by Chris Hechtl
They had set up on Vesta after a group had set up major protests over using Ceres. The idea that one family could claim a dwarf planet had been too much for many to swallow apparently. That forced John Schnauvel the patriarch to refocus his team's efforts on Vesta. He had been open to investment by other companies, and so far that had worked out well.
Paul wasn't certain how long Ceres would remain uncontested and alone. Not long if the gold rush panned out. He hoped they would work out an equitable deal to get another base in the belt and leave Ceres alone. But that was dependent on all of the companies’ agreement on such a proposal, and sticking to it. Since Ceres was so massive he doubted that would happen.
Most of the other mining outfits were unmanned. They were concentrated on the near earth asteroids, which was what he'd wished Todd had gone with now that they were underway. The other outfits failed surprisingly often; the machines had no interest in keeping themselves functional, after all. The manned outfits had more success but were far more dangerous for those involved. Two outfits had died, one due to a solar flare, another had gone freakishly silent and had never been heard from again. Todd was a romantic, he and his father had insisted on setting their sights on the main belt.
The Belters, as some were starting to call themselves were an independent and lively group. They were adopting some of the attitudes of the Klondike, stubbornness, an ability to Mickey Mouse repairs to nurse equipment along, a sense of community and friendly competition, but also a sense of ... help. If one belter needed it, the others would help if they could. If nothing else they were free with their radio advice.
Case in point, Vesta. Todd had talked John Schnauvel into letting his crew see his outfit and base their search for an appropriate rock of their own from their Vesta claim. Technically Todd could set up on Vesta, at 525 kilometers in diameter there was certainly enough room for everyone in the belt to be on the one rock. But Todd had his own ideas.
Sometimes Paul wondered if he'd hitched himself to the right rising star. He'd have to wait and see, he supposed.
One rival manned group was on their way to 16 Psyche. The asteroid was considered dense enough to harbor a core of metal it was assumed, but it was nearly 3 AU out, far out. It was also a long shot that the group would be able to dig into the hard surface and extract a cargo and survive a return flight.
Todd's interest in Lagroose Industries had been interesting. He'd pushed for the resupply rocket to launch. Paul had been forced to intercede when things had gotten heated between Luigi Irons and Houffman, apparently Todd had neglected to pay the deposit and the bank was stick about doing it remotely, or so he'd said. Since part of the supplies were for his own people too, Paul had authorized an early payment to fund the deposit. That allowed the company to be reassured and get the supply rocket off to them. His wife would be reassured by that. He looked over to Brandy, smiled at her plucking at her tablet, then away. Brandy was their medic, cook, and gopher for the group. He treasured her greatly for her ability to hide her fear and go on the adventure of a lifetime with him. She was backing his play. He knew she'd take it out of his hide repeatedly at a later date. He shook his head, smiling slightly at the thought.
One thing he did like about Todd was his ability to spin a good project. He was good with speeches, great at rousing his people. Day to day leadership was still questionable though. These guys, Dave his second in command and others, all would follow him into hell if necessary.
Hopefully it wouldn't come to that because one Paul Marriott would be going for the ride right along with them.
=> O
The spin for the show started to kick up interest in space once more. Many industrialists knew the finite amount of rare metals on Earth. There was supposedly a 40 or 50 year supply left. It was also acknowledged that the supply had come from outer space to begin with, so, like any miner, you went to the source.
Industries, investment groups, and corporations started to buy into various projects. A few did quiet takeovers in mergers or sold off unwanted assets to the unsuspecting people who didn't know what they were getting into.
Crowd funding groups kicked up again as small time investors and get rich quick people got involved. Scams were rife on the web.
One outfit ran a Ponzi scheme for several months before they were eventually caught out when a wily investor figured out that they couldn't be getting a return on an investment when nothing had been brought to Earth yet.
She had exposed the scheme. Much to Wanda's shock her great nephew Alfanzo was at the bottom of it, trading on the family's name to make his fortune. The scandal had set the media a storm as he was hounded into the courtroom.
