by T I WADE
“I don’t think your style is much like waterskiing,” laughed Maggie as VIN slowly moved in front, and several feet below her using his tiny thrusters to follow Jonesy. “You look more like a drunk staggering home from the bar.”
“Then why don’t you try and ski around in zero gravity, Ms. Sinclair? I see it! Jonesy, slow down slightly or we’ll pass it.” VIN used his two thrusters to glide up a few feet and, concentrating on the golf balled sized stone, he gently caught it in his hand.
“Got it!” shouted VIN excitedly. “This is fun!”
For the next several minutes, Maggie directed her colleagues to where the two smaller stones were. These two looked about the same size Maggie was keeping for herself and VIN managed to get them into the canister. Maggie then went in search closer to the magnetic rock part of the asteroid which all three crew realized was getting further and further away from the front part of the asteroid. She found two more, larger than the first one, and a large piece of the black rock in which they had found the diamonds. VIN struggled but finally managed to just get the large rock into the canister. At three feet wide it was far bigger than any rock they had fitted in on the surface. He retrieved the two diamonds, both about the size of the original tennis ball-sized one they had first found and Jonesy, noting the time VIN had been out, called his fun enough for one day.
The dirt and debris around DX2014 was clearing; much of it was being pulled back to larger rocks and the rest was spreading out in all directions.
The next day both spacecraft attempted to get close to the magnetic rock Maggie had now named “Diamond One”. The area around it was clear and Jonesy attempted a landing although the entire surface was covered in rocks. The remains of the front half of the crater was hardly visible, and he could just see the flag.
Jonesy managed to land within a hundred feet of the flag and the legs of the spacecraft creaked as they displaced rocks when they touched the ground. This time, there was a crater wall on only one side, and the gravitational pull was far less, about two thirds of what it had been.
Maggie came in twenty minutes later with VIN on board. She found an area close to Astermine One and crunched on stone and pebbles as she touched the surface.
Jonesy suggested that they do nothing for an hour. VIN sent a message to earth while it was above him telling Ryan that they were back on what they thought would be the best rock to mine. He also explained that the rest of the asteroid was now about three miles away, several miles in front of them, and about to pass out of sight.
Ryan replied several minutes later, telling VIN to place a second directional beacon on the new rock. VIN replied that he would, and that the first beacon on the other rock several miles away was still working. VIN had placed the beacon on the forward piece just before they had rushed to leave. Nevada should still be picking up that one. Nevada replied a couple of hours later that they had both beacons now registering.
The two battery-powered beacons transmitted twice each hour, informing ground control in Nevada, as well as the dozens of computers aboard the spacecraft and shuttles, the exact whereabouts of the asteroids.
On the first trip, they had arrived next to DX2014 with just mathematical data on its direction and speed. Now they had these beacons to help their computers navigate.
VIN exited through the docking chamber after letting the ladder out over the roof and down the side of the spacecraft. Without the MMA, or Magnetic Metal Analyzer, which was floating around the universe somewhere, he couldn’t tell what the rocks were this time. On Jonesy’s orders he strapped himself with the cords from Maggie’s craft and strapped on his jet pack in case this rock wanted to break apart again.
VIN tied down the canister in which he had collected the diamonds floating around space. Then, while both pilots remained at the ready to evacuate the asteroid, VIN took an empty canister and floated around for two hours looking for more stones.
VIN wanted to go back to the edge of the crater that had broken apart. Attached to 300 feet of cord, he went to the site where Maggie discovered the diamonds. It was far easier work looking for soccer ball sized diamonds that collecting hundreds of the rhodium rocks, and Ryan had messaged him that rhodium wasn’t as valuable as before. VIN was sure that the diamonds would keep their value.
The empty canister was far lighter than before and he felt his steps on his comfortable new metal legs far springier. He slowly allowed the line to play out. There were rocks and stones everywhere and he couldn’t help but stand on them.
