Mission Mars (36 page)

The computer estimated Kayla's conglomerate of ice at just over sixteen hundred metric tons. She would need at least twenty-five hundred tons to make the trip worth her time. With the price of power-cell recharging on the rise, plus food, clothes, laser upkeep, and the various odds and ends—like an occasional real water bath or shower—living on Mars tended to be pretty pricey. She would also need a new pressure suit soon. This one had been serving her well, but she was hard on her equipment, and this one was showing signs of wear. There
was only just so far the ablative cloth could be pushed before it was no longer safe.

She had just finished adding a two ton section to the outside of her conglomerate, when a sled, moving south, drifted past her position. She tapped her com unit, patched into her sled's transmitter, and hailed the sled.

“Hail to the south bound sled,” she announced. “You are on a registered and private claim without recognized permission. State your business.” There was nothing but silence on the channel.

“Respond,” she warned. “If you don't, I will exercise my rights within the laws of the mining edicts to defend my claim.” Still, there was no reply. She shouldered her laser, code locked her gravity nets, and returned to her sled. In moments she had deployed the sled's cutting laser, switched on the active tracking program, and lifted off in pursuit of the intruder.

Adam was happy that the miner had quit babbling at him. He had ignored the marker buoys that warned him that he was entering a registered claim, and the miner quoting her rights under the mining laws was kind of like being threatened by a book-keeper. What was she going to do? Strangle him with her hotwire cutting tool? He shook his head and laughed when his sensors warned him he was being followed by the miner's sled. Her voice came over the com again and he rolled his eyes.

“You are giving me no choice but to defend my claim,” said the woman.

Adam ignored the miner; after all he wasn't here to steal her ice. He dismissed her as harmless, right up until the moment his computer blared out a loud warning, and red lights flashed. She had locked some kind of weapon on him! He swore a long string of epithets. His fingers flew over the controls, but he was far too late to initiate evasive maneuvers. She had opened fire.

Two, four, then eight, then all sixteen thrusters were blasted off of his sled with a barrage of laser fire. She fired first on the main thrusters, then destroyed his guidance and stabilizing thrusters. He had no control whatsoever. He could move up and down, but not much. And he could no longer go fast by any stretch of the imagination. His sled slowed to a stop, but still aloft, just floated above the ground. One last light blossomed red on his sled. The computer then reported that the airlock had been welded shut with a laser blast. He could see as the woman's sled circled his once before feeling a tremor as her magnetic tow line attached to his aft hull. She was dragging him back the way she had come. His computer picked up her transmission to the Atmobase, reporting the illegal invasion of her claim and the legal, yet merciful, actions she had taken to stop the incursion. Atmobase acknowledged her report and asked when they could expect her to bring the criminal in for punishment. She informed them it would be a couple days while she finished assembling her load, and then she would be towing both in behind her. Adam growled and then screamed at the woman. Either she didn't hear him or she just ignored him.

Kayla had expected some kind of commentary or communication to come over the com unit, but her intruder had remained silent. She shrugged, and anchored the offending vehicle to the conglomerate. It was fine with her if the occupant wished to remain silent, but whoever they were, they would have to wait until she was back on board her sled if they decided they wanted to talk, because she was not going to establish a link to her headset. She stepped out of her airlock, laser in hand, and got back to work. She guessed that she could probably get another four tons onto the conglomerate before nightfall.

The whole set of recent events set Kayla on edge. She kept expecting the claim jumper to have some kind of partner who would come looking for him. As a result, she kept catching herself jumping at shadows and looking over her shoulder. She decided that she was going to be relieved to get that jumper back to the law so her life could resume its calm and peaceful rhythm. However, her hyper-vigilance and mild paranoia paid off. Near the end of the day, as the light was just beginning to fade, she caught her breath in her throat, when, while checking her gravity nets, she noticed a pair of booted feet moving carefully and quietly along the other side of her conglomerate. She forced her heart to slow down and, pushing the panic out of her mind, considered the situation logically. The conglomerate was massive, so she had a couple of seconds to compose herself. She had her laser, but she was not prepared to kill someone. Then she got an idea.

