Tumbler

by Brand Gamblin

  It was brilliantly loud over the general murmur of the people, and they all started in shock. Nobody had a gun in Blessed. A bullet could puncture the hull, depressurize the whole city. No one had heard a gunshot in so long, it took them a minute to even realize what had happened. One by one, the silent heads turned to Woody, sitting in the back, on top of a jukebox, holding tight to the jukebox with one hand. They stared at the gun in his other hand, and the smoking hole in the floor.

  "Mary's got somethin' to say. Mighty important. Now hush up, or you'll get a taste of this."

  As one body, they turned back to face Miriam. Later, they would realize what happened. Later, people would ask how Woody got a gun, why he had it loaded, why he would be carrying it, and how they'd never noticed it before. But that was for later. For now, they would pay attention.

  As they all looked at Mary, she stood for a moment, agape. Then she dropped her arms to her sides and said, "Thank you, everyone, for showing up. Now, most of you have heard the news off the radio. The family is here with us tonight," she gestured to a small group standing off to her right, "So I expect everyone to behave with a concerned and helpful attitude."

  Libby looked in the direction Miriam had pointed, and saw the Davis' family huddled together. Most of the Davis family, anyway. Mike was there, holding his mother's hand as Mr. Davis held her close to him, gravely stoic and frowning. Standing in front of them was little Howie Davis, their youngest, who looked from one face to the other, wondering at the collection of people.

  Libby's eyes got big as she realized that whatever was happening, it was happening to her friends. She started pushing past people to get to the family. As she slipped through the crowd, she heard Miriam continue, "First person who starts squawking about lost wages, slipped schedules, or labor disputes will get ejected from the room. We are here to find a little girl, that's all. There are pictures circulating throughout the room; I want everybody to take a look at them."

  Libby stopped suddenly, as she realized what was missing. Dora. Little Dora Davis wasn't standing with her family. She was the one they were trying to find. This wasn't a manhunt, it was a rescue mission. Libby started pushing again, to get over to the family.

  "Now, the suit she was wearing has an eight-hour span for energy and air," Miriam continued, "She was last seen six hours ago, and nobody knows how long she had been wearing her suit at that time. However, we are operating under the assumption that she is still alive, and anyone who is of a different opinion can get out right now." A few people looked down at the ground, but no one left.

  Miriam's voice lost a little of it's authority as she said, "Now, we all know that the suits have safety features, to protect against this kind of problem. Dora's suit had safeguards ensuring that her suit would start warning her when she was at thirty percent power. She's a good kid, and bright, so we have to assume she was unable to head home when the suit started warning her." Libby clucked her tongue unconsciously. Sure, Dora was a smart girl, but she was also an inveterate rock hound, and if she was following the lead of some interesting vein, she might very well turn off that reminder.

  Miriam continued, "However, when the suit gets to ten percent power, it starts transmitting on the Reserved Emergency Channel, or REC. The REC is a radio beacon, not part of the network, so it will continue even if she loses contact with the community net. The suit will start to transmit an S.O.S. on that channel, giving the coordinates of the suit, and will continue to do so until it is powered down or it runs out of energy." She paused, her eyes flitting over to the family, then back to the group. "As of yet, we have received no signal. This could mean that the suit is out of range, or that it has been damaged."

  A murmur rippled through the group as they processed that and made their personal guesses about the girl's chances. Miriam quickly piped up, "However, even if it is damaged, a suit can keep a person alive for many hours. Isn't that right, Howie? How many times has Space Captain Smith been trapped in deep space with a broken suit?" She smiled over at the little boy standing at the front of his family. His worried expression cleared up a bit as he grinned up at her, recognizing his favorite comic book, "Twenty seven, not counting the time he was eaten by the space squid!"

  Miriam smiled back. "So there you go, people. Zowie Howie says it happens all the time, so don't lose heart." Her voice dropped again to commandant level, "But we still have to find her. So, we've got a chart up here, of all the discovered sectors. There's going to be two groups. Nine out of every ten people will be searching. Those nine will be split into three groups, and each group will be given coordinates for likely search locations. The tenth person will be support, and will spend their time coming back and forth from here to the search site. Each time a support person comes back to the Mary, he or she will be required to take twenty minutes rest, then head back out to the search groups, carrying water, batteries, air, and food. Also, after every trip from there back, the support person will be switched with one of the searchers, and the trip will continue like that. In this way, we should be able to search for some time, without too much fatigue. Remember, we're looking for three things. One, her suit. Two, her runabout. Three, the REC radio signal. So, find your groups, and come up here to get your assigned coordinates."

  People started milling about, gathering into small groups, and lining up at the bar. From the back, Woody shouted, "I ain't got time. Mary, I'm heading out to the spot ten clicks out from the Johnson farm." He pointed out two huge men with his pistol, "You, and you are coming with me."

  Miriam shouted back, "Woody, come up here and get your assigned -"

  "Ain't got time, woman! That spot's got a lot of juicy ore, and that little girl's a born rock hound. I'm betting that's where she's at!" He jumped off the jukebox and headed for the door.

  One of the men he'd pointed at said, "Hey, Woody, your runabout won't seat three people."

