“It’s been getting more intense the last twenty or thirty minutes,” Reese told her.
Mara could imagine the destruction occurring below, picturing the structures being torn apart by the mining equipment. It made her angry. The blue light from millions of creatures overtook the console, shining through the monitors on the wall and into their visors. It was as ominous a warning they had seen yet.
Mara began to think about contingency plans. She thought about how to escape if the fissure collapsed around them, or if the Hab was disabled. Different scenarios raced through her mind; there were different ways of being left stranded on the moon or dying here that tormented her. She tried to keep those thoughts at bay.
“There, I think I see it,” Reese told her. Within their headsets, lit by the light of millions of creatures, was the tell-tale sign of mining activity on the ocean bottom. Detritus from the seafloor had been stirred into a storm of dusty clouds. Lights flashed through them with incredible intensity. Like an electrical storm on Earth, the flashing light pervaded the clouds, flowed into and out of them, and then flashed through the debris. It was a hurricane of destruction and dusty remains and pulsations of light.
The glow was overtaking the cameras and washing out the images inside their headsets. Mara and Reese were operating nearly blind.
“Can you try the I.R. cameras?” Mara asked.
Reese flipped the cameras and the screen went monochromatic. It had made an improvement.
“We’re going to have to get closer,” Reese said.
“I doubt they can see us any better than we can see them,” Mara answered. “See if you can figure out which direction they are going and then come in from behind.”
Reese steered the sub around an outcropping and crept close to one of the arms. Its location had been given away by the tube suspended above it. The head at the end of the arm was spinning and chewing through crystal after crystal. The cathedrals of diamonds were collapsing upon contact with them. The sight of the damage nearly caused Mara to scream, but she held her jaw clenched tight.
“I’m getting in behind. What do you think we can do?” Reese
asked.
“Lights are off?”
“Yes.”
“The collection instruments working?” Mara asked.
“Check and check,” Reese sounded. “All instruments functional,” she said.
“Prepare the research arm,” Mara said.
Reese wasn’t sure what Mara had in mind, but she hit the controls. “Mara, the sub is not going to be any challenge to that mining equipment,” she worried. “I don’t think EUNICE can survive a direct…”
“Just extend the arm. We’re going to sneak up to them,” she said. Mara could see in her helmet visor that the arm was extending.
Reese smiled with determination. They descended closer to the commotion. A great dusty swath of ocean bottom had been stirred from the depths, lit by angry creatures in all colors. Debris swirled around the lights and was caught in the currents, then it dissipated and floated away from the action. As the water cleared here and there, the two wide black tubes could be tracked behind the grinder heads, descending into the rubble below. It helped them locate their targets.
“That’s it,” Mara said. “Come in slowly, I don’t think the head can see you.”
Reese stayed above the cloud of dust and approached one of the tubes from high above. The sub’s collection arm slowly extended towards the tube.
“Start up the saw,” Mara instructed.
“What about the charges?” Reese asked.
“We’ll save them. Let’s only use them if we need to,” Mara answered. “Besides, I don’t want that other head knowing we’re down here yet.”
Reese hit some buttons and the saw blade at the end of the collection arm began spinning. Water and bubbles churned in front of the cameras. Mara watched Reese guide the sub tightly into the arm. EUNICE remained steady, and the sawblade extended. The tube was the only thing connecting the grinder head to the crawler above, and it was within striking distance.
“Hit it!” Mara said.
Reese pushed the sub forward and the spinning blade contacted the tube. Sparks flew in front of the cameras, filling their headsets with even more flashes of light.
There was no motion or reaction from the grinder as the blade sunk into its unsuspecting victim. The grinder head kept working the seafloor, unaware of what was happening to it above. Reese pressed the controls further, keeping up with the arm and the tube, and she added pressure to the saw, grinding the metal upon the carbon fiber tube.
A sudden burst of sparkling stones filled their visors. The tendrils of light from the scattered material arced in front of them and fell beneath the cameras.
“What was that?” Reese asked. The two of them were studying their visors, afraid of what may have just happened.
When the image cleared, it showed a shower of diamonds flying out of the ruptured tube and into the seawater. The diamonds were being sucked up by the churning head below, but the line had been broken, and the fragments were flying from the tube into the open sea. Then they descended below in a shower of diamond fragments. For only a few seconds the current continued, spewing diamonds into the water, and then the suction was lost. The vacuum seal had been broken, and the current subsided. The shower of diamonds dwindled and then stopped.
“I think we disabled it! One down!” Mara cheered. “Nice job, Reese,” she said.
Reese backed the sub away from the scene. The full extent of damage to the head and the seafloor was now showing up in their visors. The ground-up diamonds had been sprayed from the broken collection tube and onto the seafloor, but at least they were staying in the ocean instead of being sent up to the crawlers where Johan and his men had been expecting them.
Mara watched her visor closely. She waited to see the reaction from the other grinder head, certain that Johan was aware of their presence now.
The remaining arm stopped, and it turned toward them. Mara could tell it was looking for something. They watched the tube and the head move in all directions in front of them, searching the dusty water for its twin. She knew that Johan and the miners would find them very soon.
