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"Say, Rsh," Blaze said. "It seems we've struck ourselves some gold … or platinum, I mean. How's about you, uh, grab the reins and trot on over here?" He checked his oxygen indicator. "Air's getting low, too."

"As you wish."

Rsh silenced the flight deck's comms line, although — unlike earlier — the software continued to process their inter-suit comms just fine. He propped the drowsy woman up while he waited for that faraway light to lift into the air. Don't complain, he thought. Cowboys don't complain, they just get it done without fussin'. Next to them, Luci staggered to the cliff wall, put her back against it, and slid down till she'd curled up in a ball at the bottom. Her headlamps stared out in front of her.

"Wake me … eeee mon-suhs cuhhh," she mumbled while yawning.

"Fret not, partner. If any monsters show their ugly mugs, I'll fight 'em off."

She grunted.

A flash of blue light rolled across the stony plains. The sight of the starship blasting off drew Blaze's eye. It looked weird, watching it lift up without hearing the engines firing. The flaring blue dot rose two dozen feet into the air, then rotated and angled itself at them. Then, hesitant at first, it launched itself forward. Picked up speed, sailed over the ground towards their position, growing ever bigger.

Blaze hoisted 'the boss' up, held her at arm's length, and aimed her at the starship.

"Wake up, Philomena. Ride's here."

She didn't wake up.

As her dead weight made his tired arms ache, he fought off a yawn of his own. Imagine all that there platinum, he thought. We mine it, we're rich!

We'll, I'm just about the only fella that's gonna be doing any mining, but … whatever. A cowboy does his job and he doesn't do any belly-achin', ain't that right?

The ship hovered over them, bringing its intense landing lights with it. They ripped off the shroud of darkness over the land. He turned away from the blinding beams. Behind him, the ore embedded in the crater wall gleamed. Luci, curled up in front of it, squirmed and put her hands up to protect her eyes from the light. She moaned loudly, so loud it got past the comms' noise gate. It was the moan a person gave when they were begging for five more minutes of shuteye.

The ship touched down in eerie silence. Like a film with the sound muted. Its engines blasted a cloud of dust off the stone. Unbound by air resistance, the sheets of scree sailed right past them. Soon as the ship settled on its landing legs, the glow of its engines faded. The bright perimeter of light bathed them with its brilliance, but now …

Now everything else was pure, complete darkness. Hemming the ship in. Lurking around it. Getting ready to steal in and attack them.

Let them try, he thought.

The air lock door was still open. He guided Philomena to the cable dangling from it. Her legs half-moved, but they spent most of their time dragging and kicking the ground, meaning he had to bear most of her dead weight. When they reached it, he straightened her body. Put his hands over hers. Lifted them up and curled them around the cable.

"Come on, little lady. Time to climb."

He let go of her, expecting she'd at least be able to stand on her own.

Instead, she sank right to her knees. The rope slipped through her fists as they tightened around it, like she was putting all her effort into ringing a big bell. She sat on her feet and slumped forward, pulling the cable tight as she hugged it to her chest.

Come on, Blaze said, as he yawned.

"Rsh, you there?"

The comms channel to the flight deck opened. "I am here."

"I don't believe Philomena here's gonna make it up to the airlock. Depressurize the cargo bay."

A throaty growl trilled in his ear. It sounded annoyed, but not very surprised.

Blaze lifted Philomena off the ground and marched her to the ship's upswept stern. Bleary-eyed, Luci staggered away from the platinum vein and tried to keep pace with them without lifting her boots more then a quarter-inch off the land. She stood next to them, precariously leaning to the side. While they waited, Philomena snored softly right in Blaze's arms.

Not only did it take quite a while for the ship to cycle the air out of the bay, it put the ship's air storage tanks under a lot of strain. They tended not to do it if they could get around it.

To pass the time, Blaze imagined all the lovely ladies who's throw themselves at him the moment he proved he was worth his weight in platinum. Grinning, he lost himself in imagining the feel of all that soft skin rubbing against his muscular body. But then he felt a little awkward, since Luci was standing right next to him. Well, she did walk in on me while I was …

Then he yawned again, and shook his head to get the fuzz out.

