John Miller entered the bridge of the Dawne Empress and sat in the pilot's chair. He winced a little at the toll it took on his knee and grinned as he switched off the autopilot, adjusted their course, and initiated a routine systems check.
"Not as spry as I used to be am I, old girl?"
His matter of fact murmur was met with a soft beep that he could swear was the ship answering. He was a relic - a treasure hunter of sorts.
John had grown up in the heyday of independent pioneers who scoured the known galaxies mapping uninhabited and abandoned worlds in their quest for rare and valuable metals and gems. He'd fallen in love with this sort of mining just as some men fall in love with the sea or a beautiful woman. When he did fall for a beautiful woman, he'd fell hard--for one who loved adventure as much as he did. Together, they'd revolutionized the trade and made legend, the Miller name.
The Millers had over the course of five decades, discovered over two hundred new elements and no less than two thousand species of crystal. The rarest of these were black and scarlet crystals, the must have power source of the most advanced technologies. Several of those applications had been patented by John's late wife.
Mining wasn't a vocation for old men. It was hard work. Even with the most progressive technologies at one's disposal, it all boiled down to blood, sweat and common sense in the end. That's how you got the job done. John Miller had done more than his fair share over the decades. The years were starting to take their toll. At sixty five, he was starting to think about retiring albeit with much reluctance.
System check complete, he scanned the various readings before patting the console fondly. All was well, as expected. The Dawne Empress might have been an old ship but she was no heap of junk. The twenty five year old miner class explorer had been retrofitted, overhauled and upgraded more times than he could remember anymore. Named after his wife, the proud ship was tough and would probably go on humming like a diva decades longer than he would live. She wasn't pretty--no mining ship worth her salt was but she was his baby… well, his first baby at any rate.
"That's my girl." He smiled.
Satisfied, he switched the autopilot back on, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
His second baby, a dark and deceptively delicate creature was busy running an inventory check in the supplies unit. She wore her overalls bunched around her waist and seemed impervious to the room's frigid state. She had a crooked nose from picking one too many fights as a child and brown, mischievous eyes. She kept her hair chopped to the top of her ear because she couldn't stand having to shove it out of her eyes.
Celia frowned slightly as she checked and rechecked her numbers. There was no avoiding it. Their total rations fell short of her projected requirements.
"Damn."
Only three weeks out and they would have to return to port--with a nearly empty cargo hold at that. The hydroponics unit had malfunctioned. Three crops had been lost before the flaw in her system had been corrected. She tapped on her earpiece.
"Sorry Dad. We're running low. We'll need to dock after all."
"Can't we stretch it?"
She grinned at his appalled tone. He'd to anything to avoid the crowds at a space dock. Anything.
She switched on the main intercom.
"Sorry guys, 1.5 meals a day is all we can manage from now on. It'll take seven days to get to the Chandra settlement."
She switched back to her earpiece.
"I'll place the order for a new filtration unit when I'm done here--should be ready for us when we get there."
She switched off her earpiece and made a mental note to recheck the surviving crop for signs of deterioration. She sighed, suddenly exhausted. A headache swirled at her temples. Her hand went to her forehead. Strong arms grabbed her shoulders as a wave of dizziness overcame her. She sighed gratefully, burrowing into male warmth. He had black hair and rough hands. Miner's hands. His scent comforted her.
She smiled up into irritated green eyes.
"Thanks."
The Empress' second in command and one of the best engineers anywhere raised a sarcastic brow.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"My job, Colin," She pulled away from him in annoyance and strode toward the exit.
He followed. "Well?"
"Well what?" It was slightly irritating that he matched her angry stride so effortlessly.
"Where are you going now?"
Good god! Was he going to do this all day? Following her around, asking stupid questions. Didn't he have a job to do? She halted abruptly and turned into the hydroponics area.
"I doubt we could afford to lose another crop," she muttered.
The crop was flourishing. She plucked a berry from a leafy shrub and took a small bite. The sweet taste almost made her gag.
"The filters are still off kilter but it's edible. No doubt the life support system could use the refresh as well."
Colin remained silent, leaning against the doorway. She secretly marveled at how relaxed he could look even when tense. She made her adjustments and turned to him.
"Look, I'm sorry I was so abrupt with you Colin but you have to--"
He moved suddenly. He was ten kinds of graceful. Like a big, dangerous cat.
"Are you done here?"
She nodded.
"Come with me. We need to talk."
"Colin, listen…"
"Please."
He took her hand in his practically dragging her halfway across the ship to her quarters.
