Sirius Mining Company

First Day of Real Work

  Kamen flies with me to the opposite side of the slug which took a couple of minutes, he then waits patiently while I mark on the map which ones were of a purple color. He nods his head then waves for me to follow him as we approach one of the larger blue crystals, he passes me my plasma miner and points near the base. "Carefully cut a few inches above the connection point, this way we don't harm the slug and eventually the crystals will regrow. Also try for a straight cut, as the less damage the more value the crystal has."

I turn my attention to the crystal and judge it's height to be about ten foot the point he wishes to have me cut it at will make it just under that, on the creature the crystal has swirls of the color the crystal is. Almost as if the inside was liquid. Which was odd as I had seen some of the items made from these crystals, which while beautiful; their colors didn't swirl.

I turn on my plasma miner and drop my protective visor over the regular one, you don't want to blind yourself while using effectively a giant welder. I then point the small tip near where Kamen stated to cut at, and I pressed the trigger on it. The stream of plasma that comes out of the miner is a bright white color and from what I was told 1,000 degrees Kelvin. I could see as I cut the crystal slowly the swirling colors stop once I cut below it, which leads me to believe that it is alive while it is attached to the slug itself. I thought I would as Tersan when I was done working, then his voice comes over the radio. "If you were wondering Johnathan, yes the crystals are a living part of those slugs. From what science can gather they are part of the digestive system of the slugs. We have no idea what they eat in space, but it appears the different colors of crystal are formed from different substances. Oddly, the green ones have a lot of dead chlorophyll in them." That was interesting, that would mean to some degree they can feed like a plant. I ask a question while still carefully watching where I was cutting, "is that why I never see housewares made from green ones?" Tersan responds and I notice the crystal has a line in it that is taking longer to cut through. "Yes they are used for glass for green houses or sometimes a lab will take them in an attempt to make a living solar cell. Scientists believe these crystals are the closest chance we have at making such a device."

I spend another hour cutting through the crystal only messing up in one spot, the location of the hard materiel in it. I turn to Kamen after I loop a rope to the crystal, "Sir. Why was it so hard in the spot where I have the fault in my cut?" Kamen leans over to examine the cut, "looks like this one has some veins of another substance in it. It's something we run across randomly with these blue ones, we can never tell when we'll find one either. It's worth more than the standard blue ones, considering the 'issue' with it you cut it very well for a first try." He turns and looks over the slug, "alright cut five more then come in for a meal and some down time. We come back out at 0500 to do this all over again, depending on the quality of your other cuts you might get to cut a different color."

I then turn and look over the different blue crystals mapping out the ones I was going to cut up before heading back in, if I had more issue like I did with this first one I would if lucky get about five hours of sleep. Best get to work and see how long it would would take me.

A few hours less than I had expect and five more large crystals on my rope I enter though the energy shield and one of the deck hands stops me before I drag my rope in, "just tie if off on the handle here and we'll bring them in as soon as we get a chance to. We had to pull out an extra storage bin for those new color ones you discovered. Captain reminded us to put the color name on the box so we know what the color is even if we cannot see it." I nod my head and tie off my rope, pleased with how well I did on those cuts. Though I am sure Kamen will inform me of exactly how I did in the mess hall.

I walk down a few corridors heading towards the mess hall when I hear Kamen's voice and the Captain's, I stop and try to listen. Captain, "Kamen that boy did some good today finding that other color on that slug. I already sent word out asking about the color difference, Raska contacted me and informed me that he put the word out that we know of the other colors of the crystals now. He made a point also to state that someone on board our ship could see the color, but made sure to not point out that Johnathan was human. He thinks we'll be getting almost double what we get for a decent red crystal, he also hinted there may be other colors as we come across other slugs in our travels." The voice switches to Kamen, "I told you that having the boy on board might bring us some luck. I know humans, they aren't all bad; and I made sure he grew up right." I hear a slap, I imagine one was slapping the other on the back; the Captain speaks again. "So you did, you did that boy a great deal of good Kamen. I know you had wanted to adopt him but the USA wouldn't permit it due to him being a human."

I quickly head on by without hearing more surprised, the old marine had wanted to adopt me? Why? I'm just a human, and humans were considered lower than dirt. I walk into the mess hall with those thoughts on my mind and I didn't notice Canis come up behind me.

I get hit hard from behind making me fall forward and Canis chuckles weakly, "sorry didn't mean to make you stumble. You shouldn't spend that much time in your head you never know what you might run into." I nod my head and stand up, he continues. "You just getting back in Johnathan?" I nod my head again, "yes and my arms are sore. I expect that by the time I am done with this job we're on I'll have huge muscles." This time Canis laughs,"I bet so too. What did you think of the crystal mining?"

I frown a moment, "aren't we hurting the slugs? Based on what Tersan said it's their digestive system. The intercom crackles, "wrong Johnathan. I said it is part of their digestive system. Think of the crystals like hairs, except that these hairs slowly suck the nutrients out of their bodies. The slugs normally would rub their bodies against asteroids to break them off, however they can develop something like an infection if it breaks off incorrectly. So what we do by cutting them off helps keep them healthy. If it makes us a profit as well as aid them? I think that is a positive on all sides then." I think on that a moment while walking over to a seat, I sit and thank Tersan. "You're right, thank you for telling me more information." I hear a surprised tone from Tersan, "well I can send you a copy of the info we have of the space slugs if you want to read about them." I agree and Tersan stops talking, Canis sits across from me and taps some things into the menu on the table top. "Hey look Johnathan the machine now has a human dish in the system it's called lasagna. Do you know what that is?"

I did know, as the orphanage served it once a week as part of a cultural enrichment program, seeing as how all the children loved it after the first taste it was easy for them to decide to continue it weekly instead of once a month. "Well Canis it is a layered dish made from flat sheets of a wheat pasta with a red vegetable sauce and a few cheeses as well as meats, some people put vegetables int hem as well. One time the orphanage attempted to make an all vegetable version, the kids would not eat it."

Canis chuckles and orders two platefuls for us, "I am not surprised. Those Matron's are of a herbivore species yes?" I nod my head, yes they were herbivores; bison people to be exact. They had thought they could change the omnivorous into herbivores if they tried hard enough. They had felt the omnivores were too violent, and if they just became herbivores they would change. It didn't work and the government had to inform them of exactly what they would do if they had kept that up. I had heard it involved the USA coming in with some butchering tools and a private chat. The Matron's didn't try that again, though the lasagna was the closest they could get to getting more vegetables into the children's diets after that. Though I did wonder if the older Matron had not been part of what the others were doing. I put a bite of food in my mouth and Canis kicks me, "what are you thinking so hard on now?"

I look over to him, "I think the older Matron was keeping info from the others. When my trainer would arrive it was always through a side door and the older one always took me to the lessons alone." Canis takes a bite and chews a bit, "I think you're right. When I would come to visit you she would have me come in the side entrance as well, and I would never see the other Matron's. Maybe you should ask her one of these days?" I nod my head and work on finishing my food thinking about the hot shower I wanted and the blissful eight hours of sleep I managed to rack up.