Sol 16; Mission time — 23:48
Morrison was watching the monitors closely when he realized pressure had dropped, and the head had nearly broken free from the tube.
“Johan!” he cried. “We’ve lost an arm!” he shouted.
Johan eagerly approached the controls and assessed the readouts from the damaged head. “The tube has been severed. Tell me you didn’t catch the tube in the grinder head again,” he complained.
Morrison shook his head. “We lost pressure. Didn’t hit it or tangle with it or nothin,” he answered.
Johan got on the comm-link to the second crawler. “Murphy, spin your cameras around here and take a look at our tube. We got something wrong with our pressure.”
“Aye, captain,” came across the radio. It took a few seconds for an image to appear on their monitors aboard the crawler. It was an image of the damaged tube.
“Look at this, Johan,” Murphy said. “That’s a clean cut. Not from one of the heads,” he said. “I doubt it was snagged on one of the diamonds… too high up.”
Johan clenched his teeth. “Hanson,” he said. “That damage is from a saw. Hanson is helping the scientists work their sub against us. Find that sub! Chew it to pieces,” he commanded.
Sol 17; Mission time - 00:15
Mara and Reese had retreated with EUNICE the moment they noticed the head looking for them. They agreed they’d need to hide, unable to face one of the grinder heads directly if it knew where they were.
Reese found a diamond structure to park the sub behind as the remaining grinder searched the area. It continued to churn sediment into the water that had made for good cover. They were content
to let the grinder head search for them behind the safety of the diamond structure. The more the head looked for them, the more cover it created they could use to sneak up to it.
As Mara watched the grinder search for them, she envisioned Johan above in the crawler, desperate to find them, and frustrated at losing the first machine. Satisfaction such as this had been rare in her life lately.
The arm began to approach closer, but Reese and Mara were sure it hadn’t seen them. The mining head continued. Mara suddenly regretted insisting that the sub be painted orange in case it had ever needed to be recovered. She wished it was brown to match the murky sediment-laden water. They waited patiently for the arm to give up the search, or back away and look somewhere else. When it finally did, Mara saw their chance.
The mining head turned, and Mara gave the order. “Now! Reese… Get up behind it. Cut the tube again!”
Reese moved the sub deftly in the churning water. The arm extended once more and came up behind the mining head, right to the base of the tube. When the blade contacted it there was another splash of sparks. Reese sank the saw into the flesh of the tube without mercy.
This time the arm was immediately aware of their presence. The massive head spun quickly around and faced them. Mara and Reese could see the cameras on the grinder head looking at them. The two machines stared each other down.
The grinders begun spinning faster.
“Reese, back up, quick!”
“Oh shit, this isn’t good, Mara,” Reese told her. “I didn’t get much time to cut into that tube. It’s fully functional.”
“Just do what you can,” Mara told her. “And do it quick.”
Reese backed the sub away from the grinders on the mining head as fast as she could. They were spinning with such ferocity that it was hard to make out the individual teeth sticking out from the drum.
The sub moved backward faster than the mining head could follow, to the great relief of Mara and Reese. They backed away at breaking speed, certain that contact with the spinning grinders would mean instant death for EUNICE. Reese carefully banked through several outcroppings of diamond structures, with the head trailing the sub as quickly as it could, smashing directly through the castles of diamonds when it needed to. But the grinder head was losing ground to the smaller, faster, more maneuverable research vessel.
No matter how far away the sub got from the spinning head, it continued to pursue them. It was relentless. Mara turned her attention behind them, noticing another outcropping approaching. She had a plan.
“Reese, there is another outcropping coming up behind us. I want you to see if you can race the sub around to the back side,” Mara told her. “Try to get the head to follow you.”
“Ok, I’ll look for it,” Reese responded. “What do you have in mind?” she asked.
“Let’s see if we can get those guys turned around,” Mara said.
Reese smiled devilishly as she turned the cameras aft and watched the approaching outcropping, its diamond structure was alight with energized creatures. They flashed their lights as the sub banked around the structure, and there, on the far side, they waited for the head to approach. They hoped the miners would take the bait and chase them around the outcropping.
The head came quickly, but then it unexpectedly followed a direct line towards them. It smashed through the crystal structure and came right at them. Reese dodged EUNICE to the left, instinctually and with perfect timing. The head glided by, tearing directly through the center of the diamond structure, but it was unable to stop in time. It had overshot their location.
Reese then guided EUNICE around to the other side of the remaining structure, daring the head to continue its pursuit of them. The sub’s superior maneuverability was a distinct advantage for them as it waited for the grinder head. They waited, and Reese quickly extended the saw blade and managed to contact the tube that had been left behind. Sparks flew again as the remainder of the diamond structure flashed in all the colors of the rainbow and fell to pieces around EUNICE. It was a massive amount of destruction as the large cathedral of crystal collapsed around them.
The head raced towards them on a direct line, but Mara and Reese were severing its connection tube. They had to be fast. The head charged at them with a frustrated rage.
