Earth's Last Angel (35 page)

‘Yeh…that throws a whole different light on things, Taneasia is a pretty special girl though I reckon she'll run rings around you…oldie!' Val remarks cheekily to the Croc.

‘Mmm…you might be right there youngin!' Croc laughs.

The months quickly whizz past, and the grand wedding day finally arrives. The Croc has gold coins minted for the occasion, more than enough for every individual in the kingdom and guests to have their own commemorative coin.

The wedding is a grand affair with guests coming from trading partners and the entire kingdom. The Sobek has flown everyone in from the asteroid belt to Thera for the celebration. The sight of the majestic Sobek reentering Thera's atmosphere is quite spectacular, attracting crowds of onlookers all around the globe as she circles the globe in three close orbits at an altitude of one kilometer. Guests are shuttled up from the surface to the Sobek to enjoy the experience of the flight to the United Kingdom of Sobektar.

The wedding ceremony itself is quite simple. Taneasia is presented to the Croc by her father. The Croc then accepts Taneasia from him, pledging his love and devotion to Taneasia. Taneasia then responds to the Croc, pledging her love and devotion to him. Now the Croc places the crown of pure gold on her head.

‘With this crown I now pronounce you my wife and my Queen.' He bows to her, and then she bows to her liege the Croc in return. The wedding party and guests now file out to the reception venue for the celebrations.

The festivities last long into the night, with fireworks and entertainment. Everyone has a great time except maybe one individual, Stan. He sits quietly sipping his beer, brooding on what could have been…

It doesn't take long for everything to be packed up and back to normal the next day. The Sobek repeats its close orbit circuits of Thera as the guests are shuttled to their homes, their heads still buzzing with the whole experience! Their friends and colleagues will never believe them! After the final circuit of Thera, the Sobek heads back out to the asteroid belt to resume operations.

A week into the prospecting trip, Maxxy sits under a small tree enjoying a break in the shade from the blistering desert heat.

‘Hey Granddad!' he calls out to me, as I walk along the dusty shallow gully, heading up to where Maxxy sits.

‘Parked up for a break, are we mate?' I smile as I sit beside my youngest grandson.

‘Too right, it's roasting out here!' replies Maxxy, wiping the sweat from his brow ‘Here, check this out.' He holds out his leather nugget pouch.

‘You did alright!' I smile at the pile of nuggets I tip out onto my hand. ‘There would have to be a good few ounces here, mate,' I say looking across at his little face brimming with pride.

‘Now I know what you meant when you said, I would have a big part to play. I'm the guy that finds the gold!' he beams.

I smile a forced smile at my little champion. One day he will realize just how hard it is for me not to tell him everything about himself, and his older brother. One day he will understand.

After sitting and admiring the nuggets, I carefully pour them back into the pouch.

‘We might go find your dad and Dave, and then, call it quits for the day.'

‘That's a great idea, granddad,' agrees Maxxy, quickly gathering his things together we set off to find the others. We find them not far from the camp, also packing up to head back. Maxxy runs ahead of me to show Dave and his father the collection of nuggets he had found. The lads are as pleased as punch for the young boy, and slap him on the back in congratulations. Dave has found some good size nuggets but not quite as many as Maxxy. Alex and I tip our nuggets in with the boy's nuggets when they are distracted, adding to their tally.

‘Granddad, we haven't spoken much about your story this last week. I know the Croc got married to Taneasia? Is it?'

‘See, you do listen! You are spot on.'

‘Yeah well, what else does he do on Thera?'

‘The most important job that the Croc has, is to make sure the kingdom keeps a good cash flow turning over, Maxxy. Running a large organization like the kingdom costs a lot of money. and it's his job to generate it by supplying plugs and technology to our clients. This income pays for everything and everyone in the kingdom.'

‘OK,' remarks Maxxy, as he takes a swig from his drink, ‘what about the ship, the Sobek was it?' asks Maxxy, his head starting to form questions as he recalls the story so far.

‘That's right the Sobek.' I confirm.

