by Chris Troman
to guide the ship. "Yes all circuits fully functional." They continued back and forth, until they finally sealed themselves in the cocoon of cool liquid. Then the ship appeared to flash, as the first bomb sent ripples of force propelling the craft towards its destination.
The two had met on the Sentry risk table phase of the operation. That used Tritium powered craft, to clear all the asteroids in near earth orbit. Using rockets fitted at strategic points to the massive rocks. Miners would then judo flip them on a collision Course, to the far side of the moon. They would land safely away from any mining, on the Earth side. Even so, the world's governments made sure Conrich had put in place safety measures. Just in case of the unlikely, but catastrophically disastrous results of a stray asteroid.
He had made use of an idea thought up during the Regan years. A network of nuclear explosion powered lasers, now circled the Earth and Moon system. He'd had to put them out so far, so not to contravene the O.S.T. and salt 2 treaties. Plus some fail-safes had been installed. He had to make it impossible for these weapons of mass destruction, to be turned on their creators. With these space rock zappers in place, men like Ron and Jake had begun the work of clearing the near skies.
Clearing the sort of menace that wiped out the dinosaurs. Their last job had been 2015TC25, and then they moved on. The ships used for that job were obsolete now, too slow for the pickings further out. So it was either go hunting for Centaurs, those free roaming astral bodies. That once pinpointed, would be hunted down like a rouge colt. Or head for the asteroid belt, where a man could stretch his legs for a while between sleeps.
Some day all this would end, and a new Trojan war would commence a sub jump away. As rival groups of miners would see who could grab the rich pickings, from the Trojan and Greek asteroids that led and followed Jupiter, like a celestial procession. And finally some distant descendants of these two miners of the stars, would vacuum up the Oort cloud, nine billion miles from home. The Earth itself would be just a pinpoint in the sky, to these intrepid decendants. Thus the Solar system would be swept clean of all, but the necessary heavenly bodies. And any simple diagram of it would finally be correct.
As the two shipmates slept, a clock counted down. An alarm would bring them back to the land of the living. But other alarms were going off. If only they had been awake. But then they may have been in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Jake woke first. With a start, he burst through the protective film, and coughed up fluid. Then he began to retch, as he rose from his metal crypt. The sound hit him before his eyes could focus, and dropping him self over the side, Jake tried to make sense of his surroundings. One of the red lights on the panel was blinking, as the Claxton bore into his head like a hangover. He pressed the response button, and was relieved to be free of the hideous noise.
Behind him Ron was still going through the wakening process. "What's that horrible sound? I thought I was back in Denver, when my apartment caught fire." "You'll wish you were", came the terse response. "What's happening anyway?” Ron joined his partner at the control panel. "Number three hold's been breached. It must have been a micro grain, or integrity would be compromised. Well I'll suit up, and see what damage has been done." "That's the rockets unit. I hope we've not lost them, or it'll be just the hold. And we can't make enough on that alone." Ron cursed, now fully sobered from sleep.
Half an hour later came the news he had hoped for. "Just a breach. We've lost air from that unit, but a patch will sort that. And we can make up the loss at Vesta's drop station. No loss of rockets, but one of the proximity sensors is fried." It could be worst, they would just have to keep a better eye out. A proximity sensor would stop a suited fellow from unexpected visitors, in the shape of the one that made this unwanted hole. "We'll just have to rely on the ship's unit, and relay the signal through comms. I wonder why Teddy missed this one?" Then Ron went to prepare breakfast for them both.
It would be half a day to the drop station. So with the patch applied and stomachs full, they rechecked the systems and did their daily exercises. Got to keep those muscles in trim, or they would never cut it back on Earth. The Quarters were adequate, but cramped. Not like the passenger ships they were designing, for trips to Europa. Where a sub jump, would take you to the only other world in the system to harbour life. Great donuts made of Mallomite. Like a train looped back on itself, so the front end joined the back. Spinning on spokes round the central hub, where the crew and engine resided. Or the colony ships. Where the population of that artificial world, lived on the inner surface of the tube. And the sky was as green as under your feet. They corkscrewed their way to the stars, utilising jump engines never to return. They were mankind’s future.
