The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) (14 page)

Jerome Ellis led Suki Firebrandt to a forward section of the
Nantucket
. Pushing a button, he opened two large, double doors. The light of billions of suns sweeping an arc across the sky greeted them. Fire's mouth dropped open as Ellis led her into the room. The arc bulged in the center, then swept off in either direction as though it wound around the ship. Raven colored swaths of dust twisted through the band of stars. Off to one side of the bulge were two sparkling ovals, almost like clumps of cotton candy decorated with glitter. "The center of the galaxy," explained Ellis. He pointed to the cotton candylike clumps. "Those are the Magellenic Clouds, our galaxy's two nearest neighbors."

"I've seen the galactic bulge before," said Fire, wide-eyed, "but never like this."
"You're in space, no atmosphere to get in the way," said Ellis. "The closest I've ever come to this view from a planet was in the Andes on Earth."
"It's beautiful," she said, letting her eyes wander the panorama.
"I brought you here because I have a very important question," he said. "I couldn't think of a better setting in which to ask it."
Fire looked into the captain's eyes, both anticipating and fearing the coming question.
"Suki Carter Firebrandt, would you marry me?"
Fire swallowed hard, then turned away to look at the view. "Nantucket, the Andes ... so much to see and that's just on Earth. I still need an education beyond the books from my father's library." Fire reached out and took Ellis' hand. "Jerome, in the past weeks I have grown to love you. I won't abandon you. But I won't marry you yet."
"If you love me..." Ellis dropped his hands to his side.
"If
you
love
me
, you will let me go to college first. I have to find my own career. I can't just be a space widow of sorts, sitting alone in a house on Nantucket," she explained, gently.
Ellis shrugged. "I understand. But what if..."
"What if I meet someone else? I might be tempted to have my way with them." Fire grinned at Ellis' shocked expression. "Still, they'd have to work hard to be someone I'd want to spend the rest of my life with more than you."
"Then, may I take that as a 'yes' on deposit?" asked Ellis, hopefully.
"Take it as 'ask me again in two or three years' and I'll probably say 'yes.'"
Ellis looked back to the stars. "Would you at least take me back to my cabin and console me in my disappointment?"
Fire reached around to the control, closed the door and punched in the lock code. "I'll console you right here, my captain."
* * * *

In Tejo, the Erdonium expedition packed up and moved to the next site. This time it was down in a grassy valley. On the third day of the dig, a large pack of animals surrounded the ragtag camp. The animals themselves were the size of lions and shaped roughly like hyenas. However, they were apparently reptilian. "They'll go away if we ignore them," said Raton uneasily. Still, Espedie went into his tent and retrieved his rifle. Most people on the expedition carried either lasers or hepler guns. However, the old projectile weapons still seemed best in uncertain circumstances.

Slowly, the team began moving again. Stone eyed the animals nervously, fingering the wooden handle of his hepler. They simply watched the group. Espedie Raton was certain the animals were trying to ascertain what kind of animals the humans were. One of the animals lifted a foot. Stone fired a beam of pulsed energy from his Hepler 225. The animal made a rumbling sound like a growl, but not quite. Stone fired again, this time at the animal. The pulsed beam hit and bounced off. The animal charged. Stone ran but the animal ran faster.

"Shit," muttered Espedie as he cocked the ancient gun. He raised his rifle and tracked the running animal. The animal leaped. Espedie fired. A deafening explosion echoed through the countryside. A flock of winged mammals lifted off in a black cloud from the tall grass. The pack ran off, scared by the sound of the blast. The limp animal fell on top of Peter Stone, covering him in putrid-smelling yellow blood.

It took three members of the expedition to get the animal off Stone. The wind was out of him and he was covered with scratches and abrasions, but was otherwise, okay.