Wanda and the family on Mars were only partially insulated from the backlash. They too were sued by those looking to recoup their losses. Fortunately the legal team the family had on retainer in Washington deflected the suits and got them dismissed.
The negative publicity didn't help Jack any. His Lagroose Industries had started to swell from investors. He'd been careful to only accept investors who had the same long term vision he had. He also refused to sell more than 5 percent of his company. The Irons family already held the third highest amount of shares and he wasn't willing to dilute his own shares and therefore control by selling out.
The additional investment allowed him to purchase two more PAM rockets and a shipment of gear ... as well as an old transhab station. The station had been built for a defunct space hotel. He renamed it Lagroose-1 and planned to use it as a shipping hub in Earth orbit for the business once they had their own cargo carriers. For now it would remain empty.
Speculation over the amount the various mining outfits could return had awakened an interest in the rare metals market. It had seesawed wildly up and down as various people considered all the options and played the field. It finally settled down elevated.
Some in the investment industry thought another oil bubble was growing around the rare metals market. Some of the industries reliant on the metals to produce goods tried to hedge their stocks which drove the price up confirming the worst fears of a potential bubble. The governments of the world were unsuccessful in deflating the issue.
=> O
Todd grinned as his ship sent out harpoon grapnels to Vesta's surface. Once the harpoons sunk themselves in, motors brought the cables taught then slowly reeled the craft down to the surface. It was nerve wracking, they had to be careful and not use their fuel, but had to be ever vigilant of a potential problem. Fortunately the pad was safe and level. Still, since he didn't plan to be there long, he had them stop a couple of meters from the surface.
John and his grandson met them when they exited the lock. They shook hands and laughed as Todd handed over a small bottle of whiskey. John grinned and handed over a plastic wrapped container of home grown food. It was of course all filmed by Paul and his crew.
“We're mighty glad to see some new faces out here,” the older man said as the handshake broke.
“And we're glad to be here. Glad to see some new faces too. We've been cooped up a while,” Todd said as his crew unloaded behind him. He nodded to the teenager standing behind his grandfather.
“I'd offer you dinner but we're a trifle small. A closet is roomy,” John said, shaking his head.
“That's okay. Why don't you give us that tour you promised and then we can get out of your hair.”
“Sure. Sure thing,” John drawled with a toothy smile as he waved a gloved hand to the distant work lights on the surface. “Where do we start? The mine or the wash plant?”
“Wherever you prefer,” Todd said, hands up.
“In that case, let's start at the beginning,” John said with a nod. As they started to walk he filled them in on some of the history.
“We're not doing shaft mining, though we could. What I did was set up a bot to probe the surface. We go where the hot spots are and peel off the material,” he said, pointing to a robot trundling along as it skimmed the surface. “Once we get down to the mat
erials we're after we send it to the wash plant. The rest we dump,” he said, indicating the growing ring around the asteroid.
“If we had the right materials, we could pack your tailings up and ship it to the people on Axial 1,” Todd mused.
“You could. It wouldn't hold together under acceleration though. Not unless you bagged it, and if you did it'd tear right through over time.”
“That's a part of the problem. Send them a rock and the people on Earth scream about the sky is falling and how they can't process it. How it's mostly junk. Send them a pebble and they either can't catch it or they break it when they do,” Parker Schnauvel said, interjecting himself into the conversation.
“Oh, my manners. This is Parker, my grandson. He'll be taking over for me when this season concludes. I'll be headed out on the return rocket,” John told them.
“Parker,” Todd said nodding to him. “I'm Todd, My dad's another John but we call him Jack. There's Dave over there, he's one of my partners and the best site manager I've seen,” he said waving to Dave.
Todd stroked his beard a few times. “Can you slag the outside of the rock?”
“Slag it?”
“Weld it together I mean? Or use a heavy wire net? Something to keep it tight? I'm thinkin’, and this is just off the top of my head ... if there was a way to melt the outside of the rock, but keep the center soft, you could send them the gravel just fine, right?”