"Coming up on Vesta" hollered Ron, and they suited up. "This is asteroid mining ship Delta B Charlie." Jake intoned, when the base came into range. "We need some air for our number three hold." "Come on down", came the reply. With the ship in a stable orbit they left it in the capable hands of Teddy, and descended the wire. Emerging from the inner door of the air lock, Jake and Ron were greeted by the smiling face of someone all too glad of company. "Hello boys, so you need some supplies?" Ron interceded, "we hit one of your rocks and lost a hold full of air. Here's my I.D.", and he held up a card.
The way stations set up on the big four: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea, were a godsend for any space farer. But the company still wanted paying for the service, and this would come out of their profits for the trip. "Not the best way to make an arrival", the official called from another room. He pulled a trolley full of tanks back, a feat that would have been impossible in a greater gravity than this. "Still there's worst things that can happen in space. A hole in the visor can be very nasty, or suit heater going down. That happened just last week, took them half a day to thaw the corpse out. So are you going for anything in particular?" "No just the usual net and scoop for the hold, and a bunch of rockets for some big ones. What's up for grabs?" The clerk scratched his chin and pondered. “Well Juno went last month, along with Davida and Psyche. But I think Intermnia is still out there, amongst others." They thanked him. When the empty tanks had been returned, the two men set course for their first target.
The spectrum analyser read out its findings, and Jake grinned as he handed the sheet to Ron. "It's an M type." A metal rich asteroid could really boost their profits, so Ron broke out the rocket boosters. Meanwhile Jake guided the ship on to a parallel course, with their prize rock. "Got an analysis of booster position yet?” Came the call over the radio. The parameters were spooling up the screen in front of Jakes eyes. The computer worked out the most efficient method of flipping this multi ton mine of wealth, on a course for target Moon. A beep, and he had the necessary data. "O.K. I've got the figures. I'm transmitting them now."
Outside the protective skin of their craft, his partner moved from one fast moving object to another. Ron just experienced the appearance of stillness. The metal rope played out, as Ron took his cage full of rockets propelled by a small jet. Then he landed with a dull thud on his new world. He always imagined planting a flag at these moments, but turned at once to position his equipment.
Once the location data was transferred, it was a relatively simple job. He followed the directions on its panel to place the rocket, and angle it correctly. After which it's auto function kicked in, and a drill attached it to the surface. It seemed to quiver, as minor adjustments were made independent of any human intervention. Ron was essentially a mule he mused, and he lifted the next load. At least the weight was low, even if the mass took a trained operator to shift. In two hours and exhausted from his labours, Ron took the empty cage back to the ship.
"Want a cup of coffee?” Jake asked. Then they went to the cramped, gravity rich part of their craft. "So where's next?” Ron enquired. He was sipping the hot black liquid that served for coffee. At least it stayed in the cup. "Well Eunomia is near according to Teddy's maps, and I haven't received a claim notice on it. But even so, there are a number of un-named's near it. Are you go
ing to finish that biscuit?” And he popped the last Borbon in his mouth.
The journey took a while. A circuit of the belt out here was a fair distance. So they set the alarms, and rechecked the proximity sensors. Jake had replaced the failed unit, so there were no spares left. Then they settled down for a long night.
Fully awake and checking the maps Ron cursed. "Some ones got Eunomia, but there's a few un-named ones. A couple of S types, some C types and one M." Looking over his shoulder Jake smiled. "We might as well finish the rockets off here, rather than blast of more bombs." They might not get quite as much profit, but this was certainly a less risky proposition. And the M type they had already bagged meant the mission would be still on target. "O.K. let's get that one first." Ron pointed out the small M in the top left corner of the screen.
With the precious M type safely on its way, Ron came over Jakes helmet radio. "Do you want to get some claim beacons down, while you’re out there?" "No I don't think I should. Not on my own anyway." Expecting an argument Ron took a deep breath. But before he could reply Jake cut in. "Check your proximity sensor
