Broken Glass (Glass Complex Book 1) (29 page)

“Jackson, who the hell is with you?”

Millie quietly whispered. “Taul.”

“I think his name is Steg de Coeur. He’s sent out some messages on starcom. I’ve looped one on the local net.”

Steg stepped forward. “Taul, listen to me. The auto-miners are under my control. I estimate that within twenty hours no infrastructure will remain on Hellfire for you to secure. Just forty rampaging vehicles.”

“What do you think you are doing, de Coeur?” Taul sounded as though he was almost frothing with rage.

“Seeking safe passage off Hellfire for myself and Milnaret of Fain. Guarantees of personal safety for both of us. Otherwise the company’s investment and reserves on Hellfire are a write off.”

“No way, de Coeur. The Fain stays. And you are dead.”

“First, I would check with your bosses. Also, check with your men at the ore face. Get them to tell you what’s happening at the launch site. Then get back to me. Remember, if anything happens to me, the auto-miners are unstoppable and rigged to explode.”

He turned to the technician. “Turn him off for now. He can investigate and get back to me.”

Before the technician could act, the lights dimmed and failed. The power supply had been cut. Steg cursed and then remembered mention of emergency power supply.

“How do we get the back-up power switched on?”

“Simple, I’m doing it now.” Jackson was indicating his support.

The lights flickered, as the power came back on. Viewscreens returned to life. Steg examined the progress of the auto-miners. Even after a short interval, destruction at the ore face was very evident. No buildings were standing. The auto-miners were circling aimlessly now, their tasks completed. Steg directed each one to stand down beside a section of the mine face at intervals separated by a kay or so, until he had a string of potential nuclear bombs across ore reserves.

Jackson was speechless. Millie expressed her surprise.

“How did you do that?” Millie queried. “Taul will be berserk. Those auto-miners are all out of control.”

“They’re under my control,” corrected Steg. “The company will see them as out of control.” He noted the flashing viewscreen. “Jackson, sound only again from us, please.”

“This is Taul. What exactly do you want, de Coeur?”

“I told you. Safe passage off Hellfire for myself and Milnaret of Fain.”

“As far as we’re concerned you can go any time you want. As I said before, the Fain stays.”

“I won’t bargain on this point. Total destruction here on Hellfire or free and safe passage for the two of us.”

Steg’s calm reiteration angered the other man. “I’ll see you in hell first,” Taul roared, face reddening. Steg thought for a moment he was going to attack the viewscreen.

“You have my requirements. The auto-miners have completed their destruction at the ore face. They are now positioned along the face where I can trigger dirty explosions. Ten kays or more of the mine face will unusable for a hundred—two hundred years or more.”

“Listen, mister, when I get my hands on you—”

“Don’t bluster, Taul. Just keep in mind if anything happens to me, nothing on Hellfire can stop the auto-miners. Nothing. Can you afford to be the cause of the company losing its entire Hellfire investment? I’m adding this conversation to the transmission to the company.” Steg cut off the viewscreen.

“I think Taul needs some extra pressure. Do you have an ore carrier in orbit?” he asked the technician.

“Yes,
D’Art
arrived yesterday.”

“Tape and send the following message—address it to the captain of
D’Art
, copies to Taul and to the company.” He dictated his message. “I am requesting guaranteed safe passage off Hellfire for myself and Milnaret of Fain. Currently ten auto-miners are buried along the mine face, ready to be detonated; the resulting nuclear explosions will contaminate ore reserves for hundreds of years. Ten auto-miners are in transit to the ore shuttle launch pad where they will destroy the infrastructure and waiting shuttles, whether loaded or empty. Then each auto-miner will return to the mine face, where it will bury itself, ready for detonation. The remaining auto-miners are in transit to the company town where they will destroy the town infrastructure. All mining operations on Hellfire have now ceased. The company has less than ten hours to agree to my request. Signed Steg de Coeur.” He watched as the technician keyed and transmitted the message. “Good. That is a signal of intention, if nothing else. Although House of Aluta will treat it as a declaration of war. Now we sit and wait a while.”

