Chewing Rocks (6 page)
Authors: Alan Black
Mario shouted, “En
ough, Whyte! They’re done. You knocked one of them unconscious, one of them is screaming like a little girl, one looks like he isn’t going to breed anytime soon, and the other one is so drunk that he wouldn’t have given Norm any trouble.”
Sno smiled as Norm shouted back in protest.
“I guess you’re right. Sorry about the mess,” she said.
Mario shrugged, “Had to happen
sometime. They have been itching for trouble every time they came in. Besides, they’re paying for damages, plus beers and subs for everybody in the place. We just have to get their pay cards from them and I am going to have the best night this place has done in a month. Oh, and I already called for the paramedics and the police.”
Sno laughed, “So what? I still haven’t had my first beer and they started it. Right?”
A dozen heads nodded in agreement around the bar.
Mario said, “I agree.
However, I think the Sheriff’s Department still wants to ask you about the little issue at the dock just before you left last time.” He held up a warning hand to stop her reply. “I know Randy and Jim started it, they got what they deserved, they had it coming, et cetera, and so forth. I am not disagreeing. I don’t know if it is true, but the word is Randy and Jim both signed complaints against you. You’ve dug yourself a nice little hole if these screw ups also file a complaint. Maybe Willem made a mistake letting you take martial arts training and low gravity ballet at the same time and maybe not. But, you won’t lift ship again for a long time if Sheriff Bob decides he wants to investigate.”
Sno protested, “That isn’t right, he can’t pull my ship or my captain’s papers.”
Mario shook his head, “No. He can’t. However, Randy and Jim are his nephews and he can delay inquiries and hold you in town for questioning until every rock in the system is peeled down to dust. You are out of time. Get. Now. Before the police get here and if I was you, I would undock fast and stay gone for awhile.”
“Come on, Dad. Get a move on with the download. I am running out of time her
e.” Sno called out over the Sedona’s ship-to-dock comms, staring at her father’s face. She realized he was looking younger and more relaxed than he had in the last few years, even though the grey hair was creeping around to encircle his ever-expanding bald spot.
Willem replied
from the Whyte’s dock side office, “It doesn’t go any faster than it goes. If we rush it, then you won’t get the applications configured to the computer core in the proper sequence. Besides, Larry from Wright Logistics and Service is still pumping recycle juice through your sewage system and running diagnostics on your mechanicals. Larry is the best tech-head on Ceres, but you can’t rush him anymore than you can rush the apps n’ core upgrade.”
“I know.
Boy howdy, do I know. But, I still need to undock.” Sno re-read the text message she had gotten just moments before from Johnson and Spanky detailing the Sheriff’s Department handling of the mess at Mario’s. Everyone, including the sheriff, thought the whole thing was a hoot until someone mentioned Sno by name. Then Sheriff Bob’s face went purple and he stormed out of Mario’s. Sno viewed the video and snapped off her personal comms so no one could trace her signal.
“Oh, by the way,
daughter, Vittie just sent me the most amusing vid-mail from the office. It seems the sheriff dropped by for a rather spectacularly vocal visit.”
“Oh, crap!”
“Oh, crap indeed, young lady. You might try to remember your actions can have repercussions throughout our whole business, not to mention how it reflects on your dear ol’ dad.”
“Look, Dad, these guys
-”
Willem interrupted. “Chastity Snowden Whyte
! Don’t you dare try to justify yourself with me. You may be taller than I am and probably able to kick my fanny six ways from Sunday, but you are still my little princess. Bar room brawls are not acceptable princess behavior.”
Sno smiled in
spite of herself, “Yeah, I know. But, really, Mario’s isn’t so much a bar as it is a multi-functional family-style feeding facility.”
“That is not what I meant and you know it.” Willem snorted
into the comms, but Sno could see the smile trying to creep through.
“
Yeah, I don’t know why, but it seems my anger tank is topped off lately. Any extra anger seems to get slopped around on everyone else,” Sno confessed.
“Let’s get you out of here and give everyone a chance to cool off. Then
later we can see if we can talk about that, okay?”
Sno said, “Okay, but there really isn’t much to talk about.”
“There never is, Princess. But, I want you to think about talking about it. I also want you to think about changing your attitude toward Vittie. I know you aren’t getting along with her, but she is here to stay as long as I want her to stay. I like her and she likes me. That should be enough for you, but just in case it isn’t, she is good for the business. Besides, take a look at the video she sent of the sheriff. Vittie handled him so well he didn’t even know he was being handled. Then, even though Vittie knows full well we are on the docks, she sent the sheriff looking for you down at Queene Mines and United Mech.”
The
comm beeped for a break in, but it was voice only.
“Whyte Corp, this is Larry Wright of Wright
L&S. Done enough to get the Sedona on the road. You really should have your vectral rotators replaced, but they’ll hold for a few more trips. The invoice is in the mail.”
Sno replied, “Thanks, Larry. I appreciate the hurry up.”
Larry replied, “Whyte Corp? I can’t hear you. Do you read?”
Willem spoke, “Yeah, Larry.
We are reading you five-by on audio. Is your video on the fritz?”
Larry said, “
It must not be working since I can’t see you either, Willem. Now I won’t have to lie to the sheriff when I tell him I did not see or speak to that wildcat daughter of yours. Not that I was eavesdropping, but…princess, my eye! Fairytales is all gone to garbage and back, that’s what.”
Willem said
, with a laugh, “Thanks, Larry. I owe you one.”
Larry
returned the laugh, “The heck you say; you just pay the invoice on time and we are square.” With an audible click, Larry signed off.
“Dad
, or should I say King Willem, am I ready on your end? My sensors are green across the board except where you have me locked out.”
