Much to the crew’s surprise, it took a little bit longer than they had hoped for. Calculations are one thing, but actually maneuvering through an asteroid field, especially with a Goliath like this? A day, sure, but with added girth (the asteroids they already mined), it took another eight hours on top of that. It was hard to catch up to that single asteroid, it moved further out from where they were to align with it, and matching the rotation was tricky as hell. But, once it was in sight, everyone seemed to be relieved that journey was done.
The Calista manoeuvred closer to the spinning behemoth, an oddly shaped rock if Ramirez ever saw one. The computer screens gave the bridge officers specifications (dimensions, weight, compositions, etc.), but when it came metal and ore levels , the sensors had nothing. The captain studied the data with apprehension; the company had a probe on this oddly shaped rock, it already indicated to them there was a form of metallic ore of some type. Yet, their scan (more advanced and stronger than the probes) detected no such material. He was confused and slightly annoyed; he tapped his upper lip in thought.
Gimpy zoomed the scanner tightly to where the probe was perched. He narrowed the focus of the beam and flipped the bandwidth to various levels. The computer showed some traces of carbon, iron, and platinum… but nothing else. There was nothing of significance. Nothing to make this worth their trip through dangerous space. Gimpy showed facial signs of being equally frustrated by this. He wondered if the probe sent a false reading. Albedo was given every indication that it was working properly, the corporation had sent text messages to him of such. Gimpy wondered if the scans were misidentified or had a false readings from the probe.
“Well, shit…” Ramirez Albedo grumbled. “Nothing for nothing…”
“Maybe we should bring the probe back and check the internals?” Anna shrugged. She stood beside her brother and glared at the over head screen as he did.
“That’s actually… uh… not a bad idea…”
“Thanks…” Anna smirked.
“Are we allowed to do that?” Gimpy glanced to her.
“Why not? Certainly would get a better understanding of why it gave them that reading.”
Gimpy nodded in thought. “It would solve the mystery, for sure. I still think it’s damaged. Micro-meteorites could have pelted and penetrated the motherboard...”
“Well,” Ramirez sighed, as he shifted in his command chair. “Speculation isn’t going to solve this set back. I’m with Anna on this, let’s get something more concrete and hope they didn’t fuck this up for us. Otherwise...”
“Otherwise,” Anna said, finishing the thought while folding her arms. “We came all this way for nothing... there goes our bonus and our vacation.”
The rest of the bridge crew remained silent for a few moments, the loss of such a prize was devastating; this would set them back for months, and any holiday time was now pretty much gone if they expected to get paid. Albedo clapped his hands loudly to bring them out of the misery and ordered them all to prep the team for retrieval.
“Who should we send?” Anna inquired.
“We’ll make it a team of three,” Ramirez said, passively motioning his hand to her. “Milo, Mike and that other guy we have… Pete, the newb…” He then spun his chair around to face her. “Tell them, if there is so much as an argument about being together, they’ll be scrubbing toilets with nothing more than a toothbrush... for a month, got it?”
Anna smiled and gave him a playful salute as she carried out his orders. Once she was off the bridge he tapped the armrest console and signalled the crew.
“Attention all assholes, this is the captan, we’ve decided to prep for a retrieval and check out the meteor first hand. I expect you all to do this in a professional manner with minimal bullshit. I know we’re hoping for the best, but be prepared for the unexpected too. I want it to be ready in one hour... that’s all folks, hustle and bustle time.”
With that command, the entire ship came to life as the crew hunkered down and did their jobs. They might be a very dysfunctional group of individuals, but when it came to being Space Rockers, Albedo knew they were a family that banded together and got things done. If only they knew what lied in wait for them, it would be a mission they should have refused.
* * *
One hour later…
Milo, Mike and Pete (the newb) came to the asteroid; It looked more like a small planetoid or miniature moon. Both Mike and Milo finally stepped onto it wearing their spacesuits, while Pete hovered close by in the small digger pod. Milo commented about the gravity, saying it felt more like being on the moon back on Earth. Mike agreed with that, feeling slightly heavier as well. Once they reached probe, they unhooked its ‘spider-like’ anchor legs. The small drills on the feet each leg had buried themselves deep into the rock face. Cursing under breath, Milo seemed to be struggling with dislodging the leg rods from the footings. Pete looked on while safely inside the pod, He got distracted him from time to time, Mike’s ‘wall of porn’ plastered about the pod caused the young man to loose focus.
