type."
Raton put a finger to his lips, silencing her. He didn't want an uproar until her suspicions were confirmed. She went to the lab and performed tests on the metal. Meanwhile, others of the geological team found more of the black rocks. "Erdonium," said one of the geologists triumphantly.
Another examined the seismic readings recorded during the blast of that morning. "Wow, virtually the entire layer is Erdonium!"
Word of the find spread rapidly through the camp. That night, champagne bottles were broken out. Sam and Manuel shared in the drinking. It was new to Sam, but Manuel had been allowed to drink on a number of other social occasions. Lively music played around the camp. Espedie and Carmen shared a bottle of tequila. After years of poverty on Earth and hard work on Sufiro, they were now partners in vast wealth.
The only person who did not celebrate was Peter Stone. He spent the night surveying the precise location of t
he pit and filling out Gaean mineral claim forms. The next morning, he tried to wake Espedie. "Go 'way," said Espedie. He turned over, trying to wave off both Stone and his hangover.
"Espedie, we need to keep moving," he said. "This isn't the only Erdonium mine."
Espedie rolled over and tried to focus on Stone's hovering face, his eyes glazed over and red. "Sleep, amigo. The mines will be there tomorrow."
Stone spent the morning impatiently grumbling while sitting in a camp full of people with throbbing hangovers. They were content to wait until the pain in their heads went away before continuing the search for more Erdonium.
Peter Stone called the land office in Little Sonora and transmitted copies of the claim forms. On the portable teleholo, the eyes of the claim attendant bugged out. "Erdonium, on Sufiro!" he exclaimed.
"Yes," said Stone smugly. "The records of the geological analysis are appended."
"Indeed." The clerk examined the papers, recognizing the names of some of Sufiro's best geological engineers. "Everything is in order, but this find is phenomenal."
Stone nodded and smiled. That afternoon, the mining expedition came grudgingly to life. They loaded the heavy equipment onto the trusty carryhovers for transport. Stone organized a group of three people to stay as guards and alert them if someone tried to jump their, now, legal claim.
As Stone finished giving instructions to the guards, Espedie stepped up to him. "So, what are we going to name it?"
Stone grinned, widely. "I thought about the 'Stone-Raton Mine Number 1.' Has quite a resonance, don't you think?"
"It does," said Raton. "But that's not quite what I meant. I meant this land." Raton gestured at the trees and tall mountains beyond the mesa.
"I thought it was called Roanoke," said Stone.
"No," said Raton. "That's only the coastal settlement." The two walked in silence for a little while. "What about Tejo?"
"What the hell's a Tejo?" asked Stone.
"She's the Rd'dyggian who first discovered Erdonium." Raton replied.
"The Titans discovered Erdonium," Stone reminded him.
"And Erdon is the Earthman who discovered Erdonium. But this is a Rd'dyggian world. I think we should pay tribute to those who discovered this planet." Raton folded his arms defiantly.
Stone shook his head. "So what? There are no Rd'dyggian settlements here."
"No." Raton let his gaze wander to the lazy, white clouds over the mountains. "But, who's going to protect us from claim-jumpers? Certainly not the Gaean Alliance."
Stone pursed his lips and frowned. "Okay, name it whatever you want. But, who's gonna know?"
"Leave that up to me!" Espedie sauntered off, whistling. He went to the portable teleholo and called Ellison Firebrandt's home.
Roberts answered. The dark room inside Legacy appeared behind the lieutenant. "Good to see you," he said, smiling.
"Long time, eh," he said. "Say, is Ellison around?"
"The Captain drove to New Des Moines today." Roberts shrugged. "Sorry."
Espedie nodded. "Well, tell him we found Erdonium, a whole rich stinking layer of it."
Roberts whistled. "You really did it. He'll be pleased. Congratulations."
"Also, tell him we want to name the continent, Tejo. It was his suggestion."
Roberts' eyes narrowed. "Don't you mean T'Ggo?"
Raton shook his head. "No one can say that! We'll go with Tejo, spelled 'T-E-J-O.' It's easier to pronounce. Beside the Rd'dyggians know we can't pronounce half their words anyway."
Roberts smiled. Both he and Firebrandt knew that any human spelling was only an approximation anyway. T'Ggo was written as it was to get some of the proper finesse of speech. "I'll pass that along to the captain."
"Thank you, old friend," said Raton. "I'd better get going. We need to continue exploring Tejo."
Roberts signed off. Raton turned around. He knew Firebrandt would get people to accept the name. Soon, it would be a word known throughout Sufiro.
* * * *
Jerome Ellis led Suki Firebrandt to a forward section of the Nantucket. Pushing a button, he opened two large, double doors. The light of billions of suns sweeping an arc across the sky greeted them. Fire's mouth dropped open as Ellis led her into the room. The arc bulged in the center, then swept off in either direction as though it wound around the ship. Raven colored swaths of dust twisted through the band of stars. Off to one side of the bulge were two sparkling ovals, almost like clumps of cotton candy decorated with glitter. "The center of the galaxy," explained Ellis. He pointed to the cotton candylike clumps. "Those are the Magellenic Clouds, our galaxy's two nearest neighbors."
