Mission Cerex Boxset Page 6

  She randomly remembered those vapid twins from training and tapped her temple three times. “Standby mode,” she managed to whisper. Her fists came down hard on her thighs, then again and again until her hands ached and her thighs screamed for mercy. She threw her head up and pressed her hands into her face until she began to sob. She sat like that for nearly an hour, then abruptly got back up, smoothed out her uniform and went to work.

  Chapter 3

  The euphoria of discovering the immense diamond deposit quickly evaporated as soon as the reality of life on Ceres came settling over the crew. With no diamond drill bits onboard and manufacturing capability nowhere near up to the task of forging new ones, it would be years before they could start mining.

  Pia fought hard not to show her relief when the news broke. They were parked next to the largest diamond mine humanity had ever seen, with no way to extract it. Things were made even worse by surveys of the surrounding regolith. Despite the vast wealth in Ahuna Mons, Cerex had landed in a virtual dead zone for resources.

  Coburn and Santos were tasked with finding a more suitable mining spot. CereSat data suggested their original landing site near Occator was still their best hope of finding useful amounts of what they would need to quickly produce fuel, water, and food. However, Occator was located some 500 kilometers away in the Hanami Planum highlands, so Santos’ two remaining operational rovers began lumbering their way there. Meanwhile drones flew off to retrieve tiny scoops of loose material for analyzation.

  Pia found herself in uncomfortably high demand at a time when she wanted nothing more than to curl up on a cot and listen to rain beat down on a heavy canvas tent. Since their improvised landing site contained nothing useful beyond a few trillion carats of raw diamond, Pia’s forest remained their sole source of oxygen and water.

  As the official steward of the life support systems onboard Cerex, Pia was constantly having crew come to her for requisition approvals. Lara needed water as coolant for the rapidly expanding solar arrays she was constructing. Theo was clamoring to get to work drilling for subsurface water, but needed water to help cool his machinery as well. And of course everyone wanted to go out in their exosuits to explore on foot. But all of it used resources, and even if fully recoverable or reusable, only a certain amount could be used at any one time while still maintaining critical systems.

  Pia lay back on a mossy ledge letting her bare feet and dirty blond hair dangle over the sides. She let out a deep sigh, closed her eyes, and listened. But there was no rain, no tent, not even a comfortable bed where she could hide out. 'Maybe Zee could make canvas with his fancy 3-D printers?' she thought. He hadn’t said a word to her in the week since the big discovery, but something had changed between them.

  Maybe it was all in her head, she was never very good at reading other people, but she would catch him glancing sideways at her during meetings. Every so often she would be alone and swear that he was watching, that he knew what she was thinking.

  Rather than getting more freaked out, Pia decided to go visit him and get a better feel of the situation. While her domain at the center of Cerex had converted to life at Ceres gravity, most other areas were now spun up artificially. She waited in the air lock as it matched speeds with tech deck. Under her arm was a narrow golden colored tube which she began tapping on the walls. As she neared Zee’s station she paused to collect herself, took a deep breath, and then blew it out hard with an intentional body shimmy.

  Zee sat tilted impossibly far back on his chair with hairy legs up on the desk and his hands resting on an old t-shirt. His eyes constantly darted around at invisible screens, and it was difficult to tell if he was dreaming or working. As had happened with many of the crew before, Pia went to wake him only to have Zee be the first to speak.

  “Pia, I was hoping you’d drop in.”

  “You did?” She straightened up and began searching awkwardly behind herself for the nearest chair or desk to lean on.

  “It’s about the Ahuna diamond,” and with that she could feel the sweat beading on her brow.

  “Lucky find, huh? This trip has got a horseshoe stuck up its ass.” The nervous laughter came flooding out of her now. What was she so scared of, that she wasn't super excited and he saw it? That absolute global domination for Natocorps didn't exactly thrill her? Zee was probably so lost in his stupid Datanet that he didn't care what happened to Earth.