  The old man glared back at him, "Then I guess you'd better hurry, because the last one gets to hold on to the bumper."

  As Libby reached the family, Mr. Davis nearly pushed past her. Mrs. Davis, Minerva, was pulling on his arm.

  "Ira, no!" She was saying, "stay here."

  He put a hand on hers and turned back to face her, "Honey, it's my baby out there, my place is out there with the men trying to find her."

  Minerva pulled him back again, looking like she was about to break down. "You can't leave us alone. Not now!"

  Libby put a hand on Mr. Davis' chest, and stared up at him. These were her friends, she'd eaten at their table several times, and had helped on their farm. They'd given her extra work when she needed it, and they'd always been kind to her. "Sir, your place is with your family. We need you here for them, so you can greet her with her family when we bring Dora back."

  The huge man looked down at her, worry creasing his brow. Next to him, Howie looked up at his father, "Daddy?" Mr. Davis finally relented, taking a step back, and putting a hand around his wife's shoulders.

  Libby stared into his eyes, "And we will bring her back. You'll be here to see it." She looked over at Mike, who was staring longingly at the bar, stepping closer to the grid map. Libby pointed a finger at him, "That goes for you, too. You stay here."

  She ran through the crowd, and pushed her way to the bar, "Miriam, what've you got?"

  Miriam looked up from where she was writing down the last assignment, "Where's your group?"

  Libby looked around and spotted two people who didn't look like they were in line, "You two, come here. You're in my group."

  Ted Sperling, the non-socialist, was one of them, and he frowned, "I didn't say I'd be in your group, Tumbler."

  She snapped at him, "You'll be in my group or you'll be searching with one hand grasping your crotch."

  As Sperling stepped in behind her, grumbling, she turned back to Miriam. She didn't mean to snap at Sperling, but she had no great love for them. Libby cared a lot for some of the people out here. Woody was a good guy, and she liked Miriam. The Davis's w
ere good friends, but everyone else? She was still mad at the rest of them. The ones who perpetuated this shanghai, the ones who profited off her coerced labor. Something about them just always got her mad.

  Miriam frowned at the map, and said, "We've got a sector near the Wilson Farm, about three clicks from here, sector 12 by 32 by 11. It's an unclaimed area, a long shot really, not even very interesting to a rock hound like Dora, but we're not leaving any stone unturned."

  Libby ignored the pun and bounced away, "Got it. Come on, guys!"

  Chapter 10

  People spread out in all directions to search the rocks. Libby was used to the general milling about in small, concentrated areas, but now there were people all over the place. They moved with deliberation, quickly searching each and every one of the given locations. As Libby sped to her target with her team, she could see a drill set being used to light and power the search on a large rock. To her left, Libby saw people tethered to a digger, using it to fly them faster over the canyons of stone on one large rock. She saw support members flying back and forth to the city bubble. She couldn't help being impressed by the organization, and the selfless way that everyone was pulling together for this one little girl.

  She leaned over to Ted, and pointed at the digger, smiling. He touched helmets with her, and said, "I know. Wretched, isn't it? Now we're not only losing labor on countless sites, we're also using up energy and resources with the equipment."

  Libby frowned, "What are you talking about? We have to find Dora."

  "Of course, but it doesn't take a mobilization of the whole city to find one little girl. This is a job for detectives, not miners."

  She stared at him, amazed, "Space is big. It takes a lot of people to search through this entire area. Detectives couldn't do it alone. And besides, where are we going to find detectives out here?"

  "We should be looking at her favorite haunts, her friends should be able to help us find her. Did anyone even ask them? I don't know. But instead of that, we all drop everything, lose half a day of work, and get additional wear and tear on the machinery looking for a little girl who is probably -" Libby sat back, breaking off contact before she heard something that might make her act rashly.

  When they got to their sector, the runabout landed on the largest rock in the area. There weren't a lot of rocks nearby, at least, not many that a person could stand on. Libby looked around and found three that could support their search. On the local network she said, "Okay, Ted, you get this one. Andy, you get that one over there," she pointed to the smallest rock, close to them, "I'll get the last one. Now get off, Ted."

  Ted frowned, looking at the rock, "Well, I really think -"

  "Get off, Ted." Her voice went icy, and he shrugged. After he disembarked, she and Andy headed for the second rock. As they were traveling, Andy looked at her, "What was that about?"

  She kept looking at their course, "Ted doesn't think she's alive. He thinks this is a waste of time, and if he hadn't got off at that rock, I probably would have hit him with it."

  He chuckled, "Well, you can't really hit somebody with a two-hundred kiloton rock."

  She shrugged, not looking off course, "You never know until you try."

  After she dropped Andy off at the small nearby rock, Libby flew over to the one she had chosen for herself. While Andy and Ted had rocks that were just dense enough to have their own gravity and small enough to traverse on foot, her rock was too big. She used the runabout to fly her around the whole rock, along an arbitrary equator, then along a perpendicular circle. She found several narrow cave sections, leading deep within the rock, and after searching, she found one large enough to fly a runabout into. She entered the cave system, switching the runabout lights on.