"This here platinum's gonna make us rich, Luci. I reckon this time next month, we'll be millionaires!"

"Mmm, rich," she said, swaying.

"Gonna make all them space babes swoon."

"Mmm, space babes."

Yellow lights next to the cargo ramp flashed, distracting them. Shortly, the ramp detached itself from the hull and lowered along its hydraulic pistons. The interior, with its bare metal surfaces and steel ribs supporting the exposed fuselage, shouldn't look so inviting. Yet … it was bare and sparse, but it was familiar. Human. Home.

"Give me a hand with her," he said.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Luci blushed at the thought of touching Philomena, but with a shake in her hands she reached out and helped prop the slumbering moron up. Together, they hoisted her up the ramp and back into the familiar confines of the starship. After spending so many hours on the bleak alien frontier, all that manufactured steel was a sight for sore eyes.

"Alright," Blaze said. "We're inside."

The yellow lights flashed again, inside the bay this time. The deck vibrated as the hydraulic pistons raised the ramp behind them. The cargo bay had no airlock, so they'd have to repressurize the whole thing just to get the pressure door to the crew quarters open. Once the ramp sealed with a heavy thump through the deck, he and Luci eased Philomena to the deck and let go of her. She sprawled out on the grated floor, her arms limply resting on either side of her head.

"What do we do with her now?" Luci asked.

"Eh, just leave her."

"Huh? Leave her here?!"

"I got her back aboard the ship, didn't I? My job's done."

Air hissed from the vents and filled the room. Slowly, the sound waves started to vibrate against his helmet.

Frowning, Luci said, "But …"

"She's the one who gets uppity if we don't do what she says, ain't that right? Well, she likes to think she owns this ship, so …" He shrugged. "Ain't gonna boss her around on her own ship, am I?"

The woman in question smacked her lips in her sleep.

Eventually, the intrapanel on the fore bulkhead glowed green to indicate the cargo bay was completely pressurized. It was safe to breathe again. He undid the latches on his helmet and pulled it off. As the inside in his suit rushed out and the air filling the cargo bay rushed in, it shocked him so flushed and sweaty he'd was. Then he started shirking his suit off. Luci joined him, pulling the pieces of her suit off with clumsy, uncoordinated jerks. They tossed them to the deck and left them strewn there.

We'll deal with it tomorrow, he thought.

When they were finally done, Blaze headed to the pressure door and left the sleeping Philomena. Behind the pressure door, a ladder led up to the hub in the crew quarters. After a glance back at Luci, who gaped at him through the doorway, he climbed the rungs. Once he'd made it to the top, he made a beeline for the bathroom to relieve his bladder. When he emerged, he found Rsh waiting beside the ladder. He could sense the big guy was about to say something, and held up his palm in a stern warning.

"Tomorrow, Rsh."

Of course, there was no such thing as sunrise or sunset in space, but their computer would tell them when it was sunrise on a world some tens of thousands of light-years away from their present coordinates. They'd deal with it then.

"I was inquiring," Rsh said, his mouth sounding out all the syllables one by one, giving each one a hefty weight, "where we shall sleep?"

The starship only had two bunks, since it was meant to be crewed by two people. The bedrooms were tucked into the stern, flanking the common room. When it was just Blaze and Rsh living here, it wasn't a problem. But after Kestrel Mining got that hangar aboard Point Pleasant, they'd moved their stuff there and rotated the bunks between whichever two people were aboard the ship on any given shift.

"You and me take the bunks," Blaze said. "Philomena sleeps on the couch. That's how it used to be."

"Before Luci joined."

"Hmm."

Blaze racked his brains, but the haze filling his brain made his get lost in his own thoughts. He leaned out over the ladder and peered downwards. Luci stepped carefully through the doorway, propping up the taller woman, who'd been stripped of her suit and wore her jeans and T-shirt, like she was aiming to keep a wall from toppling on her.

"Hey, Luce!" Blaze called.

She froze and whipped her head upward, flinching like she'd been blasted with a bright spotlight while doing something naughty.

"Where do you want to sleep?" he asked.