‘What does it do? Does it go anywhere?

‘Well son the Sobek stays with the miners as a base of operations until the city of Sky Jewel is complete. Only then will it be free to explore beyond our home star system.

‘Grandfather, I have a question for you. Why do we bypass the great red planet and not mine and colonize it ourselves?' Dave half interrupts, Maxxy likes Dave's hard question. ‘How will Granddad answer this one?' he thinks to himself with a smug smirk.

‘Dave that is an excellent question, the reason is twofold. Firstly our objective is to find asteroids of near pure mineral content to shape into plugs that will fill the pits of exhausted mines back on Thera. This allows our clients to mine the new plugs without waste product and wasted money removing it. It also gives them the opportunity to support their local economy and provide jobs for their people. The second reason is that the great red planet is at the end of its lifecycle. Sure, it has water ice, and minerals, and vast space to build cities and such. We have the Sobek, with her we can search beyond this star system for a younger planet to call home. If others choose to colonize the great red planet then blessings to them.' I smile at my older and now wiser grandson.

‘Thank you grandfather.' Dave bows with a renewed respect.

‘Granddad!' explodes Maxxy, a question suddenly popping in to his 12 year old head, ‘Do they have pets out on the asteroid belt?'

I smile in response to my excited young grandson, 'Well, I'm going to have to disappoint you on this one Maxxy.' I reply screwing up my nose a little. ‘You see pets are lovely things to have here on Thera, but out there it is a different story.'

‘How come?' Maxxy askes in a bit of a huff.

‘It's really a matter of resources. Air, food and water, these three are vital for our survival, so we can't afford to waste them. I'm sorry, Maxxy, pets might be good for some fun and pats, but that's all they are any good for. Out there, we simply can't afford them.'

‘OK I get it, no dogs allowed. What about schools then, do they have them?' Maxxy asks reluctantly.

‘Guess what!' Maxxy brightens expectantly.

‘They do!' Maxxy groans and pulled his hat over his face ‘Granddad…'

I laugh with Alex and Dave at Maxxy's response. ‘These schools are much different to the one you go to now, you will only attend school for two hours per day!' Maxxy instantly brightens.

‘You are kidding right?'

‘No, I'm not. In fact the guy who designs these new schools is right here now!' I laugh.

‘Who is it Granddad, you?'

‘No son it's you! Remember the immersion cinemas I told you about earlier, you design them for accelerated learning as well as entertainment.'

‘Wow! Granddad, I better get busy in school if I'm going to be building all this kool stuff!' We all roar with laughter at Maxxy's response.

After our laugh with Maxxy, Dave's face takes on a somber serious expression.

‘Grandfather, you tell the story like you were there on the spot at that time. How can you know the intimate details of everything you tell us, with such clarity?'

‘Simply because I was there…Let me explain. Remember my friend Mozaz, the ELF, Energy Life Form? During our discussion he gave me a demonstration of his power. He stood up and placed his hand on my shoulder and said “Close your eyes.” In what seemed like only a split second later he said “Now open them” I obeyed and got the shock of my life! Receding rapidly below me I could see myself sitting alone on the edge of the cliff top.

Panic started to grip me as we rocketed upwards, Mozaz reached out to me to calm me. “I have changed you to an energy life form like me so that I can show you your kingdom.” With that we traveled through time and space and he showed me all that would happen until the time of my rising up from death. That was as far as he could show me. After that we returned to the clifftop he shook my shoulder, and said “Awaken young Croc” and I did. As I said before, we spoke for hours and then he was gone…' the emotions flooding back to me on my recollection.

‘That is truly amazing, Grandfather!'

‘What about Captain Val and Gene do they get together Granddad?' suddenly remembering Val and Gene.

‘Well they do…sort of,' I reply to Maxxy's question.

‘What do you mean, “sort of”?'

‘Let's just say they are very busy people and maybe a little commitment shy.'

‘Oh…Maxxy responds trying to be all grown up, but in reality its gone way over his head. Dave and Alex just grin at each other.