“Jonesy, remind them to pack a plain old earth flathead shovel on our next trip. There are so many stones that we need to make paths by using a shovel to clear them out of the way. Oh! I haven’t felt any of those vibrations since we’ve been back. Maybe the pressure has gone, like a dentist knocking out a tooth?”
“I haven’t either, but I hate things that sound too quiet,” Jonesy replied.
“See any more diamonds yet?” Maggie asked.
“Not yet, but I’m halfway to the cliff where your diamonds were. I hope I have enough rope to allow me to get that far. Oh! There is one, about the size of a finger nail, and another one, a little smaller.”
Within the first hour VIN found several of the black rocks, the ones with platinum in them. He decided to put his canister down and walk around in circles slowing trailing the cord out behind him and making larger and larger circles.
By the time he reached the end of the rope, he was still several feet from the edge of the cliff, and he made three small piles of rocks the right size to fit easily into the canister. He also found another golf ball-size diamond. He was beginning to feel like this was a useless escapade. It would take him months to fill all the canisters, and he decided to ask Ryan if they could return and get better equipment. This was getting boring.
Several hours later, aboard Astermine One, he received a reply from Nevada. Ryan suggested that Jonesy fly closer to the cliff which would allow him to see the edge and what was over the side. If there wasn’t anything to see, they could return.
The next day, VIN went out and cleared a landing zone for the two craft with the sweeper. It took him two hours and he filled one canister with any rocks the sweeper picked up.
Once done, he got out of the way while Maggie hovered off the surface and, with VIN guiding her, put down in the new clearing. He then released the cord on the other craft and headed towards the cliff. He was excited to see what was around the corner, as it dropped away to nothing. He slowly edged his way towards the lip with another empty canister under one arm.
VIN found a small diamond glistening at him a few feet from the side and realized that he was now standing on the black graphite-looking shards again. He returned for the sweeper and easily filled the canister with the tiny black sharp rocks. This was far easier and he hoped that it might be of some value to Ryan and his team. If they were going back, he might as well take something.
Among the shards were other rocks, so he decided to use his second hour to fill two more canisters. When they were as full as he thought he could lift them, he returned to Maggie’s hold and tied them down in. He felt better that they now had eleven canisters filled with about the same amounts of rocks as the first time.
He also realized that the sweeper probably worked as well as any shovel.
Once it was filled with the goods he had just collected, he closed the second cargo hold, opened the third to make sure everything was tied down and ready for an emergency take off. He had done this the day before to Astermine One’s entire cargo hold, which held most of the cargo up to now.
Then he went out again with another empty canister under his arm. In normal gravity he would have struggled to do this but now that there was less pull, he managed it without ever letting go of the cord in his other hand even though it was tied on to his suit.
He edged towards the cliff and got down on his knees and slowly peered over. He couldn’t see anything for a hundred feet. It was all black dull rock.
“J
onesy, you got gas? I’m tied to Maggie. Why don’t you takeoff and see if you can see anything flashy on this black cliff. This cliff is totally sheared off; it looks like it was cut by a knife. Maybe if the sun shone on it I could see something, but there is no contrast or color to see anything from here.”
“Roger, back away from the cliff and give me five minutes to get off,” Jonesy replied.
“The space behind the cliff looks clear. I can’t see anything floating around,” VIN added.
He watched as twenty minutes later Astermine One floated into view. It was the first time he had seen one of the spacecraft floating around space. Astermine One looked so small against the universe around them. She was certainly pretty; long and sleek. Jonesy was about half a mile away as he worked his way over to face the cliff VIN was trying to look at and slowly moved in closer.
“I can just see you partner. You look like a fly on top of a mountain. Wave to make sure I’m not looking at an alien.” VIN did so and Jonesy acknowledged that it was in fact a human being he was looking at.
Jonesy edged his way closer, having to roll the craft. He was about a hundred feet off the rear of the asteroid, and about twenty feet lower than VIN. VIN wasn’t on the top anymore, the asteroid had moved and VIN now looked like a fly on a vertical wall.
