by Dave Lemel
“I know the story,” said Todd.
“I don’t,” said Simon.
Jack looked at Simon and continued. “They came all the way out here thinking it would be a big payday for a one-year stint. The civil war broke out back home in China a month after they were dropped off. After a few months, nobody was even answering their transmissions. Eventually, the scheduled pickup date came and went and almost none of them were still holding out hope they’d actually be going home. Io, as you guys know, is not an inviting place. Nobody else even stopped on the moon for another year and a half after that. By then, most had accepted their fate and they had set up their own little society. There were growing facilities on top of the food they brought, so they were okay for that. They were, however, nearly out of water when the first response to their distress call finally arrived from a freelance mining crew on Ganymede.”
Todd took over as Jack got up and grabbed two cookies. “The freelance miners from Ganymede, like so many out here, were from a water mining crew. The Chinese miners offered to trade work for water. Word spread, and that’s how they survive now. Anytime a crew needs some cheap labor, they pick up a couple of guys from Io, and whatever they get in return they share with the rest.”
Simon interjected, “Why don’t they take whatever rides they can get and settle elsewhere? Callisto, Ganymede, there is a constant need for water miners on Europa…anywhere but Io.”
“A handful have,” said Jack. “Most stay, though, because at this point it’s become home and they trust each other. Trust can be hard to come by out here.”
Simon tried to accept that answer, but another question popped in his head and he couldn’t let it go. “What about the radiation field? Io is right in it. Even that wasn’t enough of a reason to leave?”
Jack sat back down with his cookies and answered. “The facilities built by the Chinese government had some protection from it. The moon they live on is rough, though, and a good percentage have even developed deformities from living so long inside the range of Jupiter’s radiation field even with the protection. All that being said, the remaining miners have decided to live out the rest of their lives on their own terms on Io.”
“That was actually another reason Callisto was chosen for development as the main outpost around Jupiter,” said Todd. “On top of it being so geologically stable, it resides outside of Jupiter’s enormous magnetic field and the massive amounts of radiation it brings with it.”
After a few silent moments, Jack spoke, “I have a proposal. ”
“Let’s hear it,” said Todd.
“I don’t know how it was where you guys grew up, but by me every kid had to take a foreign language in school.”
Simon rolled his eyes. “Spanish. It was miserable. I do not have a gift for foreign languages. Thankfully, the marshals took care of that,” he finished with a smile and tapped the side of his head.
“That’s right,” said Jack. “You guys get that upgrade from the Bopecans and can understand all kinds of languages.”
“It is quite a perk, I must say,” said Todd.
“Well, I didn’t have that luxury, but I took Mandarin growing up. I actually learned enough to communicate a little. When I started making my trips to Io, I met a guy named Li. He knew a decent amount of English. With the two of us knowing enough of each other’s language, he became my go-between whenever I went. Over time, we’ve kinda become friends. When we get there, what if I have Li come in for a little bit? You guys stay out of sight and listen in. We can feel him out. Maybe we can learn a little more about what’s been going on around there.”
Todd looked at Simon, who returned his look with a shrug and expression that said, “couldn’t hurt.” Todd turned back to Jack. “That sounds like a pretty decent idea. You have to be sure he comes in alone, though.”
“Oh, no problem,” responded Jack. “He always comes to greet me when I announce my arrival to tell me what people are looking for. ”
“Good idea, Jack,” said Simon. “Could be very helpful.”
“One more thing,” said Jack. “If you guys think he seems trustworthy, why couldn’t we ask him for help securing disguises instead of stun and stash?”
“No,” replied Todd. “I don’t like it.”
Simon leaned forward. He slowly inhaled and then exhaled through his nose as he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know, Todd. It’s a risk, but it could be worth it.”
“What!” shouted Todd, turning to face Simon. “Two minutes ago you agreed it was too big of a risk to let anyone know we were there. Now Jacko has a sort of buddy named Li that he can half communicate with, and it’s screw it let’s roll the dice?”