While the Empress was one the larger ships of her kind and built to accommodate a crew of ten, the individual quarters were somewhat cramped. Celia sat on her sleeping platform and watched him pace the tiny space for a while. Her space managed to seem neat while cluttered with odd nick knacks from all over several galaxies. Colin wasn't perplexed by this. Miners tended to be collectors of strange things.
What's on your mind, Colin?'
He turned on her suddenly. "When was the last time you slept?"
"What?"
"You've shadows under your eyes. Can you even remember the last time you slept?" He frowned when she didn't answer.
"Look - I don't think your father really expects you to keep working until you collapse from sheer exhaustion."
She threw up her hands in exasperation.
"My father doesn't expect anything. I'm the one who designed a system check process that wasn't detailed enough."
"Celia…"
"Don't worry. I'll sleep as soon as I finish cataloguing those unusual mineral samples from yesterday. It won't take long."
"No. You'll rest now."
She raised a brow at that. Was he giving her orders now?
"I'll do them," he declared quietly.
Her mutinous expression remained. "You have your own job to do."
"You can't keep going, not the way you used to."
She looked away, feeling betrayed and a good measure of embarrassment.
"You still don't think I should be aboard the ship, do you?"
"I don't think you're any less capable than before, if that's what you're thinking."
"Right," She hissed vehemently, springing to her feet--fists wound into tight balls.
"You just think I should be stuck planet side, grounded like a damn cow and bored out of my skull. Forget that!"
He spun about, the weight of his focus paralyzing her. He kissed her long and hard. Her arms went round his neck as she stretched up to her toes and moaned, sinking deeper into the taste of the man that when she was only twelve years old, she decided she'd marry someday. They stumbled toward her bunk. In one lightning fast motion he peeled her off him and set her down on the bunk.
She scowled at him struggling to catch her breath. "Clever maneuver."
He sat beside her.
"I'm just worried about you. I don't think this is safe. What if something happens and you need medical help that we can't give you?"
He ran his hand along the flat of her stomach.
"I'm worried about the both of you."
Celia stared at him in shock. He'd never been this forthcoming before. Ever since she told him about her condition he'd been unaccountably…tender. It gave her a nice warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. It made her feel… girly and vulnerable and more than just a little awkward.
Celia sighed. "I know."
She smiled and stroked his cheek. "I know it's hard for you to understand but I'm star born, Colin. My mother gave birth to me on the Empress. If this origin was good enough for me then it's good enough for my child. It's as simple as that." She made one small concession. "I'll get some sleep. To be honest I've been feeling a little burnt out lately."
He stared at her long and hard. God she was stubborn. His eyes followed the long jagged scar that ran across her cheek. He didn't know how she'd gotten it. She already had it before he signed on to the Empress. To this day, she refused to tell him what had happened to her. Her father wasn't any more forthcoming. He shook his head. Star born…god -they were a contrary lot. He managed a tiny smile. She grabbed his hand as he stood to leave and kissed his knuckles.
"I don't suppose you remember the last time you ate either. Here--"
He tossed a small packet to her and left.
John grunted at Colin as he entered the bridge.
"Any luck?"
"Took some doing but--yeah."
He ran his hand through his choppy grey hair.
"You know, she was the same growing up. Always forgetting to eat or sleep. I guess some things never change."
"Where's Billy?"
The captain brought up the image on the screen. The figure in the Eva suit was patching a weak point in the outer hull.
"How are you doing kid?"
The boy gave a thumb up sign in the general direction of the nearest camera.
"Did you send him out there?" Colin was incredulous.
"Nope. He took the initiative. Kid's learning fast. She's still my little girl, you know." He said suddenly, a warning in his voice.
Colin glanced sharply at the older man.
John stood facing him. "Come on son. You've been my second in command for ten years. Celia's been in love with you since she was twelve. Don't break her heart."
"You already know where I stand in that regard," Colin declared this quietly as he took over at the helm.
"Good," was all the old man said before he departed.
At a signal from Billy, Colin tapped the controls.
"Okay, he announced. Get ready. I'm pulling you in."
John sank heavily into his bunk. God, he was tired--more tired than he should have been.
I'm getting old, he thought. Almost said it out loud.
He turned unto his side and stared into the eyes of the portrait of his wife. They had built this ship together--made a name for themselves in the business and a family. John was satisfied with his life. He'd never had any inclination to marry after Dawne had died fifteen years ago. Not that women who mined and built starship engines from scratch were that common to begin with. Where had the years gone?
The force of impact sent Celia flying out of bed. She slammed into the wall. Jarred out of sleep she could only lie there on the floor. For one frightening moment, her hands went to her stomach but no--that fall wasn't bad enough to have done any harm. Senses returning, she tried gingerly to move her limbs. It didn't seem like anything was broken. Then she heard it--the Empress' mechanical scream, the sounds of metal straining and tearing. She scrambled to her feet and ran out the door.
