New Providence 01: Trajectory Book 1 by Robert M. Campbell

Author:Robert M. Campbell [Campbell, Robert M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science, mars, Fiction, Thriller, action, space, asteroid, mining, ai
ISBN: 9780994946003
Published: 2015-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

038

The Terror.

Winston Avery was checking the contents of the cargo hold. The equipment locker had a console for monitoring their cargo remotely. They were hauling two hundred tonnes of dirty ice courtesy of comet 2123 MacEachern before it left their neighbourhood on this side of the Sun. It would take a few more months to fall past Mars orbit, looping through the inner system in a wispy veil of water vapor before being flung far out on its twenty five year orbit through the outer system.

This comet was giving them a gift on this visit. Water the station desperately needed for the crew and food production. The supply they had from Mars was variable, each shuttle carrying however many litres they could manage. The station always had to give up supply to the domes if they were short, and they used an incredible amount. Frozen water ice locked on the surface was hard to extract without it sublimating into the air. It was also difficult to transport across the surface so they relied on underground sources. Underground springs were occasionally discovered by the mining teams, locked into the rock millions of years ago by strong volcanic processes, and required careful withdrawal so it didn’t weaken any of the surrounding support structure. The recent tunnel collapse north of Ascraeus Mons had destroyed an important source for the domes.

Winston’s brother worked in the farms and he’d been getting dire reports about the water situation in his weekly mail. It sounded pretty bad. And they had a storm coming.

He definitely wasn’t sure taking an extra week or two to go after Making Time was worthwhile when people were waiting on this.

“Whatcha doin’?”

Winston’s shoulder and neck muscles tensed up under his tank top and he gritted his teeth.

“Talbot, you keep doing this sneaky shit, one day I am just going to hit you and it won’t even be my fault.”

Winston turned around to see Reggie’s grinning face. The snake tattoo’s face on the top of his head providing a sinister counterpoint to the smile.

“Everybody’s always so tense. I don’t know why that is.” Reggie sauntered over to his suit and casually inspected a glove.

“They tense because of your sneaky ass bullshit.”

Reggie shook his head in disappointment. “I’m sorry. Buy you a coffee?”

Winston nodded. “Yes. Yes you can.”

They climbed up into the galley, Reggie first. Winston was so on edge he didn’t trust Reggie to follow him. He’d probably try to goose him and then it would be murder.

Reggie pulled some water into the induction kettle and turned it on.

“So what do you make of this little detour?” Reggie was getting a couple of bulbs ready, adding a packet of micro-grounds to each. He opened up one of the empty packets and held it to his nose, taking a deep sniff.

Winston sat down on a chair. “I dunno, man.” He rubbed his chin with a knuckle. “These ships are important. Hate to lose another one. Not to mention the crew.”

Reggie turned away from the kettle and the bulbs to look at Winston.

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