Minutes slowly turned into an hour without a response, either from Taul,
D’Art
or from anyone else. Steg could see activity in the stairwell, as presumably Taul’s security force attempted to build makeshift access to the fifth floor. Taul, Steg realized, would risk all on an attack if he didn’t believe Steg’s threat of devastation.

“Signal the captain of
D’Art
. Also, get Taul on a viewscreen. Set your transmitters for general broadcast so that we have a wider audience—this will get attention Empire-wide.”

He spoke with Taul first. “Taul, keep your men away from this floor.”

“Now why should I do that?” queried the security chief, smirking in smug anticipation.

“Listen carefully and you’ll learn why. I’m about to speak with the captain of
D’Art
. I think you’ll find the conversation instructive.” He checked with Jackson who signaled that the link was operative.

“Captain, my name is Steg de Coeur. Yes,” he acknowledged. “I sent that earlier message to the company. Our conversation is being broadcast on open channels. I’ve added background information which will be very interesting to inter-stellar media, I’m sure. Do you have equipment on board your ship that’s capable of detecting and measuring a small nuclear explosion on Hellfire’s surface?”

“Yes, de Coeur. We have the ability to do that, although I fail to see—”

“Captain, bear with me please. I’ve been marooned on Hellfire so the company’s thugs can murder me.
Taul, the local security chief, has instructed his men to capture me and I want them to stop.
I’ve
stationed
ten auto-miners along the mine face. I’m going to explode one of them in sixty seconds. Please have your technicians monitor and record. Countdown completing now . . . three, two, one.”

Steg reached out to the most distant auto-miner along the ore face. He triggered the auto-miner’s self-destruct sequence. The shock wave spread rapidly. The building shook as the ground tremor rushed past.

“Captain, did you record that? And can you confirm the effects to Taul?”

“de Coeur, the company’s going to require compensation—”

“Captain, do you wish another example? I’ve control of thirty-nine more auto-miners. Thirty-nine, all keyed to me. My death will cause all of them to detonate. Each one alone will cost well over five million credits to replace. That’s a total of two hundred million. Plus costs of lost production. Plus costs of de-contaminating ore. Add the cost of closing this facility for two hundred years. Let’s call it at least eight hundred million credits. Possibly double or treble that amount. So, please answer my question—did you monitor and record the explosion? Taul needed a demonstration. Can you inform him and advise him to stop his attempts to capture me?”

“Yes, de Coeur. Your demonstration was most convincing. Taul, can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“You fool. He’s right. That explosion was right at the mine face. The company wn’tt be able to mine that area for at least two hundred years. Stop whatever you are doing. Leave de Coeur alone at least until we get instructions. Hear me?”

Taul was visibly agitated. “Yeah, I understand. Just wait until I get my hands on him—”

“Shut up! de Coeur has us on general broadcast—everyone in the Empire will be listening to this.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Steg replied. “I’ll wait just a little while. Demolition of the launch site will commence in approximately two hours. Destruction of the company town will commence in six hours. After that each auto-miner then will return to the mine face. Expect to see a further thirty-nine explosions over the next two days or so. If Taul continues to attack me, I will begin exploding auto-miners at the mine face immediately, and continue hourly.”

“I understand, de Coeur. Taul, you fool. Stand down, stop whatever you are doing and wait. The company’ll deal with de Coeur.
D’Art
out.”

Steg turned back to the viewscreen and addressed the security chief. “Well, Taul—convinced? Call off your men.”

The viewscreen cut off without a reply from Taul. Steg watched the viewscreen showing the stairwell. After a minute or so the activities ceased and he smiled at Millie.

“I think Taul got the message.”

