“Certainly, Shao. Projecting now.” Mantis then threw up a wide-scale view of the solar system and indicated several tiny points near the asteroid belt. Sizeable arcs appeared from each, stretching out through the solar system. These narrowed as Mantis refined calculations. Within a couple of minutes, it was clear that they were all on a clear path for Kaqarbius-4.
Ximon groaned. “Aaagh, looks like the Representative isn’t giving us, or them, any leeway. Give me an estimate of intercept time.”
“Captain, at current velocity the first asteroid will collide with the planet in 71 days. The others will impact in sequence approximately fifty hours apart.”
“Give me an estimate of force of impact and likely damage. Shao, scan the area for any sign of the Representative’s ship or anything else that might have nudged these things.”
“Captain, the asteroids have rough average diameters of 6.9, 7.5, 9.1, and 11.3 kilometers respectively. At current velocity, they would impact Kaqarbius-4 at approximately 16 kilometers per second. It would take some time to calculate the impact forces with any precision since there are many variables involved. However, I can safely estimate that each would be in the teratons, or millions of megatons, of force. One such impact would cause damage across thousands of kilometers, have severe environmental impacts, and severely hinder any attempts at agriculture. The combined effect of all four would almost certainly cause the extinction of almost all life on the planet.”
“Okay, then. If that doesn’t convince the locals, I don’t know what will. Mantis, Shao, get imagery and video from every angle.”
Silas noted, “Well, they may have made this easy for us. I would certainly hope this convinces them.”
They headed for the planet, contacting Griffontown as they approached. “Griffontown, this is KSS Mantis returning. We need to land and discuss an emergency issue with you. You are all in danger.”
An unfamiliar voice, filled with some skepticism, replied, “Sure, Mantis. Whatever you say. Go ahead and land.”
They landed and everyone again brought weapons as they headed down the ramp.
They were met by a scraggly looking man wearing a pistol and a weathered but attractive woman in a simple dress and sun hat.
The woman spoke, “Welcome back, Mantis. I don’t recall if we met last time. I’m Jessie Griffon. This is Elias Jenkins. I’m told you mentioned danger. Can we go sit down at Jenkins’ place to discuss this?”
Ximon nodded and they headed toward a lower building with a rough sign above it. He looked for Tomas Griffon, who seemed to run the settlement. “Sure. Is Tomas around?”
“No, he’s got the Griffon out on a supply run.”
That worried Ximon because it could be a big problem if people couldn’t, or wouldn’t, make a decision without him present.
As they neared the building, Jessie yelled at a man across the way. “Hey, Granger, come join us in the bar – it’s important.”
They sat down at a couple of rough tables in a small, dusty room. Jenkins went behind the bar made of shipping containers and got a pitcher of water and some glasses. “Anyone want anything stronger?”
Silas, Shao, and Elsbeth all quickly signaled for something. “Beer, beer, whiskey if you got it.”
Beverages provided, everyone sat down and got to business.
Jessie started. “So, you mentioned danger. Can you explain that?”
Ximon motioned Mantis’ telebot to come up beside him and had her play a brief video of the asteroids. “As we went by the asteroid belt coming in-system we noted several large asteroids and they’re all heading directly for this planet. If, or when, they hit it’ll probably kill about everything on the planet and make it well-nigh uninhabitable. You can see the projections in the video here.”
Jenkins looked suspicious. “How can we be sure this is real and you ain’t just playin’ us fer fools?”
“Why would I do that? If you don’t believe me train your telescopes on it or send a ship up to take a look.”
Jessie cut in before Jenkins could reply. “Unfortunately, that’s a problem. We ain’t got no big telescopes and we’ve only got two ships. Tomas and several others are gone with the only one currently flying.”
Elsbeth sat back,rolled her eyes, and let out an exacerbated sigh.
Ximon continued, “Regardless, these things are going to hit in about ten weeks. Y’all got to get off this planet.”
“Where are we supposed to go?”
