The Lost Prince (3 page)

“Well, he didn’t appear here.”

“I suspect you had enough ships to arrive to persuade him to back off his plan.”

“I can’t defend all of my planets.”

“Then some might be destroyed if you don’t.”

The Dictator looked at the Officer and said, “What would you do?”

“You’ll have plenty of planets to rule once this little issue is resolved. I would just send ships to the five major worlds and increase the patterns around the others. If he attacks, he will probably destroy a planet or two, but we’ll have him trapped inside our patterns and he won’t escape. We’ll vector in ships from all over the galaxy on his course.”

“Some of the planets will scream at not being defended.”

“Then destroy one of two of them and the screaming will stop. You have total control; use it.”

The Dictator smiled and the display went dark. The Officer stared at the dark screen and knew that one day he was going to get close enough to the Dictator to remove his mind. Then the Nebula would be ruled the proper way. He just wasn’t hard enough to rule effectively.

“E, where are you headed?”

“I’m going to one of the newest colonized worlds. It’s at the outer edge of the Wilderness.”

“What’s it named?”

“Hellhole.”

Ian activated his computer and pulled up the planet. “That planet is pretty wide open and lawless.”

“Thus, the planet’s name; I’m hoping that if they aren’t able to find you and they start looking in the Wilderness, they’ll decide that you wouldn’t go there.”

“Is this a good idea?”

“We need to buy time. We’ll know if they start moving into the Wilderness and start scanning the planets there.”

“Is there any way for me to hide from their scanships?”

“Sensory deprivation is the only thing I’ve been able to come up with.”

“What is that?”

“You’ll have to close your eyes, turn off your hearing, sense of smell, and the nerves leading to your skin. Your mind is like a nova with the electrical activity it generates. Most of that activity is tied to your senses. If you shut down your senses and focus on a sine wave, you might escape a scan.”

“You know I can see with my eyes closed.”

“I do, but you have to just not do it.”

“Can I allow my subconscious to track what’s happening around me?”

“I don’t know. See if you can enter the state and I’ll measure your electrical activity.”

Ian sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. In four minutes he heard, “You’re still slightly above normal but I don’t know if it will make them curious enough to take a look. I’ve measured thousands of normal humans with the same level.”

“Let’s hope I don’t have to do this.”

“You need to practice getting into that state quickly.”

Ian spent the rest of the run going in and out of the sensory deprived state. They arrived at the border of the Wilderness in an hour and E slowed down. “I want to take a look at the worlds in the wilderness as we pass.”

“How come?”

“We might have to go to another and it would be good to have an inventory to select from.”

“While you’re doing that, I’m going to start saying words to activate your weapons. Who set the code, E?”

“The Lead Scientist sets all codes.”

“Send me everything you have on him. I might find something that will work.”

“His file is on your display. I really hope you find it.”

“You’re worried.”

“This is a dangerous place.”

Ian looked up from the file, “Why have these planets not joined the Union?”

“Some of humanity just doesn’t function well within rules and structures. They just feel stifled by civilization. Those humans live in the Wilderness where anything and everything goes. You need to keep your eyes and senses wide open when we arrive. Without my weapons, you’ll have to defend yourself.”

Ian shrugged and went back to the file. He started with the Lead Scientist’s mother and repeated all of her names five times each with no result. Then he went to the father, two brothers, sister, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They arrived at Hellhole with E’s weapons still inactive. “I would have thought he would have used a family member’s name. That’s what I would have done.”

“I suspect the Lead Scientist is far too smart to fall into that trap.”

Ian shook his head and said, “You’re right. I really believe it’s a name, but it must be someone that would not be associated with him. I’ll keep trying after we land and settle in.”

The small ship arrived above Hellhole and started scanning the surface. “Ian, this might work out. A huge number of the locals live in a kind of mobile factory.”

“Say what?”

“This is a mining planet and they all live in vehicles that can dig samples and mine the upper layer of soil for valuable minerals. The vehicles are armed and move around the planet searching for rare metals.”

“No one farms? Where do they acquire their food?”

