joked that the family all had dirt in their blood and that they were part badger and that was why
they liked being miners. He had instilled in his children a deep pride in the hard work of being a
miner. This pride drove Jacinda to make herself a silent promise that she would stop the outlaw
miners, no matter the cost.
Merrell stepped forward, his fists clenched. “So, what do we do? We have to stop them
somehow.”
Jacinda nodded, wearing a determined look. “We owe it to ClearSky and DeepRoot.
Humans are messing up their planet and humans should put a stop to it.”
“So do we all agree; we have to try and shut down the mining operation?” Devon asked.
The three friends clasped hands, sealing their decision with the squeeze of their hands.
Devon was the first to let go. He watched curiously as Merrell and Jacinda seemed to
share something a bit deeper for a moment. Merrell sighed and put his other hand on Jacinda’s
shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
Devon shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to do. He felt awkward interrupting his
friends’ moment, but time might prove to be very short. He cleared his throat and spoke.
“They probably don’t have any idea we are here, so that gives us an advantage.”
His words startled Jacinda out of her reverie. She dropped Merrell’s hand and gulped.
“Oh…of course…an advantage. We need that…” Jacinda backed away a step, making
Merrell’s hand fall from her shoulder.
“You bet we do,” Devon responded, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence. “These
pirate miners sound like very bad people who wouldn’t think twice about hurting a few kids if
they got in their way. We need more than a little luck to pull this off.”
Chapter 21
Flim watched the incredible show in the sky for a few moments before realizing that the
surprise had made him lose control of his color shifting abilities. He was a bright pink, with
purple hair.
With a silent curse he shut his eyes tightly and tried to concentrate. His pink color
immediately began to darken, from red, then brown, and finally a deep green.
“That was close,” he whispered to Sammy, not expecting any response. Talking to
Sammy just made him feel a bit less alone.
Flim looked over to toward the clearing where Devon and the others stood, transfixed by
the sky. The creepers were hooting and capering around. He knew that this was probably his
best chance of getting close without being seen. He began to sneak closed to the clearing,
careful to avoid any dry twigs or leaves that might alert the creepers to his presence.
Flim heard the snapping of a twig to his left, coming from the deep vegetation lying in
that direction. He froze like a statue, hoping that he had not been seen by the creepers. Slowly
he turned to look in that direction to see what had made the noise.
Flim’s blood turned cold as he saw the outline of a powerful creature pushing its way
though the brush. The movement of the creature assured Flim that it was a predator of some sort,
hungry for its next meal.
His terror grew as he saw that the creature was not alone. Several other shapes moved in
the thick foliage behind the first. He stifled a gasp as the lead creature pushed its way into the
open. Flim had never seen such a fearsome beast. It looked mean and hungry and was sniffing
the air, looking for something to sate its hunger.
Flim hoped he was not the thing’s next meal. Luckily for the young alien boy,
y’Langians were very different from humans and most other aliens. As part of their adaptation
for hiding, y’Langians had lost their scent. That is to say, they did not smell like anything in
particular. In fact, if they stayed in a particular environment they eventually began to exude the
common scents of that environment.
After a few moments, four of the beasts had broken through the surrounding brush and
were searching the area with their noses. Each, in turn, passed by Flim, not seeing or smelling
him. After they moved away Flim said a silent prayer to Y’la the creator, thankful for his race’s
peculiar talents.
Flim watched in horror as the beasts caught the scent of his friends and their captors. The
beasts rushed toward the clearing, baying and grunting in equal amounts. Relief washed over
him when the largest creeper rose and put himself between the beasts and Devon, Jacinda and
Merrell.
Flim’s relief turned to amazement when the creeper hooted at the beasts and they simply
wandered off, as if they were puppies rebuked by a stern master.
Soon Devon and the others started off again. Flim waited a few minutes and set off after
them.
Chapter 22
Deke sat silently in his seat. He stared at the back of the seat in front of him,
concentrating. He struggled to think of what to do next. Devon and the others had been missing
for the last four hours, and Deke felt helpless.
He silently cursed whatever fate had put him in this position. His first instinct was to
rush out and track the missing children, rescuing them from whatever situation that kept them
from making a report. The realization that he could not leave the rest of these children alone
warred with his desire to rescue Devon’s group. His responsibility to all the rest tied his hands.
Until they could be rescued by the crew of the Boadicea, he had to stay here, making sure the
majority of the children remained safe. It went against all of his maverick instincts.
“So…what exactly are you doing to get us out of this?” Terry Jameson’s shrill voice
snapped Deke out of his funk.
“Excuse me?” Deke said.
“Well, you are here to take are of us, and I don’t mind pointing out what a sad botch of it
you have made.” Terry eyed Deke with smug confidence.
“I’d be surprised if anyone ever hired you again. I mean, four missing kids…who
you
sent out there. What a disaster.”
Deke rose from his seat, angry for the first time this trip. “You had better take your seat,
son.”
“I’m not your son. My father could buy and sell you if I asked, so you had better watch
your manners.”
Deke took a deep breath, corralling his anger. “Mr. Jameson, as leader of this expedition
I must warn you that if you do not take your seat I will have to put you in your seat and lock
down the safety harness. I cannot allow you to distress the rest of the group.”