“Does it matter when the alternative is dying here? Where you come from, the nearest system that’s safe, whatever.”
Jenkins cut in. “Sure, it matters if we go somewhere else as beggars. We’ve built something here.”
“Do you just want to sit here and watch it get vaporized? What good will that do?”
The other man, also scraggly, spoke up. “Now I ain’t no spacefarer, but how is it that three or four asteroids suddenly all come barreling down on us? That seems more than a little suspicious.”
Jenkins added a helpful, “Yeah, what are the odds of that?”
Ximon debated what to say and gave a questioning look to Silas, Elsbeth, and Shao. Elsbeth shrugged and Shao just looked down. Silas looked grim but nodded.
So, Ximon went on. “Well, normally the odds of that would be effectively zero. However, there’s something else at work here. There’s an ancient alien race that lives rimward of here. They don’t like company or neighbors and they want this planet empty.”
“What the hell we do to them?”
“Your being uncomfortably close is enough for them and they’ve got the power to take care of that. They put those asteroids on a path to take you out. You’ll either leave or you’ll die.”
Jessie put up a hand to stop Jenkins, but he rushed on. “And how is it that y’all know so much about these ‘aliens?’ Are they your friends or something?”
“No, nor are we fans of theirs. We were headed toward a system they care about and they didn’t appreciate that. So, they met us in jump, which as you may know is seemingly impossible, let us know they were serious and gave us some stuff to do. One of those things was to warn y’all off this planet. I guess maybe they’d rather not kill you, but those rocks are coming, and you will die if you’re here.”
Jenkins couldn’t resist. “So now we’re supposed to believe that some magic aliens are trying to take our planet. Maybe it’s you that wants our planet. Maybe you either faked that movie there or you pushed those rocks our way.”
“Certainly, you know there are many species in the galaxy more primitive than us and others more advanced. We’ve got no reason to fake that video and we couldn’t push those rocks your way like that even if we wanted to.”
“So, you say …”
Jessie cut him off. “Okay, this arguing isn’t getting us anywhere. How can we be sure about this and what do we do about it?”
“Well, as I said, you can probably verify by telescope or with your radar set. Otherwise your ship can run out there. We just came from that asteroid field and they’re coming.”
Jenkins again couldn’t restrain himself. “So, what’s it to you? You’ve warned us. We can figure it from here.”
Jessie grabbed his arm and said angrily, “Zeke shut it! We’ve got to make sure we have a plan. I got no intention of messing with a big asteroid.” She turned to Ximon. “Look, we appreciate it, but was you can see we have some … uhhh … trust issues and equipment issues. We need to check this out, but we ain’t got no telescope or radar that’ll do it and our only ship here is busted. Would you be willing to take a couple of us up to see this for ourselves? Then we can make a plan.”
Ximon let out a somewhat exasperated sigh. “We can if we need to, but when is Tomas due back with your other ship? And what’s the status of the ship you have?”
“Tomas probably won’t be back for two to three weeks and I don’t think this will wait. The other ship has been a ‘hangar queen’ for a while. I don’t think we could get her flying easily,
but you’re welcome to take a look.”
Ximon rubbed his temples, thinking of what to say.
Elsbeth cut in. “Let Peter and I have a crack at her. In an hour or so we can tell you whether it’s possible to get her flying or not. We can work on that while you take them out for ‘show and tell.’ Easy peasy.”
Ximon nodded. “Okay, that does sound like a good plan. Jessie, why don’t you think about who you want to go, and we’ll meet you in about an hour.”
Jessie smiled. “See. Progress at last.”
Elsbeth found Ximon a bit over an hour later. “Ximon, that thing is a beat-up piece of crap and I sure wouldn’t bet a nickel on the jump drive. But …. I think with eight to ten hours of work we can get her so she’ll take off and, hopefully, land.”
“That sounds awesome. At least it’ll give them an option. Are you okay if we leave you and a couple others here while we go show these folks the sights that are coming to kill them?”
“Sure, sure. But leave us a few guns.”