“I don’t love it,” said Simon. “But if he seems like he can be trusted, it may be worth it. Not only could he secure us the disguises, he could also be a huge asset. We have approximately zero intel here, Todd. He knows the moon and facilities and could prove to be extremely useful in helping us infiltrate the facility. Plus, it’s not a guarantee that if we stun and stash, as Jack called it, two miners that their disappearance would go unnoticed for long.”
Todd stood up and said, “I hate it. However, it’s obvious I’m facing an uphill battle to convince you two of my side. Instead of wasting my breath, I’m going to go in the back and take a nap in the cruiser. It seems more important right now anyway. Not sleeping last night is catching up to me, and I am exhausted.”
“Sleep tight, princess,” said Simon as he tossed another chip in his mouth and crunched away.
Jack got up from the couch and opened the seat part of it, revealing a storage area inside. He pulled out a large tube. He popped the cap off one end and slid a rolled-up black sheet of filmy material out of the tube. He walked the sheet to the corner of the room and clipped it into four slots so that it faced the center of the room with its flat surface. Jack walked back to the couch and, before closing it, pulled out two video game controllers. He placed one on the table in front of Simon, and then sat down on the couch with the other.
Simon excitedly picked up his controller as Jack navigated through the options on the newly placed screen with his.
“Dude!” exclaimed Simon. “You got a Z-Tron 3 system on here?”
“I do,” replied Jack with a smile. “Honestly thought I was going to get more crap because of how ancient it is. I love playing it on flights, so I thought I’d fire it up anyway.”
“Oh, no crap, buddy. Big props,” said Simon. “I grew up with one of these. Honestly, never really liked any of the VR systems. Give me an old school controller and screen any day. What games you got?” Simon got up from his seat next to the table and made his way to the couch. “Doesn’t matter,” he continued as he plopped himself down next to Jack. “Whatever it is, you are going down. I am the Z-T-3 master,” Simon finished as he suddenly realized he wished the flight to Io would take a week instead of a day.
Chapter 20
Todd awoke and needed a few moments to figure out where exactly he was. He knew this was his cruiser, but why was he sleeping in it? Where was it parked? The back of Jack’s ship…it all came back to him as the fog of sleep clouding his mind lifted.
He opened the door of the cruiser and stepped out. After stretching and letting out a big yawn, he shut the door. “Wonder if the big tree-hugging dolt has any coffee,” he said to himself. “Only one way to find out.” He hopped up the ledge and opened the door to the living quarters.
Simon was laid out on the floor with a small pillow and blanket. Jack was passed out on the couch with a controller still in his lap. Todd turned to his left, and the screen still had highlights playing from the last game completed.
Careful to avoid stepping on Simon, Todd quietly walked over to the kitchenette and began searching for coffee. On his third choice of cabinet, he hit the jackpot: a small individual cup coffee maker and a full container of coffee all strapped to the back wall of the cabinet to avoid shifting during flight. He unstrapped it all and set it on the counter. Just n
eed a little water now , he thought to himself, and opened the small fridge.
“It’s in the cabinet below the one you found the coffee in.” Todd’s head spun around to see one of Jack’s eyes now half open. Jack sat up a little more and ran his hand down his face then shook the sleep out. “Right there,” he said as he pointed. “Couple gallons in there, and the rest is stored in back.”
Todd opened the cabinet Jack had indicated and spoke as he poured water into the coffee maker. “Looks like you boys had a fun little sleepover.”
“Kind of,” said Jack as he stood up, turned off the screen, and began rolling it up. “Apparently, I need a little more practice, though.”
“Simon made a mess of you, huh?” said Todd. “Don’t beat yourself up too bad. He’s been doing that to people forever. All through college and at the academy, whenever guys—or girls, too, actually, he did not discriminate—thought they were good at video games, we’d bring ’em to play Simon. They’d always leave with their heads hangin’ and their tails between their legs.”