“Done, Princess.” Then more formally, “
The Sedona, you are clear to undock. Good hunting.” Before Sno could reply, her father continued, as she depressed the undocking button and let the computer back the Sedona out of the docking slip and into empty space. “One more thing; we got a readout from those three contract ships. It’s looking a bit shaky and nothing coming through the material feeds into the coffers. We don’t know if there are any problems or not, but their coordinates put them about where you were on your last run.”
“No, Dad. Don’t ask me to go look up a bunch of
earthers who don’t have enough sense to not get killed.”
“Yes, I am going to ask. And yes
, you are going to do it. I know we don’t have any legal requirement to render assistance to these gentlemen, but we do have a moral and ethical requirement to help, if we can. And I will not have it said the Whyte Mining didn’t look out after it’s own. You will help if they’re in trouble. That is princess behavior.”
“What
is that?” Allan Lee screeched into the Blinkin’s comm system. His voice blasted to the other two ships. “Umpteen thousand kilometers and we drop right on top of that?”
Doc shook his head, “Easy,
Lee. The odds are definitely very high against this happening, but it was always a possibility.” Doc could not begin to calculate how high the odds against this would be.
Joey laughed, “So you would say the odds were astronomical?”
Daryl laughed. Doc rolled his eyes and groaned. The comms from the others were silent.
“Okay
, gentlemen. This is not the end of the world.”
Lee
replied, “No, not even the end of the solar system, but we are so close to it we can smell it. We spend weeks getting away from the regular asteroid fields and into this area. And when we finally get to what you said was the most promising chunk of rock, we find this.”
‘
This’ was a claim marker beacon.
Lee
continued, “What next, Ortiz? You’re the mastermind who picked this particular corner of the solar system to hunt rocks. You said that no one would have ever been out here. Now we have wasted all of this time and we have nothing.”
Ortiz
said, “Well, we just look around at some of these other asteroids. This is the only one showing a beacon. The others are free for the taking.”
Lee
snorted, “Yeah, but you and Doc said we want this one. It’s got the best alberto, right?”
Doc replied, “Albeito. And yes, it is the best in this cluster.”
Lee said, “Then let’s take it anyway. Who is to know? It’s not like anyone out here is going to call the cops, right? So who is with me?”
Doc said, “No. I don’t think so. Look, gentlemen. Th
at is a Whyte Mining Corporation beacon. We are contracted with them right? So let’s not start off by biting the hand that feeds us.”
Lee
said, “Okay, so it is Whyte. I don’t care. I’ll bet these guy’s just go around slapping beacons on every valuable piece of rock out here, just to keep independent miners from getting any good pay dirt.”
Doc answered, “No. It doesn’t work that way. The beacon will only hold for a year and then it shuts down. This one has been broadcasting for only a few months.”
“I know that, Doc. So does Oritz and Steadham, and even Joey. But they aren’t supposed to drop a beacon without at least starting some mining operations. I don’t see anything, do you?”
Oritz
answered from the Nod, “Yes, I do. Near the beacon are four netting pitons clamped into the surface. It’s not just the beacon. There isn’t much work done here, but enough to hold up in claims court on Ceres or Io. Look, this may be the most promising asteroid in this cluster, but if my sensor readings are right, there are enough good asteroids in this small cluster to make us a tidy profit.”
“
Come off it, Ortiz. If I wanted a tidy profit I would have stayed home in Kansas City and sold barbeque ribs at the ball stadium. And what cluster? There isn’t another asteroid within a thousand kilometers of here.”
Doc said, “Lee
, actually the next closest asteroid is about ten thousand kilometers. How close did you think these things are packed together? In terms of space, anything within ten thousand kilometers is practically on top of each other. We will just have to chart a course to the next closest rock.”
Chapter 6.1
Evelyn Queene looked up from her ledgers as Wallace slid into the room.
“Well?” She asked.
“It was almost a bust,” he replied. “The young lady in question has already undocked and headed for parts unknown.”
“
She is already gone? Wait, you said ‘almost’.
“Yes, M
iss Queene, almost,” Wallace replied. “It seems she was attacked by some toughs in a bar fight. Miss Whyte must have felt it prudent to skip town before being questioned by the authorities.”
“Did you have time to get our little task accomplished?”
“Yes, Miss Queene,” Wallace answered. “It was touch and go as to whether it would get done it time. The fortunate side effect of Miss Whyte’s rapid departure is that neither she nor her father had time to do any checks that might bring any, shall we say, imperfections to light. But, with the bar fight and all, it was close.”
“Do we know who attacked her?
Was she badly hurt? We don’t want any suspicion coming back on us at this point.”
Wallace nodded thoughtfully, “Yes, M
iss Queene. It would be the wrong time to be scrutinized publicly. There were four men who attacked Miss Whyte. She was uninjured, it seems.”
“Four?”
“Yes, Miss Queene, there were four. Unfortunately all four men work for you. Most unfortunate also is the sheriff is in the lobby even now waiting to speak to you about the incident. Fortunate or not, three of the four are in the hospital, minor injuries from what I gather. They shouldn’t require more than a few hours in a medbox.”
Queene thought for a moment and then said,
“Wallace, here is what we do.” After she outlined her plans she nodded more to herself than Wallace, “I think that will cover things, don’t you, Wallace? Our young Miss Whyte should be in quite a pickle. With her out of the way, we can pick up Whyte Mining for less than a song, maybe just a chorus or two.”
Wallace did
not answer. He knew this was one of those comments not directed at him.
Queene said, “First things first. Let
’s get the sheriff in here. Since the man is more media hound than law enforcement official this should be easy enough.” She pressed the comm button and asked that the man be escorted to her office.