"Celia!"
She retrieved her earpiece from her pocket. "Colin what happened? Where are Dad - and Billy?"
"They're here. Are you alright?"
"Yes but--"
His shaken voice cut her off. "Just get to the bridge as fast as you can."
Celia cackled hysterically. She laughed until tears streamed from her eyes. Colin stood with arms folded, glaring at her. She waved to the image on the screen.
"You almost ran the Empress into a planet?"
Colin's scowl deepened. He released a long suffering sigh.
"Would you please stop saying that, Celia? I didn't almost run into anything!"
"I admit it's rather small for a planet. Actually," her laughter faded. "Wait. That's not a planet is it? What is that thing?
She checked out the readings. Irregular shape. Sixteen kilometer area. The dark giant's ominous presence eclipsed the Empress. She couldn't get a fix on the metallurgic properties. The sensors were going crazy. That wasn't the only weird thing.
"This, I haven't seen before. This thing has an atmosphere and it's all… glowy."
Her father finally spoke. He had the strangest expression on his face.
"There was nothing there before, right Colin? Something that huge, we would have spotted its approach days ago. This thing just came out of nowhere, I'll bet."
He held up his amulet. It had taken on a strange soft white glow.
"Forty years," he murmured. "I'd know this rock anywhere."
The legendary wandering asteroid. Due to its mysterious atmosphere's seemingly infinite self-sustaining energy, some speculated that the wanderer was actually an orphaned moon. It was every miner's grandest dream to conquer the cryptic ghost or even just to find it. His fist cradled the stone amulet that hung from his neck. It was a chip off the old girl. He'd gotten it the first time she'd ever appeared. That was such a long time ago. It was her--ohn Miller's Great White in all her ghostly, glowing glory.
"Look at her Celia," he breathed. "That's Sledgehammer. I doubt there's nothing else in the universe quite like her."
"The stress from averting the near collision damaged some critical systems. Our more serious problems are life support and the hyperspace drive. The sudden drop out caused her to choke - I'll fix that."
The Dawne Empress' crew of four gathered in the ship's mess area. Celia nodded at Colin.
"Then, I'll take on life support system. What about sensors? I couldn't get a complete reading on Sledgehammer."
"A good number of sensors are malfunctioning. Since we already know what's out there, they'll have to be the lowest priority. John, long range communication's down as well."
The captain nodded. "I'll get it back up."
His gaze shifted to Billy.
"Suit up son. We're going to investigate the old fashioned way."
The boy's eyes lit up. He nodded and left the mess hall.
Celia stared after him.
"He doesn't say much, does he?"
Her father grunted.
"I get the impression he doesn't like to speak until he knows he's got something worthwhile to say--unlike some people I know."
He was rewarded with a swift punch on the arm.
Billy couldn't believe his incredible luck. Four weeks before he'd been just another dock rat--half starving and finding odd jobs where he could on Thelas, a poverty stricken farming colony's refueling station. Though he always had the option of going planet side and eking out a halfway decent living he'd chosen to stay close to the stars. He'd wanted them so badly.
His hand shook as he slipped the suit on. Here he was at age sixteen, a member of the legendary Miller crew. He'd never even dreamed of boarding a ship as famous as the Dawne Empress but John Miller had, after a single glance, took him in with the declaration that Billy seemed like a bright boy. That he had a lot of potential - after all--the Empress had been one man short for six months. He didn't know what John Miller's real reason was for taking him on. He didn't suppose he ever would. Perhaps he was just one of those odd things that miners tended to collect in their travels. He didn't mind.
He checked his gear and headed back for the mess. And now this. Sledgehammer of all things? His eyes darkened for a moment. He wondered what Aurie would say if he could see him now…
He stopped cold in his tracks at the entrance to mess. They were at it again--all yelling at each other. It was so very perplexing to him. They were a close knit group. For the hundredth time, he wondered whether all miners were this querulous.
"I don't like this John. It's almost as if this thing knew exactly where to find us."
Colin's gaze flicked to Celia. "This thing shows up after sixty years and appears right in front of the only man known to survive the last recorded encounter with it. It followed us out of hyperspace. Do you really think this is just a colossal coincidence?"
She shook her head. "No. But we're not going to waste this chance, are we Dad?"
"This is crazy! I say we wait till repairs are done."
Miller's fists slammed down on the table.
"Enough! We're just going in circles. We're doing this. If we wait, she might shimmer away again. This may be the last chance anyone will ever have. We'll hit her fast and hard and get the hell away with as many of the black crystals as we can."