“He’s right, slim. Don’t feel bad,” said Simon, rolling over as he woke and joined the conversation. “You’re actually pretty good. You just happened to meet the master.”
Jack stuffed the tube and controllers back in the couch storage and slammed it shut. “Yeah, well, master or not, I still say that last game is under protest.”
“I’ll give you a rematch anytime, buddy,” said Simon as he stood up. “And make me one of those too,” he said to Todd as he pointed at his steaming cup.
Jack made his way through the door at the front of the cabin and into the cockpit to check their progress. Todd and Simon sat down at the small table to drink their coffee. “You still like Jack’s Li idea?” Todd asked as he took his first sip .
“It really does make a lot of sense, man. Whatever is going on there, he would most likely know a heck of a lot more than us about it. It could be a huge help.”
Todd took another sip and responded, “I’m okay with it. Thought about it a bunch before I fell asleep. As long as he keeps his mouth shut, he could be a tremendous asset.”
“There you go!” exclaimed Simon. “And I promise, if I get even the slightest inkling this guy is thinking about gabbing, I’ll stun him so fast his head will spin.”
“Ten minutes till Io is visible,” Jack called over his shoulder from the cockpit. “Maybe you guys should head to the back and hang in the cruiser when we approach. Who knows what kind of scans Vikards may be using if they’re down there. There is extra shielding in the walls of the rear cabin. As long as you’re in the back, they shouldn’t pick you up. Even if they do and things get hairy right away, you’ll be in your cruiser and would have an escape option out the back.”
“Makes sense to me,” said Todd as he stood up and began cleaning up the coffee maker.
Jack crawled out of his seat and onto his knees at the back of the cockpit. “Simon,” he said.
“Yeah, buddy?” said Simon after slugging down the last of his coffee and turning to look at Jack.
“Go in the back. In the drawer along the front wall marked D-nine there is a bunch of tiny cameras. Bring me one.”
“You got it,” Simon replied before running to the back .
A minute later, Simon returned with the tiny camera in hand and gave it to Jack. “We’ll sync this to your links. Then I’ll position it on the back wall of the cockpit, and you guys will be able to see and hear everything going on up here.”
“Perfect,” said Simon.
Jack fixed the camera up into the corner and said, “I think it’s time you two headed back. We’re only a minute or two out now.”
“Stay calm when you call down,” said Todd. “You’ve been here plenty of times, just think of this like any other trip. I’m sure if the Vikards are here and want to remain undetected, they would want the normal traffic to just keep coming and going so as not to draw any unwanted attention.”
Jack nodded, “Okay. Now get back there. We’re seconds out.”
Todd and Simon moved deliberately through the cabin and back into the rear section. Once inside the cruiser, they both turned their links to watch what was happening up front. Jack slowed Ol’ Gertie. The contrast of the fiery oranges and reds against the charred black of Io steadily grew larger in the windshield.
As the surface became clearer, a structure appeared on the horizon. It looked like a large doughnut with twelve arms sticking out from it like spokes. In the center hole of the doughnut was a large cube with a passage tunnel leading from each of its four sides back out to the inner wall of the doughnut. At the end of each of the twelve outer arms was a smaller cube structure. The cubes were all black, the doughnut and arms grey. None of it appeared to have a window of any sort. On one side, three of the cubes had been engulfed by what looked to have been a past lava flow that had stopped halfway up the corresponding arm.
Jack flipped a switch located in the center of the dashboard and began speaking in Mandarin. Thanks to the Bopecan brain upgrade, although they heard the Mandarin being spoken, inside Todd’s and Simon’s heads it effortlessly turned to English. “This is merchant ship T-one-nine-seven-four-three requesting access to garage two.” A few seconds passed with no response, and Jack repeated himself. “This is merchant ship T-one-nine-seven-four-three requesting access to garage two.” This time Jack waited almost thirty seconds. When no response came, he stopped their decent and put the ship into a hover.
Jack began his message a third time. “This is—”
A voice interrupted from the other side of the transmission. It too was in Mandarin. “You are granted access to garage two. It is opening now.”
