answered. “Give me a minute. I need some time to concentrate. I think I figured out a way to
shut this whole operation down.”
Devon and Merrell nodded silently. She worked away, mumbling and sighing several
times.
“I think I have it.” Jacinda broke the silence and smiled.
“So, what are you going to do?’ Devon asked.
“Well, I found out that these bandit miners injected lots of smart probes into a couple of
volcanoes. The probes were supposed to give off signals that would make the volcanoes even
more active. Well, the plan seems to have worked a bit too well, or maybe they just used too
many probes. Not only did the volcanoes erupt, new ones popped up. That stirred up the really
heavy metals and that is what they have been mining.”
“You said you figured out how to stop it.” Devon said, seeming impatient.
“I’m getting to that.” Jacinda rolled her eyes. “I found the control sub-routines for the
probes. I can control them now. I could just turn them off, but I have a better idea.” Jacinda
smiled, mischief in her eyes.
“What are you up to, Jacinda?” Devon asked.
“Well, according to their records, the miners have a dozen more of these mining modules,
all of them unmanned. I reprogrammed the probes to return to the closest unmanned module and
wait for another signal. In an hour they will all be in place. Once they are we can tell them to
self destruct and they will blow up, along with the unmanned modules.”
Merrell smiled. “Wow, Jacinda, you have a mean streak. I like it.”
All three laughed and sat back to wait the hour until it was time to activate the probes’
self-destruct protocol.
Chapter 26
Deke lifted the heavy case up through the hatch into the passenger compartment of the
shuttle. The children craned their necks from the seats, hoping to catch a glimpse of Deke’s
burden. After Deke had gone down into the cargo compartment, word had spread about the goal
of his trip. Most of the children had never seen a laser rifle, except for on vids or in plasbooks.
Hushed speculation abounded about the reason Deke needed the rifle.
Deke followed the case through the hatch. With quick, deft movements he snatched it up
and strode toward the front of the ship. All heads turned to watch him as he passed, as if he was
a magnet and the children’s eyes were iron.
He reached the front and lay the case down across several seats. He placed his thumb on
the biometric lock and it clicked open. Deke opened the case, revealing the disassembled laser
rifle. The sight if it brought forth gasps from the children who had turned in their seats and were
peering over them. Deke gave them a hard look and they sat back down in their seats.
He retrieved the focus module from the case and laid it on an empty seat. The emitter
module was the key piece required to maximize the power of the laser. The more tightly focused
the laser, the more power it had. Deke opened his tool kit and began the task of adjusting the
focus module so that is did not work as well as it could. He finished the adjustment he began
attaching the other parts of the laser.
Deke carefully finished assembling the rifle, rechecking each piece to make sure it was
connected properly. Once complete, he inserted the power cell and peered through the scope to
check the power level. Fully charged.
The children had regained their courage and were once again peering over the backs of
their seats watching Deke. He flipped a switch, powering up the laser rifle. The children’s eyes
widened at the humming sound that came from the fierce looking weapon.
Deke rose from his seat, hefting the laser rifle on his shoulder. The children gasped in
wonderment. To them he looked like some hero out of the vids. He cocked his eyebrow and
smiled.
“Time to send a message,” Deke said.
Chapter 27
Kepler sat at his console wearing a sad expression.
“Any news, Ensign Kepler?” Captain Leiber asked.
Kepler sighed. “No, sir. The program has not found the right modulation yet.”
“How much longer?” The captain asked with a look of concern on his face.
“That is hard to say, sir. My original estimate should have been correct. I am sure that it
could be any minute now.”
“Ensign Kepler, I understand that estimates can be wrong, but that does not help us
rescue those stranded children. I need results.”
“Sir…” Kepler started to respond but was interrupted by a sharp chirp from his console.
He checked it quickly, looking down in surprise.
“Any news now, Ensign?” The captain asked.
“Uh, not exactly, sir. But it looks like somebody down there is trying to talk to us.”
“How so?”
“Someone down there is using some sort of laser signal to illuminate a cloudbank. They
are using what the computers say is an old, Terran code.”
“What are they saying, Ensign?”
“I’ll punch up the feed on your console, sir.”
Kepler flicked a few keys and a read-out appeared on the screen in front of the captain.
-Ship down
-No known casualties
-Four children out of contact
-Search for datapad locations if able
-ID 211-4211-7176786
-ID 211-6580-0192874
-ID 211-6421-9751357
-ID 700-0000-0000018
-Situation here not emergency
-Missing children priority
Captain Leiber frowned as he read the data.
“Four children missing, what the devil is Jacobs doing down there? Ensign Kepler, find
out who those datapads belong to.”
Kepler hit a few more keys and the readout changed.
-ID 211-4211-7176786 – Blake, Devon
-ID 211-6580-0192874 – Vasquez, Jacinda
-ID 211-6421-9751357 – Gustav, Merrell
-ID 700-0000-0000018 - Sa’Atar, Flimitpoytrotilmas
The captain scanned the names and let out a groan. Everyone on the bridge of the
Boadicea
turned to look at the captain. To most it was the first time they had ever heard their
commander show any emotion other than irritation.
The captain rubbed his eyes for a moment and let out sigh. He knew that Devon Blake
being one of the missing children complicated matters. Blake’s family had great influence and if
anything were to happen to him, there could be terrible consequences for the crew as well as the
UCF.
“Anything else, Ensign?” The captain asked.
“No, sir. That is all there is, but I guess it is something. At least we know that the ship
made it down okay.” Kepler answered.