As she thought to herself, the woman on her shoulder slumped over and dragged her toward the deck.

"I'll take the engine room, I guess."

"The engine room? You sure?"

"I don't mind the sound. It's kind of relaxing. Beats the silence."

"Suit yourself," Blaze said, straightening up. To Rsh, he said, "See? Problem solved."

Luci's voice came up from the hatch. "Um, can I get a hand with Philomena …?"

Blaze steeped quietly away from the hatch, his eyes fixed on Rsh's shrewd, discerning gaze.

He repeated, "Problem … solved."

Ducking into his old quarters, he waved goodnight to Rsh. As soon as the door shut and sealed the tiny room off from the dark world outside, he fell face-first into the mattress and drifted off into sleep the moment he closed his eyes. But his dreams were … disturbing, to say the least. He was lost in a shrinking circle of light around a campfire. No matter how much he drew his pistols out, unleashed hot blaster fire at the shadows, he couldn't keep the restless natives of the shadowlands at bay. The darkness tightened around him, and slowly the campfire burned low, and he couldn't ignite it again. Not while watching the frontier for trouble lurking in the darkness …

He woke with a fright and pushed himself up in his bunk. The dim glow of the intrapanel told him he'd only been asleep for about four hours. He felt a little tired, but the thought of going back into the dark of sleep made him feel …

I ain't frightened, he thought. Cowboys don't get frightened.

He shuffled into the common room. A beam of light came through the thin window at the top, from the landing lights. Standing guard through the night, while the humans inside slept. Brave sentinels. He used the intrapanel to turn the lights on, and headed for the coffee machine—

"Hah!"

The cry made him jump so high he nearly hit his head on the roof. He spun towards the couch, where a big thing like a caterpillar rolled and writhed, working its way free of its cocoon …

Philomena poked her head out the end.

Rubbing his chest over his heart, Blaze breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wha …?" she said.

"Damn, you scared me …"

That's not how a cowboy would say it, he thought. They'd say, 'You gave me a powerful fright!' or something … Ah, whatever. I'm not a cowboy until I've had my morning coffee.

Philomena tried to worm free of the blanket, but missed and rolled right off the couch. She thumped to the floor, and by the sound of it, the blanket didn't do much to break her fall. He smiled to himself, and then turned to get the coffee maker attached to the kitchen set going. Behind him, he heard her fumble around and get to her feet.

"Eh," she said groggily.

"You said it," he replied.

Once he got the pot going, he leaned against the counter and waited for it to finish. Philomena was slumped against the wall, staring out at the wall behind the couch where she'd slept. He wasn't expecting any deep conversation from her …

"I know things have been hard," she said, her voice weighed down by sleep.

Taken by surprise at her thoughtful tone, Blaze stilled himself. He didn't want to miss one word of this.

Philomena gulped. "It's just … when mother told me I couldn't be her heiress anymore, I … All my life, that's all I've ever wanted to be. Chief executive of the dynasty. And when she took it away from me, it's like … I needed a way to prove to her I can handle it. And now, today, I found a way. I'm going to prove to mother that I can become the greatest mining magnet in human history. And it's all thanks to you. You've really come through for me."

Wow, Blaze thought. So she does have a heart after all. Now I feel kind of bad leaving her sprawled on the floor last night.

The coffee was done. He poured a cup for himself and one for her.

Her voice choked up with passion, Philomena said, "With you by my side, I know I can get my destiny back. So thank you. Thank you so much … for being there for me."

He ambled over to her and held the mug out for her. Torn out of her thoughts, she looked at him with her eyebrows arched and her eyes searching his face. Taking the cup, she looked down at it, then back up at him. Her jaw fell open a little.

"You're welcome, Philomena," he said, smiling.

"Huh?"

"It's nice to know you care, once in a while."

Her slack expression tightened into a withering stare. "Corvo …"

"Yeah?"

In a dry, withering tone, she said, "I was talking to the platinum."

All the goodwill evaporated from Blaze's heart instantly. Scowling, he plucked the coffee cup out of her fingers, brushed right past her, and strode out of the common room.

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