The Black Shard: Part V

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

The Black Shard: Part III - https://theprose.com/post/323912/the-black-shard-part-iii

The Black Shard: Part IV - https://theprose.com/post/324436/the-black-shard-part-iv

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The Black Shard: Part V -

After some time, Hoitt woke up, feeling well-rested. Jennifer was still asleep and had draped over him. Her naked shoulders rose and fell with each breath. Carefully, Hoitt adjusted her to his side and snaked his arm out from underneath her weight. He fixed her blanket, touched her cheek, and kissed her.

Once out of bed, he quietly walked to the changing room. On the way there, he raised his armpit and sniffed, only to regret the action immediately.

Inside the changing room, he lifted up the shower door and hopped inside the cramped metal space. There was only enough room to fit one person, but the three compartments and the small mirror installed on the wall next to the showerhead made a big difference for saving on water.

Hoitt turned on the shower and savored the warm, weak droplets that fell onto his body. He opened his compartment on the left and fished his razor out of an assortment of colognes, brushes, shampoos, and conditioners. Hoitt cursed himself for allowing Jennifer to have the other two units.

He looked into the mirror and studied his condition. His dirt brown skin and short black hair were frayed even with the water wetting it down. His beard was getting wild, turning from stubble into individual strands trying to escape from his thick neck and jaw.

He stared at his own hazel eyes and felt a twinge of fear. It was a fleeting thought -- about the near future and the extended consequences of his actions that brought him here. He shaved those thoughts away, along with the beard.

Hoitt decided to pick out clothes for a casual look: A blue plaid shirt, dark blue shorts, and black socks. Out of the changing room, he looked to his right, expecting to see Jennifer still in bed.

She was gone.

He turned left and walked through the hallway, into the cockpit. There, Hoitt saw that Jennifer had already cleaned up the suits and clothing they had strewn on the floor. He found her working quietly on one of the monitors.

“Well, good morning sunshine,” He said. Jennifer grunted a pathetic greeting, clearly focused on the work in front of her. She had put on the black t-shirt and thin denim pants she was wearing the night before.

Hoitt came closer and put a hand over her shoulder, joining her. She put her head against it, still staring at the monitor. On it, a geometrical map of the asteroid they were mining out of was displayed.

The rock looked half-hallow based on the data. Two drill bots, including D-7, were still collecting materials inside. 3 we’re in space transiting between the ship, and the last 2 were charging inside the cargo bay.

Hoitt was impressed. “It looks like the operation is going smoothly so far. No maintenance on the bots is required yet,” He told her.

“Hmph...yeah, that’s good. I’m more interested in the anomaly we found earlier, though,” Jennifer said.

She pulled up the preliminary data they saw yesterday. It wasn’t much, just a black blob with no visual context. The only distinct shapes they could discern were the spikes located below.

Hoitt took a deep breath. He prayed it didn’t bring trouble. “Not today. Not today, when we’re so close,” He thought.

Jennifer turned to look at him. She must have noticed Hoitt’s pause. Not wanting to worry her, he collected himself. “The part of the asteroid where the anomaly was should be facing us now. Have you scanned it yet?” He asked.

Jennifer shook her head. “I was waiting until you got here from your long-ass shower. You stink less though, so it was worth it,” She said, jesting him.

He smirked. “Well, then. Let’s get the show on the road. Computer, do another scan of the anomaly,” He commanded.

The computer affirmed his direction and scanned it. While they waited, Hoitt went to grab his planner from his suit. Jennifer hung it up on the wall near the exit chamber.

He came back and took a seat adjacent to Jennifer on the other side of the cockpit. She opted to continue watching the scan on the monitor. As soon as Hoitt took his position and reclined, he heard Jennifer gasp, which startled him.

“Oh, my God. Hoitt, what the fuck is that?” She cried out.

His stomach dropped. Hoitt truly didn’t want to know.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

He frantically loaded up the data on his planner to follow what she was seeing. After it booted up, the geometric scan revealed the full structure, color, and composition of the anomaly.

Hoitt’s eyes went wide after he saw the concave handprints on its charcoal-black surface.

There were thousands of them, situated on a large cylindrical table reaching up to the waist. They all oriented towards the center.

The anomaly looked nothing like anything Hoitt had seen. Its bottom fused to the rock surrounding it, resembling a black seed planted in raised gray dirt. Hoitt immediately surmised that the spikes they saw must have been for holding it in place before the rock solidified around it.

Hoitt knew what the spikes were for, but he didn’t know of any technology that melted asteroid rock with such precision. And to simply use it to hold this thing in place? Hoitt put that thought behind him and looked at the other details.

The charcoal handprints were of varying sizes. In the middle of the artifact, a darker, pitch-black object looked encased in domed glass.

“A...pedestal?” Hoitt asked to himself.

When he zoomed closer, he discovered some of the handprints had fewer fingers than typical humans. In contrast, others had more than 9 digits. A few had no thumbs. They all varied, with some with palms that looked like a monkey’s, and otherwise not normal.

It was impossible to tell what the pitch-black thing was in the middle. Hoitt thought that it certainly looked important.

He locked his eyes with Jennifer. She had her mouth wide open in shock. Hoitt did too, and stopped himself when he noticed.

“Jennifer, this could be anything.” He assured her. Though, he wasn’t sure if he was trying to calm himself too.

“Fuck that, Hoitt! Look at it!” She yelled, gesturing at her screen. Hoitt immediately responded: “I know, I know!”

Jennifer continued: “This is not from Earth, the Moon, or Mars, Hoitt!”

Hoitt drew in a breath to yell again but stopped himself. Jennifer was clearly right.

“I know.” He said, calm this time.

However, there was something he didn’t know.

Hoitt was afraid to ask, but they had to know:

“Computer, how old is the anomaly?”

The computer displayed the age on their screens, and answered promptly:

“The approximate age of the anomaly is 1.64 million years old.”

“Fuck,” Hoitt said. He looked at Jennifer, adding: “I think we’re in trouble.”

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The Black Shard: Part VI - https://theprose.com/post/326810/the-black-shard-part-vi