by T I WADE
They managed three trips before Lunar asked somebody to open the door, and minutes later and a fourth load of ingots, SB-V edged gently into the cavern.
The cavern was big, but so had been SB-IV and now SB-V. The larger shuttles were about three times larger than the much smaller Matt spacecraft that now lay all over the terrain outside, and he worked out that both the remaining shuttles could fit in the cavern, parked carefully.
“Vitalily, once you have their suits on, give them a sleeper in the neck, then attach their helmets and carry the prisoners over. Lunar can open the inner hatch. Lunar they will be asleep don’t worry. We can suit the third one inside the shuttle once we are out of here. Lunar, we need 45 minutes to load, is Michael helmeted yet?”
“Just finished Mars, getting into the docking port now, mate” the Aussie replied.
“Lunar, open the forward cargo bay’s side door,” asked Mars and seconds later the door opened outwards to the empty cargo bay.
The cargo bay was totally empty for battle, apart for three empty canisters tied down to a screwed down floor pallet, and within seconds Max was in the cargo hold placing the black boxes in one canister while Joey placed the ingots Pete and Mars lifted in into another. At four feet above the ground the ingots were pretty easy to lift up and onto the floor of the shuttle.
Max packed up the 15 black boxes, closed the canister and began to help pack in the ingots into the third canister.
“Come on guys lets fill up these canisters, at least Martin Brusk or Dr. Smidt will be happy to get a little treasure,” stated Max, and they all headed into the cavern to collect more. Michael Price was awe-struck by what he saw, but was pressed forward by Mars.
“This place is a treasure drove. It’s a bleeding sports stadium in here it’s so big. Are those are all gold bars over there?” he asked as he was gang-marched forward.
Within thirty minutes, and allowing for suit time for Max and crew to get back into Mattville, they carried in and filled up the two canisters and the area around the canisters with 100 silver and 25 gold ingots.
The drugged prisoners had already gone through the docking hatch one by one, and Mars, who was last in the cavern opened the cavern’s outer door and had time to climb into the forward cargo bay. Lunar closed it and readied to exit.
The crew saw the large cavern door close as they headed away, as if it was saying goodbye and knew there was no more traffic in or out.
The flight was short, less than 15 minutes before Lunar brought SB-V into Mattville’s cavern. Here the prisoners were carried out by Vitalily’s crew of five guys and taken up the lift, through the tunnel and into the new chamber.
Enroute VIN had given the order for Vitalily’s Russian crew from the Retreat to suit up and join the crew in SB-V. They were going to Ceres and only had an hour to pack up all their private belongings.
Max said goodbye to Mars once Mars had given him ten of the black boxes. The rest were heading out on the next part of the journey.
“Take care buddy, I’m going to try and get those holes filled and our subway running before you get back. Fly safe and see you soon. I hope Jonesy makes it, or I‘m going to have to run ASS. I want a report on his condition each communication, understand?”
They hugged spacesuit style and Mars entered the docking port last, and Lunar lifted out of the cavern once Max was safely in the tunnel.
A day later, and with only two of the six ships connected to America Two, the mother ship headed out of orbit, and twelve hours later was on her way to Ceres, two months away.
Chapter 20
War of the Worlds—Act Four—Ceres
Jonesy slept for a week before he regained consciousness. The first face he saw was his daughter Saturn, and he smiled when she called her mother that he was awake. At least she was OK.
“Where are we?” he mumbled to Saturn, very weak.
“In the mother ship on our way to Ceres, the Matt base and refueling station on the dwarf planet in the Asteroid Belt,” Saturn replied.
“My legs don’t hurt as bad as they used to,” Jonesy stated smiling as the pretty face of his wife came into his vision. He noticed that she had a black eye, and a bandage down the one side of her face. “Looks like you need a better chauffeur,” he stated accepting a kiss from Maggie.
“You need more rest,” she replied smiling. “The medics are going to keep you resting for a few more days but we’ll be close by.”
