Chewing Rocks

by Alan Black

  Willem said, “Sorry about that. Did you read the door pad?”

  Queene gave a puzzled look. “Door pad?”

  Willem replied, “The door pad is the sign next to the door. You know the one that is by every door everywhere? It says we are open, or whether we are home or not, or what our business hours are, or even that welcome mat in front of your apartment door. There is a small number, always in the bottom right corner. Have you noticed that? It tells you what the gravity is on the other side of the door. I thought you knew.”

  Queene shook her head. “Maybe someone should put together a manual for incoming visitors.”

  Vittie said, “I think the point is that we earthers either get it figured out or we go home. It took me a while, but then I had Willem to catch me when I stumbled.”

  Queene said, “I am really busy this afternoon. I am so, so sorry I have to rush off to a long and boring meeting, but again I wanted to apologize, whether you think it was needed or not. I will call real soon. We do need to get together again.”

  Queene swept out of the room with a quick wave of her hand. Neither Vittie nor Willem noticed when Wallace followed her.

  After the door seals sighed shut Vittie said to Willem, “I still don’t trust her. She came a long way over here for something she could have said on the comm.”

  Willem replied, “It was a personally delivered apology. Give her a break. Besides it isn’t that far. It is an easy walk for anyone in light gravity. It is only about four blocks.”

  Chapter 7.1

  “Four blocks!” Queene said to Wallace. “What a barbarian city! They expect everyone to walk everywhere. How can they run a city without any taxis or even a pedway!”

  Wallace did not answer.

  “Did you get it?” She asked.

  Wallace just tapped his temple.

  “Good,” Queene said. “When are our four boys due out of the medboxes?”

  Wallace replied, “They should have been out and back at the office by first thing tomorrow morning, but it seems Mario’s has filed a complaint against them. A couple of their debit cards came up short to pay for damages and other charges. Sheriff Bob will have to lock them up until Mario’s bills are paid. It might be a couple of days.”

  “That might be good, we can wait that long to light their fuse. The extra delay might give them time to stew about how four grown men were slapped around by a mere slip of a girl. See if we can get a copy of the video Whyte was talking about. Make sure our boys get to see it…repeatedly…whether they want to or not. If we can prime them right, their fuse should be easier to light and our involvement less obvious.”

  Chapter 8.0

  Franklin rubbed his bald head with both hands. He dropped his hands to his crotch and gently shifted his testicles to a more comfortable position. Even after having spent two days in a medbox, his genitals still hurt a week later. The medbox had fixed any permanent damage, but the pain would take a while to go away. The anger over the Whyte girl was going to take even longer to dissipate. He glanced across the bridge at the short man sitting at the ship’s controls and cursing.

  “Damn that bitch!” the short man complained.

  “Okay Hunter, I’ll bite. Which bitch: Whyte or Queene?” Franklin asked.

  Hunter did not look up from the readouts. “Either one or both, I don’t care which. The last thing I remember I was getting comfortably drunk. Then I have some police goon shoving a detox pill down my throat and throwing me in jail, or whatever they call that open air cage in the park.”

  Franklin shifted uncomfortably in his chair, “Why don’t you just shut up, Hunter. At least you didn’t spend any time in a medbox. And would you relax at those controls? You know there isn’t anything you can do. The course is all laid in and we are headed in the right direction.”

  Hunter shook his head. “You shut up. I ain’t no spaceship pilot and neither are you. We shouldn’t be out here by ourselves.”

  “No, you shut up, moron. We aren’t by ourselves, we have McNally and Cooper,” Franklin replied.

  Hunter snorted in derision, “And they aren’t any more pilots than we are.”

  “Shut up, both of you,” a voice at the hatchway said. “It isn’t any more difficult to run one of these mining spaceships than it is running the pallet-loader in the warehouse.”

  Franklin looked up as McNally stepped onto the bridge. The big man’s face was not exactly bruised, but it was more multicolored than usual.

  Franklin asked, “Where is Cooper?”