"Dad."
John smiled at Celia.
"Treasure of all Treasures, Celia. You and me--the Empress, your mother."
He reached out to brush the scar on her cheek. "This is it. This is the reason we live the way we do. Isn't it?"
She grinned like an idiot--a teary eyed and sentimental idiot, Colin groaned. He knew he'd lost this one.
"I can see there's no talking any sense into these two. Come on Billy - let's go get you prepped."
Ten minutes later, repairs were underway and Billy, strapped into a harness was deployed. John monitored from the helm. It was only five kilometers down to the outer atmosphere. It wasn't so much an atmosphere as it was an energy barrier exhibiting some basic intelligence. The first time around, three shuttles had been destroyed when attempting break through. John--then a young trainee on an AMI Incorporated ship had noticed the fluctuating pattern of energies and suggested that one man could free dive through the atmosphere if the appearance of weak spots could be predicted with some reasonable measure of accuracy. Since miners love to play cowboy, a lot of men volunteered but it had been John's idea after all. To insure the success of the operation AMI had partnered him up with Second Degree Engineer, Dawne Kurogane. The two of them had mapped one tenth of the orphan's surface before they found the concentration of black crystals and another five kilometers before John stumbled over the artifact. It had been a body--a human corpse. That was all anybody had been able to tell.
Colin's frustrated voice snapped in his ear.
"This isn't working John. The drive is completely dead. I'll have to do a quick re-build."
"Keep at it."
There were no settlements within a few hundred light year's distance. Without a hyper drive they were well and truly screwed.
Celia stalked onto the bridge.
"The recycling system's back online but I've got secondary life support on standby, just in case. How's Billy doing?"
"He's doing fine. Check it out."
On the screen, she could see the tether stringing its way to the asteroid's surface. She keyed in a few queries.
"Heart rate's fine. I wish we could see something beyond the outer atmosphere though."
A choking sound came over the line.
John frowned. "Billy? What's happening?"
Celia switched back to the visual image just in time to see a brilliant shaft of light shooting right through the boy. Before anyone had time to react a wave of red haze blasted thorough the ship. A mechanical wail shuddered through the Empress and Celia fell in a dead faint.
When she came around, her father was bent over her - worry in his eyes.
"You okay?"
"I think so. What the hell was that? Is Billy okay?"
John shook his head.
"The tether snapped. He fell through a weak spot so he's most likely alive. He's not responding though. Colin's doing all he can to fix the drive. This energy pulse or whatever it was didn't help things."
She shot upright and struggled to her feet.
"I'll bring him back."
"Celia -
She held up a hand to silence her father.
"You need to get long range communications back online, in case he's badly injured and no one picks up our distress signal. I'm the obvious choice."
He relented after a moment. "Fine. Just be careful."
He buzzed Colin after she left.
Colin cursed vehemently. "She can't do that!"
John frowned, "You know better than -
"She's pregnant."
The bridge went deathly silent for a few moments. John swore darkly.
"I'm switching on the wide area distress beacon. You keep working on that drive."
Celia turned to the doorway to find her father staring at her with the strangest look on his face. His jaw was set. Not a good sign.
"Change of plans."
Her face fell. "He told you."
A curt nod was her only answer.
"I already know what you're going to say. Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you yet but Colin and I needed to sort things out first."
He yanked down a suit.
"You monitor from the bridge. I'll go."
He shook his head wondering what things needed sorting out. There was no time to get into that though but his hands were shaking. A baby.
"Why? Of all people, I'd think you'd understand my point of view. This is a basic retrieval mission. Mom wouldn't have backed down. Actually she never did. She pulled her weight for a long as she could when she was pregnant with me. You said so."
Her father grunted as he bent to check his boots. He straightened.
"I did. I told you that. What I never told you was how she almost bled to death on this ship when you came too early or how you spent the first eight weeks after birth in an incubator. All because we… she was never the same after that. This is no life for a child. A body should choose this life. It shouldn't be thrust upon them like it was on you."
Heart tightening, she gaped at him dumfounded.
"But you always said…" She finally found her voice. "I loved my childhood. I love this ship. I love being a miner."
She followed him as he hurried toward the airlock.
"Celia once this run is over I want you off the ship--for good."
She stared at him in shock. Tears smarted at her eyes. It hurt that he would even think of it but anger took over. Her voice rose steadily.
"You're firing me? Kicking me out? What the hell am I supposed to do then? I don't know how to do anything else. I don't know how to be anything else."
"You already are something else. A mother now. Besides..."
His thumb brushed the wet away from her eyes.
She fit him into a harness and re-checked the connections.