“I know, and I’ve done it before. Who has the good news and who has the bad?” joked Jonesy looking at the only two girls left in his life. He knew that the third girl, SB-III was no more. “And can I get a small shot of something before the bad news is spelled out?”
“Certainly not Herr Jones,” smiled Suzi as she floated in with VIN and an older looking Ryan Richmond. “Even if they allowed drinking in Bavarian hospitals, you are not in one at the moment.”
“How are you feeling partner,” smiled VIN.
“God! With all these people smiling at me, the news must be bad. You guys will turn me to drink with all this smiling crap!” Jonesy replied.
“I’m the bearer of the report partner, don’t shoot the messenger. You ladies can stay or go, up to you,” stated VIN continuing to smile and looking at the ladies around the astronaut.
“I would prefer it in private, with the boys, maybe I’ll get a drink that way,” he replied trying hard to smile back at his smiling friends. The girls nodded, they knew Jonesy would be happier to be with his partner, and Suzi had made sure that VIN wasn’t carrying anything liquid. It was a man thing!
“VIN, tell me the good news first,” Jonesy asked once the ladies had left. “Ryan you look tired?”
“Yes, the loss of four good friends but at least you and Maggie made it. And I have a miniature of JD Bourbon for you. VIN was checked by Suzi, but nobody checked me.” He smiled, opened the tiny bottle and let Jonesy suck out its contents. Jonesy tasted the sharp liquid, smiled and his pale face took on some color.
“Now I know I’m still alive, is that the good news partner?”
“Most of it,” replied VIN. “Apart for half of your brain, we all know you were never given the other half, you are OK from the waist upwards. You have a broken right arm, which will mend and is encased in soft silicone. You have two eyes, two ears, your taste buds work and Maggie is fine, as you have seen.
“I don’t need to produce any more children.” Jonesy stated.
“We wouldn’t want too many Jones in the solar system, the Matts especially don’t want any more of your type, and yes if you were young, you still have the possibility of more children,” replied VIN accepting a miniature from Ryan, who drank one himself.
“Well that should keep Maggie happy,” Jonesy remarked. “All this good news is getting too much, I’m ready for the bad news now, partner.”
“Remember when Suzi and I overtook you at first day we were running around the airfield, decades ago?’ VIN asked.
“Oh crap! Now all three of us can beat everybody else around the runway?” Jonesy asked. VIN smiled and nodded, his partner was always quick.
“You got another one of those bottles, boss?” Jonesy asked. “At least my legs don’t hurt so bad anymore.”
“No, but I have a Russian vodka, just one left,” Ryan replied.
“I’ll pay you back on Earth,” and Ryan let the contents of the second bottle be sucked down Jonesy’s throat.
“At least my legs won’t give me that crappy pain from the damn sleep chamber made for midgets anymore,” Jonesy replied enjoying the flavor and licking is lips. “How much did I lose VIN?”
“Both legs just above the knee. Look at the good side. You still have more leg than me, and I can still fly, and go fishing and hunting,” replied his partner.
To VIN, Jonesy just seemed to accept the loss of his legs. Maybe it was because he himself, and Suzi had been legless for so long, and he had proved to Jonesy that he had never been prevented from being part of the team.
&
nbsp; The medic came in, increased one of Jonesy’s drips and within minutes he was sound asleep.
Dr. Smidt, down in Nevada had already been given the new order and measurements for another set of the most modern prosthetic legs.
“Max, how is the spacesuit training coming on, over?” asked Ryan from America Two’s Bridge two weeks later. The ship had just gone from acceleration-mode to coast-mode at 120,000 knots, and once again the planet he was speaking to was a bright star far behind them. Both the red planet and the mother ship were travelling much in the same direction, and Ceres would be getting closer to both for a further two weeks, before Mars’ orbit began to pull it away from the dwarf planet inside the Asteroid Belt. The Matts had timed their arrival well, hence the reason for America Two to head to the tiny planet as soon as possible.