This time they dodged right, and the grinder went screaming by again as the sub deftly moved out of the way. It was all happening so fast.
But then EUNICE was dragged toward the grinder head. Something was pulling her closer to it. Their connection cable to the crane had been tangled with the tube. They were unable to leave the head now or race away from it. The two machines were tangled together.
Reese made a valiant effort, but no matter how she tried, no matter which direction she pressed, the connection lines remained together. She would have to act quickly.
The grinder made its way toward them. There wasn’t much time. Reese started sawing through the tube once again, beginning a new cut. The head barreled its way toward EUNICE, spinning and tearing up everything in its path. The saw connected with the tube and sparks flew… It was going to be close.
Another burst of diamonds filled their screens. “Get out of there!” Mara yelled, trying as hard as she could to will the sub out of the way of the oncoming grinder head.
The sub backed out of the way just in time. The grinder crashed into the remaining diamond outcropping and tore into its own tube. The grinder’s connection was caught in the teeth of the spinning drums and was instantly mangled beyond recognition. Suddenly the head spewed diamonds from its teeth. There was another shower of diamonds being sprayed into the seawater around them. Streaks of lights and crystal flew through the water.
Reese had managed to get the head of the monstrous mining arm to grind its own support tube. The small bits and fragments of diamonds that had been inside the massive gears spilled out of the severed arm, and they were deposited over the seabed. The sub was free. They could maneuver once again without being tangled with the head.
The grinder head, now disabled, churned haplessly on the seafloor, but was still eating through the seabed. It aimlessly careened all over the bottom of the sea, spreading destruction randomly across the surface.
They quickly realized the grave situation — an unattended grinder head careening randomly and endlessly around the precious diamond structures.
Mara acted quickly, programming one of the charges to extend on the arm. “How much time do you need?” she asked Reese.
“Give me at least a couple minutes,” she replied.
Reese guided the sub toward the hapless grinder, carefully. One wrong move would catch them in the random barreling teeth of the machine. Reese placed a charge on the housing at the back of the head, away from the thick shielding and armor on the front side. They quickly moved EUNICE away.
They backed the sub as far away in the two minutes they had given themselves. From several hundred meters away, the explosion lit up the surrounding area and sent debris far into the ocean.
The blast crested and then waned, and the scattered light from a thousand diamond fragments fizzled into darkness. It left a dark pit on the seafloor. Mara and Reese surveyed the destruction. The bright patch of ground around the volcanic vent that was home to millions of creatures was suddenly dark. Mara and Reese were relieved to have stopped the destruction, but the darkened patch of seafloor was an ominous scar. As the debris settled, they looked at the destruction. Large swaths of darkness signified the totality of the mining operation. It was a sad moment in an otherwise victorious occasion.
The remaining tube belonging to the grinder head began to ascend back to the crawlers, called home by the miners. They were wounded and useless.
Mara and Reese reveled in their victory, and they shared a quick smile at the fortunate events, but within moments a communication appeared upon their comm-link. It was Hanson. He looked at them from the
monitor near the controls. It had only been seconds after the grinder head had exploded. Mara sat up quickly when she saw his image.
“Mara, are you still in the drill chamber? I’m at the crawlers.”
“Did you make it to your crew?” she asked. “I’m here at the drill chamber. I think we just knocked out the miner’s machines.”
Then Johan stepped from aside Hanson and appeared on the monitor. Mara sat backward quickly in her seat, surprised to see him. “I know you did, Mara,” he said. “That was a nice bit of piloting there… Going to cost a lot of money to replace those heads though, I hate to tell you.”
“Replace them yourself,” Mara said, unable in her disgust to think of anything better to say.
Hanson was still on the screen behind Johan. “Leave her alone, Johan,” he said. “She’s trying to save you.”
Johan ignored him. “Maybe I can bill the damage to Hanson… He’s used to paying off debts for other people,” he said calmly.
“Do you even know what you are doing?” Mara asked. “Do you know what you are destroying down there?”
“I know that you wanted to hide this from us. I know that you let us risk our lives here so you could keep all this for yourself,” he said.
“Johan, those creatures communicate using those structures. They take millennia to build. The animals trade information through them; cures for diseases, healing powers… They are not meant for us to take,” Mara said. “They are far more valuable than you know,” she tried to reason.
“All I see are a lot of diamonds,” Johan said with a smile. “That’s valuable enough for me.”
Mara bristled. “You are in danger there, Johan. I tried to tell you we could predict the quakes… and there is a big one coming… bigger than the last two combined. You’re going to cause an eruption if you don’t stop.”
“I’m done letting you scare us, Mara. Now we know what you were hiding, and we’re going to get our share of it,” he said.
“I’m telling you, the signals for a catastrophic quake are right here on our monitors. Julian can triangulate the location. Look at the lights. You can see the signals for yourself. It’s a warning. Something big is going to happen.” Mara pleaded with Johan, but it was no use. “We’re in danger. We need to get off this moon, now!”
Diamond Moon Page 38
