Nobody said Rock Hauling would be easy. Throughout settled space, terraforming is the fuel that drives the interstellar economy. For some worlds, this is easy. For others, lacking resources, or on the periphery, this is an unattainable dream. Throug...
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TOMAS IV
"I am not a crypt-cracker by trade, Oaf."
Tomas had arrived last, and it seemed the meeting had been going on for some time. Carcosa and Roolu were hashing out how to decrypt the transmission, while Colemon sat strapped into his own acceleration chair, eyes hooded and face drawn. The man was clearly out of his depth. The already-difficult job of asteroid-hauling made all the more complex by the beacon's discovery and activation.
Carcosa rolled his eyes at the Yovian. "I'm just asking you to crack the thing before we get back to the LUMAR, alright? It shouldn't be too hard."
The alien had strapped itself into an acceleration chair, locked in the circular harness-like configuration that Yovians preferred, and croaked incredulously. "You Will Not tell me what is and what is not Too Hard, Chief,"
He floated his way over to an open chair next to Dessia, and buckled himself in. Strapped to the big rectangular table in front of them was the melted lump of plastine and metal that had been the beacon. Amanda raised her eyebrows at him, from where she sat across the table, and indicated the arguing two with a tilt of her head and a sardonic expression.
"Did I miss something?"
Dessia snorted. "Nah, these two have been complaining at each other for half an hour now."
"About what?"
She tugged at a strap. "The same thing this old couple's been bitching about for like what, a week now? Carcosa wants Roolu to figure out what the transmission was, and Roolu's got a stick up his gullet about pride in his job."
Colemon groaned. "Hey, you two. Cut it out. We burn again in ten minutes. Let's get to some sort of decision, or we can all just sit here twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the crush." Tomas looked down the table at Colemon again. The captain, he'd learned, was far more of a businessman and a manager than a decisive decision-maker. He was tapping an electric pen on the table, an expression of annoyance now reigning supreme across his jowls. He looked up at Tomas. "We already discussed this, but I might as well bring you up to speed. We're not doing anything. Roolu's going to crack the encrypt and we'll find out what it says, but aside from regular safety protocols we're not going to deviate from our course or contact Tylo."
Tomas frowned. He agreed, privately, but one had to keep up appearances. "Really? Seems a little risky."
The man shrugged. "It's not like we have much of anything we can do. And if we call up Tylo for an escort back on spurious grounds like this, there's no prizes as to guess who's paying for their fuel expenditure." He looked over at Roolu. "But this is mostly your purview. Find out what's in that message. And prep the Swordfish just in case."
Tomas leaned over to Dessia. "Swordfish?"
She gave him a knowing look. "Civilian ship. Asteroid-Crackers aren't allowed to mount weapons, but we've got a little trick up our sleeve. Carcosa came up with it a few years back, for if we ever ran into pirates."
