Chapter 18
The air didn’t feel exactly the same as it did in Siderotil. The structure was all the same but the atmosphere was different. He thought he noticed the people of Kyawthuite, along with the many survivors of Siderotil that relocated here, for a while, walking around the habitat wearing their vac-suits a lot more often than not. Maybe he was just imagining it. He was wearing his at the garden shop, his helmet sitting atop his suitcase besides the small dining table next to the pond.
He was supposed to finish some core samples later. That was his excuse, at least. He looked up at the glass overhead. Daylight poured in, and behind it the blackness of space. He didn’t see any hoppers flying above them, thankfully.
The restaurant was more of a snack shop than a bar here. Just one more difference to make him want to move back to his old quarters, when repairs were through. Although, he wasn’t going back. As soon as his crew get settled back in, he would be moving down to Butterbough, where his small industrial site was getting assembled. This time there would be no personal belongings to pack, and send on a hopper along with some machine parts from the warehouse. He would go down and pick his hopper from the ones at the mining site, and head straight to his new home without telling anyone when he was moving. Seemed safer this way.
For now, he was waiting for a meeting with two unlikely strangers that popped on his message server a few days ago. He was sipping some water to wash down the food package he was working on, when the two arrived.
They had flight-suits on, grey and purple around the arms. The man seemed taller than Diggs, and broader built, with a bald head and a short beard over a strong jaw line. He hobbled under the standard gravity with two mismatched crutches, but Diggs didn’t ask what injury he was carrying around. We all have our injuries, he thought. The man’s name was Erhard. He spoke only sparingly. His friend seemed a little more talkative. She had long, blond-streaked brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a nose ring that made her seem closer to school-age kids than to Diggs’ age group. Maybe she was. Her name was Heidi.
They all shook hands and sat down. “So, from your message I understand you work for the ‘League of Lords’ alliance?”
Heidi smiled a small smile, and said, “yes, we are here delivering some materials, although the markets are not very responsive these days. We got an additional assignment, while we were here.”
She didn’t immediately explain what the assignment was, so Diggs went ahead and asked his more pressing question. “It wasn’t really clear why you’d want to talk to me. I’m just a small-time miner and farmer. I can’t imagine what you’d want with me, or what it has to do with your mission.”
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The two pilots looked at each other. Heidi continued. “We’ve been looking for mining and industrial operations that are getting disassembled. We know a lot of people are leaving Adalia Prime to go up to the alliance rocks or to independent holds. We wanted a chance to tell you about our business with the League, maybe help you find a new place to set up shop.”
She took out her tablet and projected an image of the belt. “Castlerock is the League’s headquarters. It has lots of useful metals and minerals, although to be honest, as an SM-type it lacks a lot of the organics that make settling new worlds easier.” Which also meant no water, he thought. “It would be coming around in a couple of months, passing fairly close to Adalia Prime. It would be a good time to pack some equipment and a few crewmates and fly with us back to the rock.”
Diggs had never given too much thought to orbital mechanics and didn’t keep much track of when asteroids came close to each other. Evidently this was more important to this League of Lords, to try to recruit new people, than it was to move cargo. Otherwise, they would have flown when the asteroids were close, instead of arriving early and sitting in restaurants, waiting for a close approach.
Another thought came to mind. “How long have you been following my operation?” He asked.
Erhard frowned. But Heidi kept up the friendly tone. “We’ve been in low orbit for a few weeks. We wanted to approach you earlier, but the crash in your habitat happened before we had a chance to message you. It was a terrible tragedy, we didn’t want to impose ourselves while everyone was busy picking up the pieces.” She seemed genuinely empathetic, and even Erhard seemed to soften his scowl and mumble something about what a tragedy it was.
The projection on her tablet showed an orbital view of Castlerock, and she gave Diggs some idea of the minerals and their distribution, as well as a list of the existing infrastructure. “We should have a market up and running soon, but until then you will be given access to alliance materials if you need things to start working when we arrive.” Diggs didn’t say much in return. No water, he thought, and no cement, either. He would have to know how much cement was there to buy on site, and how much it costs. On the other hand, steel would be dirt cheap at a place like that, maybe other metals as well.
Finally, he asked her to send him as many details as possible. “I will have to show this to my chief engineer,” he said, as they were getting up. “We haven’t even thought about expanding to other colonies. We’ll have to think this over for a few days.” Heidi seemed pleased, although her partner reluctantly shook hands with him again, with a look on his face that indicated he wasn’t holding his breath for Diggs to call them back.
When they left, he made his way to the cargo airlock. He suited up quickly and cycled the air out. The airlock let him out to a cargo bay on the upper rim. He crouched carefully over the ledge, looking down and out at the rotating hills in the distance. Finally, he saw a hopper detach and start moving away from the habitat. He wasn’t sure if the vehicle was painted differently than the ones he was used to seeing around Adalia Prime. They all looked very similar, even the older versions. But there were not many people leaving the station now, and he continued to watch as the habitat circled around. Finally, the hopper’s path curved and slowed as it came down to land beside a light-transport, standing out in the sands.
It didn’t look like much, just a wide barrel with four legs and some cargo pods, fuel tanks and a couple of hoppers attached to its circumference. From this far out, it was like a toy forgotten in the dirt of the garden, but he knew the ship stood taller than the biggest hab-unit stacks, and was able to carry a couple of kilotons of materials, or useful mining equipment. They were docked closer to Kyawthuite than to Siderotil. That meant they had most likely landed only after the crash. That made him a little less suspicious.
He had to be careful. He couldn’t fully trust these guys, especially now, with this timing. Especially after he had found his personal belongings and a crate-full of industrial supplies scattered among the ruins in the crash site of his old home. Every time he felt he could relax a little, the thought came back to him: it was his cargo hopper that crashed into Siderotil. He was supposed to be on it.