“You had better not touch me,” Terry said fearfully, most of his confidence having fled.
“I’ll tell my father, and you’d be finished. He have you in front of a laser firing squad before
you knew what hit you.”
The anger drained out of Deke’s face at Terry’s words. “Mr. Jameson, congratulations. I
think you may have come up with a solution to one of our problems.”
Deke rose to his feet, pushing past Terry and heading toward the rear of the ship.
“Where are you going?” Terry asked.
“To get my laser rifle, of course.” Deke said over his shoulder.
Terry gulped and hurried back to his seat.
Chapter 23
Devon, Jacinda, and Merrell stood atop the cliff overlooking the pirate mining module.
The sun had set nearly an hour ago, leaving the area illuminated by the eerie light cast by the
lava in the valley. The children felt, more than saw, the creepers standing around them in the
dense vegetation covering the edge of the cliff.
Devon and the others had decided that the only way to stop the miners was to climb down
the cliff, sneak into the module and deactivate or destroy the controls. They all realized that it
was not much of a plan, but it was better than nothing.
Preparation for the ‘assault’ had taken the rest of the afternoon. After nearly a half an
hour of speaking slowly and gesturing, Devon had been able to make ClearSky understand what
they would need for their plan. With a few hoots, the creepers had sprung into action, gathering
strong vines and weaving them together to create ropes that would let the creepers lower Devon
and his friends down the cliff near the mining module. The ground around the module looked
fairly stable and free of splashing lava.
Whoever these miners were, they were likely to put their module on the most stable
ground in the area, so Devon was not too concerned about the hardened lava collapsing under
them, but one could never be too careful. The greater danger was from the odd splash of lava or
the occasional release of toxic fumes from the crater.
Devon tied a vine rope around his waist and then walked over to the edge of the crater,
peering down. It seemed much higher now that he prepared to go over the edge.
He took a deep breath, steeled his nerves and nodded to the gathered creepers. Several of
the larger creepers took hold of the rope and began to lower Devon down the cliff.
The trip down the cliff was not as frightening as he had expected. The worst part was
standing on the edge of nothing the moment before going over the edge. Once he got past that
point he saw little but the cliff face right in front of him. Following what must be one of the
oldest pieces of advice in the universe, he did not look down.
Devon said a silent prayer when he reached the bottom. The rock felt solid, but
shuddered slightly from the activity beneath the crater. He looked up, watching Jacinda and
Merrell descend. Jacinda looked down once or twice on the way down, but didn’t seem to be
bothered. Merrell’s eyes were shut tight when he reached the ground and his completion was a
bit on the green side.
“Not much for heights, huh?” Devon asked playfully.
One of Merrell’s eyes popped open and he eyed Devon with more than a little irritation.
“No, I have never liked heights. Well, not the height so much, but the though of the splat at the
bottom has been more of a concern.”
“Oh, just be quiet you two.” Jacinda said. “We are down now, so let’s just get on the
move, before somebody in there sees us.” She pointed at the nearby module.
The three were so intent on their task none of them noticed one of the vines swaying back
and forth as if someone were climbing down behind them. But, of course, no one was to be seen.
That was the whole point.
Devon, Jacinda, and Merrell hurried toward the module, being careful on the uneven
surface of cooled volcanic rock. They could see a hatch on the side they were approaching. It
looked corroded and burnt, but the whole module looked that way.
Merrell crept forward and tried to turn the wheel that would open the hatch. It did not
budge. Devon stepped up, adding his strength. The two tried again, but it still did not open.
“Shoot, it must be locked or something,” Jacinda said.
“Then how do we get in and surprise them?” Devon asked.
“Simple,” Devon said, “We get them to open the door.”
“You are joking, right?” Jacinda was skeptical.
“No, I’m not. Here is my plan.” Devon outlined his plan for Jacinda and Merrell. They
all agreed that it was the only way to get in.
Devon and Merrell picked their way carefully around to the side of the module, making
sure that they could not be seen if there were any windows or portholes. Jacinda worked her way
to the back of the module where the lava intake was.
She took a few minutes to familiarize herself with the equipment. It was not much
different than a lot of the heavy equipment that could be found on the mining colony where
Jacinda lived. It was all pumps, power couplers and hydraulic actuators.
Slipping a compact toolkit from a storage pocket in her coveralls, she selected a spanner
and began working on her part of the plan. She pried the cover off a control port and examined
the inside, shaking her head. The wires were old and had obviously been patched several times,
each time more sloppy than the last.
Jacinda gingerly prodded the mess of wires, trying to figure out what was connected to
what.
“What a mess,” she muttered. “Haven’t these people ever heard of proper maintenance?”
After a few more moments of examining, she smiled widely. She pulled on a pair of
thick gloves from one of the many pockets on her coveralls and selected a multitool from her kit.
After one final check of the wiring Jacinda clipped two of the wires. She closed and
sealed the control port with a flourish.
“That should fix them.”
She hurried around the side of the module to where Devon and Merrell waited. The three
huddled in the shadow of a huge conduit, waiting for their plan to unfold. A few moments
passed with nothing happening. Merrell and Devon turned to her questioningly.
“Just another minute and you’ll see.” Jacinda said.
