Salvage by Charles Brass

Author:Charles Brass [Brass, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science-fiction
ISBN: 9781947713055
Publisher: Seabrass Productions
Published: 2020-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

After a six-hour, re-energizing nap, I return to the hangar bay. Between the delicious meal, chilled drink, and scratching my forehead, my mood’s much improved. I’ve put my mistake behind me. My talk with my tiy-ke has given me more to look forward to than just the credits I’ll earn.

Opening up about my memory loss has shown it’s all right. There’s no need to keep secrets. Geen has had his own problems, and he’s never hesitated to talk about them. Maybe his age has given him wisdom I lack. But it’s time now that I follow his example.

It’s time I become the jey-ke he deserves.

I disassemble and stow the trencher back in its pod, then find and assemble a similar device called a trenkin. The contents of this one fills two pods. It’s a little more complex, but as easy as the trencher to operate. It has a support platform that allows me and its cutting jaws to reach high enough to trim away the obstructions hanging from the ceiling. Each obstacle will take more time to handle, but I’m confident if I’m careful I’ll have no problem.

The ceiling obstacles are mostly twisted metal, crumpled piping, thick struts, and melted wiring, fused together in the brunt of the plasma clusters.

I start near the back wall, identify the eight obstacles I need to remove, and get to work.

I’m about to start on my fifth obstacle when an alarm sounds in my helmet. The next Unity Fleet patrol is due. I lower the trenkin’s platform, power down the device, then do the same with the sled. The hangar bay goes dark.

As with the previous Unity Fleet patrol, Leader doesn’t call out a warning. Perhaps he doesn’t want his communication overheard by any eavesdropping vessel. Or he trusts everyone now to be on the same schedule and prepared. This time around, I certainly am.

I crouch behind another stump of slag as the first spotlight plays over the Faraday curtain. Fingers of light poke through the gaps and shadows shift along the back wall. A second spotlight kicks on. Ten minutes later both are off and the hangar bay is dark again. Five minutes pass before Leader gives us the all clear.

As I power up the sled, I wonder how he’s certain the Unity Fleet vessel has moved on. It’s probably as simple as having video cameras positioned on the asteroid. Nothing that would give off any sort of signal, just an eye observing local space.

The people who put this operation together thought of everything. And rightfully so–the payoff will be enormous if–no, when we succeed.

As I continue my work, my thoughts turn to Geen and how he’s not had a tiy-ke for the majority of his life. That would be a challenge I don’t know if I could weather. I’ve always preferred the comfort of having someone older and wiser there for me. First the elders in my home commune. Followed by my sergeant in the militia. Then Kel Lubrous took me under his wing the week I entered my pilot’s training.

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