Firebird
by Drew Beatty
ISBN: 978-0-9809398-6-6
Copyright © Drew Beatty
Some Rights Reserved.
"Captain Corbert, Sir, we have the landing co-ordinates," said John Tse, second in command of the transport ship Firebird.
Corbert swivelled in his chair, turning to face Tse. "I know," he said flatly. "I am right here beside you. I could hear the message bleed through your headphones." He gestured around the cramped command centre of the spaceship, all dull steel and flashing buttons. "I can almost hear your heartbeat in here. I know this is your first run in that chair, but you don't have to give me every detail. Just enter the coordinates and bring us down for a landing."
Tse's cheeks brightened. "Sorry, sir. Just following procedure."
"Most procedure is outdated nonsense, Tse. You'll figure that out soon enough." Corbert flipped a toggle switch and adjusted the small microphone on his headset. "Attention crew, we are coming in for a landing. Get ready." He flipped the toggle again. "There, now if I read the whole boilerplate nonsense I was supposed to read, it would take me about ten minutes. That is all they need."
"As you say, sir," replied Tse.
"That's right. As I say."
Through the window, they could see the surface of the planet, red and rocky, dull and lifeless. A hint of silver shone in the distance, reflecting the uncertain light of the Magentar, the incredibly dense star that this planet revolved around, its magnetic field powerful enough that its most distant planet could still feel it, over 200 million kilometres away.
"There it is," said Tse. "The mining colony."
"Uh-huh," replied Corbert. "Just where it was the last time I made this delivery. Here we go." He grabbed the steering column, and brought the ship in for a rough landing.
"You're in charge of making sure everything gets unloaded," said Corbert to Tse. "I'm going for a nap."
"As you say, sir," replied Tse. He trailed his superior out of the command centre. They walked together along a short hall, footsteps ringing off the metal grates that made up the floor. The ship's interior was utilitarian with precious little space for anything but cargo. Corbert went up the stairs to the living quarters that were crammed in above the storage room, while Tse went further back into the ship to supervise the offloading of the supplies. He found Hewitt and MacLean at the airlock, getting into their suits.
"Hello men, Captain Corbert has put me in charge of the unloading."
"Let me guess," said Hewitt, "he needs to take a little nap, right?"
Tse glared at him. "The captain is resting after a stressful voyage, yes. Are you prepared?"
"Just finishing up. The last XO usually would just watch us from the lounge," said Hewitt.
"Well, I am not the last XO. I’ll go planetside with you to supervise." He indicated the rack of pressure suits beside the airlock. "I'll need some help getting into my suit."
"If you want to get started, sir, Hewitt and I were just finishing up."
"Fine." Tse went to select a suit for himself.
MacLean clamped down his helmet. "Can you check me now?" he asked Hewitt.
"Sure thing." Hewitt inspected the suit, checking and double-checking the seals, pulling on valves, ensuring its integrity. "It checks out," he said after a few minutes. "But your suit is starting to look a little rough. You haven't been taking very good care of it."
"Yeah, yeah. It's fine. It's lasted me this long. Are you ready?"
"Yes." Hewitt inspected MacLean, and then they both inspected Tse.
"Looks good, sir," said Hewitt. "Ready whenever you are."
"Let's go." He opened the first set of airlock doors. The three piled in waited for the outside hatch to open, exposing them to the harsh atmosphere of the planet.
"Communications check," said Tse. "Can you both hear me?"
"Check," replied Hewitt and MacLean. Their voices were tinny, and staticky through the small headphone pressed into Tse's ear.
"I'm going to go and talk to the commander of the base. You two get stated out here."
"Check," they replied. They went to the back of to ship to begin offloading. Tse turned and walked towards the mining colony. As he approached, the giant airlock opened, doors pulling sideways. He entered.
"You must be Tse," said an old man, standing near the airlock control. He reached out and shook Tse's hand, although he was still wearing his spacesuit glove. "I'm Richard, Richard Melvin. Come on in. You guys have a full shipment for us I assume?"
"Yes, I can transmit a copy of the manifest to you when I get back to the ship. I had intended to supervise my crew during the procedure, however."
"You don't need to worry about that. Hewitt and MacLean have been working this run for a few years now. They know what to do. My guys can handle their end. Although we are a little understaffed right now."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, they’re all off exploring, surveying. This mine has dried up, nothing left in her. Time to move on."
Behind them, the airlock whirred open, Hewitt and MacLean with the first load of supplies for the colony. Hewitt drove the small loader, an all-purpose vehicle designed to carry heavy objects in its over-sized tailgate, while MacLean rode shotgun. They nodded at Tse and Melvin as they raced past, heading to the back of the cavernous room to unload.
Shortly after them came a group of miners, back from their surveying mission. MacLean and Hewitt waved and shouted at seeing them enter. The group of miners ran over and took off their helmets.
