said Lana. ‘Seeing as you’ve got perfect night-vision out of the box.’
‘Maybe I’ll get eaten first, too,’ said Zeno, gloomily.
Lana checked her rifle was running warm with a full magazine. ‘Most of the really dangerous creatures are lizards. They’re not nocturnal hunters.’
‘Everything on this rotten world’s dangerous,’ said Zeno. ‘Including half the vegetation. Lady evolution, she sure does get cranky when she reaches the final stages of her solar cycle. It’s like all the fauna and flora on Abracadabra have realized they’re heading for a supernova and lights-out, and are all running with their “pissed-off” button jammed on full in protest.’
‘I know how they feel.’
‘And those flying monstrosities we faced when we landed… they’re warm blooded, even if they do look like Puff the Magic Dragon’s angry big cousin. They can operate in the dark.’
‘Pretend you’re acting in one of your old movies,’ suggested Lana. ‘Zeno the Dragon Slayer or something.’
‘You’re not really helping.’
‘Sure I am. You’re just too pig-headed to admit when the captain’s right.’
It took the two of them half an hour to reach the road between the main landing field and the mine head. Lana nearly tripped over tree stumps left by the side of the strip, blackened and dead from being speed-sliced by an industrial laser on high power. She suspected Zeno had let her wander into them as punishment. The road itself was a quick-spray multi-layer composite, resistant to rain and weeds – the ugly kind of non-degradable tech that would have placard-waving environmentalists suicidally throwing themselves in front of diggers… if the nearest human settlement of any size hadn’t been hundreds of light years away. Spike-like beacons had been driven into the dirt by a pile driver on both sides of the road – to help ensure drone equipment didn’t slip off the highway. With the level of static from solar flares, it would be suicidal to rely on sat-nav to guide drones out here.
‘There’s a vehicle coming,’ said Zeno. ‘Robot… nobody in the cab.’
Lana nodded. She’d been counting on the night-shift running more or less automated. Too few hands at the camp to operate twenty four hours with a manned presence. Time to let the android earn his keep with the codes he’d hacked from the landing field. ‘Slow it down and let’s see what we’ve got.’
The Gravity Rose ’s skipper was almost blinded by the truck lights when the drone rumbled into view. A big robot engine up front with a high bank of arc-lights, the vehicle riding six spherical rubber wheels taller than her head by a yard. Lana blinked her eyes. A storm of insects fluttered in and out of its beams. Three freight cars sat behind the engine on similar ball wheels, each car linked to the next by snaking cables. Two sealed trailers, one open flat-bed. Zeno popped the doors on the closed cars, easily bypassing the simple locking mechanism in a couple of seconds. After all, who was going to steal the supplies out here… tree squirrels? He rolled the doors back. One car was too full of the supplies they had hauled down from orbit to even attempt to hide inside, but the second trailer had enough space for them to conceal themselves amongst the piled crates and drums.
‘Your carriage awaits,’ said Zeno.
‘It just has to get us through their fence,’ said Lana.
They mounted the vehicle and pulled the heavy doors shut, hiding in darkness as the hacked truck received the all-clear from Zeno and resumed its drive towards the mountain mine. Ten minutes later they slowed down for the mine’s protective perimeter, the engine up front idling before it cleared the gates and rumbled on towards its destination.
‘I’m inside the local network,’ announced Zeno. ‘The truck’s been told to open its doors in two hours when there’s a spare loader available, then head back empty to the landing field for more
‘Maybe I’ll get eaten first, too,’ said Zeno, gloomily.
Lana checked her rifle was running warm with a full magazine. ‘Most of the really dangerous creatures are lizards. They’re not nocturnal hunters.’
‘Everything on this rotten world’s dangerous,’ said Zeno. ‘Including half the vegetation. Lady evolution, she sure does get cranky when she reaches the final stages of her solar cycle. It’s like all the fauna and flora on Abracadabra have realized they’re heading for a supernova and lights-out, and are all running with their “pissed-off” button jammed on full in protest.’
‘I know how they feel.’
‘And those flying monstrosities we faced when we landed… they’re warm blooded, even if they do look like Puff the Magic Dragon’s angry big cousin. They can operate in the dark.’
‘Pretend you’re acting in one of your old movies,’ suggested Lana. ‘Zeno the Dragon Slayer or something.’
‘You’re not really helping.’
‘Sure I am. You’re just too pig-headed to admit when the captain’s right.’
It took the two of them half an hour to reach the road between the main landing field and the mine head. Lana nearly tripped over tree stumps left by the side of the strip, blackened and dead from being speed-sliced by an industrial laser on high power. She suspected Zeno had let her wander into them as punishment. The road itself was a quick-spray multi-layer composite, resistant to rain and weeds – the ugly kind of non-degradable tech that would have placard-waving environmentalists suicidally throwing themselves in front of diggers… if the nearest human settlement of any size hadn’t been hundreds of light years away. Spike-like beacons had been driven into the dirt by a pile driver on both sides of the road – to help ensure drone equipment didn’t slip off the highway. With the level of static from solar flares, it would be suicidal to rely on sat-nav to guide drones out here.
‘There’s a vehicle coming,’ said Zeno. ‘Robot… nobody in the cab.’
Lana nodded. She’d been counting on the night-shift running more or less automated. Too few hands at the camp to operate twenty four hours with a manned presence. Time to let the android earn his keep with the codes he’d hacked from the landing field. ‘Slow it down and let’s see what we’ve got.’
The Gravity Rose ’s skipper was almost blinded by the truck lights when the drone rumbled into view. A big robot engine up front with a high bank of arc-lights, the vehicle riding six spherical rubber wheels taller than her head by a yard. Lana blinked her eyes. A storm of insects fluttered in and out of its beams. Three freight cars sat behind the engine on similar ball wheels, each car linked to the next by snaking cables. Two sealed trailers, one open flat-bed. Zeno popped the doors on the closed cars, easily bypassing the simple locking mechanism in a couple of seconds. After all, who was going to steal the supplies out here… tree squirrels? He rolled the doors back. One car was too full of the supplies they had hauled down from orbit to even attempt to hide inside, but the second trailer had enough space for them to conceal themselves amongst the piled crates and drums.
‘Your carriage awaits,’ said Zeno.
‘It just has to get us through their fence,’ said Lana.
They mounted the vehicle and pulled the heavy doors shut, hiding in darkness as the hacked truck received the all-clear from Zeno and resumed its drive towards the mountain mine. Ten minutes later they slowed down for the mine’s protective perimeter, the engine up front idling before it cleared the gates and rumbled on towards its destination.
‘I’m inside the local network,’ announced Zeno. ‘The truck’s been told to open its doors in two hours when there’s a spare loader available, then head back empty to the landing field for more
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