"I told you to leave them alone, señor." Raton grasped Stone around his pudgy wrist and hefted him to his feet.
Stone recovered his breath. "I could have been killed."
"Most of the animals on Sufiro have tough hides. Heplers only annoy them." Espedie smiled as he handed the hepler back to Stone.
Stone began to turn red as he glared at Espedie. "Your sense of humor can be irritating you damn spic."
Raton pushed Stone to the ground. He pointed his rifle. "Don't ever call me that," he said. "You call me that again, I'll blow your fucking brains all over Tejo."
Stone raised his hands in an apology. "Sorry. I just about got killed, I'm tired and I slipped."
"I damn well saved your gringo faggot ass," Raton put the gun down and put out a hand to Stone. "When you've lived the life I have, you don't take names lightly. Just remember that around me and around anyone else here."
Stone nodded somberly. "I'm sorry." He held out his hand to Raton who brought him to his feet. Raton helped him get the blood cleaned up and the abrasions tended. Stone's clothes were pretty well destroyed, and they smelled of the creature's blood. They decided it was better to burn them than try to clean them. They burned the clothes on a large bonfire. Many people had seen the fight between Raton and Stone. They decided the fire was a good symbolic act, burning out the bad blood between them. Besides, Stone was truly grateful to Raton for saving his life. For the first time anyone could remember, Stone sang and drank with the people of the camp.
* * * *

The rest of the expedition went relatively smoothly. Peter Stone and Espedie Raton "discovered" the five largest Erdonium deposits in Tejo. All of the claims were filed in Little Sonora so the Gaean Alliance would recognize them. Guards were posted at each of the sites.

Most of the people of the expedition returned to the site of the second dig at the grassy valley. The geological engineers estimated that it was the largest Erdonium deposit of them all. There were trees and a small river nearby. Espedie, Carmen and Manuel Raton began construction of a new house. Other houses went up. They seemed closer together than those of New Granada, but this was a mining town, not a farming town. With the construction of the houses and the opening of a small general store, Tejo City was born.

Espedie called his son Juan. He found that the farm had been doing well in the year they were gone. Juan started working more and more of the farm himself, leaving Firebrandt and Roberts more time to work their own land. Juan had even taken an interest in a young lady. Her name was Armanta and she was just a little older than he was. It turned out she was helping him with the work.

"I think our boy is going to get married one of these days," said Espedie.
Manuel kicked some dirt around with the toe of his boot. "When will I ever find the right girl?" Secretly, he had. Her name was Suki Firebrandt. However, he felt that she would probably never return to Sufiro.
Espedie put his hand on his older son's shoulder. "You will find the right woman. Tejo City is going to be large some day, you'll see. There will be lots of women. Maybe even a university."
Manuel grinned wryly. "Mining colleges are not notorious for having loads of women."
Espedie sat back and laughed. "That wasn't exactly what I meant." The old man hit Manuel lightly on the arm. They wrestled on the ground like they had when Manuel was a young boy. Carmen came in from the yard and watched, laughing.
* * * *
When Suki Firebrandt arrived on Earth, she had a difficult time finding a university that would accept her. She had no papers to say that she'd had any education at all. At the schools that would let her take entrance examinations, her results were mixed. She performed well in writing and mathematics, but poorly in Earth history—especially recent history.
At the University of Arizona, she lost her temper at the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "You might have a wonderful school here, but what the hell good does it do if no one can get an education!"
"We have our standards," said the Dean, his hands raised in mock apology, a smug expression on his face.
"Standards be damned, I just want to learn," she shouted.
"Perhaps some remedial school will take you," he said.
If she had had a helper pistol, she would have blasted the smug smile off the Dean's face. Instead, she turned and stormed out of the office. She collided headlong with a tall, young man sporting a crew cut. He dropped his pack and papers.
"Whoops," said Fire. "I'm terribly sorry." She scrambled to help the university student pick up papers.
"That's okay," said the young man. He held out his hand. "My name is Ed Swan, I'm a law enforcement major."
"Hi Ed," said Fire, her expression softening. "Suki Firebrandt." She shook Swan's hand then finished helping with the papers.
"You're not related to Barbara Firebrandt, the famous admiral, are you?" asked Swan as he sorted the papers then put them into his pack.
"My grandmother," said Fire, shrugging. Without her father around, she figured it was safe to talk about it.
"I bet you could tell me some pretty wild stories about her days in the military. Talk about law enforcement!"
"I don't think my fathers would see it as law enforcement," said Fire, under her breath.
"Fathers?" he asked.
"Slip of the tongue," she muttered.
"What are you majoring in?" Swan stood and led Fire to a spot in the shade.
"Nothing ... at least not here," she grumbled.
Swan invited her to a nearby coffee shop. She ordered an iced mocha while Swan ordered black coffee. "How can you drink that in this heat?" she asked, indignant.
"Living in Tucson, you get used to it," he said shrugging.
Swan and Fire discussed college life and Fire's troubles finding a college to attend. She told him that she'd been looking for a school either in North America or Europe because they had the longest histories of academic prestige. "Prestige my ass," said Swan. "When I'm done, I'll have been here at least six years. What'll that get me? I'll probably just be a cop on the street."
"I'm sure you'll go far beyond that," she said, taking a sip of the iced mocha.
"Now, you want a good school that will let you learn ... From what I hear, you may want to go to South America. Those schools have been around almost as long as the one's here in North America."
Images of the Andes and Jerome's stories of the beautiful cities of the Southern Hemisphere came to her mind. "Maybe I'll just do that," said Fire with a smile.
After a short search, Fire found a school in the small westcoastal town of La Serena that would accept her. There, she pursued studies of anything that happened to interest her. She spent hours at the astronomy museum on Cerro Tololo staring at the stars. She learned about Earth history and refined her knowledge of mathematics and physics. She missed both Jerome and her family back on Sufiro, but she was engaged in an adventure of the mind and there was no turning back.
* * * *

