Tinto

Chapter 2

The crew and I are taking a break from prospecting, giving the analysers time to work the samples we collected. Ortis has hit his bunk and will probably be there for a few hours yet. He's happiest when outside the ship in microgravity. Having spent most of his life on Titan, he's been used to a much lower gravity than the rest of us, about fourteen per cent of Earth gravity. Being aboard takes it out of him, so we reduced the ship's gravity to about that of Mars, as a compromise for everyone, but it's still hard for him. He's a tough bugger though, never complains about it.

Jess was hovering over the sample analyser, scanning through the data as it appeared on the screens. So far, the preliminary analysis looked promising, we might get the haul that we wanted after all. I'm happy to wait for the complete report, but Jess is dedicated to her profession and babysits her samples until they're baked.

The rock we're attached to is just sitting out there, minus the few chunks that were brought inside earlier. The ship computer estimates the longest axis to be about ten kilometres, so it's only a baby when compared to some of the monsters floating at other places in the Lagrange point. We're not the only ship out here, but like that writer said, 'Space is big', so we're unlikely to ever bump into them.

Our forward searchlights illuminate the tethers that were shot into the asteroid when we arrived, stopping us from drifting away. The rock is just a dull metallic grey, a motionless mass outside the cockpit window. It reflected some of our light back at us, giving the inside of the bridge a moody grey feel.

If the analysis shows enough concentration of osmium, then we'll spend the next few weeks blasting chunks of rock out of the asteroid and packing it into the unpressurised cargo bay. The design for this ship, which also happens to be the namesake of our company, the Yutani-Tinto Mining Corporation, lets us cram about a thousand cubic meters of stuff in the hold, which is a hell of a lot of rock! With that much mass onboard we're still reasonably manoeuvrable if we stay out of an atmosphere.

The engines we're sporting are the first of a new generation with an anti-matter core, which is a thing of wonder. Cisco is really the only one who understands how it works, and he claims he can feel what the drive wants and knows how to service it. Personally, I think that's horseshit, but he does keep us running, and that's what counts when we're all the way out here. My previous ship had the older generation fusion drive, which was much slower and always broke down when you least needed it to. In three years, we've had zero problems with this new system. It rocks!

Jess broke my daydream, putting her hand on my shoulder and passing me her tablet with the analysis result.

'Seriously?' I couldn't help saying, smiling as I scrolled through the numbers.

'Oh yeah, we're gonna fill the hold and then some, boss,' she said.

The numbers did look fantastic, and we'd have to stake an official claim on the rock when we get back to Mars. A good proportion of our hull is made from osmium, which protects us from radiation in deep space, so I have an appreciation for the stuff.

That's where my thoughts were entirely derailed as I felt Jess nuzzle my ear and whisper that she was tired and going to her quarters. I know, I know, a Captain shouldn't fraternise with the crew under their command, but hey, this isn't the military. Company policy is pretty clear on the matter too, but what they don't know won't hurt us. We've managed to keep this a secret for months now, but sooner or later Ortis and Cisco are going to notice, and well, we'll just have to deal with that when it happens.

Right now, I'm off to bed–not mine.