Lucidium Run by M D Cooper

Author:M D Cooper [Cooper, M D]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643650463
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2020-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Just over three hours later, the crawler was nearing the top of its climb to the Chollora with the third massive container, while the fourth one on the ground was nearly full.

Night had fallen, and the glow of Layil’s parent planet cast an eerie light across the landscape, barely visible beyond the harsh glow of the Parsin’s operating lights.

Even though it had been less than a day, Samara felt like she’d been waiting on the planet’s bleak surface for half her life.

“About done?” she called up to Asmee, hoping the answer was yes while also fearing the inevitable conflict that would shortly follow.

“Yeah, we’ll only get half this container filled. There’s some more down there, but those veins are really muddy, and Blaine doesn’t think it’s worth risking it to get that stuff. Someone else can fight over the scraps.”

“Works for me,” Samara replied.

“What’s your plan for getting back to your ship, by the way?” Asmee asked. “Do you want a lift?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she laughed, glancing up at the towering mining vessel. “You have a way for me to get my truck aboard? I don’t fancy dragging it up a ladder.”

“Thing’s a piece of shit.” The other woman joined in the laughter. “You could buy a hundred of them with your cut.”

Samara glanced at the truck, definitely worse for wear after the stint on Layil. “Sure, yeah, but why do that when I have a perfectly good one right here?”

“Your definition of ‘perfectly good’ is way different than mine.”

“So…can you fit it aboard or not?”

“Yeah, sure,” the Parsin’s captain let out a long groan. “I’ll send down our heavy skiff.”

The chute dumping Lucidium into the final container was only spitting out intermittent pieces of ore by the time the skiff settled down in front of Samara’s ATV. The ‘skiff’ was little more than a platform with engines and a small cab on the front.

Willa drove the truck on, and then Jeb and Samara hooked straps over the wheels to hold it steady. Once it was secure, they hopped off and waved to the woman in the cab to take the truck up.

“Let’s go see how Bil and Rami are getting on,” Samara said, nodding in the direction of the two Parsin crewmen who had spent the last several hours supervising the ore loading process.

“She’d better hold that thing steady,” Willa muttered, looking up at the heavy skiff that was now a hundred meters overhead. “If my guns fall out….”

“Our guns,” Samara corrected.

“Whatever, yeah, those.” The soldier waved a hand.

Samara hoped things would get back to normal with Willa, she’d been grouchy since the incident with the marauder, even though it hadn’t come up since. She imagined that once they were back in space, safe and sound on the Heron, everyone would be able to relax.

“We’re good,” Bil said as the group approached.

A final few chunks of russet ore spilled out of the chute, then the arm lifted away, the mining rig beginning to fold back up into the Parsin’s body.

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