Peter Stone and his son Sam were traveling across Sufiro. They went to Little Sonora to complete the paperwork associated with their claims, making them legal. Sam delighted in the way the city of Hermosillo was built up along the hillsides and seemed to roll and glide around the countryside. He had never before seen adobe and rock structures built so closely together. An amazing array of things from jewelry to virtual reality games was available. He spent a good portion of his days there with a beer in his hand, walking the streets of the city. Hermosillo may have been a small town, but at least it was civilization.

While Sam explored the town, Peter went to the claim office with samples of the Erdonium and the geological documents certifying authenticity. The geologists were already working on scientific papers detailing the amazing find of Erdonium in large quantities on a habitable planet. Geophysicists who had previously created good explanations of why Erdonium had never been found on humanly habitable planets were now trying to explain how it, in fact, could exist.

When Stone walked into the office of the Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources in Little Sonora, a woman—Dr. Ramirez—met him. When she saw Stone, she smiled and nodded. "So, you're the man who has the Mao Corporation all pissed off."

Stone shrugged, innocently. "What do you mean?" "I mean, one of the freighters that was here about a year ago discovered Erdonium from an orbital scan. They were calling two days ago trying to set up claims. They were furious when they found out that the five largest deposits they discovered were already taken." She eyed him suspiciously. "When they found out the name on the claim, they checked their records. They found out you were aboard the ship that made the discovery."
Suddenly, Stone wished he had been more careful about which "discoveries" he had made. Yet he knew his claims were legal. "A Rd'dyggian privateer discovered the Erdonium before the Mao ship," he lied. "The captain sold me the map. He only scanned five deposits."
"Well there are over fifty deposits." Ramirez tugged on the silver necklace she wore. "The Mao Corporation has laid claim to the other forty-seven. Their estimated share is just a little less than your five large mines. They decided not to pursue the matter further at this point."
Later, as Stone left the building, he fell against the wall and let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly it occurred to him—he could get a share of the profits of the Mao Corporation mines if he acted fast. He set out for the Gaean embassy in Hermosillo at a dead run. As he burst through the doors of the embassy. Three guards met him and ushered him to a back office. A man in a black jump suit came in a short time later.
"I am the Assistant Ambassador to Little Sonora. My name is Smith. I must inform you that the Gaean Government does not take refugees from third galaxy governments."
Stone's jowls flushed red. "I am not a refugee!" he said hotly. "I'm Peter Stone, head of the Stone-Raton Mining Corporation of Tejo."
"Oh." Smith's pencil-thin eyebrows came together. "That's right, the eastern continent finally got a local name." The Assistant Ambassador's face broke into a weak grin. Stone suspected the little man was relieved not to be facing a crisis. "How may we help you?"
"We are planning to establish a local government. We want to apply for Gaean recognition." Though Stone was still panting from the run, his face was a little less red.
"Oh," said Smith. The short, thin man left the room. When he returned, he held a stack of papers. "Fill these out, bring them back when they're ready."
Stone took the papers. He had been amazed during the mining claim process that so much legal work was still done on paper. While paper could be corrupted, it was not as easily altered as computer records; so, in a way, it made perfect sense.
Stone shuffled back to his hotel room carrying the unwieldy stack of papers and ordered a cup of coffee. He began sorting through the paperwork. Studying the documents, he realized that he needed to recruit people to come to his new land; he would need them to work the mines. He was not sure that he could get enough people to leave New Granada. He called the front desk and had them send an EQ telegram to several Earth news services. "Visit beautiful Sufiro," said the telegram. "Exciting job prospects in Tejo, the land of opportunity!"