“Jonesy you forgot that I’m moving and you aren’t. You are looking vertical and looking at you not moving makes me want to puke.”
“Sorry partner,” Jonesy replied. “I’m turning on the searchlight.”
A bright shaft of light lit up the space in front of the spacecraft and VIN moved towards the edge and looked over. Now there were dozens of twinkling lights bouncing off the cliff wall below him.
“VIN, you do realize that you are in space, in a vacuum, and you are not going to fall over that cliff!”
“I was trying to get that in my brain,” replied VIN. “I just couldn’t get my brain to realize that I wasn’t going to fall anywhere. I suppose we are just too used to thinking about falling over cliffs on earth. Here goes.”
Carefully VIN swung his legs over the side. Nothing happened. It was so weird! Then he allowed the rope to play out and he let the rest of his body move over the lip. Still he didn’t fall.
“Jonesy, this is blowing my mind! Now I’m looking back at Maggie. Now she looks like a fly on a vertical wall.”
“But I’m sitting upright,” replied Maggie. “I can’t see you, but your cord is still tied.”
With his mind trying to prevail over its rational perception that it is not possible to stand horizontally, he backed away from the side of the cliff where Maggie was, closed his eyes and did what Suzi had told him to do back when he was trying on his legs. He concentrated on standing up. Nothing had changed. He stood up and felt like he was standing upright.
“Jonesy, do I look weird or what?” VIN asked.
“You sure do, partner. It looks like your feet are glued to the rock with your body at a ninety degree angle. You really look like a circus freak. There is a glinting rock about a dozen or so yards behind you. Your time is running out. I suggest you hammer at that one and see what it is.”
VIN trying to forget that he was now as good as a fly on the wall turned and let the rope play out to the stone he could see sparkling in front of him. It was big.
As he neared to within a couple of feet he saw that it was not stuck in the ground, but looked like it had reconnected with the magnetic asteroid.
His cord just made it as he tried to pick it up.
“Damn, I left the canister over the other side. It’s loose, round enough to roll it, and about three feet high. It’s about the same size as the biggest one we got. This is the best catch of the day so far. It is really beautiful, blue and red fire going out in all directions.”
“I think that all these stones are coming out of one hole. About fifty or so yards from you to your left; it looks like there is a vein or something, like a river of glittering fire coming from there. Looking at you, and you are six feet tall, the river of fire is about three times as long as you, about six feet wide at one end, and about a quarter of that at the lower end. I think that is where all these rocks are coming from. Maybe we can look in that area tomorrow. VIN, you need to get back to….”
“Jonesy there is that vibration again,” stated VIN, the ground shaking beneath his feet. I’m going to roll this diamond over the edge and get back to Maggie.”
“I confirm the vibration,” added Maggie. “I’m starting checks, VIN get back here.”
“I’m already over the cliff edge and reached the canister. I won’t be able to get this canister back to the ship very quickly, it’s too cumbersome. Jonesy I have an idea, I’m going to run back to the cliff edge and push it out into space with the diamond in it. It weighs about 50 or 60 pounds with this lower gravity, and I think it might float away from the rock. Oh crap! This rock is vibrating worse than a damn earthquake!”
Without Jonesy replying he closed the canister and used his powerful mechanical legs to run to the lip he had just climbed over. As he reached the lip he jumped as hard as he could and leaped into the air. As he jumped he pushed the canister way out in front of him.
The heavy silver canister shot away from him and he looked down to see that he was at least thirty feet off the rock, the rope jerking him back. Turning to face Maggie’s ship he hit the ground running.
“I’ve got your canister in sight,” Jonesy confirmed. “It is still heading upwards. I’m going to get underneath it and move it away from the rock. Get aboard with Maggie fast!”
“The vibrations are worse this time around,” added Maggie. “VIN get back here!”
