Battleground Mars (9 page)

“As long as we live to spend the money,” Brad muttered.

Rahm smiled. “We’re all going to live, and I promise we’ll get back in one piece. Brad, I want you to man the laser cannon again. Kaz, you’re our eyes and ears on the surface. Everyone else, work as usual.

When the indicators went off the scale they stopped the buggy at the side of the crater and the crew began to assemble the drilling equipment. After the problems of the past couple of days, the crew was exuberant.

“Damn, we’re going to be rich, man!” Saul Packer exclaimed as he dragged the drillhead out of the buggy and began to assemble it. Rahm smiled it was good to see they’d put the bad times behind them. Before he’d left his room that morning he’d checked the returns for his crew. It was a line that slid down like a ski slope, for they’d been hit with too many problems of late. A good, rich haul would do much to put them back on course. They worked through the day, the drill struck the seam of trevanium and they sent down the extractors. As the precious mineral poured out of the pipe into the cargo hold they felt their spirits lifting. Kacy smiled as she adjusted the alignment of the drillhead.

“We’re going for a record here, Rahm. I estimate we’ll take a month’s figures from this one site.”

“Provided it doesn’t peter out halfway through the day.” He wasn’t a pessimist, but neither did he want to build up anyone’s hopes.

She shook her head. “No way. I’ve looked at all the readings and run it through the analyzer. There’s enough for us to come back tomorrow and a few days after. We’ve struck the motherlode.”

“That’s good to know. I’ll pass it on to the others. We need to make damn sure we’re careful, I don’t want any equipment failures or Tauron attacks to disrupt this one.”

There were no attacks and no equipment failures that day. As they drove back to Mars Base every man in the team reflected that they’d at last turned the corner. The precious mineral was weighed in and the assayer’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“Jesus Christ, there’s enough there to buy up half the planet. Where did it come from?”

Saul laughed. “Yeah, like we’d want the whole planet muscling in on us.”

The man shrugged. “I thought I’d try, it could be worth having some extra crews to work it and make sure the whole seam is stripped out.”

“We’ll manage, don’t worry.”

They celebrated their change of fortune that night, the Bourbon bottle passed around and around. Gabi Aaronsen joined them, for she was still at a loose end after the destruction of Grant Merkel’s crew. Rahm suspected she wanted to be assigned to his crew to complete her technician field training, but it was the last thing they needed. They’d had a run of bad luck that had ended today. They needed to rip the precious mineral out of the ground fast, and there was no time to worry about a rookie. Besides, he was growing fond of her. Another thing he didn’t need to divert his attention was a pretty girl on his crew. After Christine was killed, he vowed never again. No exceptions. Rahm had to call a halt before they were incapable of working the next day and they left the canteen groaning in mock anger. He whispered, ‘good night’, to Gabi, she responded but the look in her eyes stated that she wanted something more.

The following day they set out in high spirits for the Schiaparelli Crater. They set up in the exact same place as before and within twenty minutes the mineral was spewing into the cargo hold. The crew worked hard, once the trevanium started flowing the equipment needed constant attention to make sure that everything kept working. The surface of Mars was a harsh taskmaster, and nothing could be taken on trust. The biggest worry was the Taurons. Brad was stationed on the laser cannon and Kaz was positioned high on the buggy frame. Every time Rahm looked, his dark, hawk-like eyes constantly swept the surrounding ground for signs of aliens. They worked through the day without stopping, by mid-afternoon they were looking forward to another triumphant return to Mars Base. The problems started when Kacy’s air supply started to malfunction. By the time Rahm got to her she was gasping, struggling to draw breath. He could hear the sound of air hissing out, one of the pipes that transferred air from the reserve tank to her helmet had fractured. She was in deep trouble. All of the buggies carried reserve sets, so he lunged for the locker and opened the lid. It was empty. He cursed out loud. The mechanics who’d overhauled the vehicle had forgotten to replace them when the work was finished. She was desperate now, her face, already turned red, was becoming blue, and she was shaking in terror. She’d seen the empty locker, and he heard her voice over his helmet system.

“Please, please help me. I don’t want to die out here.”

“Kacy, listen to me,” he shouted. The other crew members had stopped work and drifted over to see what they could do to help.

“No one dies in my crew without my permission, you hear?”

She smiled uncertainly, still gasping at her ruined air supply. They all knew what Rahm was doing, what little air she had left was being drained at a faster rate because of her panic. She needed to relax while he sorted out the problem.

He shouted at Saul. “Bring me the toolbox and an air hose extension, I’m going to put an adapter into my own supply and link into Kacy’s, we’ll share it until we get back.”

The toolpusher rushed to the buggy and ripped out the equipment he needed and returned with the hose and a set of tools.

“Saul, you’ll have to do this for me. Uncouple my air supply, insert the adapter and fit the hose to Kacy’s helmet. Hurry it up.”

He nodded. “I’m on it. Don’t you worry, Kacy, you’ll be celebrating with the rest of us tonight.”

It took him four minutes to uncouple Rahm’s hose and couple his system into Kacy’s helmet. Almost instantly the color began to return to her face as she breathed in, taking huge gulps of air.

“How are you feeling now, can you carry on?”

She nodded. “I’m ok, yeah. We’ll have to work together like Siamese twins.”

He grinned. “I can’t think of a prettier twin to connect to.”

“You saved my life, Rahm. I owe you for this one. You know I could have died out here.”

“Hey, it was nothing. Listen, I told you, no one dies without my permission, you hear?”

“Whatever, but I owe you big time for this.”

“Ok, then. Buy me a beer when we get back and we’ll call it quits.”

“You’ve got it.”

He stayed with her, connected by a four-foot hose, while she continued to monitor the drillhead and make the continuous adjustments that kept the trevanium flowing. By the time they finished their shift, the cargo hold was full and they drove back with another record haul.