John Schnauvel nodded, eyes glimmering. “I think that's something we could try.” He eyed his grandson. Parker pursed his lips then smiled slightly, shrugging.
“If you packed the inside with goodies, that'd go a bit too. Melting the outside would be like making your own ship or something,” Todd mused, looking up as he scratched under his chin. “It'd be kinda cool,” he said thoughtfully. “I mean, if we could do it here, we could hollow out the interior, throw in something like a transhab and inflate it, and presto, a habitat,” he said, eyes going wide as he started to get onto a roll. “I mean think about it, presto, instant radiation shield!”
“Water is better,” John said nodding.
“You need to forgive my son. Todd gets this way sometimes. He is a dreamer,” Jack said.
“We've got a small crew,” Dave said, interrupting them. “And a tight air supply so let's get a move on. Besides, I don't think any of us like being out exposed to the radiation if we can help it,” he said meaningfully.
“Agreed,” John said with a sigh. “I've gone beyond my recommended rad dose too many times. Cancer,” he said, shaking his head.
Todd looked at him. The old man had a drawn craggy face. He was lively though. “I'm sorry to hear that. Our medic can give you a checkup,” he offered.
John nodded slowly. Todd could see a bit of relief in the reflection from Parker's helmet. He nodded to the kid. “And she's pretty even though she's married.”
“Oh my,” John said with a grin and chuckle. “It's a date,” he laughed.
“Or an appointment,” Dave said shaking his head. He caught Paul's sour look and smiled sympathetically. He didn't like it that Todd did that to another man's wife either. Fortunately for Todd it wasn't his wife.
He wasn't sure what possessed Todd to throw ideas out like that. To the competition of all things. Did the man want to get a leg up? Or did he want them to waste their energy? He shook his head, focusing on the here and now. They needed to stick to the schedule or they'd get behind right out of the gate. He didn't need that sort of headache. Every waking moment was heavily scheduled. They only had six months on site.
“So, you mine the stuff you want,” Todd said, getting them back on track. They watched a remote controlled rover trundle by. It had spikes in its tires to keep it firmly locked on the ground. Small puffs on rockets pointed up also kept it firmly on the rock. “To the wash plant,” he said indicating the power plant and industrial complex. “Which is ...”
“A Deep Space Industries orbital smelter. Or it was. The heart of it is at any rate. It's been rebuilt so many times it's hard to tell the old from the new I suppose. We run the cut through a series of shakers and processors to filter out what we don't want,” Parker explained, pointing out the various chutes and belts. Tailings came off a belt and went heavenward to the stars, feeding the ring around the rock.
“The tailings will eventually come down. The gravity here is stronger than the force we're using to eject it. Hopefully we'll be long gone by then,” Parker went on to explain. He turned and pointed to the plant. “We do use a finite amount of water, but most of it is heat and electricity. We get our product out there,” he pointed to a furnace. “Once a week. Then we pack the ingots in a rocket and ship them back to Earth orbit.”
“Ah. Where they can be further refined by the customers?” Dave asked.
“Exactly,” John replied, holding the whiskey bottle carefully. “I'm going to get this inside before anything happens to it. The alcohol won't freeze but ...” he shrugged. The others nodded and watched him go.
“Grandpa doesn't have much energy these days,” Parker said quietly. They turned to him. “But he's still the heart and soul of this.”
“Understood,” Todd said softly.
=> O
“Todd, why'd you tell them all that? Those ideas?” Dave asked, eying Todd once he got them aside. He was smart enough to ask when they were alone in the habitat, not out on the surface where their radio chatter could be picked up.
Todd picked at his paperwork, then looked up. “What's that?”
“All that stuff. Volunteering to check the old man out. I mean I feel for him but we need the resources for the crew. Our crew. And those ideas ... you know they are the competition, right?”
