The Inevitable by Daniel Hope

Author:Daniel Hope
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hawthorne Books

Image 007

August 13, 2198

Jasper Depot, Claim

Associated memory file: 01.006.011.783 (04:00 local)

“I’m headed back to camp,” Tuck said.

“All right, I’m right behind you,” Denning said.

Tuck hauled the laser cutting rig into the cart. It wasn’t a hovercart. Out in the Fringe, the miners relied on good old-fashioned wheels and axles because they were more durable and were easier to fix. They also made the cart harder to push. Fortunately, the gravity of Claim was lower than that of Earth. Claim was a moon about two-thirds the size of Earth that orbited a bluish gas giant called Amy. No one remembered who Amy was.

As Tuck pushed the cart out of the tunnel, the glow of Amy fell on him, tingeing his skin a bright shade of blue despite the dark layer of dust covering him. He had just finished an eighteen-hour shift and was heading back to camp to recharge. The new shift of miners was heading the other way. They were all human, in armored mining suits that protected them from the airless environment and the high levels of radiation. Tuck was the only bot in the system, and the only one who didn’t wear a suit outside.

He made it back to camp, a sprawl of dozens of low-set buildings, some square and some rounded domes, all covered in a fine layer of dust. A network of tunnels connected them to maintain an atmospheric seal inside the buildings. Tuck entered the airlock of one and went through the cleaning ritual that kept the buildings relatively free of the gray grit that permeated everything. The dust was taking its toll on him. It got inside his joints and between his muscles, making every movement feel like his limbs were made of sandpaper.

Down the narrow hall, Tuck turned into the bunkhouse and headed for his room. He didn’t need to sleep, but the mining company assigned him to a room with another miner mostly out of habit. He stowed what few possessions he had there and left his bunkmate alone. His name was Jerome, but Tuck knew little else about him.

Tuck’s sensors told him that there was a human in his room. Jerome usually worked opposite shifts. Tuck thought perhaps he was sick. The foreman wouldn’t be happy.

Tuck walked in, shut the door, and hit the light switch.

It wasn’t Jerome. It was a young man, no older than twenty-two, with a familiar face. He was seated on the lower bunk.

And he held a gun pointed at Tuck.

“Who are you?” Tuck asked. Tuck ran his face through his human database. It wasn’t a direct match with anyone he’d met.

“You remember me,” the man said. “You bots don’t forget anything.”

“Have we met?” Tuck said cautiously.

“Briefly.” He smiled.

“You shot me.”

That narrowed down the search significantly. Tuck realized that he had similar facial features to those of the man he shot during the Bot Riots before fleeing Earth. Except this man was younger. Realization hit him. It was the boy he’d shot who was with the man. He’d shot him in both legs and a hand and then run away to the spaceport.

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