“Hey Rahm,” Saul asked him. “How long do you reckon we’ll be able to work that seam?”

“Kacy, you’re the best one to answer that question.”

“Based on what I’ve seen so far, and looking at the ground we’re working on, I’d guess we’ve taken about half what’s down there. It’s the largest concentration of trevanium I’ve seen, we’ve been lucky.”

“Luck ain’t got anything to do with it,” Saul replied. “We’re the best team in the business, bar none.”

She grinned. “You’ll get no argument from me.”

When they drove in, Tobin Ryles was in the garage making a nuisance of himself, as usual. As they stripped off their suits, they could see the annoyed expressions of the mechanics as he snapped at them, moaning about delays and unfinished work. When he saw Rahm arrive with two of the crew sharing an air supply he ran over.

“What the fuck’s going on here, Rahm? You’ve got air supply problems? Don’t you know that the buggies carry spares?”

They stowed the gear in their lockers, Ryles wouldn’t leave them alone.

“I asked you a question, what happened out there?”

“It was nothing, just a mix up, we’re fine.”

He went to walk away, if he told Ryles the truth the mechanics would get it in the neck. He’d speak to them quietly, but as soon as they’d seen the shared life support system they’d know they’d make a mistake. They wouldn’t make another.

“The hell it’s nothing, I want to know exactly what happened.”

Rahm sighed. It had been a long hard day and they’d come back with a huge load of trevanium, all he wanted was to strip off, shower and change and share a drink with the guys in the canteen.

“Ask someone else, I’m leaving.”

“I’m asking you? What was it? Did you screw up, Rahm? Like last time?”

He felt himself getting angry. They guy was like a terrier, he wouldn’t give up.

“What are you talking about, what last time?”

“I’m talking about that business in Afghanistan, or have you forgotten already. You lost an entire research station, didn’t you? According to your file there was something about your fiancé, she was killed, I believe. Something about a problem you had, Rahm. What was it, a booze problem? Or was it drugs? Somehow the only person who got out was you. That’s very interesting.”

“Leave it out, Ryles, I’m warning you.”

The odious manager only sneered more broadly. “I run things around here, not you, so don’t go telling me what to do. I see something that worries me, I need an answer. Especially from someone like you, a man who hasn’t got the guts to take good care of his people.”

That was when Rahm hit him. Saul and Kaz were waiting behind to hold him and stop him getting violent, but he was too quick for them. His fist took the man on the point of his chin and he went down like a log, he lay on the floor for a few moments, knocked unconscious. Gabi Aaronsen had been watching and listening from the side of the garage, she ran over to help him.

“It’s ok, I can handle this. I trained as a medic as well as a technician. I’ll make sure he’s not too badly hurt.” She looked up and flared with anger. “You shouldn’t have hit him like that. The man was only doing his job. We’ve had enough violence around here.”

Rahm felt irritated that she was even prepared to soil her hands with Ryles.

“His job isn’t supposed to be telling lies about his crews. The best place for him would be out of the airlock.”

“Was it a lie?” she asked him. Her eyes were fixed on his, for some reason his answer was important to her. But he misread the signal.

“If you think that, you two should spend more time together, you’d make a perfect couple,” he snapped angrily.

He shouldn’t have said it, for no sooner were the words were out of his mouth than he regretted them. She was still hurting over her brother, she was just looking for assurance, and he’d bitten her head off.

Her look at him was pure hate. He stormed out of the garage and made for his quarters where his could wash off the incredible amount of shit that had hit him today.

It didn’t wash off, not easily. He spent a half hour in the shower and he still felt like crap. He dressed and sat on his bed to read a novel. After an hour there was a call for him.

“I want you in my office, now.”

Jacques Fechter, the Base manager. Of course, Tobin Ryles wouldn’t have lost any time in running to him to whine about Rahm hitting him. He got off the bed and walked through the passageways to the office. He went straight in without knocking, Ryles was sitting in a chair at the side of the office. His head was covered in a bandage that wrapped around his jaw and up over his head. The manager wore a look of fury.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at, Rahm? You can’t go around punching my staff when you feel like it.”

“I hear you, Jacques. He started it, you keep this creep off my back and there won’t be a problem.”

“This ‘creep’ as you call him is my deputy manager, you should respect his position.”

“Yeah, when he respects mine I’ll do just that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean running around calling a crew boss a liar, for starters.”

Tobin stood up, his facing begging to redden with anger. “I said nothing of the sort,” he snarled, but it came out as a strangled whimper, his jaw was fastened up so that he couldn’t speak properly.

“Shut up, Tobin. Look, Rahm, I spoke to the guys in the garage, they said you were provoked,” he looked around with an irritated expression as Tobin started to protest again. “I said shut up, Ryles. You’ll damage the work the doc did on your jaw. Besides, I needed to hear what the others had to say about this little episode.”

He looked back at Rahm. “So in view of everything, I’ve decided to let it go this time. But I’m telling you, both of you,” he glared at Tobin Ryles. “I’m trying to run a professional operation here, so cut out the crap. I don’t want to hear any accusations and I don’t want to see any violence, clear? If you want to take a pop at someone, go find a Tauron to tangle with. No, forget I said that. Just save it, clear?”

Rahm nodded. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, that was a good haul of trevanium you brought in. Where did you find it?”

Rahm smiled. “Forget it.”

Fechter nodded. “Yeah, I wouldn’t say anything either. I’m sending a crew out further than usual tomorrow to try and increase the figures for the end of the contract. We’ve still got a long time to go and we’re behind with our quota. There’s a likely site at the edge of the Tyrrenha Plateau.”

“It’ll be risky, that’s close to Tauron territory.”