  McNally indicated with a nod of his head and then winced, “The fatso is already in the galley working on fixing lunch.”

  Franklin said. “Lunch? I am still about ninety percent sick to my stomach and I have seen you look better yourself.”

  “Yeah, I get sick to my stomach looking at you, too. The medbox put my cheek and jaw bones back in place, but it still hurts like it’s all broke to pieces. I don’t think I am gonna be able to chew for a month.”

  Hunter said, “I think the after affects of those detox pills last twice as long as any decent hangover. I am not going to be able to eat either, maybe ever.”

  Franklin and McNally said in unison, “Shut up, Hunter.”

  Franklin continued, “I don’t see how Cooper can eat. He spent time in the medbox just like both of us.”

  McNally replied, “That is why he is fat and we ain’t. I’ll bet the fat s.o.b. would keep eating if you sewed his rectum shut.”

  McNally looked at the navigation console “So, we are still on course.” It was not a question. “On course or not, I don’t have a complaint against Queene. She did what she had to do.”

  Hunter said, “Had to do? Why? We didn’t do anything to cost us our jobs and a month worth of paychecks.”

  McNally said, “Shut up, Hunter. I don’t know why you can’t see what a favor she did us.” Before Hunter could interrupt he continued, “Yeah, I said favor. Look, first she finally got someone to pay our fines and get us out of the tent city jail. It was money we did not have and money we could not earn while we were locked up. She may have paid it, maybe that assistant guy of hers, and maybe she just found some back alley loan shark to get us out the lockup. It don’t matter. Second, we used to just be lumpers in the warehouse, right? All we could do was exchange time for pay and not much pay for that matter. Not no more, ever! Now we’ve got a mining ship to work. Some of these mining ships can earn us more in two months than we would have made in a year of wrangling boxes.”

  Franklin nodded. “That’s a fact. I saw a pay stub from the last trip made by ship number 10187. Those two miners made more in a five month trip than all four of us combined for a year. If they can do it, so can we.”

  Hunter did not look convinced, “Yeah, but none of us are exogeologists. What we know is how to take this box from here and put it there. How are we supposed to know which asteroid to mine?”

  Franklin said, “Shut up, Hunter. You really don’t know what you are talking about. Man, haven’t you ever heard of computers?”

  McNally said, “Yeah, that guy who works as Queene’s assistant got us all set up. He told me that we have all of the charted stuff loaded in the computer and the program is set to scan asteroids once we get close and calculate which ones are most profitable. Then we just do step-by-step what it says in the manual. I say we owe Queene big time. She could have fired us and shipped us back to Earth, stone cold broke and stone cold sober.”

  Franklin nodded, “Not to mention, it got us off Ceres so things could cool down. I don’t like it when the local law is breathing down my neck.”

  Hunter said, “Okay, but why did she have to dock us a month’s pay? I got bills to pay. My ex is expecting her child support checks on time.”

  McNally said, “Jeez, Hunter, quit your whining! Shut up and think, would ya? She had to dock us pay and get us off Ceres. If you think we had the local law breathing down our necks, don’t you think they were coming down doubly hard on Queene Mines? They brought u
s up from Earth, they sign our paychecks, so they are responsible for us. That Sheriff Bob was probably pushing Queene Mines for punitive damages or something. That guy who works for boss-lady Queene said if they didn’t do something, then the whole company could get jammed up. She didn’t have any other choice but to do what she did.”

  Hunter whined, “Yeah, I heard him, but I didn’t do anything to the Whyte girl. The video on the net proved I didn’t do nothing.”

  McNally said, “Hunter, you need to shut up when you don’t know what you are talking about. This is your last warning and the last time I am going to explain this to you. Queene did us a favor there too. None of us was going to get laid for a long time after that vid came out of us getting our clocks cleaned by one skinny girl. If we are gone for four or six months it will give everyone time to forget about that.” He thought for a moment and then continued, “You know, Hunter, we just might find a better way to shut your pretty little mouth, if you keep yapping like some fancy-schmancy, long haired, hair-brained, poofy-tailed lapdog.”

