Story #167 - KX-25

KX-25

KX-25 was entirely rock.

A boring little planet alone in its sector, likely knocked off of its orbit around a star thousands of years ago, it suited the purposes of the Allbore Mining Company perfectly. Its location made the small, rocky ball interspace salvage, and all that had been required to claim it was a broadcast and a detailed description of its position in space.

Still, Rin Fedrer was nervous.

“We're undefended out here, Yol,” he said to his brother as they examined the holographic model of KX-25 they'd pulled up on the ship's viewlink. “A single pirate ship could come along and take our prize from us, or wait until we'd mined everything worthwhile and then demand we turn it over. We need to call for backup. Drezzor would be only too happy to bring his big guns this way.”

Yol snorted, but didn't take his eyes off the floating brown sphere in front of him. In just two weeks they'd managed to bore a deep, straight hole halfway through the planetoid, with each meter yielding high-quality Malicate, Subtriate, and most valuable off all, Nalacite. Even if his brother had no interest in calling in the big guns, they'd have to leave eventually. The ship could hold only so much.

“Stop worrying, Rin,” Yol said without looking at him, “we'll be fine. I didn't see a single other ship on the view when we came in, and we haven't seen any come this way since we made the broadcast. Everything is on the level, and we're finally making some good coin. Don't screw this up for me by being a nervous nalloid.”

Rin bristled at that. He was simply being prudent, trying to look out for their interests, but Yol almost always saw that as being “nervous”. He couldn’t could the number of times he'd been right to call in help or avoid an asteroid belt for fear of pirates, government-sponsored ships or worse, but his brother never remembered those times. Instead, Yol always brought up the two or three operations that had featured their lone mining ship and four defense drones, all costing a heap of coin per day, and never being used during the entire mining run. His brother seemed to have those incidents ready at the very edge of his memory whenever he wanted to be stubborn.

“Now,” Yol said when Rin didn't reply, “let's get on to more important matters. See this?” His brother leaned forward and tapped a small control, bringing a section of the planet into greater focus. They'd both noticed this when the operation began, but it was Yol who'd become fascinated by it as the days went on – a silvery band of material that stretched around the entire planet, and that their sensors could give no reading on whatsoever.

“Of course I do, Yol,” he said tersely, “I'm the one who noticed it first, remember?”

Yol didn't acknowledge that, but instead brought the view in even closer. There was little to be gleaned from the holo-representation aside from the fact that the layer was not thick; a single day of drilling would take them through the entire thing.

“This,” Yol thrust a finger toward the unknown layer, “is what we're after here. The Malicate we've been getting is high-quality, but nothing out of the ordinary, and our books are shy this quarter. We need something better, something new, that we can show buyers, and whatever that is – I want it.”

Rin resisted the urge to put his head in his hands. Once Yol got his sights fixed on something, getting him to listen to reason was like pulling a gron slug off of your arm. You could do it, but you wouldn't have much of an arm left after you were done. Yol got very attached to his ideas, and could turn into a pouting mess if Rin didn't listen to him.

“I'd think that through again if I were you, Yol,” Rin said flatly. His brother's instincts had helped build the company, but that didn't mean he got everything he wanted just because he was willing to sulk about it if things didn't go his way. Rin was willing to listen if his older brother made any sense, but this time, he was just shooting in the dark. “We've already noticed some odd vibrations in the Malicate, or have you not been watching the monitors? This planetoid isn't exactly stable, and for all we know that central layer is the only thing keeping it together.”

Rin leaned forward and dialed the view back to one that showed the whole of KX-25. “Add to that the fact that we have no idea what the material is. How will it react to our drill bits? How long will it take to get through? Do we have collection facilities to store it?” He made sure to look at Yol as he asked each question, and he could see his brother's face darken.

Yol was digging in his heels.

“No,” Yol said quietly, “I'm the eldest, and I'm pulling rank. Keep full-bore on the Malicate until we hit the center layer, and then turn course. We're going around the planet with the extendable drill – I want every bit of this new material we can get.”

“Yes, sir,” Rin said with heavy sarcasm, and then stormed out of the bridge chamber. This was going to prove costly.

***

Krex did not care about the small insect that was burrowing its way into his hide. He had attempted to shake it off with no luck, but it did not pose a true threat. He would continue on his way, and deal with it if it became irksome.

A slight burn of energy told him what he needed to know; his outer layer was still intact. Should anything breach the silvered shell that surrounded his true body, he would act.

- D