I closed my eyes and imagined a happier place. The lakeside grove on Earth. I'd been at peace there. My breathing became rhythmic. My heartbeat calmed, barely audible. Instinct guided my hand to the handle of my sword, and I drew it.
A massive bone-jarring impact drove me to my knees. I opened my eyes. And yelped.
Impaled to the hilt of my sword was a huge glowing yellow beast. Its body was just beginning to decay into shards of light. Then I noticed my surroundings.
Beautiful trees made of green energy surrounded me in a perfect simulation of the grove. Even the lake shimmered an iridescent blue.
“Breathtaking…” gasped Sami. “I never imagined that this level of beauty could mathematically exist.”
I smiled. Across the landscape, beasts and monsters of every shape and color dotted my vision. “I could get used to this.”
“Bishop, quit your daydreaming,” griped Steve. “You have at least three hostiles heading straight for you.”
I looked to the horizon. Sure enough, huge beasts with flaming red manes loped toward us trailing fire like comets.
I returned the sword, raised my rifle to my shoulder, and charged the capacitor to full. When it beeped ready, I sighted down the scope as I steadied the massive rifle with both arms. I fired. The recoil moved my body several feet backward. The projectile streaked across the ground separating us and caught the beast in the chest. It collapsed, sliding to a halt.
A moment later, the second beast went down in much the same manner. I looked over at Sami, and my eyes widened. He had taken a mirrored shot to mine but with one arm. And he hadn't used his shoulder to steady the weapon.
“The next one is on you. I'll be of no use in a melee fight.”
I had a few seconds before the beast was on top of me. “You said I can affect physics here, right?”
“To an extent, yes.”
I released my grip on the rifle, allowing it to clatter to the ground. It was overheated anyway and was useless. I pulled out the sword and crouched. I pulled on my willpower, focusing energy in my arms and legs. The beast was here.
I jumped forward in an upward arc and came down on the beast, blade pointed at the ground. It sunk to the hilt, pinning it to the ground. It twitched once and stopped moving. All three exploded into shards of red light.
“That was unexpected,” said Sami.
“Yup.” I pulled the sword from the digital dirt. “Steve, any other surprises?”
“More viral infections starting to spread to your area. It seems you pissed them off. As usual.”
“Are any of our footholds in danger of falling?”
“Nothing that I can see. I’d say keep pushing. Also, what’s wrong with Sami? His signal is intermittently going out.”
“He took a pretty good hit to the shoulder. He says he’ll be okay, but he’s hurt pretty bad. Need to finish up and get him some help.”
“Okay then, get going.”
I reached out a hand and helped Sami to his feet. “You good?”
“Always. Let’s move.” He collected his rifle and reset it. Now that it had cooled, it would be useful once again.
I grabbed my own rifle from the ground with my left, just as Sami had done. Rifle and sword, we set out down the hillside. At the edge of our vision, we could make out an ivory tower which seemed to glow from within.
“What do you suppose that is?” I asked.
“An anomaly. One which we should likely investigate.”
We walked for what seemed like hours. Beasts and monsters of every shape and color hunted us as we made our way to the anomaly.
“Is it me or does this seem too easy?”
Sami laughed. “Have you not noticed the extent of my injuries? I would not label this as easy.”
“I meant that I expected the infections to put up more of a fight.”
“Or perhaps my military support routines are no match for the civilian-created viral infections?”
“Maybe. But even David felled Goliath.”
“Indeed. Even with superior firepower, our odds of success are quite minimal against such opposition.”
“We should move faster. We’re able to run, right?”
“I’ve never had the need to, but yes. How fast would you like to go?”
“Huh? How fast can we go?”
“I am unsure. Would you like to find out?”
“Are you challenging me?” I asked.
“Indeed. Are you ready?”
I surged forward with an unimaginable amount of speed. My peripheral vision instantly blurred into streaks. Kilometers of landscape sped by every heartbeat. Sami ran beside me, one arm dangling uselessly at his side.
“I like this,” I said. “I can even talk, and I’m not out of breath.”
“Of course. Your body is not exerting any effort. Only your mind.”
“This is great. To the anomaly!” I shouted.
The glowing ivory tower turned out to just be a massive crystal formation pulsing with light. I had assumed it was a building or bunker or even a small city. It protruded from the ground as if someone had simply drove the crystal down from the sky with a massive force.
“What is it?” I asked.
Sami knelt down at its base and placed his palm upon it. A blue halo of light radiated where he placed his hand. “It seems to be some sort of hidden data store. Steve. Did your sister perhaps have a phrase or password that only you and her would know?”
“Um,” replied Steve. “Try Martin Frost?”
“Who’s that?” I asked.”
“It’s what she was planning to name her baby,” he said solemnly.
The blue halo of light turned green. “That appears to have been the correct password,” said Sami. “Accessing data store. Stand by…”
The crystalline structure split, revealing a panel which slid open with a crunching, grinding noise. Within was a ball of pink energy.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A piece to a larger puzzle.” Sami reached in and grabbed the glowing orb. A massive wave of energy surged up the tower and gathered at the tip. It shot off with a crackle toward the horizon.