Studying the shuttle's specifications took all afternoon. To his delight, Adam discovered a dual-purpose maintenance/escape hatch in the belly of the sled. There was no airlock there, so he had to slip into his pressure suit and, once the hatch was open, released his sled's pressurized atmosphere out into the planet's thinner, colder environment. Given enough time with the hatch closed the sled would automatically balance the internal atmosphere. Adam did not care though. He had no intention of returning to his crippled sled. If he was careful, he could get the drop on the miner, immobilize her, and steal her sled to finish his work. He smiled to himself as he slid around the huge chunk of ice. Adam had seen her working on the far side and he relished the idea of thumping her upside her head with the large metal tool he had found in his sled. Everything was going perfectly, until he heard a strange noise. At first he had a hard time pinpointing where it was coming from. Then he looked up.

Kayla floated, a little unsteadily, above the conglomerate, one antigravity net on each boot. In anticipation of the man's attack, she had used the laser to cut at an angle through one lobe of the conglomerate. The lobe slid smoothly off of the conglomerate and fell on top of the claim jumper. A satisfying scream escaped his lips followed by the thud of a muffled impact. Kayla adjusted the power to the webs on her feet and wobbled as she settled to the ground. Two minutes later, the webs off, she peered down at her would-be assailant. A three-
foot long torque handle rested on the ice not far from where he lay, pinned and unconscious. She moved the makeshift weapon out of his reach and pondered for a moment what to do with the stranger, then decided she needed a few more answers. The weight of the ice was enough to keep him pinned even in Mars' lower gravity, so she went to inspect his sled to see how he had gotten out.

Finding the hatch was easy; he had left it open. In a minute she was up and inside of his sled looking for a clue to his identity. The sled was a rental. With a smile, she hoped he had opted to get full coverage insurance. She made a quick search of the sled and saw there were not a lot of places to hide things. She found an emergency re-breather, a feature of newer sleds than hers, which gave her an idea. She made note that the ration packs were still mostly full and the water supply was adequate. She was running a diagnostic on the interior environmental controls to be sure they were in good working order when the communication system registered an incoming call. This was a good chance to figure out who this guy was. She pushed the button.

“Adam!” said a man's voice. “Where the hell have you been? What's your status?”

“Adam's not in at the moment,” said Kayla. “I can take a message though.”

“What?!” The man sounded surprised. “Who is this?”

“Me?” said Kayla innocently. “I'm nobody.”

“Where is Adam? What's happened? Where is that … that….”

Kayla laughed at the man's frustration and decided to play on his emotions. “I suppose you could say that Adam and I
are a little involved.” She waited an instant for this to register before adding, “And by the way, who is this?” Kayla could hear the audible groan over the line and giggled.

“Why doesn't it surprise me?” he asked himself. “I don't know why I keep hiring him. What an ass!”

“With that I'd have to agree.” Kayla said as she thought to herself. This guy can't be all bad since we both sincerely dislike this Adam guy. “So, can I help?”

“Not unless you have a recently fallen meteorite laying around.” The man's sarcasm grated on Kayla, but curiosity overruled her irritation.

“As a matter of fact, I do. What's your interest in it?”

“You have it?! That's fabulous. What luck!” The man's frustration disappeared. “Uh, but where is Adam?”

“Adam ran into a bit of trouble,” said Kayla. “You could say that he's on ice for the time being. I'm sorry, I didn't get your name.” The man sighed heavily.

“I'm Robert,” he replied. “Are you interested in the fee I'm offering for the meteorite? If Adam is out of the picture, I'd be willing to deal with you.”

“What do you want it for … and how much are you offering?”

“Research,” said Robert flatly. “I'm a scientist and I'm offering ten thousand dollars for the recovery and delivery of the intact meteorite. It's what I offered Adam, but if you can deliver it then it's yours.” Kayla was impressed. That would cover a lot of her excavation costs.

“I think I can manage that,” said Kayla. “But don't expect me to deliver it in person.” Transporting it herself would cost her transportation fees, time away from her claim. Besides, she
didn't exactly feel safe going off planet to deal with a stranger. “I'll send it through the secure interplanetary delivery system in a couple days. I'll transmit you an image of the meteorite and the tracking codes so you can follow its progress.”

“Sounds fair,” said Robert. “The mailing fees come out of your pocket though. I'll send you your payment after I receive your message. I'll need a contact number.”

They traded contact information and closed the channel. Kayla understood now why Adam was there in the first place. It did not make him any less of an ass, she thought, but she understood.