“Thank you,” Jack responded as he re-started the ship’s decent. Next to one of the cubes, located beside the three that had been engulfed by Io’s ever-changing landscape, a door began to slide open.
Jack eased Ol’ Gertie down through the opening and into the completely vacant structure. He swung the ship into a corner with the front facing the wall and the rear door facing out into the center of the open space. Todd and Simon watched as Jack pulled out his phone and typed into it. A text notification popped into the corner of the screen on Simon’s link. “Looks like he was texting me,” said Simon as he tapped on the notification. “He says…Stay alert back there. Something is not right.”
Jack flipped the communicator switch again and said, “Please let anyone looking for repair work or to barter for tools know that I am in garage two.”
A few seconds passed, and the voice from the other side returned, “Someone is coming to see you now.” Jack climbed out of his seat and back through the door to the center cabin. A couple moments later, they heard the side door open and Jack jump out.
Todd tapped the inner wrist wand release, ejecting his wand into his hand. Simon looked over and, thinking it was probably a wise move, did the same. A few silent and tense minutes passed before they heard someone enter the garage. What sounded like a friendly conversation ensued, and after a minute or two Jack re-entered through the side door with whoever he had been talking with.
Now they could clearly hear through their feed from the cockpit. “Jack, as wonderful as it is to see you, you must go as soon as possible and not come back here.”
“Li, what’s going on?” asked Jack. Li began pacing and talking very fast. Jack grabbed his arm and said, “Li! Slow down, I can’t even understand you. Sit here and tell me what’s going on.”
“Okay…okay,” said Li as he sat at the small table. Jack slid into the other side, and Li took a deep breath.
“They arrived, very suddenly, a few months ago. So many. So fast. They took control instantly. They are so ugly. The red and purple scales, those pointed teeth, the yellow eyes. Ugly personality, too.”
Todd looked at Simon. “Vikards. It’s true.”
Simon nodded as Li went on, “They took most down into old mines right away and started building something. They keep a couple of us up here just in case an
yone shows up so we can get rid of them. I got to stay up here because I know English. It is horrible, Jack. They are very cruel. I cannot even imagine how they are treating the ones they took down into the mines or what awful thing they are building.”
“Li, I am going to help you, and then you are leaving here with me,” said Jack.
“No, Jack,” replied Li. “You cannot help. There is nothing you can do against them. I cannot go with you, either. I would very much like to, but they made it very clear if anyone even attempts to escape they will kill us all. I absolutely believe them.”
Jack stood up and walked to the door leading to the back. He opened it and looked down through the windshield of the cruiser at Todd and Simon. He waved them up, indicating he felt it was time they join the conversation. Todd looked at Simon and pushed his wand back into its place. “Well…I hope you and the big hippie were right about this Li character.” Todd opened his door and stepped out. Simon followed suit, and they jumped up the ledge together and then through the door to the middle cabin.
At the sight of Todd and Simon, Li shot out of his seat and started frantically pointing at them as he shouted, “Who are these?” Li hurried up to Jack and looked up at him in disbelief. “Who did you bring here? Why this trip? You are all going to be killed!”
“Calm down, calm down,” said Jack as he put his big hands on Li’s little shoulders. With the difference in their heights, it almost had the appearance of a parent looking down at their child. “They are here to help. Li, meet Todd Jordan and Simon Cain. Star marshals.”
Li looked at Todd and Simon. His eyes shot back and forth from one to the other a few times. He then looked back up at Jack and stuck his right hand up through Jack’s arms with two fingers held up. “Two,” Li said. “Two star marshals are gonna take on all these jerks? I’m not sure all the star marshals could deal with this mess, let alone two measly marshals.”
Jack clapped Li on the shoulder and said, “Three.” He then pointed his thumb back at himself and added, “And four. Those two plus you and me makes four. Even better, they don’t know we’re coming for ’em, so we have the element of surprise. That plus your inside knowledge of this place gives us a fighting chance.”
