America One: The Odyssey Begins
Page 37
“What the hell are you doing?” asked Jonesy into the intercom. “That is our air reserve!”
VIN didn’t listen. He needed to know what was under the dust inside the hole. He pointed the opening of the tank into the hole, an inch above it, and opened the tank.
Red dust enveloped him and he went blind. He let the jet of air spew out for a few more seconds and stopped. He was sure the hole was clean. In the fog around him he headed back to the spacecraft to replace the tank. The dust cloud hadn’t got that far and to Jonesy, sitting in the cockpit, VIN looked red and dusty as he returned. Jonesy also didn’t have a word to say. Within minutes the cloud floated away, and VIN slowly returned to look inside the hole.
He had been right; the bottom of the round hole three feet below the surface was closed up tight. Tight with molten rocks, exactly like on the asteroid!
With his hands trembling he returned to the mining craft climbed the ladder and dusted himself off before entering the hatch. He said nothing while Jonesy flew him back to the ledge. VIN was in shock, and his mind numb. He couldn’t believe what he had seen and knew that he needed to get back to the asteroid. It was about to pass by Mars.
After blabbing to Ryan about holes everywhere for a few minutes once they got out, he stopped, calmed himself down, looked directly into Ryan’s helmet, and ordered him to allow Jonesy to fly him to the asteroid immediately.
Ryan, understanding that VIN had nearly lost it, thought for a second, then looked at Jonesy, still sitting in Astermine Two, and told him to do what VIN wanted. They would have to change spacecraft at the mother ship as this one was short of fuel, and he suggested they take SB-I to the asteroid, and that Boris should go with them.
Three days later, the three men landed on the asteroid, exactly where they had landed before. It didn’t take VIN long to find the clean new hole the single spider had dug. It disappeared into the rock below him. He needed to get down there. VIN grabbed the most powerful mining light from Boris and asked Jonesy to get out. The gravity was stronger than that on Mars, and the craft was secure.
He had already explained to them what he wanted to do and with both men holding two cords, they lowered VIN gently down the hole that was deeper than expected, thirty feet deep. At thirty-eight feet exactly, his feet touched bottom, and he stood there getting his bearing and staring out into a large cavern the spider had dug out.
He knew the exact direction where he had seen the first hole in the surface of the asteroid. It was twenty feet behind where he stood, and looking at the wall twenty feet in front of him, he knew that the spider’s diggings would have reached the other hole.
The light in the cavern was better when he switched on the extra lamp he had brought, and it showered the large eight-foot high roof with light. He looked directly forward and saw a roundish cavern. He pointed the lamp left and right and it was if he was standing in a cave, both sides heading away from where he stood for about 20 to 25 feet. With the hairs on his backing standing at attention, he turned and looked at the wall behind him.
In the wall was a hole, a three-foot wide hole going into a second chamber, not as tall as his. It looked round from what he could see, like something had made a smooth tunnel…and there was no mining spider to be seen.
“Oh my God!” was all Lieutenant VIN Noble could say.
Books by the Author
The Book of Tolan Series (Adult Reading)
Banking, Beer & Robert the Bruce – Hardcover and eNovel
Easy Come Easy Go – Hardcover and eNovel
It Could Happen – eNovel
AMERICA ONE Series (General Reading)
AMERICA ONE – eNovel and Paperback.
AMERICA ONE – The Launch – eNovel and Paperback.
AMERICA ONE – The Odyssey Begins – eNovel and Paperback.
INVASION USA Series (General Reading)
INVASION USA I: The End of Modern Civilization – eNovel
INVASION USA II: The Battle for New York – eNovel
INVASION USA III: The Battle for Survival – eNovel
INVASION USA IV: The Battle for Houston … The Aftermath – eNovel
INVASION EUROPE: The European Side of the Story – 2013
INVASION USA Series: Paperback Editions
INVASION USA I: The End of Modern Civilization
INVASION USA II: The Battle for New York
INVASION USA III: The Battle for Survival
INVASION USA IV: The Battle for Houston … The Aftermath
About the Author
T I WADE was born in Bromley, Kent, England in 1954.
His father, a banker was promoted with his International Bank to Africa and the young family moved to Africa in 1956.
The author grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and his life there is humorously described in his novel EASY COME EASY GO, Volume II of the Book of Tolan Series. Once he had completed his mandatory military commitments, at 21 he left Africa to mature in Europe.
He enjoyed Europe and lived in three countries; England, Germany and Portugal for 15 years before returning to Africa; Cape Town in 1989.
Here the author owned and ran a restaurant, a coffee manufacturing and retail business, flew a Cessna 210 around desolate southern Africa and finally got married in 1992.
Due to the upheavals of the political turmoil in South Africa, the Wade family of three moved to the United States in 1996. Park City, Utah was where his writing career began.
To date T I Wade has written ten novels.
The Author, his wife and two teenage children currently live 20 miles south of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Thank you for reading the America One Series.
It you would like to ask the author a question about the series, or make a suggestion, please email the author at tollan1wade@yahoo.com
The author will respond personally as soon as he can, to answer your email.
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