“Thank goodness for small favors.” The captain replied.
Chapter 28
Cappy leaned close to the grate covering the ventilation port. He could hear voices, but
they sounded funny. He thought it must be a trick of the sound traveling through the air vent.
The voices almost sounded like they belonged to children, but he knew that could not be right.
He crawled closer to the grate, starting to get a view of the room on the other side
through the fine, metal mesh covering the vent opening. He could see motion, but could not
make out any details. The voices, however, were clearer. They definitely sounded like they
belonged to kids.
“What do you see, Cappy?” Burgess’ voice echoed in the vent.
Burgess grunted as Cappy responded with a kick at Burgess’ face.
“Sorry, Cappy, won’t happen again.” Burgess said, this time in a whisper.
“Keep your trap shut for a minute, you simp.” Cappy snarled. “Whoever is messing with
our place is right outside the vent. Trouble is, they are right there. I can’t get in there without
them seeing me.”
Cappy was silent for a few moments and then kicked out at Burgess again.
“What? I didn’t say anything.” Burgess protested.
“I know, I wanted a suggestion. Is there any other way in there?” Cappy hissed.
“I can only think of one, and it won’t be comfortable.”
“Fine, I can do uncomfortable. Let’s get out of this vent and you can show me the other
way.”
Cappy began backing out of the ventilation tube the way they had come. Burgess had to
scramble to keep Cappy’s boots out of his face.
Burgess tumbled out of the vent back in the control room. He splashed in the standing
wastewater on him rump, splattering even more of the foul liquid on the walls. Cappy followed,
more carefully. He jumped down, trying to land on one of the chairs to stay out of the waste
water. The chair tipped over under Cappy’s weight, sending him face first into the gunk.
Burgess had to fight hard to stifle a laugh.
“By thunder, I’ll kill them kids!” Cappy bellowed as he picked himself up out of the
gunk, dripping with filth. “I don’t care who they are, they’ll pay for this.” He turned toward
Burgess with murder in his eyes.
Burgess’ blood turned to ice water. He had seen Cappy mad before. In fact, it was
Cappy’s normal mood, but he had never seen this kind of rage.
Cappy fixed Burgess with a steely glare. “You better find a way into that room, or I’ll
use your head for a battering ram. You got that straight?” Cappy growled, his voice strangled
with anger.
“You betcha, Cappy. I got an idea, but like I said, it ain’t comfortable.”
Cappy nodded, still angry, but seeming satisfied with his answer. Relief flooded into
Burgess.
With a quick nod Burgess went back to his workstation and picked up his toolkit. He
fished out an autospanner and walked toward a pile of crates stacked in the corner of the room.
With a sigh he slipped the autospanner into his belt and began to drag crates away from the wall.
He finally succeeded in clearing all of the crates away, revealing a removable panel. He sighed,
shaking his head. Cappy would not like this idea, but it was the only way Burgess could think of
to get into the other chamber.
Burgess removed the panel using the autospanner. As the panel came off, he was hit by a
wave of heat. Burgess knocked the autospanner against a large pipe inside the panel, making it
resound with a hollow ring. The sound caught Cappy’s attention.
His eyes grew wide when he finally understood Burgess’ plan.
“No way, Burgess. I’m not crawling through the slag pipe. It’ll burn me alive.”
Cappy shook his head. “Nope, not right now. Those kids turned it off and the automatic
system emptied it out so the slag wouldn’t cool inside the tube.”
“But it is still hotter than blazes in there.” Cappy said.
“Sure it’s hot, but if you put on one of our toaster suits you’ll be fine.” Burgess
responded.
“When you said
uncomfortable
I didn’t know you meant
this
.” Cappy said as he shook
his head.
“Well, I think it is your only choice.” Burgess said as he opened one of the nearby cases
and retrieved a jumpsuit made of silver, quilted material. He held out the toaster suit to Cappy,
who took it reluctantly. He reached into the case again, retrieving a matching set of gloves and
boots. He held them out as Cappy struggled into the jumpsuit, the presslock fastenings barely
able to close over his large belly.
With a look of irritation Cappy took the rest, pulling on the books and then stuffing his
chubby hands into the gloves. Burgess had to stifle a laugh. Cappy looked like on overstuffed
silver teddy bear in the quilted suit. With an oddly appropriate growl, Cappy pulled on the hood
attached to the back of the suit and sealed it tightly. The suit plumped even more as the built in
circulation system began pumping cool air through the suit to keep Cappy safe inside the still hot
slag tube.
Cappy shoved Burgess out of the way and unsealed the access hatch on the side of the
slag tube. Burgess involuntarily stepped back up several feet as a new, more intense wave of
heat hit him. Cappy clumsily got to his knees and crawled through the hatch.
The hatch automatically closed behind Cappy, leaving Burgess alone in the control
center. He thanked goodness that the heat was gone, but something was still bothering him. He
could not quite decide what it was. He was not hungry, or uncomfortable, or sleepy or even
bored. Slowly he began to listen to that little voice in his head. It screamed at him that what
Cappy was going to do was wrong. Burgess argued with the voice, telling it that there was
nothing he could do. With great effort Burgess battered drowned out the little voice, pushing it
out of his mind.
Chapter 29
Devon and the others crowded around Jacinda’s datapad watching the progress of their
plan on the tiny screen. It showed a schematic of the liquid core of the planet dotted with bright
pin-pricks of light showing where the miners’ probes were located. Most were near the surface