“Yes, there are armed communities that farm and live somewhat normally. They take their produce and goods to trade centers called outposts. These outposts have a no fire zone and personal weapons are forbidden. Anyone that attacks those going to trade with an outpost will be banned and killed if they attempt to enter. The miners go there to purchase their stores. It appears that no one is willing to violate the no fire zone. They would be restricted from any contact with all out posts if they used weapons in those zones.”

“So how do you want to handle this?”

“I’m going to morph into one of those vehicles and land in an area away from any other miners.”

“E, we don’t have that much in the way of stores.”

“I know. I’m able to scan the surface and we should be able to mine enough gold to purchase what we need. I see a rather large deposit out on the sand along with others that have not been mined.”

“Do what you need to do. I’m going to keep looking for the activate code.”

The small ship spiraled in at high speed and landed on the vast plain on the northern continent. It morphed into a mining machine and started digging into the loose soil.

• • •

“Hey Jefie, did you see that?”

“What?”

“Something went down in the western plain.”

“You know your scanner is better than mine. Mine is only good enough to see ten yards in front of me.”

“Well, something spiraled in at a high rate of speed.”

“Did you detect an explosion?”

“No, it went down over the horizon and I wouldn’t have seen it.”

“Hmm…if it was a ship, there might be some advanced metals lying around.”

“It’s a hundred miles away. Do you think it’s worth the effort to investigate?”

Ribbons thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know. It wasn’t very big and if it crashed, there won’t be much to salvage.”

“There is a possibility it landed and was disabled.”

Ribbons thought about that possible bonanza. “If it was a ship, it might be armed.”

“There is that to consider. Have you found any minerals?”

“No, I’ve been striking out lately.”

“Then what have we got to lose? If the situation calls for running away, we’ll run.”

Ribbons thought about it. “Is your blaster still functional?”

“It’s the only thing on this bucket of bolts that works properly.”

“Call Porky and see if she’ll join us; I’d feel better if there were three of us.”

Ribbons waited and continued to run his blade through the soil, turning up nothing of value. “She said she’ll go with us.”

“How long will it take her to get here?”

“She’s twenty miles into the plain. She’ll meet us on the way in. Well lead the way, Ribbs. I hope you plotted the site.”

“I have it.” The two huge mining vehicles pulled up their blades and turned west.

• • •

“E, we have company moving our way.”

“What’s going on?”

“Three mining vehicles are meeting and moving toward our landing location. All three have heavy blasters mounted on them.”

“Can your field protect us?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to use it unless I have no other option.”

Ian thought about it. “Are we going to avoid all contact with the locals?”

“I’m not sure if that would be wise. We’d be out in the open and easy to spot by a warship.”

“Then I’m going to attempt to communicate with them. Do what you have to do to defend us.”

“All I can do is block any of their weapons.”

“I have a heavy blaster in storage. I’ll go get it and have it handy.”

“We have more than two hundred pounds of gold in the reservoir. We should be able to resupply if we have to run.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

T
he two mining vehicles ran up and Porky joined them. They accelerated to seventy miles per hour and fifty minutes later crested a hill and saw the mining vehicle working its way over the surface of a depression. They stopped six miles away and Jefie said, “I don’t detect a crash and this is where my scanner says the ship went down.”

“Well that miner didn’t fly in here.”

“Ask him if he witnessed a crash, Ribbs.”

“What’s wrong with you asking?”

“You know you talk better than me.”

Ribbons shook his head and pressed his radio, “Ahoy, did you happen to see a ship crash around here?”

Ian pressed his board, “You probably saw our ride come in. I paid a commercial lifter to drop me here and he didn’t waste any time doing it. I don’t think I’ll make that mistake again. He rattled everything I own.”

“Ribbs, he found a gold deposit.”

“What?”

“My scanner says he’s mining a large gold deposit.”

Ian heard their communication and said, “Your friend is right. On our way back to the planet I was able to map ten sites that have high deposits of metals.”

Ribbons shook his head, “Are you dumb? Why would you ever tell anyone what you’ve found? You’re asking to be attacked.”

“I’m telling you because I recognize the danger of what I’m sitting on. I just thought that the three of you might join me in mining the sites. I suspect that four of us would not be something that others would take on.”

“What’s to stop us from just removing you and taking the gold you’re on?”