“Right now, it's more about everyone trying to survive out here. We can't exactly scream for help and get it,” Todd said. “And they have the voice of experience. Besides, learning what can happen to us long term here is worthwhile,” he said with a diffident shrug as he put the tablet away.
“And the ideas?”
“Oh that,” Todd chuckled. He ran a hand over his nearly bald scalp. Most of the men were pretty shorn to keep things easy to maintain. “I was brainstorming and it just came out. I don't see any harm. Besides, they know what'll work and what won't. Hopefully I didn't make any bad impressions,” he said with a grimace.
“But to do that ...”
“Well,” Todd smiled slightly. “If they do end up doing it ... and it works, we will know. And if it doesn't ...” he shrugged. “Then they wasted their time and material, not us.”
Dave eyed him for a long moment then nodded slowly. “Okay, gotcha. We need to get back out there. Jack's good at feeding the machine but his mind slips. And when that happens, accidents happen.”
“I know,” Todd replied with a suffering sigh as he moved out. “I'm on shift. You've got graveyard as usual, so hit the rack.”
“I'll do my best,” Dave said, pulling out his pillow and punching it into shape.
=> O
Jack smiled as Irina came into the room. She was a cute kid, bouncy and so full of life. Her blond curls made her look a bit like Shirley Temple. She was growing out of it though, at ten she was growing into a lean young woman. She was also a little hellion, one of the leaders of the so called “brat pack.”
She also had a rather obvious crush on him. Betsy Irons had counseled him on it, and with Luigi as her dad and his partner he knew better than to be trapped alone with the kid. Which was why her being in his little closet of a workshop was probably going to come up.
“What's up, Miss Muffet? Someone else sitting on your tuffet?” he quipped.
“What'cha doin’?” she drawled, looking at him and cocking her head.
“Working. I have a bunch of people I need to supply with this stuff.”
“Oh.” She yawned. “Sounds boring. Why can't they make it themselves?” she asked, cocking her head.
“Because they can only take so much weight. Mass.”
“Mass ...” Her
small lips puckered in a frown. He kept busy, moving the tray out of the printer then resetting the machine. Once it was running he went over the bolts, inspecting them for flaws with a hand scope then cleaning the flash off. He fully intended to recycle the flash.
He heard her snap her fingers and turned to her. “You're talking about a space mission?” she asked, eyes bright.
“Yeah.” He nodded to Cory as she came in behind Irina. Sherman wouldn't be far behind he thought as he set the bolts into a bin. He was falling behind and he knew it. He needed to hire someone if he was going to manage the business and go into space on the station to launch the PAM in a couple of weeks.
“What's that?” Cory asked.
“Bolts. I'm working on a resupply mission for a group of miners on their way to the belt.”
“Why they goin’ there?” the eight-year-old demanded.
“Because it is where a lot of minerals are. Rare stuff that they think they can make a lot of money on.”
“Oooh,” Cory said, nodding as if she understood. “Wanna play,” she said, grabbing Irina's hand. “Come on Trina, let's go play tag,” she urged.
“In a minute,” Irina said, ignoring her for the moment. Cory pouted, crossing her arms and sticking her bottom lip out. Jack saw it and snorted. But a small hand reached around the door jamb to goose her. She yelped and turned on the culprit. Jack heard her take off with a shout of anger.
“Finally,” Irina said, pulling a stool up. “Kids these days,” she said, all an adult at ten. Jack fought to keep a straight face. Irina was precocious, usually level headed, and very intelligent. If she'd been on Earth, she would have been in high school like he had been at her age. Possibly college too. He knew she was taking college courses online.
“I want to help.”
“Irina ...”
“I know lives are on the line. I also want to do more than stare at this place. Play in the tunnels ...” She shook her head. “Going outside is nice but I want more. Mom and dad said the universe is ours if we put our minds and hearts into what we want to do. This is it,” she said indicating the three printers he had arrayed on the improvised desk. Four others were near, but two were down for maintenance and one needed to be resupplied.