"I've seen the galactic bulge before," said Fire, wide-eyed, "but never like this."
"You're in space, no atmosphere to get in the way," said Ellis. "The closest I've ever come to this view from a planet was in the Andes on Earth."
"It's beautiful," she said, letting her eyes wander the panorama.
"I brought you here because I have a very important question," he said. "I couldn't think of a better setting in which to ask it."
Fire looked into the captain's eyes, both anticipating and fearing the coming question.
"Suki Carter Firebrandt, would you marry me?"
Fire swallowed hard, then turned away to look at the view. "Nantucket, the Andes ... so much to see and that's just on Earth. I still need an education beyond the books from my father's library." Fire reached out and took Ellis' hand. "Jerome, in the past weeks I have grown to love you. I won't abandon you. But I won't marry you yet."
"If you love me..." Ellis dropped his hands to his side.
"If you love me, you will let me go to college first. I have to find my own career. I can't just be a space widow of sorts, sitting alone in a house on Nantucket," she explained, gently.
Ellis shrugged. "I understand. But what if..."
"What if I meet someone else? I might be tempted to have my way with them." Fire grinned at Ellis' shocked expression. "Still, they'd have to work hard to be someone I'd want to spend the rest of my life with more than you."
"Then, may I take that as a 'yes' on deposit?" asked Ellis, hopefully.
"Take it as 'ask me again in two or three years' and I'll probably say 'yes.'"
Ellis looked back to the stars. "Would you at least take me back to my cabin and console me in my disappointment?"
Fire reached around to the control, closed the door and punched in the lock code. "I'll console you right here, my captain."
* * * *
In Tejo, the Erdonium expedition packed up and moved to the next site. This time it was down in a grassy valley. On the third day of the dig, a large pack of animals surrounded the ragtag camp. The animals themselves were the size of lions and shaped roughly like hyenas. However, they were apparently reptilian. "They'll go away if we ignore them," said Raton uneasily. Still, Espedie went into his tent and retrieved his rifle. Most people on the expedition carried either lasers or hepler guns. However, the old projectile weapons still seemed best in uncertain circumstances.
Slowly, the team began moving again. Stone eyed the animals nervously, fingering the wooden handle of his hepler. They simply watched the group. Espedie Raton was certain the animals were trying to ascertain what kind of animals the humans were. One of the animals lifted a foot. Stone fired a beam of pulsed energy from his Hepler 225. The animal made a rumbling sound like a growl, but not quite. Stone fired again, this time at the animal. The pulsed beam hit and bounced off. The animal charged. Stone ran but the animal ran faster.
"Shit," muttered Espedie as he cocked the ancient gun. He raised his rifle and tracked the running animal. The animal leaped. Espedie fired. A deafening explosion echoed through the countryside. A flock of winged mammals lifted off in a black cloud from the tall grass. The pack ran off, scared by the sound of the blast. The limp animal fell on top of Peter Stone, covering him in putrid-smelling yellow blood.
It took three members of the expedition to get the animal off Sto
ne. The wind was out of him and he was covered with scratches and abrasions, but was otherwise, okay.
"I told you to leave them alone, señor." Raton grasped Stone around his pudgy wrist and hefted him to his feet.
Stone recovered his breath. "I could have been killed."
"Most of the animals on Sufiro have tough hides. Heplers only annoy them." Espedie smiled as he handed the hepler back to Stone.
Stone began to turn red as he glared at Espedie. "Your sense of humor can be irritating you damn spic."
Raton pushed Stone to the ground. He pointed his rifle. "Don't ever call me that," he said. "You call me that again, I'll blow your fucking brains all over Tejo."
Stone raised his hands in an apology. "Sorry. I just about got killed, I'm tired and I slipped."
"I damn well saved your gringo faggot ass," Raton put the gun down and put out a hand to Stone. "When you've lived the life I have, you don't take names lightly. Just remember that around me and around anyone else here."
Stone nodded somberly. "I'm sorry." He held out his hand to Raton who brought him to his feet. Raton helped him get the blood cleaned up and the abrasions tended. Stone's clothes were pretty well destroyed, and they smelled of the creature's blood. They decided it was better to burn them than try to clean them. They burned the clothes on a large bonfire. Many people had seen the fight between Raton and Stone. They decided the fire was a good symbolic act, burning out the bad blood between them. Besides, Stone was truly grateful to Raton for saving his life. For the first time anyone could remember, Stone sang and drank with the people of the camp.
* * * *
The rest of the expedition went relatively smoothly. Peter Stone and Espedie Raton "discovered" the five largest Erdonium deposits in Tejo. All of the claims were filed in Little Sonora so the Gaean Alliance would recognize them. Guards were posted at each of the sites.
The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) Page 13