“No need for the three captives to have spacesuit training,” replied Max a few minutes later. “We took video feed of the three holes and the builders showed us how to place a black box inside the middle hole. It is extended both sides of the tunnel wall area, inside and out, and we are heading there once a day with half a dozen air tanks to fill the shield with air. In 48 hours, we will be able to move into the shield with a power connection, food, water and I will have my build crew to remain in the shield and fill the holes, over.”
“Have you sensed any communications between them and their guys on Ceres?” asked VIN.
“Yes, there has been contact, we can tell from our questions to them about communications but they seemed scared to tell us anything. I think they will come over to our side over time, but they can never be trusted, over,” Max replied.
“I agree,” replied VIN. “They will travel back to Earth with us on our next flight to Mars in two years’ time. Our fuel reserves are below half, and we cannot return to Mars on the way home. Max, I need you to head into one of the other globe rooms and see if there is any sign of enemy ships still heading to Mars, or if there are more ships heading from Europa to Ceres. No rush but within a week will do, over.”
Not much was happening. The Martian Club Retreat was closed down, and its cameras showed no visits. Mattville was a busy place but quiet and safe. The three captives had been blindfolded when they had been taken into the new base, and were told that they were in the base the Matts always attacked. So far it had seemed to work.
Nothing had been seen flying on the solar-powered radar system on top of Lookout Mountain. Max had a direct link to the radar system, and there had been no spacecraft anywhere in the vicinity of the 500-mile radar range since it had come on line, three days after SB-V had left the planet’s surface.
It was exactly a week later when VIN received an answer to his questions.
“We have molded and fitted the first of three curved silicone glass panels to fit inside the tunnel to wall off the first hole,” began Max on a long, now once a week report. “Since silicone glass has a higher melting temperature than gold, we are going to get a smelter out there into a second shield, then melt a lining of gold and cover it with Martian soil to seal the holes from cosmic, X-ray and gamma radiation above the glass panel. We worked it out that an eight-inch wall of gold under a foot-thick soil layer should give us the safety of traveling through the tunnel without needing spacesuits. I headed through on our little train all the way down the tunnel to the other base while the guys fitted the panel. We have cleared the tracks and it took me an hour at a very careful speed to get there. I reckon we can do it in twenty minutes, once we have experience in running the train. The whole base the other side of the protective blue shield is back to a normal Matt atmosphere, so we can begin filling the tunnel with air from both sides once it is completely sealed in about a month. I checked the globe room. The best news, the enemy ships have all turned round. The red planet globe is still dark and there are enemy spaceships both sides of Ceres. They are all travelling in the same direction, back towards Europa. I counted 70 tiny lights heading from Ceres to Europa and 160 lights heading towards Ceres from Mars. So we know that the enemy have at least 230 enemy fighters. I cannot be accurate, but I believe that the 70 lights are about a tenth of the way from Ceres to Europa, and the 160 lights are much closer to Ceres than the other group. That is my report, over.”
Over the next day, the crew worked on the Bridge’s computers checking the estimated distances Max had given them. The enemy ships heading back from Mars were a week out from Ceres, and the flights heading towards Europa were a month out on their journey from the dwarf planet. There was no way the furthest enemy ships could return fast enough to defend Ceres once America Two got there. It also seemed that America Two had well over twice the cruising speed of the Matt ships, and the astronauts reckoned that 50,000 knots was their maximum speed, as they had seen all the Matt ships at this maximum speed throughout the battles.
The mother ship was still a month away from the planet, and the next report from Max in a week would be very important.
“I’m getting to like this floating stuff,” stated Jonesy to VIN and the Bridge crew a day or so later when he floated into the bridge with the help of Suzi, who was floating with him, and Maggie who was wearing metal shoes, and propelling both of them along.
“I bet floating in here is harder than flying a shuttle,” smiled VIN as his partner entered.
“You’re right,” remarked Jonesy. “No flight controls, and I have to push myself off the walls and roof, even the floor sometimes. This is certainly uncontrolled flight.”
