The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth)

by David Lee Summers

  Most of the people of the expedition returned to the site of the second dig at the grassy valley. The geological engineers estimated that it was the largest Erdonium deposit of them all. There were trees and a small river nearby. Espedie, Carmen and Manuel Raton began construction of a new house. Other houses went up. They seemed closer together than those of New Granada, but this was a mining town, not a farming town. With the construction of the houses and the opening of a small general store, Tejo City was born.

  Espedie called his son Juan. He found that the farm had been doing well in the year they were gone. Juan started working more and more of the farm himself, leaving Firebrandt and Roberts more time to work their own land. Juan had even taken an interest in a young lady. Her name was Armanta and she was just a little older than he was. It turned out she was helping him with the work.

  "I think our boy is going to get married one of these days," said Espedie.

  Manuel kicked some dirt around with the toe of his boot. "When will I ever find the right girl?" Secretly, he had. Her name was Suki Firebrandt. However, he felt that she would probably never return to Sufiro.

  Espedie put his hand on his older son's shoulder. "You will find the right woman. Tejo City is going to be large some day, you'll see. There will be lots of women. Maybe even a university."

  Manuel grinned wryly. "Mining colleges are not notorious for having loads of women."

  Espedie sat back and laughed. "That wasn't exactly what I meant." The old man hit Manuel lightly on the arm. They wrestled on the ground like they had when Manuel was a young boy. Carmen came in from the yard and watched, laughing.

  * * * *

  When Suki Firebrandt arrived on Earth, she had a difficult time finding a university that would accept her. She had no papers to say that she'd had any education at all. At the schools that would let her take entrance examinations, her results were mixed. She performed well in writing and mathematics, but poorly in Earth history—especially recent history.

  At the University of Arizona, she lost her temper at the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "You might have a wonderful school here, but what the hell good does it do if no one can get an education!"

  "We have our standards," said the Dean, his hands raised in mock apology, a smug expression on his face.

  "Standards be damned, I just want to learn," she shouted.

  "Perhaps some remedial school will take you," he said.

  If she had had a helper pistol, she would have blasted the smug smile off the Dean's face. Instead, she turned and stormed out of the office. She collided headlong with a tall, young man sporting a crew cut. He dropped his pack and papers.

  "Whoops," said Fire. "I'm terribly sorry." She scrambled to help the university student pick up papers.

  "That's okay," said the young man. He held out his hand. "My name is Ed Swan, I'm a law enforcement major."

  "Hi Ed," said Fire, her expression softening. "Suki Firebrandt." She shook Swan's hand then finished helping with the papers.

  "You're not related to Barbara Firebrandt, the famous admiral, are you?" asked Swan as he sorted the papers then put them into his pack.

  "My grandmother," said Fire, shrugging. Without her father around, she figured it was safe to talk about it.

  "I bet you could tell me some pretty wild stories about her days in the military. Talk about law enforcement!"

  "I don't think my fathers would see it as law enforcement," said Fire, under her breath.

  "Fathers?" he asked.

  "Slip of the tongue," she muttered.

  "What are you majoring in?" Swan stood and led Fire to a spot in the shade.

  "Nothing ... at least not here," she grumbled.

  Swan invited her to a nearby coffee shop. She ordered an iced mocha while Swan ordered black coffee. "How can you drink that in this heat?" she asked, indignant.

  "Living in Tucson, you get used to it," he said shrugging.

  Swan and Fire discussed college life and Fire's troubles finding a college to attend. She told him that she'd been looking for a school either in North America or Europe because they had the longest histories of academic prestige. "Prestige my ass," said Swan. "When I'm done, I'll have been here at least six years. What'll that get me? I'll probably just be a cop on the street."

  "I'm sure you'll go far beyond that," she said, taking a sip of the iced mocha.

  "Now, you want a good school that will let you learn ... From what I hear, you may want to go to South America. Those schools have been around almost as long as the one's here in North America."