"We'll talk about this after." She promised, defiantly.
John's descent was uneventful. He fell like a stone upon reaching the inner sphere--crashed down to the ground and lay there dazed for a while. He groaned at he struggled to his feet.
"I'm too old for this," he muttered surveying his surroundings.
He took off his helmet. The air was heavy but breathable--a little purer than he remembered. The barrier actually provided artificial sunlight for Sledgehammer. He squinted against the brilliance. A slow sick feeling was working its way into his belly. Where were all the bodies? The hundred and eighty who'd still been on Sledgehammer when she vanished? Where was all the equipment? The black crystal deposit seemed untouched. Where were all the signs of the great tragedy that he waited all his life to come to terms with?
The horizon wavered. A cloud of red bubbled up in the distance, blotting out the stars. A slight motion less than twenty meters ahead caught his eye. He spoke into the helmet's mouthpiece.
"Found him."
He ran over to where Billy lay staring blindly up at the false sky. His helmet had shattered. There was blood all over the boy's face, shiny splinters in his eyes. Was that kind of damage repairable? John wondered.
His shaky voice, wheezing breaths tore at John.
"Who's there?"
He knelt over him. "Billy."
Billy nodded jerkily. "Someone. Something..."
His mouth could barely form the words. "What happened? What hit me?"
John gingerly removed the smashed up helmet, careful not to touch the eyes.
"I don't know what that was. Never seen the like of it, not even the time before."
Billy hacked up a splatter of blood, "Think I broke a rib…"
He was starting to fade. He moaned then smiled weakly.
"I saw it John. Before I hit the ground, I saw miles and miles of black crystal. Treasure of all treasures. Right?"
He lost consciousness.
John smiled briefly as he slipped his own helmet over the boy's head. He unhooked the harness and strapped Billy into it. An unnerving wind whipped by him. It felt like an enraged, whispered scream. His head whipped upward. The massive red cloud was closer. He removed his amulet and wrapped the chain around Billy's right hand. He picked up the broken helmet and made some adjustments before speaking into the mouthpiece.
"Celia. Start retracting the tether. I'm sending Billy up. His eyes are runied. He's got broken ribs and a possibly punctured lung. The Empress isn't equipped to deal with that."
There was an anxious pause.
"What about you?"
"Billy's helmet was smashed to bits. I gave him mine."
His answer was met with stunned silence.
He looked to the approaching mass. He'd seen that before. When the growing cloud covered the entire surface of the sphere, Sledgehammer would be no more. The clean landscape niggled at him for a while. He couldn't help thinking that there should be bodies here--desiccated and corroded like the one he'd found so long ago. Where were the bodies of all those scientists and miners? The crystal deposits should have been excavated at least halfway. This entire landscape seemed untouched.
As he watched Billy vanishing into the artificial sky, a crazy thought suddenly came to him--struck him like a bolt of lightning. There was only one possible explanation. He shouted into the helmet, not knowing whether Celia could hear him.
"It's all backwards! This isn't the second time. It's the fir--"
The giant cloud of red dust came with the force of a wild-horse stampede. The last thing John Miller heard was the deafening roar and his daughter's scream--cut short as the connection went dead.
Three months later, Celia was finally allowed to collect the unidentified remains of Sledgehammer's first known casualty. That was after wading through mountains of AMI Incorporated, government red tape and a rigid series of DNA testing. It was a strange situation and even with the facts laid out right in front of them most couldn't even begin to wrap their heads around the idea that John Miller had somehow managed to stumble over his own dead body, four decades earlier.
Three stood together over the graves of John and Dawne Miller. A sweet wind was blowing, teasing the nape of Celia's neck. Billy's baby-blue, cybernetic eyes twinkled as he glanced at the swell of her stomach. She was barefoot and wearing a dress. This--Colin had declared a few hours earlier, was also history in the making. She knelt to lay down the wildflowers she'd collected for them. Colin helped her to her feet. Tears streamed from her eyes but she was smiling.
"You're together again. Been a while, huh?"
She tightened her fist over her father's amulet. It was warm to the touch. She stared up into Earth's azure sky. You could hardly tell that there was anything beyond that blue - that all the stars, so full of mystery and their endless surprises were waiting out there.
"Let's go home."
She made a sour face as she suddenly thought of what was awaiting her back on the Empress at space dock. A full bloody contingent of medical personnel. Some of the best in their field had taken up residence in the mining ship. As f space wasn't already an issue.
"Why the hell do I need six medics? How many babies am I going to give birth to anyway?"
This she muttered under her breath but Colin heard anyway.
He laughed out loud. "Some things never change."
© Tonya R. Moore