“Today’s briefing is about Ceres,” began Ryan once Vitalily and his crew, and the security team had arrived for morning coffee. “Even though we have this large stock of ingots, we humans still need a base in the Asteroid Belt. That is where the real mining is, and we need to defend Ceres from attack once we get it. Comments please.”
“We need to capture whatever the Matts have there, and hopefully our inhabiting this dwarf planet will hinder the Matts traveling to the red planet,” stated VIN immediately from a security standpoint.
“We certainly don’t need to mine for several of the Rare Earth metals for a century or two,” added Igor looking at his notes. “From Mars’ records of ingot numbers, and backed by Max doing a second count last week, we believe to have 789,990 12 inch cubed ingots in total stored in the two chambers. The gold ingots the crew brought with them are 5 times the size of our regular-size gold ingots on Earth, or 2,000 ounces. The quality is identical to our ingots on Earth. Each bar in Earth’s gravity will weigh 137 pounds, or just over 62 kilograms. Dr. Smidt reported to me yesterday that gold was worth $2,455 per ounce 24 hours ago, which puts each of the 185,000 plus gold ingots at just under $5 million each.” There were sounds of shock and everyone looked at Igor to do the math. “OK, OK, just the gold inside the caverns is worth $925 billion. Nearly one trillion dollars, crew! And some of the Rare Earth metals are worth double down there.” There was silence as the number was chewed on.
“I can get gold bathtub fittings on my boat,” joked Jonesy. “Hey, I can get a bigger boat!”
“So as not to sink with your new gold fittings,” joked VIN.
“Igor, the rest of the ingots please?” asked Ryan not seeming very perplexed. Money didn’t really mean anything to him anymore.
“Mars and Max brought in 125 ingots, 25 were pure gold, ten were each osmium, neodymium, lithium, erbium, scandium and one we have always struggled to find anywhere on earth, and what I believe much of the Matt technology is produced with—gadolinium. Gadolinium is important in manufacturing lasers and I believe their maser technology, and most importantly: neutron capture for the blue shields. This is also one of the most important metals for computer memory. The last ingots were the most valuable: five ingots of rhodium and unbelievingly 15 ingots of iridium. As you know Martin Brusk would sell his soul for unlimited amounts of lithium and especially iridium.”
“Boss” interrupted Boris always more to the point. “Those are just half of the metals we need to find to build modern technology, and the others w
ill be in the Asteroid Belt. That is why we need to capture Ceres, takeover their base, and then we will need all the mining help the rest of planet Earth can give us.
“So, the future plan for Astermine” continued Ryan “and our two large ships my daughters built, are to travel backwards and forwards between Mars and Ceres?”
“That would be one small step for us, and one giant leap for mankind,” replied Igor simply. Ryan now understood what his destiny was: to continue in the footsteps of his three boyhood heroes—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
“Weather is sunny on the Martian Gold coast,” joked Max on his next newscast a few days later. “The second section of silicone-glass is in, the gold melted on the first tunnel hole, two feet of soil and another foot of rocks and stones covers it. From outside, and apart for the dusty gold mounds, it never looked like a hole ever existed.”
We have done a few changes to the train. I hope you don’t mind Jonesy, but we took out what was left of your cockpit chairs out of SB-III and set them up on the train. We are wanting to build a second set of carriages, and plan on five in all. Ryan, we need two more chairs, and then we can have four people riding in style down the track with a caboose on the end for cargo. The trip with the two chairs worked well and Joey and I covered the journey to the other base in 27 minutes. We are doing a few alterations to the wheels and suspension and I still think the train can do it in 20 minutes. An even better idea. If you want Dr. Smidt to work on a new train, we could increase the track to head right through to the end of their Base Three, and build a turning system each end. Also a train made in Nevada could be made longer. I suggest a ten-seat passenger train with caboose, and a ten carriage cargo train for supplies. Just my suggestions. The lights from Ceres to Europa are still heading in the same direction. Some of the lights have disappeared in the second group. I believe they have landed on Ceres. I’m sure they don’t have landing facilities for all their spaceships, so some could be resting and refueling. End of message, over.”