Prologue - Breakfast
I began to slide over the slippery slope down the smooth mountainside,
picking up speed as the boosters kicked in, gliding low and fast over the
glassy gleaming surface glittering green in the weak rays of a dying red-giant
sun. The only blemishes on the landscape were some strange craters at irregular
intervals, as if superheated meteors had slammed into the hard crust and melted
through. Whatever these holes were, each was inhabited by a gigantic silver
spiral-worm that cork-screwed up into the Jovian dawn and tried to grab me
whenever I flew near one of them. There was no avoiding them really because my
only food, and theirs it seemed, pulsating pods oozing globs of gelatinous goo
perched precariously on whip like stalks, was located round the rim of their
craters and they kept a watchful eye (if they had eyes) on their crop. To
harvest these pods I had to run the gauntlet of wriggling worms, slicing them
off with the built-in laser, or failing that, ripping them out by the roots
with my power-assisted mech-arms and hurling them into outer space.
Every morning early, when the worms were still a bit sleepy and slow
moving, I would make the run to fetch breakfast. No doubt a pizza delivery boy
in Manhattan
The
length of a day here was about the same as a day on earth, but that was where
all similarities ended. Even the valley where I had crash-landed, bore no
earthly resemblance. The hillsides were smooth and regular and as hard as
diamond. No rocks or dust, just these worm craters, and the cave.
There
was no atmosphere on this planet which is why the cave was a godsend. There was
enough oxygen in my tanks for only about a month of continual use. Then that
was it. Because the ship had burst all its seams on impact, the air scrubbers
were useless. So, no recycling.
The
cave led half-a-mile downwards and ended in a cavern with bubbling thermal vents that
farted out a continuous stream of stinky but breathable air which dissipated
within a few yards of the vents and bled off into space. So I set up camp here,
only leaving the cave to suit up and get breakfast.
What was down there that emitted this foul stench I
couldn’t even guess at. The whole planet was an enigma. Well not so much a
planet as a small moon covered by strangely shaped mountain ridges in shiny
metallic green, with perfectly symmetrical peaks diminishing into the distance.
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It was nothing really. A faint
flicker - easily mistaken for a floater in the eye, or a misfiring synapse in
the brain that left an infinitesimal flash of light on my field of vision. Then
it was gone. As if a star had just winked out. I was about to dismiss it when
another one flickered out and something cold crept up the back of my neck and
goose pimples erupted all over my scalp.
“Reverse direction and fire
thrusters now…” The tech officer, an indolent slob who never did anything
without arguing, didn’t even hesitate. The barely controlled hysteria in my
voice brooked no argument. “Lateral boosters to 180 degrees,” he replied.
“Get ready to fire main thrusters
on full power the moment we’re aligned. And I suggest you strap yourself in.”
All the time I watched as more and
more stars winked out ahead of us. There was only one logical explanation.
Something big was blocking out the light and we were headed straight for it. I
fired off a stream of distress drones in the general direction of home and
waited in agony as we rotated to reverse-thrust position.
“Firing all main thrusters.”
It was too late and I knew it. I
had no idea how big it was or how close we were, but you get an instinct about
these things. With two thousand tons of ore in the cargo hold, even if we
survived the massive G force of slamming on the brakes so hard, it would still take
a hundred thousand miles to stop. The scanners still read nothing and the
cameras didn’t have enough light to initialize. There shouldn’t have been
anything out here anyway. Not according to the star chart. That was my last
thought as the engines kicked in and a sledgehammer hit me in the chest. A
second later I passed out.
The
two thousand tons of prime ore impacting first is probably what saved my life by
acting like a kind of shock absorber. My techie wasn’t so lucky. I still
haven’t found his body.
So
here I was. Eking out my oxygen and waiting for the end. Which was a real bitch
because I had stumbled on the richest vein of Scandium since the gold rush. I
was a made man. However, I was also a dead man.
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DON'T MISS NEXT WEEKS EXCITING EPISODE