Ximon found Jessie and discussed the journey with her. She, a young, plain woman name Katya, and Granger would go. Some guy named Belkin would help Elsbeth with tools and such. Ximon wasn’t sure that would work out, but it was good that they had offered.
The flight up to the asteroids was uneventful. Jessie and the others could easily view them from just a few hours away from the planet and obstructions. Mantis showed their projected path and impact times on every screen to remind them. They were duly impressed and alarmed. Jessie seemed resigned to having to act fast.
Mantis messaged Ximon. “I wasn’t sure how you’d want to tell our guests, but the asteroids have accelerated somewhat. Instead of 69 days, they’ll impact in 66 days at present velocity. I can’t project whether they’ll accelerate further.”
Ximon considered when to tell Jessie, but she was paying attention. “Ximon, the impact time is a couple of days sooner than you said. Is this wrong or are they going faster?”
“Faster.”
Jessie pursed her lips thoughtfully and nodded soberly. “We’ll think fast.”
When they landed back at Griffontown, Jessie thanked the crew and ran off to meet with her people. She seemed to be the de facto leader when Tomas wasn’t around. The people clearly deferred to her.
Ximon found Elsbeth still working on the decrepit ship Dogcart. It certainly wasn’t much to look at. It was an old, system hauler of about 150 tons and it didn’t appear to have moved for a year or more. It was dirty and dusty. Several access panels were off or hanging ajar. Ximon wasn’t sure if they had been that way or if that was Elsbeth’s doing.
“Elsbeth, how’s it going?”
“Remember me saying this was a piece of crap? I was way too generous. But, since I’m awesome, I got her where she can safely take off. I’d bet less on her landing anywhere with substantial gravity and then taking off again, so they better not try that a lot. But, at a minimum, she can get ‘em off world and then can coast while waiting for their buddies.”
“Great work Elsbeth, everyone. They’re planning now.” He leaned in closer and spoke quietly. “And the rocks sped up. They’ve got a few days less.”
“I knew that Representative was a royal arse.”
“Yeah. Finish up, get some rest, and I’ll see what they’re planning.”
He didn’t intrude on the locals’ heated meeting, but caught Jessie when she came out, clearly exhausted.
She shook her head ruefully, “Herding donkeys – quite a pain. I’ve got to have a couple of private conversations, but I think we have an idea.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Would you like to join us on the Mantis for breakfast in the morning to discuss? You can bring a donkey or two if you’d like.”
“That sounds great and I think I’ll forget the donkeys.”
Raiza and Euclidia made a light breakfast of fruit and scones. Jessie brought a couple of ladies with her. They seemed to really enjoy a different setting and food. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Jessie started.
“Okay, so we’ve got 65 days or less and I don’t really expect Tomas back for at least 14. That should be plenty of time, but it seems possible that 65 days could shrink quite a bit or that Tomas could be delayed. You lot fixing the Dogcart gives us a decent option for at least getting off this rock, so thanks for that. Granger tells me we could probably hang on her for a couple of weeks, mainly limited by food, water, and us not killing each other. But I’ll admit I’m worried and a few are near panic. Would you be willing to haul some to someplace safe, like Halirso?”
“That would take us weeks out of our way, but we could maybe work out a deal for Fasa. Do you know what’s there these days?”
“Not much, I’m afraid. There is a mining station, a tiny landing pad, and a few buildings.”
Ximon smiled. “So, kind of like here?”
Jessie looked a bit exasperated at that comment but bit off a tart reply. “No, we don’t need suits to breathe here and we can grow food, but there’s likely a similar number of people. That’s better than nothing by far. Assuming those most set on going still want to, how many could you take? Is there something we can trade? When would you leave?”
Ximon looked at Raiza. “Dear, what do you think?”
Raiza stopped serving food and pondered for a minute. “For going to another system, we can probably take a maximum of six to ten with them sharing rooms and doing some hot-bunking.”
“So, six to ten folks and nothing but luggage. We’d want to leave within an hour or two. As far as trade, would you happen to have an air raft?”