  Franklin winced and shifted uncomfortably, “I don’t think that I am going to want to get a blowie for a while. That Whyte girl crushed my huevos but good. The medbox got the boys back in working order, but I sure don’t feel like putting them to work, you know?”

  McNally nodded and rubbed a hand across his face. “Queene did right by us. Whyte blindsided us and that ain’t right. Our computer has her course dead on for us to follow wherever she jumped. We just have to use the engines in normal space for a while to clear the asteroid belt before we can jump to follow her. Then we can take care of that tail out here where no one will ever know. After that we can take whatever claim she is working on and then go back to Ceres as rich men.” Franklin said, “Yep, that is another thing we owe Queene for; that guy of hers laid in Whyte’s course for us. Without it we wouldn’t have a clue where she went. I just hope that the boys are up to working when we catch up to Whyte.” He rubbed his testicles gently.

  McNally agreed, “Yeah, and we are going to catch her. Maybe we can keep her alive for a while. We can bust her tail up while we bust up her claim. That way we can get paid and get laid all at the same time.”

  “What is that guy’s name?” Hunter asked.

  Franklin said, “What guy?”

  “You know, that guy that works for Miss Queene, what’s his name?”

  Franklin replied, “I dunno. ‘W’ something?”

  McNally said, “Walter, I think.”

  Chapter 8.1

  “Wallace, I think that went well, don’t you? Queene asked.

  She continued without stopping or waiting for Wallace to respond. “I do think we are ready to contact Sheriff Bob. Let’s do this one on the comm unit. I am not sure I am up to another face-to face with the badgeman.”

  Queene pressed the interoffice comm and said, “Get me the sheriff’s office. I want to speak to Sheriff Bob directly. Let me know when he is on line.”

  Queene asked Wallace, “Any word from ship 10123?”

  Wallace shook his head, “No, Miss Queene. I gave them strict instructions to keep radio silence for their outbound trip. As you suggested, they were highly receptive to intercepting Miss Whyte and the Sedona. Not that they could radio back if they wanted. Nor do they have any reason to check to see that their transponder has malfunctioned.”

  A voice blared through the comms, “The sheriff is on vid, Miss Queene.” The screen blinked, flashing a quick pink blip to announce the call was transferred to Queene.

  Queene turned to the screen, “Bob, how delightful to see you again.”

  Sheriff Bob smiled from the screen, “Evelyn, it is good to see you too. It is a shame we haven’t been able to get together again. I do swear that it has been a busy week.”

  Queene smiled back, “That is exactly what it is, Bob; a shame. I know our schedules have not been able to match up…yet. Anyhow, I have more unpleasantness I need to lay on your broad shoulders.”

  Bob gave a quick frown, “Unpleasantness? Well, Evelyn, that is what I am here for. You tell Sheriff Bob and I will help in any way I can.”

  Queene said, “There isn’t much to say and even less to do about it. I just need to report to you Queene Mines has had a major theft. But, I fear it is a closed case.”

  The sheriff put on his professional law enforcement face. “Major? How major? And why is it a closed case? We should be able to get your property back.”

  Queene replied, “The four men we disciplined over the bar fight at Mario’s have stolen a mining ship.” She continued on without giving the sheriff time to respond. “The four men: McNally, Cooper, Hunter and Franklin have taken our ship number 10123. It had been completely restocked and ready for an outbound mining mission. We did have to fire them. We even docked them a month’s pay each. But we hadn’t thought to change our security codes to the docks, so they still had access to Queene property. They just got in and left. They also did some damage to the docks and one of the airlocks, but no one was hurt.”

  The sheriff shook his head, “How could they just get in and take off? Don’t your ships require key codes and passwords?

