The Lost Prince by Saxon Andrew Page B

“There were two of us that came here. The first ship went in and had me wait. It was blasted into rubble as soon as it came close to the planet.”
    “Then why for God’s sake would you have gone in?”
    Violet looked at Ian, “You do that when you love someone.”
    Ian felt her sorrow and things started to make sense. That was why Violet was always alone. Except she had come to save him; he looked at her and saw her staring at the display that showed the star cluster they were approaching. Ian put his hand on her face and turned it to him, “Will you tell me what happened?”
    She looked at him and sat down in the second command chair. She slowly shook her head and started speaking.
    • • •
    “Tad, are you sure this is a good idea?”
    “I’ve examined the data and it really does indicate that we’ll find what we’re looking for this close to the black hole.”
    Violet looked in her display and saw the monster off in the distance. The clouds surrounding the event horizon were moving at an extreme rate around the giant singularity. “Do you honestly think that thing will have an affect here?”
    “Violet, the heavier metals will be pulled toward the surface of any planet this close. We should find enough of the rare elements to make us rich.”
    “We could have just purchased mining vehicles and found it on Hellhole.”
    “I’m not willing to place you in that kind of danger, my love. This is the safest way. I’ll go in first and you can follow me in once I scan the planet. If it’s there, and I really think it is, you can join me.”
    “Why don’t we both go?”
    “I want to make sure no one’s there. Two ships would be seen.”
    “Tad, no human has ever ventured this far out.”
    “Are you certain about that?”
    “Well…I guess I really don’t know for certain but this worries me.”
    “Just keep the communicator active. I’ll let you know if my suspicions are accurate.”
    Tad’s ship accelerated toward the distant fourth planet at twenty times light speed. As it passed the planet’s outer moon, a bright beam shot out and struck the small vessel. Violet’s heart went into her throat and she accelerated toward the explosion. She forced herself to gather her wits and as she passed the fifth planet she slowed to ninety percent of light speed and turned off her engines. She coasted toward the rubble of Tad’s ship and wiped her tears as she prayed he was still alive. She arrived at the site of the explosions and used her thrusters to slow. There was no hope. Tad’s small ship was little more than small pieces flying away from the location of the blaster hit. She sat in space and cried. All of their hopes and dreams ended above the planet below her.
    She remembered when they had fled Euclid in their small ships to avoid the possibility of being separated by the Genetic Council. They had decided that their love was more important than any other consideration. Now that love was killed by a blaster that could hit objects moving faster than light. She sat in orbit for four days, wailing with misery.
    • • •
    Ian said, “What happened after that?”
    Violet looked at him, “I decided that I was not going to leave without confirming Tad’s suspicions. I owed him that much. I used my ship’s optical telescope and found the blaster on the moon that had hit his ship and it was in a building that appeared to be ancient. It was marked by small meteor hits. I realized that the blaster must have been operating on automatic and was programmed to hit anything moving faster than light speed.”
    “I flew into the planet’s atmosphere and began scanning the planet’s surface. There had been a war. There were buildings falling into decay but the blaster burns were still visible. I confirmed that Tad’s suspicions were accurate. The planet’s surface was covered with a layer of heavy metals just below the surface. I took my ship to the surface and landed on top of a platinum deposit and filled