Jessie laughed. “We’ve only got one and, unfortunately, it’s on the Griffon at present. Besides, that’s a pretty high price. But we might have a land vehicle we could trade. Let me check. Failing that, all we’ve got is some ore. A few ton is worth a few thousand credits. Oh, and one of the gals who wants to leave is a pro. I’m sure she’d be wiling to pay her fare in trade.”
“Not interested. My wife is the most beautiful companion bot in the galaxy, and we’ve all got someone to sleep with.”
Jessie stared intently at Raiza as if noticing for the first time that she was a bot and then just shrugged.
“Okay, well finish breakfast and go check with your people. One way or another we want to leave within a few hours.”
Jessie and the ladies left a few minutes later, thanking Raiza profusely while staring intently at her to see her ‘robotness.’
Jessie returned after about 30 minutes. “I’ve got eight who want to go. Two men, four women, and two kids. We can give you the ground ute and a ton of ore. Sound okay?”
“If they’re no trouble and the ground ute is okay.”
“It runs pretty well even in rough terrain. I’ve driven it myself. The folks will be here in forty minutes, with the ute.
“Great. We’ll be ready to go. You take care of yourself and don’t wait too long to get off the ground. We’ll send a message just before we jump with the latest impact estimate. You know it could speed up more.”
“Sure, one way or another I plan to be off the ground with fifty days. If you happen to run into Tomas, tell him to get his ass back here fast.”
They arrived as a group about thirty minutes later, all their luggage in the ute. It was an ugly little thing – a small cab with just room enough for two and a detachable bed that made it into a small pickup. Without the bed, it was just the tiny cab and a third wheel behind. But it seemed to run fine and could be useful in places like Labeveri. The group seemed reasonable and their luggage wasn’t overwhelming.
Raiza assigned them to cabins. One couple would stay in one cabin together with their child. Another woman and her child would hot bunk with another woman. The other man would hot bunk with the final two women.
Raiza stressed the shower schedule, mealtimes, and that they were restricted to the galley, cabins, and shower room unless they had permission to do otherwise. In particular, she didn’t want anyone in the cargo
bay messing with the labebears. They were doing quite well, and she wanted to ensure they stayed that way.
The passengers got along relatively well and caused little trouble. There was some contention over the hot bunking, but Raiza smoothed that over. Euclidia was on duty in the galley most of the time and sorted much of this out. There we no big fights or problems and they made it to the Fasa System without incident.
In the Fasa System, they immediately headed to refuel, but also sent messages to the mining station asking for permission to visit. Once they received it, they headed there without delay.
As Jessie had said, the station wasn’t much, but it was at least as big as Griffontown. Ximon asked to speak to the station manager as soon as they landed and he was pointed to a fat, middle-aged man in a tiny office.
The man looked up from the news on his tablet and a large, messy sandwich of some kind. “Oi. What you need?”
Ximon tried to look distraught and somewhat pitiful. “I’m Captain Sabo of the ship that just came in, the Mantis. We’ve got a handful of refugees from Kaqarbius. A huge asteroid will destroy their planet in just a few weeks. We’ve got to leave the refugees here and head back that way. It’s just eight folks and they’ve got a ship that will come get them in a couple weeks. Can you handle them? We’ve got to go back.”
“We’re not a charity. Can they work? Can they pay?”
“Most of them can work. If need be, their ship will pay when it comes to get ‘em.”
The man snorted; clearly unsure any such ship would arrive. “If they can work, they’re okay. Send ‘em down here and we’ll put ‘em somewhere, but it won’t be luxury quarters.”
“Will do. We’ll be taking off as soon as we offload them.”
The passengers didn’t look happy with the station, but Ximon and Peter led them down toward the manager’s office and then left without seeing him. Mantis was back in space within a half hour.
As they headed for a jump point, Ximon gathered the crew. “Okay, we’ve done all the crap on their checklist as best we could. Are we ready to go see what’s at Ozu?”
Vast Mantis Page 16