  Images of the Andes and Jerome's stories of the beautiful cities of the Southern Hemisphere came to her mind. "Maybe I'll just do that," said Fire with a smile.

  After a short search, Fire found a school in the small westcoastal town of La Serena that would accept her. There, she pursued studies of anything that happened to interest her. She spent hours at the astronomy museum on Cerro Tololo staring at the stars. She learned about Earth history and refined her knowledge of mathematics and physics. She missed both Jerome and her family back on Sufiro, but she was engaged in an adventure of the mind and there was no turning back.

  * * * *

  Peter Stone and his son Sam were traveling across Sufiro. They went to Little Sonora to complete the paperwork associated with their claims, making them legal. Sam delighted in the way the city of Hermosillo was built up along the hillsides and seemed to roll and glide around the countryside. He had never before seen adobe and rock structures built so closely together. An amazing array of things from jewelry to virtual reality games was available. He spent a good portion of his days there with a beer in his hand, walking the streets of the city. Hermosillo may have been a small town, but at least it was civilization.

  While Sam explored the town, Peter went to the claim office with samples of the Erdonium and the geological documents certifying authenticity. The geologists were already working on scientific papers detailing the amazing find of Erdonium in large quantities on a habitable planet. Geophysicists who had previously created good explanations of why Erdonium had never been found on humanly habitable planets were now trying to explain how it, in fact, could exist.

  When Stone walked into the office of the Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources in Little Sonora, a woman—Dr. Ramirez—met him. When she saw Stone, she smiled and nodded. "So, you're the man who has the Mao Corporation all pissed off."

  Stone shrugged, innocently. "What do you mean?" "I mean, one of the freighters that was here about a year ago discovered Erdonium from an orbital scan. They were calling two days ago trying to set up claims. They were furious when they found out that the five largest deposits they discovered were already taken." She eyed him suspiciously. "When they found out the name on the claim, they checked their records. They found out you were aboard the ship that made the discovery."

  Suddenly, Stone wished he had been more careful about which "discoveries" he had made. Yet he knew his claims were legal. "A Rd'dyggian privateer discovered the Erdonium before the Mao ship," he lied. "The captain sold me the map. He only scanned five deposits."

  "Well there are over fifty deposits." Ramirez tugged on the silver necklace she wore. "The Mao Corporation has laid claim to the other forty-seven. Their estimated share is just a little less than your five large mines. They decided not to pursue the matter further at this point."

  Later, as Stone left the building, he fell against the wall and let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly it occurred to him—he could get a share of the profits of the Mao Corporation mines if he acted fast. He set out for the Gaean embassy in Hermosillo at a dead run. As he burst through the doors of the embassy. Three guards met him and ushered him to a back office. A man in a black jump suit came in a short time later.

  "I am the Assistant Ambassador to Little Sonora. My name is Smith. I must inform you that the Gaean Government does not take refugees from third galaxy governments."

  Stone's jowls flushed red. "I am not a refugee
!" he said hotly. "I'm Peter Stone, head of the Stone-Raton Mining Corporation of Tejo."

  "Oh." Smith's pencil-thin eyebrows came together. "That's right, the eastern continent finally got a local name." The Assistant Ambassador's face broke into a weak grin. Stone suspected the little man was relieved not to be facing a crisis. "How may we help you?"

  "We are planning to establish a local government. We want to apply for Gaean recognition." Though Stone was still panting from the run, his face was a little less red.

  "Oh," said Smith. The short, thin man left the room. When he returned, he held a stack of papers. "Fill these out, bring them back when they're ready."

  Stone took the papers. He had been amazed during the mining claim process that so much legal work was still done on paper. While paper could be corrupted, it was not as easily altered as computer records; so, in a way, it made perfect sense.