VIN ran as fast as he could in such circumstances, coiling up the rope as he went. Within thirty seconds and still running at full mechanical-leg power he nearly smacked into the side of the spacecraft. He just had time to lift the sweeper into the hold and make sure the doors were shut so that Maggie could seal them from inside when the ground below his feet shook again, this time so violently that he could hardly stand. He looked behind him and suddenly saw a large fissure open several yards away. He jumped onto the ladder, nearly missing his step and his legs pushed him up and onto the roof. He clambered into the docking port bringing in the rope and the ladder, and closed the outer hatch behind him.
“Go, Maggie, go! I’m in the docking hatch!” shouted VIN.
“Maggie, get off now!” shouted Jonesy. “There is a massive fissure heading towards you from that river of fire. Lift off now!”
Suddenly VIN felt dizzy as the port dropped away around him, making his helmet float up and bump up against the outer hatch. The craft stopped for a split second and then shot up like an express elevator, pushing his feet towards the lower hatch.
“We are off!” shouted Maggie. “That was close! We were falling into the crack there for a second. Jonesy what’s happening? I’m showing forty feet altitude and climbing rapidly.”
“Keep coming, I’m still bumping this canister away. The whole area you were on has opened into a crack 100 feet wide. I’m sure the place where I saw that vein of diamonds is where these cracks are coming from. I bet it was the impact point of another asteroid hitting DX2014 before we got here on the first trip, and the pressure of impact must have formed the diamonds and weakened the whole asteroid at the same time. It’s staying together, but it seems to be heading towards the earth now. I reckon we have a problem here. Are you OK, VIN?”
“I’m fine partner.”
“How full is this canister I’m bouncing around?”
“About a quarter full, I could get a lot more diamonds in there. This is like our gambling in Vegas, Jonesy. Why leave when we are ahead?”
That’s what I’m thinking partner. Maggie, head to the rear of the rock. I bet this diamond river is breaking up and spilling out diamonds. VIN still has his cord and if we don’t get them now, I’m sure they will be gone in a few hours, floating around in space.”
VIN still had thirty minu
tes of walk time. Maggie maneuvered over to where Astermine One was and VIN released the outer hatch of the docking port and let the rope play out. He pushed himself out as the canister floated above his head, caught the now weightless object he had thrown into space, and hung onto it working his jet pack as best he could.
Jonesy showed Maggie where he had seen the river of fire. VIN floated behind in his water-ski pose as the two craft neared the rear of the breaking rock.
“Oh my god! It’s like a shower of a million lights everywhere. So beautiful!” declared Maggie almost reverently as they literally floated into thousands of flashing diamonds. The front searchlights of the two crafts lit up millions of rays of light in every direction.
VIN couldn’t open the canister quickly enough. There were diamonds all around him. It was like he was scuba diving in clear dark water with millions of small fish swimming around him. When he got the canister open, diamonds of all sizes immediately flew into it faster than he could collect them. One big clear rock, the size of a brick, nearly hit him on the helmet as he moved the canister up to allow it to float in.
Many of these clear rocks were not round, but every shape, oval and some even square or rectangular.
“Maggie, reverse thrust very gently,” VIN heard Jonesy tell Maggie. “One second thrusts only, you don’t want to get any stones into the thrusters. I’m reversing to keep floating with these things. A jewelry store never looked like this!”
“I need a new canister, this one is full already. I’m closing it. I’m also running out of jet pack fuel, my gauges are showing close to empty. Maggie, open the roof door. I will put this one in and get a second canister. I think I just have enough time to fill another one.”
“Roger, VIN, roof door opening. Make sure your cord is secure in case you run out of gas.”
“Actually, Maggie, Jonesy, I just got a fantastic idea. We can use the spacecraft as collection bins. Get the spacecraft nose down like a helicopter taking off. Open your cargo roof doors then act like whales feeding through these diamonds. There are thousands and thousands of them. Just let the diamonds enter the cargo holds. It will give us more than I could ever collect and we can go home early!”