“Whoa, look over there.” I pointed off in the direction the energy had traveled. “That looks like another tower.”
“Indeed, it does. Fancy another run?”
“Let's go.”
As we ran full speed toward the second anomaly in the distance, a strange sight caught my attention. “Sami, what’s that in front of us?”
“I am unsure. I suppose we will find out momentarily.”
The ground shifted strangely as it came into view. “Shit! Stop!” We both dropped to the ground and slid on our backsides for several meters. Our momentum carried us right to the edge.
“Well, that could have been unfortunate…” Sami said morosely. His voice echoed back to us from the depths of the massive chasm.
“How are we supposed to cross this? Why is it even here?”
“Someone has disconnected a major network segment on the colony ship. It will have to be manually connected if we wish to proceed any further.”
“So, we need to go back…”
“Indeed. It would also be an excellent time to embed the processing unit you acquired earlier.”
“If I connect the processor here, will we be able to access it?”
“Undoubtedly. It would also provide an amount of protection for this area in the future.”
“Sounds like a plan. Steve, you catch all that?”
“Yeah. You’re going to need another run. Anything in mind?”
“I have an updated mission and requisitions list in the Gilmore. Meet me there.”
The list scrolled by endlessly. Then something caught my attention. “Wait. Sami, go back two pages.” The image refreshed and there it was. “Someone wants more iron ore,” I said, pointing at the screen.
“You want to go mining?” asked Anne. “Isn’t that a bit far?”
Steve frowned. “It’s still
the best option on this list. Least amount of interacting with others. And after his visit to the fields and picking up that new laser...”
“I get it. It makes sense. I still don’t like it though.”
“Anne,” I said. “I’m open to other ideas. It’s not like I’m excited to go out there by myself.”
“You won’t be.” Steve glared at me. “I’m coming with you.”
“I really don’t think that’s—”
“Shut up, Bishop. I’m going. End of discussion.”
I frowned. Anne’s expression showed no sign of support either. “Okay, how do you suppose you’re going to get away with walking around without getting caught?”
“The same way you did. Andy’s going to meet us at the landing pad, and he brought another set of clothes.”
“This is really risky. I’m not a fan…”
“Too bad. When are we leaving?”
“As soon as we pack the ship and get some sleep.”
Steve glared at me. “Sami, can you do me a favor?”
“What is it?”
“Make sure Bishop doesn’t try to take off while I’m asleep.”
“For once I agree with the monkey. As you wish. The Gilmore’s engines are now disabled.”
“You’re both assholes.” I sighed. “Let's get some rest.”
It took two days to reach the asteroid fields. After several scans of the area, Sami declared it as safe as it was going to be. We had discussed using the cargo hoses to connect to the mining laser, much as we had done on the Strider.
The hose had a heating element in it, as well as some sort of membrane that kept the fluid moving. Liquid ore would flow like water into our storage tanks and allow us to carry almost ten times as much ore. This could be profitable…
Using the spacesuits, we ran the hose from the storage tanks to the mining laser. I’m sure to anyone looking at our little ship with a hose dangling out the cargo hatch, we probably would seem pretty silly. Oh well…
“Sami, heat up the hose.” The hose vibrated and hummed with power. “All right, I think we’re ready. Steve?”
“Powering up the mining laser now,” he said. The red beam shot across the empty space and burrowed deep into the floating rock. Steam and other gasses vented out of the hole the laser bored. Yellow globs of molten iron flowed up the beam and into the collection system.
“That looks like it’s working quite well,” I said.
“Indeed,” said Sami. “The heated hoses are functioning as designed. Liquid ore is now being stored in the Gilmore’s storage tanks.”
“This is great!” yelled Steve over the comms. “This laser makes quick work of the ore. The first tank is almost a quarter full. We’ll get way more for this than we normally would.”
“Well, that’s a plus. One of these days, we should find something a little more valuable then. In the meantime, we should finish up and head back to the moon. I’d rather not hang around too long.”
“Worried about the pirates?”
“Definitely. Best not to get tangled with them. Especially after my last run-in. Can assume that guy is really unhappy with me…”
We filled the tanks to the brim and then connected the external tank and filled that as well. It took another two days to return to lunar space. This time, they let me land without giving me any hassle.
Andy met us at the cargo hatch. “Here, kid. Put these on.” He tossed me another orange jacket and cap. I’d given Steve mine. “Full tank of iron, eh? That should fetch a pretty penny…”
I arched an eyebrow. “What the hell’s a penny?”
“Old Earth currency. Before your time… Sorry, habit.”
I shrugged. “No worries.”
Steve had already begun to unspool the hose and drag it out the cargo bay. He blended right in with the other workers. After connecting the hose to the central collection system, he vanished into the crowd.
Andy saw me looking after Steve with admiration. “That kid’s always been quick on his feet. Partly what keeps him alive.” He turned to face me fully. “So, what is it this time?”