  “A what? A horse’s shoe?” Zee had a much gentler laugh, and it was disarming to see him staring at her, just her and not with the usual sideways glances at holo imagery. "Anyway, you're our resident expert on chemistry and I wanted to see what you make of this.”

  Pia was relieved to find the conversation going along professional lines. “I'm not sure you need my expertise to classify a diamond. Miller has probably called a thousand gemologists back on Earth for that.”

  At that Zee rolled his eyes and leaned closer to her. “Yeah, no, that asshole is only worried about himself and money, in that order.” His eyes lit up when he laughed this time, and Pia felt like she was finally connecting with him for the first time.

  “Then what’s so weird that you need me?” she asked.

  “Awww, but you like weird, don't you?”

  Now Pia didn't know what they were really talking about anymore. “Weird is kind of sexy," she stammered. "It's mysterious, no? All the best things are weird somehow or other.” She couldn't tell what Zee was feeling, but he kept rolling with the banter, and it was a relief to talk casually with someone after the stress of the last week.

  “Well here, this is what a typical spectrometer readout from a diamond looks like,” and began pulling up graphs on the nearest screen, “and THIS is what we're getting from Ahuna.”

  As he moved aside, he took her hand and pulled her over to his station. She went to point out a particular readout, but found Zee still held her hand firmly. "May I?" she asked while wiggling her fingers. Pia scanned the readouts quickly, then furrowed her brow and leaned closer. “This is just from one sample? One site?”

  “3cm wide circle, yep. And we've checked multiple sites, all have unique signatures but roughly equal percentages of these trace elements.”

  “Corundum, beryl, iridium,” Pia rattled off as she examined the spectrographs.

  “Impressive, or as us laymen call them…”

  “Ruby, sapphire, emerald, there's half of the periodic table here. How?" Pia was stunned. "How is this possible? Simple oxides or carbonates are always found in diamonds, but these are entirely different elements, formed in entirely different ways, all just sprinkled through a diamond the size of Paris.”

  “Gold, platinum, yeah, damn near everything. And that's not all.” Zee swiveled in his chair and brought up a new chart. “Most diamonds on Earth are ancient, we're talking one to three billion years old. Care to guess how old Ahuna is?”

  Pia examined the chart, then dropped down and sat on the floor to steady herself as her mind raced. “This is impossible, all of this. What the hell is going on here?! A diamond less than a million years old, oh and it has every precious metal known to mankind riddled throughout it like blueberries in a cake.”

  “I would have gone with chocolate chips in a cookie, but yeah, basically this is insane.” The two of them sat and thought for a minute as Zee smirked at Pia sitting on the floor with her knees tucked in under her chin.

  “Does anyone else know? What does Theo think, or Gabe?” she finally asked.

  “Gabe and Theo showed me, and they're as baffled as you. Miller has a meeting about it set for sundown Ceres time, four hours from now. You have to start using your chip more,” he said casually.

  How did he know whether she was using her chip or not? Again she felt an overwhelming panic strike her that he was able to read her thoughts.

  “I think Miller will flip his shit if you ignore another one of his comm requests,” Zee laughed, not seeming to notice her fear.

  She began to think she was overreacting again. She had avoi
ded tech for so much of her life that she imagined the worst most of the time. Still, Zee was no mere tech user. He was a genius, and when his eyes bore down on her she felt utterly naked, like her every thought and feeling were being recorded, cataloged, and analyzed.

  “Honey?” Zee asked, startling her back to the conversation.

  “Excuse me?” she said defensively. Zee pointed at the golden tube Pia had laying beside her on the floor and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yes! I had nearly forgotten. For saving me back at landing.” She handed him the tube of honey freshly harvested that morning. “And thanks for saving us at launch. You do a lot of saving...and not a lot of talking.”

  “Well talking is usually just wasted breath. We need to be careful with our air, which you and your sprouts so kindly provide, so thank you right back.”

