The Black Shard: Part III
The Black Shard is a story about two lovers who must survive their way of life by illegally mining in space. They hope to make billions of dollars in one lucky run, but find that there is something else out on the rocks aside from a few precious metals.
The Black Shard: Part I - https://theprose.com/post/323367/the-black-shard-part-i
The Black Shard: Part II - https://theprose.com/post/323606/the-black-shard-part-ii
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The Black Shard: Part III
Hoitt shut his jaw. He didn’t know his mouth was open. On the screen of his planner, a crude graphic denoted the presence of something planted on the dark side of the asteroid. The scan was not complete, and he could only see an outline.
It looked artificial. No colors to define it.
The base of the object likely attached to the asteroid through jagged spikes located at the bottom. Further up, the support smoothed out. Hoitt thought he saw something like a compartment or holder towards the top. The data was unclear.
“What do you make of it, Jennifer? Is this something you’re familiar with from Earth?” He asked.
Jennifer took a long time to answer. After a few more seconds of silence, she said: “No. No, I have not. Did your source tell you that this was here?”
There were clearly more questions than answers. Hoitt would have to pay him a visit and ask.
If he got the chance.
“Negative. I knew the guy for years. Name’s Alf,” He answered. “He rarely gets specific details about a find. I doubt he would know about this.”
Hoitt took a deep breath. This was getting complicated.
God forbid it was a Space Force tracker. He placed the planner back into his pocket.
“Look, Jennifer?” He asked.
“What?” She said curiously.
“Should we continue this dig, or drop what we’re doing? Your choice,” Hoitt began fiddling with his pick. “We could just leave this place behind. If it’s Space Force…,” He trailed off.
“If it’s Space Force, they’re already on our asses, and we’re toast. Might as well keep going. Who knows? Maybe it’s a stash from pirates or smugglers,” Jennifer said.
This gave Hoitt an idea: “Computer. Isolate the anomaly further.”
“Attempting to isolate the anomaly. Please wait,” The computer said.
The red laser began scanning the asteroid again, focusing it towards the anomaly. The exercise lasted for 15 seconds. Jennifer turned to watch the laser as it scanned.
“Isolation of the anomaly has failed. The asteroid’s position to the ship prevents a focused scan. Would you like me to try again?” It asked.
“Shit,” Hoitt said, exasperated.
Jennifer let out a sigh of her own: “Well, this is why we’re here, I guess. I’m going to try and look at it for myself.”
She started walking. Hoitt was beginning to get annoyed, but he knew she was curious about this object. Hell, Hoitt was curious himself.
“Jennifer, hang on. If we’re going to take a look at this thing, let me get the preliminary mining set up first. We still have a job to do,” He pleaded.
Hoitt didn’t want Jennifer getting hurt by this thing, or die because of a fool’s errand. One wrong move and Jennifer could end up damaging her suit or losing herself in the other asteroids.
She stopped. Hoitt assumed she was thinking. “Yeah, alright. It doesn’t make sense to go after this thing. Maybe when the asteroid rotates towards the ship, we’d be able to study this thing better,” She said.
“Good girl,” Hoitt thought.
“Now, let’s get this anomaly out of our heads and get to mining,” He said.
“Right,” Jennifer said before continuing: “Computer, activate mining assist drones.”
Hoitt looked up. From behind The Weasel’s Hoard cargo bay came several small gray dots. Seven total.
Slowly, they grew in size as they jetted closer to them. As Hoitt got a better look, he noticed the tell-tale scratches and marks that denoted his faithful mining drones. On their spherical light gray metal shells, dark marks, and black stains lacerated across like scars. This squad of drones have been with Hoitt since he got The Weasel’s Hoard, and have been drilling asteroids for years longer. They mindlessly stared at their destination spot with their cyclops-like heads before hovering themselves ten feet away from Hoitt’s position.
Spikes ejected from their bottoms as they stabilized themselves on the asteroid. From his location, they looked like they were bowing.
“Here to Mine. Please Specify Digsite,” Each drone said after the other as they reached their destinations.
Hoitt and Jennifer slowly made their way towards the bots. As they walked, Jennifer spoke up: “Man, Hoitt. These pieces of junk look terrible. Look! One of them even has its drill arm barely hanging on by a thread.”
Hoitt laughed. “Oh, that one?” He pointed to the drone on the far right.
Its right drill arm was detached from its sphere casing and only hung on by a single wire. The exposed drill at the other end floated lazily toward its head. It didn’t react to it.
“That one has a story. Turns out if you deploy too many of these drones on one asteroid, they’ll cut that asteroid in half. Drone D-7, despite the odds, came out of the resulting collapse with only that broken drill. These things are built to be badasses,” Hoitt said, impressed.
Jennifer scoffed: “I’m pretty sure it’s not smart enough to even know what a badass is.”
They had reached the squad of drones, and Hoitt took a closer look at the damaged drone. On the side of its head, “D-7” was scratched deeply. Hoitt always wondered where that marking came from --his drone just happened to come that way.
Hoitt moved the drone’s broken drill out of the way. Its iris eye refocused as it stared at him. “Here to Mine. Please specify dig-site,” It said.
“Your first job is to be a badass, D-7,” Hoitt commanded in jest. Jennifer scoffed again.
“Being a badass not recognized. Please specify dig-site,” It replied. Jennifer couldn’t hold in her laughter, to Hoitt’s dismay.
“Stupid thing!” Hoitt yelled, half laughing. He fished through his right thigh pocket, and pulled out a small nugget of gold, holding it up to D-7.
D-7 took interest and immediately focused on Hoitt’s hand.
“Material confirmed,” It said.
A compartment opened in the middle of its gray shell, and Hoitt placed the nugget inside. Hoitt carefully took two steps backward.
“The dig-site is where you are standing,” Hoitt commanded.
Without a response, D-7 ensheathed its second drill on the left side. Instead of merely wire, its undamaged arm was attached to sturdy metal pistons.
D-7 proceeded to dig straight down into the asteroid, allowing small rocks to detach and float into space. Hoitt knew that his drone would stop at nothing to look for every scrap of gold in there. --With or without a damaged drill.
Jennifer was already telling one of the drones to search for silver. She commanded it to dig 10 meters from D-7. Once at its assigned spot, it unsheathed both drills and bore straight down.
“Time to get the rest in place. Once we’re done here, let’s get back to the ship. I’d like to do some additional scans,” Hoitt said.
“Right,” Jennifer agreed.
Hoitt added: “And to get my prize.”
She sighed, feigning defeat:“Yeah, let’s get you your prize, badass.”
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The Black Shard: Part IV