Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far Book 1) by Calouette Casey

Author:Calouette, Casey [Calouette, Casey]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2014-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

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The stamp mill sat like a beacon of rust and slag. The entire purpose of the machine was to rise up and slam down on whatever was beneath. Each smash would drive the ore into tinier and tinier bits. Those bits would be stamped again, and again, until a neighboring refinery could siphon out the useful minerals.

The once proud pillar now lay idle, caked with grit. Only the slides that the piston rode on still shone, polished by millions of relentless cycles. It was into this pit that they laid the captive.

The light played over his skin in that dim orange sky. Light reflected off of the microscopic cuts from that Chilean filament grenade. His teeth were locked and his shoulders drawn up to his neck. The fear was like an animal stink.

William squatted down next to him. "What's your name?"

The eyes opened slightly wider. White reflected orange.

"Name?" Crow asked.

"Dzavi," he replied with his tongue thick in his mouth.

Crow nodded. "Dzavi. Where are you from?"

"Samoa."

"Fuck," a voice said from the darkness.

"Shut up," Crow said. "What is a fine boy from Samoa doing here?"

Dzavi looked to William, then back to Crow. “Working.”

“You better find a few more syllables, Dzavi." William shuffled sideways as he squatted on his haunches, looking down at the captive’s face.

"What kind of work?" Crow asked.

"We watch the refinery, keep the ore coming in, keep things from getting out of hand." He looked up at William and shifted slightly. "Who are you?"

"Who gets the elements?" Crow asked.

"Who are you?" Dzavi asked again.

William looked up to Crow and shrugged. "My name is William."

"Where did you come from?"

William looked back to Crow with a questioning glance. The captive’s question said more than any answer could.

"Only one place to come from," Crow said.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Dzavi asked, without any fear in his voice.

"No. When we're done, the locals will get you. You'll follow the legal process that they have."

"And they'll shoot me?"

"Did you do anything to deserve getting shot?" Crow asked.

Dzavi kept quiet and stared into the darkness above.

"I'll be back," William said as he walked away from the captive.

He found Vito over by Kerry. Sebastien held the slender penlight. A fresh bandage covered the hole from the nanite drone. Dark lines scratched along his back tracing the veins.

"How do you feel?"

"I've got to shit again."

"He'll be fine, in a day or two," Vito said as he wrapped the bandage tighter.

"Samoans I hear," Sebastien said.

"Samoans."

"Shit," Kerry said through clenched teeth.

"Why the Samoan thing?" William asked. The fear seemed irrational to him.

"Did they keep you under a rock?" Vito asked. He tied the bandage tightly and slapped Kerry on the bottom. "Now go, shit somewhere else."

"Well, no," William said.

Vito sighed. "So the Chinese couldn't ship just anyone into space, they needed a group that was willing to go, otherwise no one would let them colonize. So they go and poke all those little islands that are eroding away and send them out first. The first colonists are the Samoans, so they have this mystique as being special because of it.

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