‘What happens after the wedding Granddad?' asks Maxxy now curious about what happens next.

With the wedding now done, it's time to get down to business. The Sobek returns to its previous station, allowing the miners to return to their starfish mining camps. The construction of a new modular city is undertaken, and scheduled for completion in 12 months. This modular city will become the new base of operations for the miners in this sector. U'kala's position is almost opposite on the other side of the asteroid belt ring, tucked in behind the great red planet, so this present location will become an outpost city.

Construction is completed on time and the Croc and Taneasia fly out to officially open the new city.

Taneasia stands at the ribbon ready to cut it.

‘What do you name this city my dear?' smiles the Croc at his Queen.

‘I name this city Borazik. In honor of people who live in that tiny remote place. Close to where I first started my mining carrier until…someone came along and made me his Queen!' she teased, smiling at the Croc.

The Croc smiles back at her. ‘Then Borazik it is!'

With that she cuts the ribbon.

The attending crowd and everyone connected by communication screens let out a loud cheer. Now it is official, the outpost city of Borazik is fully operational open for business.

The Sobek now leaves Borazik behind as she sets off for Thera to pick up supplies and a new work force. A whole new fleet of next generation tripod miners and prospecting vessels are ready for delivery. Training on the gear will happen on the way out to U'kala. The trip time should be cut in half with the new upgrades to the propulsion system the Sobek had fitted while loading on the supplies and new equipment.

A new adaptation of the tripod miner has been developed and quickly becomes known as the caterpillar. This new version has a stutter laser head fitted to the front, with a hopper below to catch the pulverized mineral rock. The hopper feeds onto a conveyor belt which in turn feeds into a drum mill, crushing the rock into powder. It then passes through a separator which eliminates any waste, expelling it out a side chute. The now pure mineral is then transported by conveyor belt to the blast furnace, where it is melted and poured into large ingot molds, and once cool the molds are then tipped over, dropping the ingots onto a holding frame to cool further. The ingots are shaped like a letter T so they can be stored on a rack at the rear of the caterpillar, ready for a transport tug.

The tug will dock and slide them onto its own rack system, before transporting them away to the foundry. So looking at this huge elongated mechanical marvel it sure does look like a caterpillar, from the head munching on the rock face along each modular section to the final product coming out of its rear end.

After three months, the Sobek is ready for its journey to U'kala.

‘Sobek initiating close orbit around U'kala,' announces Val as the massive ship commences a slow orbit around the small mini planet. The Sobek maintains a neutral altitude of 50 kilometers so that it does not interfere with the small planet's weak gravity.

‘This is a truly momentous occasion! Finally we begin preparation to build our city Sky Jewel.' remarks the Croc.

The Croc and Taneasia have joined Val on this historic flight. Some of the original crew have also joined the mission, Tarillia being one of them to the delight of her best friend and now Queen Taneasia. Tarillia will head up the training team to bring the new people up to speed on the new gear.

The first priority is to mine out part of the rock to create the rock shell inside which the future city will be built. At the base level, the ice storage and conversion plant will provide air and water for the city, enough to supply two million souls for 100 years before Ice stocks need to be topped up.

Agriculture and air treatment are on the next level up. This area is also huge, the same dimensions as the lower floor, 200 kilometers long, 50 kilometers wide, and 400 meters high. This area not only supplies food for the city, it also cleans and re-oxygenates the city's air supply using the plants and trees that are grown there. It is imperative for the structural engineers to get this right the first time! The distance between levels and support columns need to be spot on, the floor level above the agriculture level holds the great lake. With the associated entertainment facilities of the city, accommodation and retail outlets with food outlets are on the higher shell levels, looking down at the great lake and surrounding gardens and parks.

Some apartments are built into the outer layer of the shell providing a view of endless space. These are reserved for the highest ranking Mazuban's only, while some are built facing into the hollowed out space of the shell. The rest are constructed in between the other two, 52 apartments deep, with interconnecting halls and corridors. This is a city designed to cater for two million people, a huge undertaking that will take a significant time to complete.