“Don’t fall in love with them.” Mike snickered at Pete. The young man looked up suddenly in embarrassment. Mike motioned his hand. “If you’re going to whack off in there, just remember to aim high, last thing you need is jizz floating into your eyes.”
“You would know...” Milo said sotto voce.
Pete became flustered trying to answer back, “I—I wasn’t... I mean, I don’t...”
“Relax newb...” Mike chuckled. “Just keep your eyes on us. You wanted to get your training time in on the pod, well, here’s your chance... keep the arms ready just in case this probe floats away.”
Milo unlatched a clamp-tool from his belt and proceed to attach it to the leg. With all his might, he yanked on it, twisted it, and even brought in his shoulder for leverage. Mike looked at Milo, still struggling to free it up.
“Christ, dude... what’s the hold up? Figured a buff Indian like you would have ripped that out already.”
“Shut up, ya tard! I’m having enough trouble pulling this out without your disrespectful mouth flapping at me.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“That’s what she said…” Mike grinned. “Here, let me take a go at her. Maybe she likes my touch better than yours.”
Milo struggled harder, not giving Mike the chance to step in. But when it still wouldn’t budge, he punched the leg with his fist and gave a dissatisfied grunt. Mike waited for his hissy fit to finish and then held out his and for the tool. Milo glared at him with disapproval, but then handed the tool over. He stood back while holding his sore arm and fist.
“Thing won’t budge. Those drills must be lodged in a chunk thicker than your head.”
“Nice,” Mike nodded. “See? You’re learning…” The comeback from him was expected, but Mike could at least take the hit. Teasing never bothered him, just the people that didn’t know how to bring it back with some thought. He lowered to one knee, wedging himself between the ground and the probe. He grunted away while trying to pull the out the rod leg.
* * *
Albedo watched the two men struggling on the ship’s monitors, a growing concern on his face as he tapped his chair’s console. He opened a channel to them.
“What’s the matter boys? It’s not like we’ve never done this before...”
“Sorry Cap,” Milo radioed back, “One leg is dug in like a tick. I think it might be fused to something solid.”
“Well, get out the cutter torch..”
“Not a good idea, sir,” Gimpy said from his station. “There could be a build of ice on the circuits, it would melt it and damage it further...”
Albedo quickly changed his advice, “ok, never mind what I said, have Pete use one of the arms with a clamp to hoist it out.”
“That might work better.” Milo agreed.
“Hang on everybody...” Mike interrupted. “ugh, I think, yah, I think I’ve got it...”
* * *
“Easy, now… easy does it...” Milo could see the leg slowly inching its way out and held out his hands cautiously.
“Cool your jets, Milo-man. I got this”
Suddenly, an opening in the rock appeared, and both Milo and Mike where swallowed into the caesium. Pete was at a loss on what to do, but then, the pod started to drop into the gaping hole as well. Panic and fear took over the young operator, he was desperately trying to turn on every switch and button he could. Gravity was taking him down the shaft, there was nothing he could do. For whatever reason, the pod dropped and lost all power inside.
The crew watched the scene unfold on the monitors, they stood helpless as it took place before their eyes. The captain continuously called out to them, horrified by the imagery, and furiously snapped his fingers at the bridge crew to help him in this moment. Everyone tried to pool their senses back, but even as they worked diligently on their stations, they were just at a loss as their captain.
Over and over again Ramirez called out on the comm and tried get a response; Gimpy feverishly scanned the asteroid and used the lowest setting he could as not to bombard them with too much radiation from it.
* * *
The minutes passed like seconds, the once active bridge grew deafeningly quiet. Everyone was glued to the video feed of the asteroid, as they waited for any sign of life. Ramirez started to slump in his chair, bewildered and defeated, hope was slipping away from him. Gimpy continued to scan, but had a hard time penetrating the centre of it.
“Anything?” Albedo inquired. “Anything at all?”
“Nothing...” Gimpy gulped. “Scans can’t get a solid reading...”
“God damnit…” Albedo bitterly whispered. “Fucking, god damnit… you stupid assholes, you can’t be dead.”
“Don’t plan our funeral just yet...” Mike announced, his voice crackled in the interference.