“The other nine sites.” Ribbons chuckled. Now that was an answer he didn’t expect. The stranger continued, “I believe that you would rather eat the whole cake instead of just a slice.”

Ribbons looked over at Jefie who raised his hands and shrugged. “How good are the other sites?”

“This site is at thirty five percent. Five of the others are higher than forty percent.”

Ribbons was starting to feel greedy. “Porky, what do you think?”

“This is a no brainer. The four of us would have two whole sites if we agree to work together. We’ll only get one third of this site if we don’t. That’s assuming we could take out that miner.”

“So what do we do?”

“We make a miner’s truce until we arrive at an outpost and then we can see if we want to continue it.”

Ian smiled, “I think you have a wise friend.”

Ribbons looked at the new mining vehicle and took a deep breath, “The truce will be void if you are lying about the other sites.”

“Actually I’ve plotted thirty other sites but the first ten are the most valuable.”

Ribbons said, “Activate the recorders.” Ian looked quickly at the miner’s mind and saw what he was saying to do. “We the following do agree to a miner’s truce from this moment until we make outpost. I do agree to the truce.”

Jefie said, “I agree as well.”

Porky said, “I also agree.”

Ian said, “I agree.” Ian continued, “You can see my tracks. If the three of you will move to the side of the track and start where my vehicle started digging, you’ll start finding the deposit. Once you reach where I stop and turn around, follow me back to the start. That’s where the deposit will play out.”

Ribbons said, “You heard the man. Let’s move.”

The three huge vehicles moved to where Ian’s mining started and lined up next to each other. They moved forward and immediately found gold moving into their reservoirs. Three hours later the deposit was cleared.

“Ribbs, I’ve got seven hundred pounds of gold.”

Ribbons said, “Where do we go now?”

“Follow me.”

Ian drove three miles and stopped. Ribbons said, “Jefie, do you scan anything here?”

“No, I’m not picking up anything.”

“How about you, Porky?”

“Nothing on my scanner, either.”

Ian said, “Line up beside me and set your blades eight inches deeper than normal. We’ll move slower because of the depth.”

Ribbons shrugged and looked over at Jefie and nodded. They turned and lined up beside the stranger’s vehicle. The four miners started moving slowly forward and Jeffie yelled, “He’s found a platinum deposit.”

Porky said, “Oh my god, how has this been missed?”

Ribbons shook his head, “You know platinum doesn’t give off a reading like the other metals. No one sets their scanners for platinum. It’s so rare that it’s senseless to go looking just for it. You’ll miss any of the other metals.”

“Ribbs, at the rate we’re filling our holding tanks, I won’t have room for any more after this site. These two will remove all my debts.”

“I see that, Porky.”

The four vehicles made three passes over the platinum deposit and Ribbons said, “We’re not able to hold anything more. We have to go unload at an outpost before we can continue.”

“I need to go as well. Perhaps we should all go unload and come back to finish this site.”

Jefie said, “You mean there’s more?”

“We’ve only covered a third of it.”

Ribbons started laughing and said, “I vote we extend the truce indefinitely; if that’s ok with you stranger?”

“Just call me Nosey.”

“Nosey?”

“I seem to be able to smell metals. And the extension is agreeable with me.”

The four turned after plotting the site and putting a marker on it. They turned west and headed toward Heaven’s Portal. The outpost was eight hours away.

• • •

The Officer looked at the Fleet’s reports and wondered where the Prince had gone. He had disappeared and he knew there was no way to scan every planet in the Union to find him. He sat and waited as the major planets were scanned. If he wasn’t on one of them… He paused and thought, “If I was being pursued, what would I do?” He knew the Prince was brilliant but he was young and inexperienced. He would probably go to one of the Majors. If nothing turned up on them, he would consider this further. He had to be on one of the Majors. He ordered three scanships to each of the major planets and had them overlap their scans. If he was there, they would see it. He smiled and shot the waiter that had taken too long to bring his order. The waiter fell to the floor, spilling his order on the floor. The Officer smiled and looked at the manager, “I trust I won’t be kept waiting again.” The Manager sprinted away and the Officer smiled. See, all it took was a little motivation.