  This time it was Pia who couldn't help but smile. “My sprouts?”

  Zee pursed his lips. “The others call them that...or your minions.”

  Pia stood and got up in Zee’s face in mock anger, still grinning widely. “Is that all? C'mon, what else do they say about me?”

  “Well, you're always hidden away in your hab. People were joking that you uh, get…”

  “Get what?” Pia laughed.

  “Get uh,” and now Zee was blushing, “that you get close, very close, with your crops.”

  “People, huh? Who the hell is saying that I have sex with the goddamn vegetables?”

  “A gentleman never tells, Mademoiselle,” he demurred playfully, rolling his eyes towards the station next to his.

  “Theo, that dirty man-child! I swear, enough time in space and shy Frenchwoman becomes plant lover in his brain.”

  “Well if it helps any, he's got plenty to distract him now with this megadiamond.”

  “Oiu, c’est magnifique. No honey for him,” Pia smoothed out her uniform then realized what she said. “Don't even say it, no honey for anyone.”

  Chapter 4

  This time Pia made sure she kept her chip linked in before the meeting, and even managed to pull up the various supporting files and charts that Miller had attached. There were soil composition readouts from all over Ceres, along with inventories of their available equipment.

  She almost didn't recognize the command module when she got there, because a holo projection of Ahuna Mons took up most of the room and all movable work platforms were folded back towards the walls. The Spine itself was hidden at the center of the holo mountain, and Miller waited at the shimmering base right where Pia emerged from the airlock.

  The Commander knelt down in his beautifully tailored flight suit and offered Pia a hand up off the ladder.

  “Why thank you, such a gallant Commander we have,” Pia said warily, “I should start arriving early to every meeting.”

  “Yes you should, because it's your job.” Miller said, smiling through the barb.

  “Ahhh, now that's the Commander I know. I was beginning to worry you might be running a fever.”

  “Cute, but I have no time for our little games, have a seat please.”

  Pia somehow resisted the urge to gag and took a seat at the end of a row farthest from Miller, estimating how much power was spent by printing out eight single use chairs. In the next few minutes the others filed in and chose seats as if they were a grade school class. To Pia’s surprise, Lara made a point of sitting next to her, while Zee went over to the seat beside Miller.

  Lara leaned over to her before the meeting began. “I need a break from these tech boys. You don't know how lucky you are to have a separate hab that doesn't smell of B.O. and desperation.”

  The two of them laughed a little bit too loudly and drew a glare from Miller, who was looking for a quiet moment to begin. Soon all eyes were on him, and he gave a signal to Zee, who wordlessly began to animate the holograph.

  Sunlight pierced through the diamond wall, illuminating the whole room with a warm blue glow. The tiny circle of Sun came to rest behind the peak as the animation paused.

  “Dawn...a new type of dawn for a new era in human history. No other human beings have ever been this far from Earth before...let that sink in for a moment. With all the excitement of our mission to date, it's easy to lose sight of that monumental fact.”

  He paused a moment in what looked like a bit of dramatic flair, but which also allowed the next part of his holographic display to continue. The mountain began shrinking as the view pulled quickly back across the landscape of Ceres. It settled over a huge crater with a blinding white splotch at its center.

  “Occator,” Miller continued, “this crater is the key to it all. Right now we're sending drones and cargo bots to scrape away at the surface and bring it back to Cerex. But at our current rate, it could be years before we have a self sustaining base able to properly mine Ahuna and begin refueling for the first return flight. This is not acceptable."

  Miller began pacing in front of the seated crew. "We have a brief window of opportunity before the other Multinats take action. We've been fortunate beyond our wildest dreams, and yet cursed as well. If we let our temporary advantage slip away, it could mean a multiworld war.”

  “You have a plan then, I assume?” Colonel Vineland challenged. He rarely spoke and drew considerable attention from the crew when he did.

  Miller motioned to Zee again. The holo zoomed out to encompass most of Ceres. It looked ancient and strangely beautiful to Pia, its ash gray surface covered with craters and specks of bright white.