Sam staggered into the room, smelling of beer. His father looked at him. "Have you been drinking again?"
Sam nodded, sheepishly.
Stone shook his head, at a loss for words. "We're going to be rich men," he said at last, changing the subject. "We're going to be rich indeed. I'll soon have the Mao Corporation right in the palm of my hand." His fingers slowly closed into a fist.
"I thought the Erdonium was going to make us rich," said Sam, swaying a little.
"Indeed it will," said Peter Stone, rubbing his pudgy hands together.
BETRAYAL
Within months, Tejo began to grow. Espedie Raton and Peter Stone opened an office in a room in the front of Espedie's small adobe house. Espedie began hiring people to dig and work the mines. He promised the prospective workers a safe, clean working environment. Modern air venting and filtering techniques would be used. Peter Stone advertised the fact enthusiastically. Stone made certain his people knew that the Mao Corporation saved money by using primitive mining practices and techniques. Many of those were considered unethical but were not illegal, especially in Tejo—Stone saw to that.
The first of the Stone-Raton mines opened outside Tejo City within a year and a half of its discovery. The Erdonium began to be pulled out at what seemed a phenomenal rate. There was actually nothing extraordinary about it. The simple fact was that there was a lot of Erdonium and no one needed special survival equipment to get at it.
Sam Stone and Manuel Raton worked for their fathers. Sam had always had the drive for business. He quickly developed the talent and skills necessary to be a
businessman. Manuel found it more and more difficult to concentrate on the day-to-day routine of running the business. Often Manuel would take half a day off work to go out to the desert, target shooting. He practiced with heplers and projectile weapons of all types.
Manuel managed to convince Sam to go shooting one day. Sam aimed a hepler at an old can and fired. The pulsed beam blew sand several feet into the air. Manuel looked at the can four feet from the scorched earth and shook his head. "You're a lousy shot, amigo."
Sam shrugged. "Well you're a lousy businessman."
"What the hell does that mean?" asked Manuel, inclining his head.
"You never come to work on time," sneered Sam. "When you do, you're a mess. You just don't give a damn about the business."
"There's more to life than business, Sam." Manuel holstered his pistol. "At least I'm not a slave to some fiction called success."
Sam kicked up some sand, then glared at Manuel. "Success is not a fiction! One day, Tejo City will be a center of commerce. Stone-Raton Mines will be a galactic power and I'll be in charge." He folded his arms defiantly. "Where will you be?"
"In some other reality, I hope." Manuel looked off toward the horizon. "I'll be enjoying life while your ulcer eats you alive from the inside out."
Sam Stone made a noise a little like a growl. He stormed to his new hover, hopped in and flew off. Manuel shrugged, unholstered the hepler and blasted the can cleanly in half.
One week later, a starliner route was opened to Sufiro for the first time. Trans-Galactic Spacelines started a weekly jump from Earth to Sufiro. The ships were constantly full. Most people were looking for jobs in Tejo. There was, as yet, no official government in Tejo. As such, there was no limit to who could come or for what reasons. Peter Stone saw to that as well. In another two months, the mine on Raton Mesa was manned and operating. Stone used Raton's name liberally. The town that opened up near the mine was, in fact, named Raton.
Three weeks later, Stonestown had both people and a productive mine. In that short time the population of Tejo overtook that of New Granada. Sufiro was on the galactic charts and Tejo was a household word. Peter Stone and Espedie Raton were folk heroes. It was widely told how the two wily men out-maneuvered the Mao Corporation and discovered Erdonium first.
* * * *