"Hey, Richard, you have to suit up and come with us," one of them yelled as he approached. His eyes were shining.
Richard held out his hands. "Slow down, Digson. Slow down. What's more important than supplies?"
Digson struggled to catch his breath. "Sorry, but it's pretty amazing. You know the big crater about 2-3 clicks northwest?" Richard nodded his head. "Well, it looks like the last wind storm blew most of the dust out of it!"
"And?"
"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The crater is like polished glass, it looks like a giant eyeball or something, all green and blue. It must have a high concentration of Hawkinium. You have to come and see it."
"Can we go too?” asked Hewitt, who had apparently been listening Tse raised an enquiring eyebrow at Richard.
"All right, listen up everybody," shouted Richard. The gathered miners turned to look at him. "First we will unload the supplies, and then we will all go out together, fair enough? The faster we get the work done, the sooner we can get out there." Everyone got back to work, hurrying to unload the supplies. They finished in record time.
"Okay, boys, let's get a move on. We’ll take your loader, plus a few of our all terrain vehicles. Should be there in ten to fifteen minutes," said Melvin.
Hewitt drove the loader, with MacLean riding shotgun. Tse rode in the back, crammed in with a couple of miners. He didn't care about the cramped conditions, being on the surface of a planet with nothing but sky overhead was an amazing feeling after being inside a spaceship for six months. Hewitt was driving fast, perhaps too fast, but Tse was enjoying the ride too much to complain. He made a note to talk to him later.
After a few minutes, the loaders came to a stop. "We should park here," came the voice of a miner. They were all on the same channel, miners and spacemen able to communicate with one another.
Richard walked over to Tse. "The crater is just over there," he said, pointing to a slight rise a hundred meters away. "Gentlemen, make sure you are careful, a crater can be a dangerous place if you are not alert. The lip can crumble, and then you are ass over teakettle at the bottom of a big damn hole."
The group walked to the edge of the crater. The background hum of noise audible over the
communications system grew silent as the men looked over the lip.
It was an astonishing sight. Thousands, perhaps millions of year ago a meteor had crashed into the side of the planet, the heat fusing rock and stone together. It was perhaps one hundred meters across, and its surface shone like marble. It was a deep indigo blue, shot through with green lines where it had cracked. The centre was darker, almost black. It looked like an eye, like the eye of a god, gazing out at them peacefully from across the eons.
"Jesus," whispered Richard.
Hewitt moved forward, towards the edge.
"Get back, Hewitt," shouted Tse.
"I'm fine," he said. "The ground is steady here, totally solid." He started to bounce up and down to make his point. "Besides, the view, it's amazing. Come on over." He bounded closer to edge, whooping through the comm system as he did so.
"You need to follow your commanding officer's order, Hewitt," barked Richard. "You will notice that none of my men are that close. Simply put, they know better."
"Come on back," said MacLean gently as he walked over to Hewitt. "You have had your fun, but now it's time to stop."
Tse watched the exchange from a few feet away, and was the only one to see the pain in Hewitt's face from his friends' gentle rebuke.
"Fine," said Hewitt. He lurched forward to take MacLean's hand. There was a sudden crack as the edge of the crater shattered. Hewitt lost his footing as a fracture formed beneath him and rocks started to tumble down.
He slipped backwards, dropped to one knee and started to fall over the edge. MacLean lunged forward and grabbed his friends’ outstretched hand. Their fingers caught, and MacLean heaved Hewitt back up to safe ground.
"Shit shit shit," came Hewitt's panicked voice over the comm. He looked down at his knee where a large gash in his suit was leaking air. Hewitt fell to the ground, and two miners took up positions at his head, holding down his shoulders. In situations like this, panic was the most likely way a person could die. If they were thrashing around, it would be impossible to seal the suit in time. MacLean reached into the pouch that held his patches, and grabbed at Hewitt's thrashing leg.
"Goddamn it," cursed MacLean as blood started to pour through the hole in the suit. "We've got to get him back to the ship, now." He pressed a patch down on the hole. The suit was still not closed perfectly, but it would be enough to get them back.
They loaded Hewitt onto the back of the loader and MacLean drove them to the ship, Hewitt moaning and cursing under his breath all the while.
"Would it make more sense to go to the colony?" Tse asked MacLean. He shook his head.
"Not really, no. They are both equipped in the exact same way, and it will take longer to get through the colony's airlock. We should call ahead and let Dr. Donohue know we are coming. She can prep."
"I'm on it."
Minutes later, they pulled up to the Firebird. They had opened the airlock doors in anticipation of their arrival. Tse and MacLean lifted Hewitt up, and slung him between their shoulders, half carrying, half dragging him.
The airlock cycled, and they collapsed into the ship. Dr.