The crew let out a boisterous cheer upon hearing he was alive. Probably the only time in his life anyone had ever been grateful to hear him speak. The captain joined in the cheers, clapping his hands thankful they had survived. He gestured to all on the bridge for silence as he spoke to Mike.
“What’s the situation? Are you alright? More importantly, are Pete and Milo okay?”
“I’m good, just need to get a light on, hang on a sec....”
* * *
Deep in the pitch black darkness of the meteor, Mike struggled with his suit dials and tried to switch on his space helmet’s dual floodlights. He could feel a sharp pain and tried ignore it as continued to fumble with the knobs. After a few twitches of the bulbs trying to activate, they soon managed to remain on. Mike was lying on the rocky soil floor and noticed a few boulders blocking his view of Milo behind them.
“I see Milo... ugh, ah, let me get around here first....”
Dragging himself along the ground, he realized his right leg was broken, as was his left arm; he managed to crawl around the debris and looked at Milo propped up against it. He flashed the headlamp onto the man and searched his face though the glass of it,
“Can’t tell if he’s breathing. His helmet isn’t damaged though, no air leaks as far as I can guess. He might be out cold.”
“What of the pod,” Albedo inquired, the frequency crackling and fading out at times. “Is Pete ok?”
Mike looked around with his lights cutting into the darkness, the hole was immense, like a giant cavern one would find on Earth. As he steered his head about, the lights soon fixated on the round pod on its side. He could see inside the round glass and smiled for a moment as he saw the young man. That soon turned into a horrified glance of realization that Pete was floating dead with a large of metal sticking out of his face.
You think that would been enough to finish the poor kid, but the glass dome of the pod had also cracked and was split open exposing it to the elements of the asteroid. There was no way they were going to be able to use it now. The loss of air pressure had sent a few of his nude centrefolds out as they littered the floor beneath the dead pod.
“Gravity…” He muttered, answering his own internal thought. “Lots of it.”
“What was that Mike?” Albedo crackled over the radio. “Is Pete ok?”
“No…” He said looking at the body again. “He’s gone, and so is the pod. Milo and I have no ship to climb back into.”
“That’s ok, that’s fine…” The Captain reassured. “I’m going to send in another Pod to pick you guys up. Stay put…”
“What about Pete, Captain? We can’t just leave him here. All alone in the dark…”
“We’ll come back to salvage him and the Pod later. Right now, just hang tight, we’re on our way.”
The radio shut off and Mike laid back down on the dirt floor. He held his arm over his helmeted head, the posture of defeat, and gave a slow drawn out breath of frustration.
“I better get more than just three months off for this.”
* * *
On The Calista, Captain Albedo held his head in his hands, crouched in the chair and feeling every bit of that sad news. Pete hadn’t even been on board for a whole six months yet, but still, he was utterly shattered by the loss. He was just a kid (a rookie at that). Never had he lost anyone under his command before. A work related accident that he and his ship would surely be impounded for while they investigated the incident.
His sister tried to comfort him, slowly rubbing his back as he remained hunched over, he didn’t cry, even-though she knew he wanted to do it. Men like him didn’t like showing weakness like that. A stupid line of thinking in this day and age, but their family had always remained stuck in old traditions and macho bravado that continued on in every generation. She came around and tried to speak to him.
Before she could even ask, he held out a hand to stop her. All the words in the world couldn’t make up for what he was feeling. The only thing he was questioning to himself was: Will this be the only one?
He quickly rose out of his chair and pulled himself together. He was the Captain and he had to be the foundation they all looked too for guidance.
“Ok, let’s get those knuckle heads out of there.” He pointed to his sister. “You wanted to get some training time in, yah?” She nodded, a slight glare of concern about his sudden change. “Well, I’m going to join you on it and help you along the way. We’re going to grab Roberto as well and have Chaz instruct it.”
Roberto wasn’t a person. When the crew heard him mention the name, they realized this was a big deal. Roberto stood for: Robot Earth Mover. The big deal about it? It was a drone. An AI drone robot that could dig, drill, lift and could do more than them or the pods. Albedo never wanted the thing on his ship, but the corporation insisted as they provided it at no cost to him. They were trying to get him to use it and perhaps pursued him to ditch human workers for the artificial ones instead.
Knowing how her brother felt about drones (especially from her father’s death), she understood he wasn’t doing this likely. This was a dangerous situation and the time for personal feelings would have to wait.