  Stone shuffled back to his hotel room carrying the unwieldy stack of papers and ordered a cup of coffee. He began sorting through the paperwork. Studying the documents, he realized that he needed to recruit people to come to his new land; he would need them to work the mines. He was not sure that he could get enough people to leave New Granada. He called the front desk and had them send an EQ telegram to several Earth news services. "Visit beautiful Sufiro," said the telegram. "Exciting job prospects in Tejo, the land of opportunity!"

  Sam staggered into the room, smelling of beer. His father looked at him. "Have you been drinking again?"

  Sam nodded, sheepishly.

  Stone shook his head, at a loss for words. "We're going to be rich men," he said at last, changing the subject. "We're going to be rich indeed. I'll soon have the Mao Corporation right in the palm of my hand." His fingers slowly closed into a fist.

  "I thought the Erdonium was going to make us rich," said Sam, swaying a little.

  "Indeed it will," said Peter Stone, rubbing his pudgy hands together.

  BETRAYAL

  Within months, Tejo began to grow. Espedie Raton and Peter Stone opened an office in a room in the front of Espedie's small adobe house. Espedie began hiring people to dig and work the mines. He promised the prospective workers a safe, clean working environment. Modern air venting and filtering techniques would be used. Peter Stone advertised the fact enthusiastically. Stone made certain his people knew that the Mao Corporation saved money by using primitive mining practices and techniques. Many of those were considered unethical but were not illegal, especially in Tejo—Stone saw to that.

  The first of the Stone-Raton mines opened outside Tejo City within a year and a half of its discovery. The Erdonium began to be pulled out at what seemed a phenomenal rate. There was actually nothing extraordinary about it. The simple fact was that there was a lot of Erdonium and no one needed special survival equipment to get at it.

  Sam Stone and Manuel Raton worked for their fathers. Sam had always had the drive for business. He quickly developed the talent and skills necessary to be a

  businessman. Manuel found it more and more difficult to concentrate on the day-to-day routine of running the business. Often Manuel would take half a day off work to go out to the desert, target shooting. He practiced with heplers and projectile weapons of all types.

  Manuel managed to convince Sam to go shooting one day. Sam aimed a hepler at an old can and fired. The pulsed beam blew sand several feet into the air. Manuel looked at the can four feet from the scorched earth and shook his head. "You're a lousy shot, amigo."

  Sam shrugged. "Well you're a lousy businessman."

  "What the hell does that mean?" asked Manuel, inclining his head.

  "You never come to work on time," sneered Sam. "When you do, you're a mess. You just don't give a damn about the business."

  "There's more to life than business, Sam." Manuel holstered his pistol. "At least I'm not a slave to some fiction called success."

  Sam kicked up some sand, then glared at Manuel. "Success is not a fiction! One day, Tejo City will be a center of commerce. Stone-Raton Mines will be a galactic power and I'll be in charge." He folded his arms defiantly. "Where will you be?"

  "In some other reality, I hope." Manuel looked off toward the horizon. "I'll be enjoying life while your ulcer eats you alive from the inside out."

  Sam Stone made a noise a little like a growl. He stormed to his new hover, hopped in and flew off. Manuel shrugged, unholstered the hepler and blasted the can cleanly in half.

  One week later, a starliner route was opened to Sufiro for the first time. Trans-Galactic Spacelines started a weekly jump from Earth to Sufiro. The ships were constantly full. Most people were looking for jobs in Tejo. There was, as yet, no official government in Tejo. As such, there was no limit to who could come or for what reasons. Peter Stone saw to that as well. In another two months, the mine on Raton Mesa was manned and operating. Stone used Raton's name liberally. The town that opened up near the mine was, in fact, named Raton.

  Three weeks later, Stonestown had both people and a productive mine. In that short time the population of Tejo overtook that of New Granada. Sufiro was on the galactic charts and Tejo was a household word. Peter Stone and Espedie Raton were folk heroes. It was widely told how the two wily men out-maneuvered the Mao Corporation and discovered Erdonium first.

  * * * *

  Suki Firebrandt arrived on Nantucket with a degree in history and another in physics. She found the home of Jerome Ellis and knocked on the white door. Ellis answered and gasped in surprise. She held out a bouquet of flowers. "Now it's my turn, Jerome Ellis. Will you marry me?"

