OUTWORLD: Dark Planet

OUTWORLD: Dark Planet Part 3

"Okay, Doreen," Rodolfo panted as he and Hachi reached the top of the ridge, "you'd better have pulled us up here for a good reason."

"When have I not?" Doreen asked him as she sidled aside to let Hachi past with her mining laser.

"Oh, I don't know," Rodolfo said fancifully. "How about that time on Kemola Major?"

"That was for a damn good reason!" Doreen shot back. "It looked like rare feldspar."

She turned back to the crystal tower. "This thing is giving off enough energy to light up Sennett, and it gets stronger as it goes down."

"And you want Hachi to blow it up?" Rodolfo scoffed.

"No, I want her to take some of the ground from around the base and see how far down it goes."

"Can do," Hachi offered from nearby. Her laser was activated and giving off a fairly imposing pulse of barely-contained power.

"We haven't even checked out the reading the probe picked up," Rodolfo objected. "I think we should go do that first, before we go around uprooting crystals."

"Look, I know you're the leader, Rod," Doreen sighed, "but this might be the thing we're after. The probe might've picked this up and we got the co-ords wrong."

"No, the anomaly's definitely half a mile from where the ship landed," Rodolfo corrected her, "and it's in the opposite direction to here." He pointed a gloved paw back at the Mucky Pup and past it.

"Puh-leeeeeeze?" Doreen asked, giving Rodolfo the best goo-goo eyes she could manage through a fishbowl helmet.

"Well, we're up here," Rodolfo sighed. "Hachi, take it out."

"Yay!" Doreen squealed.

"To a depth of about five metres?" Rodolfo continued.

"Got it," Hachi enthused, grabbing the trigger of her laser drill and holding it down. The device seethed and shook as she pointed it to the ground around the monolith and fired. Searing power blasted rock to gas, with a few particles of gravel escaping the glare of that terrible weapon. Doreen's fishbowl automatically darkened to protect her eyes.

When she was done, Hachi shut off the beam and opened the side of the laser, ejecting a large smoking cartridge into space. It settled to the ground and died off.

"Litterbug," Rodolfo said.

"You gotta eject it right away, or it overheats and explodes, Oliver said," Hachi responded. "Small price to pay for control and aim like I just got." She patted the weapon fondly. "I like it."

"That's because you're the one using it," Doreen said drily. She ventured to the edge of the small crater Hachi had scooped out of the asteroid. The crystal kept on going into the rock. She produced her scanner, dropped into the hole, and gave the crystal a sweep.

The readings leapt off the scale. "Holey moley," she gasped. "The scanner can't even read this now and we're only five metres further down. How far does it go – and how much energy does it produce at bottom?" She swallowed hard and stared at the pillar. "And there's several of these things about the asteroid." She looked back up at the expectant faces of the others, gesturing to encompass the whole rock they were standing on. "What is this thing?"

No-one had an answer for that. Doreen snorted and engaged her suit's hover-boots, lifting out of the hole and landing next to Rodolfo, who regarded her with a smirk. "You're so dramatic, Doreen."

Doreen growled. "Maybe we should go see what the probe picked up. Maybe we'll get some more background on that." She flung an arm back at the crystal, which still pulsed patiently.

"Hey, I give the orders," Rodolfo whined. He regarded his group. "Maybe we should go see what the probe picked up. Maybe we'll get some more background on that." He flung an arm back at the crystal.

Doreen sighed.

Passing back past the Mucky Pup, everyone's radio crackled as an incoming transition reached their suits. "Receiving," Rodolfo called out.

"Hey, guys," Captain Hayes replied. "Sally's piping some music through for you. Looks like you could use some out there." He paused for a second. "What did you find on that ridge, anyway?"

"Some kind of crystal formation," Rodolfo replied. "It's giving off power."

"That's great," Hayes said. "Got a sample for us?"

"Thought we'd take a look at the probe results before we go cutting up the scenery," Doreen interjected. "Maybe we'll go get one for you later."

"Copy. Get back to me if you run into anything major." With that Hayes signed off.

With some soft 67th-century orchestra hall music filling their helmets, the expedition followed the probe's findings to a low rise outside the edge of the crater, which dipped sharply into a deep pit and vanished into darkness. Rodolfo studied his locator. "Looks like it's coming from down there," he declared unnecessarily.

Doreen switched her visor to night vision. "I can't even see the bottom," she muttered. She produced her scanner again and frowned at the display. "I am getting a faint energy signature from somewhere down there, though."

"Consistent with that crystal thing?" Rodolfo asked her.

"Seems to be the same sort of thing," Doreen said. "How are we getting down there?"

"Ah, Doreen," Rodolfo laughed, "you're forgetting we have a ship-full of equipment back there." He flipped a line back to the Mucky Pup. "Captain Hayes, we've located the anomaly. Problem is, it's down a hole. You got any winch-related equipment on your ship?"

"Are you kidding?" replied Hayes. "We got cranes, lifts, winches... heck, you want to go down, we got the stuff."

"Super." Rodolfo studied the hole. "I think a basic winch rig should do it. Bring the cable. A lot of it."

"Copy. I'll have Sally send it out on a remote loader. Stand by."

A few minutes later the loader arrived, with a heavy equipment pack piled onto its flatbed and secured by tension belts. Its six wheels rolled effortlessly over the rough surface as it scaled the rise and trundled to a halt next to Rodolfo.

Doreen unzipped the pack and noticed a folding frame with claws to secure against the ground. Coiled up among the poles and pulleys was a sizeable length of veritium cable, the stuff designed to secure multi-ton payloads. It would easily support all of them at once, even in spacesuits, let alone one at a time.

"Hachi, help me set this up," Rodolfo ordered.

With the crane straddling the hole and winch ready to go, Rodolfo clapped his gloved paws together. "And who gets to go first?" He glanced around, smiling wolfishly. "Fleur?"

The medic whimpered and retreated.

"Sorry, that was mean." He glanced about again. "Doreen? You're the intrepid geologist here. Want to take a step into the unknown?"

Doreen grinned. "You know what? Yeah." She stepped forward towards the crane. "Send me down."

Rodolfo laughed. "Good on ya, Doreen. Hold still while I attach your suit." He grabbed the stanchion hanging from the end of the cable and hooked it around one of the safety catches on her suit. "Nice and tight," he proclaimed, giving it a succession of tugs. Okay, you ready?"

Doreen nodded. "Roll it."

Rodolfo patted a series of buttons on the device's control panel, and the winch cranked into action. Doreen shuddered as she was jolted downwards and began her descent into the darkness.