Her response was a tentative smile. She was unable to account for the explosion of the auto-miner. Steg seemed somehow to be in control of forty—no, now it was thirty-nine—machines and he was about to destroy Hellfire.

Steg thought for a moment and then addressed the technician. “Jackson, how about another general broadcast? Send it to
D’Art
first, and advise them it will be transmitted in two hours.” The technician nodded and Steg began to dictate. “Officer in Charge, Imperial Xeno-Service HQ. Message reads as follows. Numerous artifacts of ancient and alien origin have been found on planet Hellfire evidencing previous high culture civilization. Ore reserves currently being mined are remains of extensive stockpiling by that civilization. Non-disclosure of existence of these artifacts has been at direction of House of Aluta which claims Xeno-Service does not have mandate to enforce prohibition of their activities on Hellfire. Signed Steg de Coeur. Message ends.”

“Please send that to the captain now. Schedule it to transmit automatically in two hours, unless we decide to stop it“

“Yes, sir. This’ll mean the end of mining on Hellfire. We’ve all known about the artifacts.” He proceeded to carry out Steg’s instructions.

******

Chapter 22

Steg and his Fain companion took turns to monitor
the viewscreens as time passed. Jackson, the technician, was unlikely to act against them, Steg realized, but Taul, driven by anger, could again attempt to assault their temporary refuge. Earlier Taul had cut off the air conditioning and the heat build-up had been almost overwhelming. Steg had threatened to detonate another auto-miner, communicating his threat to both Taul and the captain of D’Art, before Taul re-powered the cooling system. Time moved slowly and Steg paced up and down, restlessly burning energy. Millie watched with anxious eyes.

“Their response is overdue,” mused Steg. “All the auto-miners are in position. Nineteen now are along the ore face. I’m holding off wrecking the company town while we’re here. The xeno message is ready to be transmitted. Perhaps we should remind the captain.” He nodded at Jackson. “See if he’s accepting calls.”

Contact was soon established. “Captain,” Steg advised. “We are about to broadcast the xeno message on a general band. The shuttle launch pad is out of commission. Nineteen auto-miners are now buried along the mine face. Twenty are here at the company town, ready to destroy it. We need some action from you.”

“de Coeur. I sent a full report to the company and I expect to receive their instructions any minute. You know I can’t do anything without their consent. If you ask me, you have them in a bind and I can’t see how they can refuse your request. Can you wait—another thirty minutes?”

“Captain, I’ve been waiting long enough and I’ve a very uneasy feeling. However, I’ll wait fifteen minutes, if in the mean time
you’ll
remind the company that the auto-miners are ready to blow. I can trigger one at a time, or all at once, whatever makes the most impact. Point out the auto-miners are unstoppable and the company’s investment in Hellfire is at risk.” Steg terminated the connection and instructed the technician to send the xeno message.

Steg was apprehensive. The company was tenacious and would resort to any lengths to protect their Hellfire investment. He had publicly tweaked their corporate tail and they would not rest until they had taken their revenge. At this stage either they were sacrificing their investment or they were preparing a counter. Steg decided to extend his control.

*Steg de Coeur to Module
D’Art
.*

*Module
D’Art
. Provide authority for contact.*

He ignored the security request and instead of withdrawing, he strengthened his contact by reaching into
D’Art
’s system and suppressing its protective intruder defense program. It lacked sophistication and quickly succumbed to his deft intrusion. He linked with its processes, absorbing and analyzing its data flows. He quickly countermanded its control and command structure and finally withdrew. He again attempted to link to the system.

*Steg de Coeur to Module
D’Art
.*

*Module
D’Art
ready.*

*Load and run two programs. Program one, begin decay orbit preceding emergency landing on Hellfire. Implement now. This program can only be countermanded by Steg de Coeur. Program two, relay to Hellfire viewscreen a complete copy of all
D’Art
communications and data flows from minus ten hours ongoing. Run until canceled by Steg de Coeur. Confirm.*