  The captain's mouth hung open. "Yes!" he almost shouted. The two were married in the grand old Unitarian Church on Nantucket Island a week later. With her knowledge of history, nature, and science, Fire was hired to direct the Maria Mitchell Association on Nantucket. Maria Mitchell had been a

  pioneering woman in the field of astronomy. Fire would oversee ongoing work in natural sciences and historical preservation of the island; an important task, given that the planet Earth was already overrun by people.

  Within the year, Jerome and Fire had a son, John Mark Ellis. Fire taught Mark about the land and the stars. When Jerome was home from space, he took the young boy out to the ocean to emphasize its importance to the family.

  "What's it like to work in space, Daddy?" asked young Mark Ellis one day when he and his father were out in the Atlantic Ocean on the family boat.

  "It's a lot like this sea," said Jerome Ellis. "Only it's bigger ... more frightening at times ... Always awe inspiring."

  "Are there whales in space?" Mark liked seeing the great whales on these ocean voyages with his father.

  "There are creatures even more vast, even older, even more hot-blooded than the whales, my son." Jerome Ellis lit a cigar and leaned on the boat's railing.

  "I want to go to space," announced Mark.

  "You will," said Jerome. "One day, you will."

  * * * *

  On Sufiro, the Mao Corporation opened its first mine. Its employees were made up largely of people the Mao Corporation brought from other worlds supplemented by people that Espedie Raton had rejected in interviews. Stone's agents began spreading rumors about the poor quality of the workers in the Mao Corporation.

  At this point, Stone felt things were going well enough in Tejo that he could spend more time consolidating his own power base. First he caught a ship to New Granada and met with its governor, Floyd McClintlock. Floyd's office was comfortable but sparse. The chairs were big and cozy, if a little worn. The men shook hands. Stone sat facing the old, wooden table McClintlock used as a desk and told him of his plans to form a government in Tejo. "We want a legitimate government—treaties with Earth—everything done right and proper."

  McClintlock sat forward, resting his hands on the table. "It's been a long time since Senator Jackson came, trying to get New Granada to join the Gaean Alliance. Shortly after that, a few settlers moved to Little Sonora, the Senator made another trip and they joined. You sound like you're
selling the exact same bill of goods."

  "Am I?" asked Stone. "What I don't understand is why New Granada did not join the Gaean Alliance all those years ago." "It was about freedom, Mr. Stone," said McClintlock,

  leaning back. He remembered standing outside Firebrandt's

  homestead, listening to Jackson and the captain. "It was

  about the freedom to do what you did. If the entire Sufiro

  Government had joined Gaea there would be no Tejo today.

  Neither would there have been a Little Sonora or a Gato

  Archipelago. All of them came about because people here

  believe in freedom of the individual person to choose the

  government they want. The Gaean Alliance has grown so

  large that the individual no longer matters."

  "But on the frontier, that can mean power." Stone leaned

  forward, clasping his pudgy hands together.

  "How do you mean?" McClintlock inclined his head. "It means that the monster has gotten so big its left hand

  doesn't know where its right hand even is. It means that a

  small government with a lot of money can manipulate

  sections of that large government and bend it to our will." Stone was driving his index finger into the desk to make each

  point.

  "I lived on Earth," said McClintlock, sitting forward again.

  "I know what it's like to be ignored."

  "The secret is to be small enough not to attract much

  attention, but powerful enough to get what you want." Stone

  sat back. "Tejo is going to be a galactic power some day.

  What will New Granada be in say, ten years?"

  McClintlock shook his head. "It'll be a farming community,

  much as it is now. It'll be free. People will live healthily, as

  they see fit. Where will Tejo be, sir?" He stood and thrust his

  hands into his pockets. "Tejo will become as polluted and

  corrupted as the Earth itself. In ten years, at the rate Tejo's