“There’s a break in one of the networking hubs. According to Sami, it’s somewhere near the office complex.” I packed the processor module in my tool case.
Andy smiled. “Brought that back to us, did ya?”
“Yeah. And it isn’t blank anymore either. Should cause some trouble for our…friends.”
The old man grinned. “So plug in a patch cable and wire in a processing module. Sounds easy enough.”
“It rarely is…”
22
Even after recharging the Gilmore, the quartermaster ended up paying almost forty-two hundred credits for the ore.
“I could get used to a payout like that,” I said.
Andy grunted. “Pay more if the president and his cronies weren't pocketing a chunk of every transaction.”
“I wasn't aware of that. How long has that been going on for?”
“Oh, about as long as you've been alive. They used to pay double.”
I stopped in my tracks, mouth agape. “Double? Are you shitting me?”
“Afraid not. It's been decades. One day, the prices just got cut in half. Only explanation was processing fees.”
“Was it true?”
“Shit no,” he scoffed. “They shut down the main processing plant and only ran the three backups.”
I shook my head. “And no one did anything?”
“Sure, at first. Then people who were voicing their opinions started having accidents. Before long, was no one left brave enough. The last guy who died, Steve’s granddad, mind you, apparently committed suicide. By shooting himself in the back of the head. Four times.”
We started walking down a long stretch of corridor. “Holy shit. So they've been after Steve's family for quite a while.”
“Mmhmm,” Andy mumbled. “Three generations been targeted. Steve's the last.”
“But why? What keeps drawing them to the Millers like a plague?”
“Little known fact… Steve’s great-grandfather was president. He had strong opinions about helping the people. But a faction within the government thought controlling the wealth was more beneficial to the few in control. They assassinated him. Their family has been fighting for the people ever since.”
We arrived at the door Sami had specified. I keyed in the hacked code, and the door slid open. We quickly stepped inside. “I’ve never seen these kinds of systems. There’s so many synapse cables I have no clue where to even start.”
“Just look for the one that’s out of place. I’m sure the wire will be near where it plugs in. It’s just like a datacore on a ship. If you’re tinkering, you don’t want to have to work to undo a mistake.”
I searched the rows of patch panels until I came across a connector which was half unplugged. “I think I found it. This one is popped out a little.”
“All right, then do your thing. I’m gonna go keep watch.” Andy stepped out into the corridor. Almost immediately, I heard shouting and a rushed conversation. A patrol had caught Andy as he exited the comms room.
I quickly pulled out the processor module and set it among the wires. I took a spare length of synapse cable and plugged it into the patch panel. The free ends both went into the processor. That would both restore the main systems and bridge Sami into the heart of the network.
The shouting had moved out of earshot. I opened the door and peeked around the corner. I could see the guards, their backs to me, arguing with Andy. As casually as I could, I approached the group.
“Andy! Did you get lost again?”
“What? Oh! Nate! I was trying to find a place to take a piss, and these gents came along.”
The guard eyed me suspiciously; as if trying to place where he knew me from. “This old man with you?” he asked.
“Yessir. He gets lost sometimes. Forgets which way home is.”
“I see,” said the guard. “All right, keep a better eye on the old man. Can’t
be having people walking into restricted areas whenever they happen to wander by…”
“Yessir. Thank you, sir. We’ll be on our way.”
The guards glared as I put my arm around Andy’s shoulders and guided him away like a long-lost relative.
“We gotta go,” I whispered. “I’m pretty sure the guard recognized me. I have to get off the ship.”
“You manage to pull off what you wanted in there?”
“Yeah. Just gotta get lost before anyone else notices me.” Behind us, I could make out the patter of combat boots on metal deck plating. Andy and I glanced at each other and then took off at a brisk jog.
“We won’t be able to outrun them for long,” he wheezed. Ahead of us, the fire control bulkheads began to close. “That your doing?”
“Probably Sami’s. Should buy us a little bit of time.” We cleared the bulkhead just as it closed, sealing off the corridor. Ahead of us, a small child I’d never seen held out a green jacket and cap. I slid to a stop in front of him.
“Here you go, mister. Put these on.”
“Thank you,” I said. I swapped the jacket and cap and the boy hid the orange clothing in his pack.
“Now the bad men won’t notice you. I gotta go now. Bye, mister! Bye, Uncle Andy!” The boy ran off down a side corridor.
“Cute kid,” I said.
“Yup. My sis knows how to raise them. Now, let’s get you out of here before someone gets wise to us.”
When I returned to the Gilmore, Sami was frantic. “You need to get back to the Grey Wolf as soon as possible. I detected the colonial military gathering within strike distance of the freighter.”
“Can’t you move it?” I asked.
“I already have. I’m preparing for an FTL jump as we speak. It will take a little while to charge up the FTL drive.”
I fired up the engines and blasted out of the docking bay. Two ships fell in behind me. “You think they were waiting to see who reacted?”
“Indeed. It would be a logical assumption.”
The ship shuddered. “I don’t know if we’re going to make it at this rate. They’re gaining on us, and we don’t exactly have weapons.”
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