  “What I'm planning…” Miller scanned the room slowly while trying to detect any opposition, “is to fly to Occator.”

  “Fly Cerex?” Barton asked incredulously. “The anchored spacecraft with no engines and no fuel?”

  Gabe and Theo started brainstorming simultaneously, “The engines are printable in theory, but it will take months before the first one could be completed," Gabe started, then Theo jumped in. "Fuel is just as long a project, maybe longer. Shorter for a jump to Occator I guess, but we still need a liftoff fuel burst.”

  Zee was next to speak, “If you're counting on the mini thrusters for anything beyond flight control, I wouldn't. They mostly just know how to keep things vertical and how to slow them down.”

  “That might be enough," Miller countered. "We just need to set an explosive charge big enough to kick us up off the surface and then the minis could take over…”

  “An explosive charge is not going anywhere near this ship, Commander, with all due respect, “ Vineland interjected sternly.

  “Well it doesn't have to be an explosive charge, I don't know, I'll leave the details to you. The point is, this is happening. It has to if our mission is going to succeed.”

  Barton was next to object. “It's way too risky, even for me. As you so lavishly pointed out," she motioned to the hologram, "this ship is stable on the surface of a dwarf planet tens of millions of kilometers away from the next nearest human, and by some miracle we're all alive. Not to mention we're parked next to a jewel the size of Chicago. Our first priority has to be safety.”

  Miller waited for support, but only silence filled the room. Sarah tried to drive home her argument. “There has to be better options...sir. We could cannibalize other equipment to build more bots and accelerate the retrieval process from Occator.”

  Gabe chimed in, “I'm sure I could find parts for half a dozen more rovers.”

  “I could drill some deeper exploratory holes to see if any more resource rich regolith is underground nearby,” suggested Theo.

  The mood was turning against Miller, and he sensed it. “These are still all much too slow," Miller announced. "We need to start thinking less about our situation in isolation. Natocorps is not the only company with their sights set on Ceres. And now that we've made it, I assure you that our competitors will be on their way as soon as physically possible. They may not bother bringing a state of the art craft like Cerex."

  Miller was on a roll and continued, "No, they'll send military ships, or more likely attack drones, to eliminate
us and buy them more time. Those ships may have been launched shortly after we did, meaning they could come raining down laser fire on us any day now. We have equipped ourselves with some defensive capabilities, but with the resources at Occator we could manufacture safer habitats and greater weaponry in a matter of weeks.”

  The crew looked around at each other searching for some sort of consensus, but found none. Miller went for the kill. “Now I know that this is where I'm supposed to take a vote to see if you all agree with my plan...but that’s just not going to happen. To prevent or shorten a massive war, to finally assert a Globalcorps with order and stability on Earth and Luna, and because I damn well say so, we're taking Cerex to Occator. You're the best at what you do. Figure out how we can make this happen.”

  Miller walked over to the Spine, clicking a button which made the holo mountain disappear. He quickly climbed up to his command platform, leaving a stunned group scattering while starting to brainstorm via their chips. Pia began retreating back to her garden, then stopped and turned back. She walked with purpose now, more and more convinced that she would never see Earth again. Her target was lingering while he formatted the room back to normal.

  “You talk big behind his back, but you're a good little lackey, aren't you?” she confronted Zee.

  He tried to ignore the insult and pretend he was lost in his work, but Pia gave him a shove right in the chest.

  “Wake up, will you? Miller is going to get us killed, if some drone doesn't do the job first apparently, and you scurry off to program pretty mountain holos for him?” Pia raised her shaking fists between them.

  Zee was silent for a few seconds, then took her hands into his. “Some things can't be changed, no matter how much you or I wish it was different.”

  Pia's eyes opened in wild confusion as she started for the ladder exit. Before stepping onto the top rung, Pia looked up one last time, her face flush with a few tears. “What the hell does that mean?”