  When the cave got too narrow for her runabout, Libby dismounted. She tethered it to a jagged outcropping, and dropped into another cave just large enough for a person to climb into. From the light of her headlamp, the cave seemed to be nothing more than a closed fissure, which had cracked from the center and was held together by the outer crust. There were no clear walls and floor to the cave, just slanted, jagged angles, with enough space to barely allow Libby to crawl through.

  However, as she got deeper inside, she found ore. Lots of it. She couldn't see it from the outside, but from inside the fissure, she could see all kinds of rock. The jagged outcroppings made crazy shadows off her headlamp, glinting off of iron, silver, quartz and copper. It was the perfect kind of place for a rockhound like Dora. But despite her searching, Libby couldn't find any sign of the runabout, or Dora's REC transmission.

  Libby's suit used a wireless network connection to several different communication channels. She had three enabled for monitoring at the moment. Station one was the emergency frequency, which she checked periodically. Station two was the local station. The local station could determine relative distances between networked nodes, and filter out all messages that were determined “too far”. It would even drop the volume of local members, based on their distance. At the moment, she could only hear Ted and Andy on it. She didn't frequent that one, because Ted was spending his time grumbling about how boring it was, and how he was losing money just being here. Station three was tuned to the main comm station, transmitted by the massive network hub inside Blessed. It was relaying news about where people had checked, and who hadn't checked in recently. Everyone was listening to that station, waiting for the come home message. Everyone was hoping they'd hear that the girl was found.

  The rock Libby was checking seemed frustratingly massive, despite the cave system. When she first saw the caves, she had assumed that the rock was mostly hollow, and that she'd find some central chamber that would answer her main question quickly. But she kept finding twists and turns in the cave system, all barely big enough to support a person's size.

  And the bad part was, this rock was exactly the kind of rock Dora would have wanted to be stuck in. It was full of valuable minerals, layered one after another as the rock had crashed through space, all these millions of years. Libby knew that Dora could get lost in here, just trying to figure out what was at the center of this thing, what could create this layered system of ores.

  So Libby knew she couldn't really give up and climb out until she knew that she'd checked every part of this rock. She heard Ted complaining that he was done, and of course he hadn't found her. He started whining about how long this was taking. Andy was just calling in with the announcement that he'd finished searching the rock when a message blared across the main comm station.

  "- repeating. The Davis runabout has been spotted. All search parties report to sector 11 by 38 by 42. There is a two-megaton mass in the area with a dense cave system. Dora Davis' runabout was spotted outside the cave system. Repeating -"

  Libby immediately started climbing out, shouting on the local station, "You guys heard that, right? I'm on my way."

  Andy reported back, "Roger. I'm ready at the rendezvous point."

  Ted huffed, "Yeah, sure. Because what they need right now is more people to gum up the works over there. Whatever."

  Libby quickly squirmed her way out of the cave system, careful not to rip the suit on any of the jagged rock. The suit fabric was strong, but there was no point in testing it. She scrambled up to the surface, and climbed on to the runabout. She powered over to Andy's rock, and he jumped the last fifteen feet to land on the runabout. Libby grinned at him. Always the showoff.

  As she picked up Ted, Libby looked back at her rock, the huge fissure rock, and thought about it. That was an amazing find. It would probably go undervalued by any surveyor who just walked along the surface.

  They powered away, reporting back to home base that they were en route to the site.

  Chapter 11

  As they approached the site, Libby heard Ted gasp. The rock was huge, even by asteroid standards. The radio said it was a two-thousand kiloton mass, but looking at it, it was mostly caves. That mass was spread out over a large, dense cave system. Tunnels wove all through
the rock like Swiss cheese.

  Andy spoke slowly, as though transfixed, "The only way something that hollow could be that massive would be if it was made of iron."

  Libby shook her head, "No. Look at the surface. That's a copper-rich source. You can see the green of it from here. But from the gravity, I'm guessing it's got to have a massive core. I can feel it pulling on the runabout already. With that much gravity, and copper holes running through it, there must be a dense core, like iron or lead. That also explains why nobody got her rescue beacon. Copper messes with the network signal. The signal must be bouncing all over the insides of that thing."

  Ted smiled, "Well, then this should be easy. Once we get inside there, we can just follow the signal strength to find her."

  As they slowly landed near a collection of people near the surface of the rock, Libby shook her head, "No. It doesn't work that way. A network signal will give signal strength, but that's going to bounce all over the place, giving you fake echoes of her position. The radio beacon won't be any better, and for the same reason. We may not even be able to hear each other in there."

  She unstrapped and bounced over to the group. She said over the local frequency, "So, what's the plan?"

  One of the thin boys standing near her shrugged, "We're mostly waiting for Mary to get here. She told us to wait and she would help organize."

  Libby nodded. She wanted to go running in there, but she knew that it would be maddening and useless without organizing the search. "Okay, well, I'm going to hop around the surface some, see if I can pick up some signals or something."

  The boy nodded, then one of the men said, "That's a good idea." He pointed at three large boys, "You go do the same. Go in different directions. As soon as you get a signal on the REC station, ping us and we'll start the search from there."