  “Yes, but somehow they must have gotten them. Our own security agents are looking into how they might have gotten the information. It seems they have damaged 10123’s transponder and shut off the radio. We haven’t been able to track them, so we don’t even know where they are going. I just don’t know what to do.” Queene looked sad, confused and lustful, all at the same time.

  The sheriff nodded sagely. “I can take care of this for you.” At her expression of surprise, he held up his hands in surrender. “You are right; I can’t get the ship back. If they are off Ceres then they are out of my jurisdiction. However, I will send out a report to all law enforcement agencies in the solar system. There isn’t anywhere they can go we can’t find them, and they can’t stay out there forever. I don’t imagine your ships go out stocked with more food, water and air than would last six or seven months at max for a crew of four, even if they try rationing. So, they should turn up somewhere pretty soon.”

  Sheriff Bob was guessing at the mining ships stocks, but it was an educated guess. Most mining ships operating out of Ceres kept their rock chewing to a few months at a time.

  Queene still looked unhappy, “Thank you, Bob. What do I do about our missing ship?”

  “I will send you all of the police reports you need. You just have someone in your office file with your insurance company. That way you can get a new ship, whether 10123 is recovered or not.”

  Queene looked relieved. “Thank you, Bob. You have been such a big help. Sorry, but I do have to go, work and all, but first…I wonder…”

  Bob smiled. “What? Just ask.”

  “Well, I don’t want to appear too forward, but I am having a small diner party tonight. Willem Whyte, Vittie Encarcion and I are getting together for a quiet, intimate meal. Would you please come? Be at my place at eight.”

  “Of course, eight o’clock. I’ll be there.”

  “That would be simply wonderful; because I am concerned those thieves on 10123 might go after Miss Whyte. I certainly don’t want to worry Willem and Vittie, but McNally and Franklin seemed to be carrying a large grudge against Miss Whyte. They must be blaming her for their termination.”

  Bob laughed, “Guys like that always look for someone else to blame for their problems. I am sure they blame her for everything and that vid on the net is like rubbing salt in their wounds. Even if it is hilarious watching them bumble about getting their collective rear ends kicked.”

  Queene said, “I know they must have seen the video. Everyone has seen it. I believe it must have just fanned their anger at Miss Whyte.”

  Bob laughed again. “Space is real big, that’s why it is called space, because there is a lot of empty in it. These four yahoos are more than a full week behind her. I am sure they don’t know where she is going. They don’t have any way to track her through empty space. On top of all of that
, Sno is tough. She can take care of herself.”

  Chapter 9.0

  Sno froze as the Sedona hiccupped coming out of jump. She had never felt anything like it, in any ship, but hiccup was the only way to describe it. She had cleared the ecliptic, taking the heading her father had given her for the three Earther ships and hit the jump button.

  Normally a jump felt as if the ship was standing still and the universe shifted around it. Not this time. It seemed as if everything and everywhere quit moving for a tiny fraction of a second. It happened so fast Sno wasn’t sure if she had imagined it or if it had been real.

  All of the Sedona’s sensor boards were reading green. There was no indication anything was wrong. Even the sensor logs didn’t register anything had happened. The Sedona was on course.

  Sno said, “Sedona. Run full sensor diagnostics on all applications.”

  The ship responded with the voice du jour. This month Sno had downloaded a rather brash sounding, pop singer’s voice. “Some applications are in operation. Do you wish to shut down to complete diagnostics?”

  “Negative, Sedona. Do not shut down any application or any part of the operating system. Just check what you can while things are running.”

  The comm unit message light began blinking. Since the distances involved meant long delays in conversations, most people just squirted messages long distance and then waited for a response. The only people who would be sending her a message were on Ceres, so it meant any message had been sent over ninety minutes ago.

  It was a text only message from Vittie giving her updated coordinates for the three contracted mining ships. Sno fed the data into the navigation system. She was not very surprised to see they were only one percent off her present course.

  She put two navigation charts on the same screen, overlaying her intended course back to her original mining site and where the three contracted miner ships were last noted. That should give her a course to her own mining site after contacting these three wayward earthers.