In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 50: The Next Stop

The windshield of Great Mandan Laker brightened as they lost speed, the computer-controlled tint no longer needed to block out the glare of faster-than-light travel. The view didn't change much. All that became visible was the nearby star of a nameless system that was occupied by one lone asteroid mine. Joseph checked their position on one of the monitors at the copilot's station, and was pleased to see they were closer to the mine than he'd expected.

"How does it feel?" Joseph asked. "Comfortable?"

Rebecca was seated at the helm, eyes wider than usual and hands clenched on the controls. "So far so good. She responds better than I expected, but it's still pretty sluggish. Good thing there isn't much to hit out here."

Laker was now in her third week of operation, and Rebecca was at the controls for the first time. Joseph insisted that everyone on the crew learn to fly the ship. He didn't expect everyone to become master freighter pilots, but he did want them able to manage well enough to get away from trouble if needed. Rebecca and Samuel were almost complete novices with large spacecraft, and Gregory had only slightly more practice. Joseph was cycling the three through the pilot's chair on departures and arrivals to make sure they learned.

"Large freighters aren't known to be nimble." Joseph stood and peeked past her shoulder at the pilot's screens. "It looks like you're doing fine. Will you be alright if I step away for a minute? I want to get the telescopes set up on the station."

"Yeah, I should be okay."

"Good. Yell if you need me."

The fist several weeks in operation had gone well. Joseph's crew were learning to work together and know the ship. Joseph and Justine had been in frequent communication and had developed a good understanding of the business side of the operation.

Better still, they'd gotten word that Hofmeister Steel would order from Four Machines regularly. They would hire Great Mandan Laker to make a regular run from there to the refinery once per quarter. He and Savannah had been exchanging messages at an impressive rate when the long transmission times were accounted for, and he looked forward to the next trip there.

Once a telescope was pointed at the station Joseph set the rest to map nearby objects, along with the various other sensors. The charts they'd been able to find for this system were light on details, offering just enough to get them in and out safely. Lousy charts were a hazard he hadn't predicted. Despite his best efforts to plan every possibility in the years that led up to the ore hauler, some things came as a surprise.

This mine was more established, just over five decades old. Like Four Machines the station was hollowed out of an asteroid, but they had selected one of a more irregular shape. It was a plate about a quarter of a mile thick, half-circular in shape and with a diameter of about six miles. Four asteroid cups of various sizes poked out of the top, partly obscured by the asteroid in the telescope view since Great Mandan Laker had entered the system slightly below the station.

Flashing lights marked the location of the hoppers, on the straight edge of the station beneath one of the cups. Joseph highlighted the spot in the navigation system so that Rebecca would know what part of the asteroid to head toward. For now it didn't matter much, they had a lot of space to cover. He should return to offer guidance again before she got too nervous.

Just as he made to stand a strange shape on the screen near the smallest cup caught his eye. A loose chunk of rock that got out of the cup somehow? He tried to find it again to identify it. Asteroid mines produced a lot of debris, and not all of them controlled it well. This mine was a likely suspect for that laxity, since it had no national affiliation and thus no external legal power to enforce any standard. Joseph didn't want anything to bang off the hull if it slipped into a sector where the shields were down. There were any number of things that could break, and they were a long way from a repair dock.