Frostadeem, a tall, but lithe and agile man, was watching out the window as the sonic bomb disintegrated the control tower. He was alarmed when the phasors first started firing at the prisoners and shocked when the cat ripped out the warden's throat, but when the tower fell into a little pile of fine powder, he knew that the time he had dreaded and hoped would never come had now arrived. He could not stop the movement of fate, and now he would have to take action—dangerous action.
As his hand slipped to the butt of his phasor his finger inched its way up to the safety catch and flipped it off. Frosty, as his friends called him, was not afraid, for he knew about danger and had known about danger his entire life. By the time he was eight years old he was being trained by his father to be an asteroid miner.
When he was older his mother told him that people would gasp in horror when they heard that an eight-year-old boy was being taken to the asteroid fields. But that was his father's way. "Teach 'em young and let them become learned in the ways of life and in the ways of their profession, then they'll be successful, like me."
In terms of asteroid miners his father had been very successful. Most miners were able to eke out a living, but would seldom hit the big one. His father, on the other hand, hit it big, not once, but twice and had enough money put away to keep his family comfortable for three generations. So why did he keep mining? Because, as he put it, "I love my work."
But Frosty knew that what he really loved was the danger. The asteroid belt, which is not common to most solar systems, orbited between the fourth and fifth planet and contained hundreds of millions of asteroids. It had once been the fifth planet from the sun, and what made it explode into all those asteroids no one knew. Scientists were unable to determine the cause.
A hundred years before his father was born, a space explorer discovered Zen I crystals on one of the asteroids, and that started the rush. Explorers came by the thousands. They had visions of becoming rich off the asteroid belt, but they soon found that not only were the Zen I crystals hard to find, but that mining the asteroids was extremely dangerous. Maneuvering a spaceship in and landing on an asteroid was tricky enough, but they soon discovered that there were gas pockets hidden under the surface of many of the asteroids. When a miner punctured one of these pockets with the tip of his pneumatic hammer an explosion would occur, which would immediately kill the miner or send him reeling off into space, never to be found again.
The miners used jet packs to guide them back to their spaceships in the event an explosion would propel them into space, but oftentimes the explosion damaged the jetpacks beyond maneuverability. So, after awhile, they developed a pneumatic hammer with longer handles so the miner wouldn't be directly over the explosion when it occurred. They also started using two grappling hooks with lines attached to each side of a belt around their waist in order to secure themselves to the asteroid.
Frosty would never forget his first trip to the asteroid belt. Early that morning his father gently shook him out of a dream. "Come on, boy," he said. "It's time to go."
Frosty jumped up, quickly performed his morning quotidian, dressed, grabbed a bite to eat and was standing at the front door before his father had even finished his shower.
When they arrived at the spaceport, Frosty's father shut off the engines, walked around to the other side of the land cruiser, opened Frosty's door, and snatched him up. "Okay son," he said. "I'm going to carry you across the threshold like a young man and his girlfriend on their first date." And with that he carried him through the spaceport to his spaceship, stuck his keycard into the slot, and when the door opened he carried him on board and strapped him into a seat.
After his dad had made his first big strike he had bought state-of-the-art equipment, including a new spaceship, which had space warp capabilities making the trip to the asteroid belt very very fast.
For several months his father had been instructing him in the use of the equipment and the method of working and moving about on an asteroid. He even had him dress up in his spacesuit on several occasions to get used to the feel of it and to learn how to move about in it.
Once again, before they left the ship, he went over the equipment, explaining to his son how to use it, then finally he said, "Okay, Frosty my boy, when we get to the mining area I'm going to secure your grappling hooks into the rocks, and you're going to watch as I do the mining." He paused, "Understand?"
"Okay, dad." He said with excitement.
It was quite an adventure being with his dad for the first time on an asteroid. The sky was black and the stars were brighter than he had ever seen them. Off to the right, his dad had pointed to a bright star and said, "That's our planet, our home, boy."
And then his dad started mining while he watched.
As it turned out he did nothing but watch for the next nine months or the next 36 trips. His dad wanted him to get a little more coordinated with the equipment and to get a little bigger in physical size. Then on his ninth birthday much to his great delight he got his own pneumatic hammer, much smaller than his dad's, but it was big enough that he could break apart rocks and look for Zen I crystals. He was so happy.
When they got to the asteroid he grappled his hooks and started his hammer going, breaking apart rocks and digging up debris, looking for those crystals. At last, he was a real miner like his dad. He still had to go to school on school days and his dad was insistent that he get a proper education, but now he knew he was a miner and would be for the rest of his life. And even at the age of nine he knew he wanted to hit just one big one so that he could be successful like his dad. For several years they mined without an incident. They found a few crystals from time to time, never anything much, but enough to pay for their trips with some left over. And after awhile he learned to love the excitement and the danger of it, just like his dad.
When his friends at school would ask him if he was scared he would laugh and tell them it was more fun than ice gliding.
It was only one week before the incident when his best friend asked him if he wasn't afraid of an explosion. Frosty looked at him with a whimsical smile and said, "My dad always says, 'if two grappling hooks and a jet pack can't keep you alive, then it was just meant to be your time.'"
A week later, it was meant to be his father's time. It was just a few minutes after they had set up and started mining that his father hit a gas pocket. A violent explosion ripped the grappling hooks out of the rocks and sent his father spiraling into space. The explosion was so forceful that it even tore one of Frosty's grappling hooks loose from fifty feet away. The outside hook held, which caused him to be thrown in an arc, up and then down, slamming him into the asteroid twenty feet on the other side. The force of the impact ripped his suit and cracked his air canister. Being smashed into the asteroid caused his vision to become fuzzy, and he passed out for a few seconds. When he became conscious again he was groggy and confused by the faint hissing sound, which seemed to be coming from behind him.
Then he heard his father's voice and his eyes opened wide as the memory of what had just happened came flooding back. "Where are you?" he yelled.
"I'm afraid I'm in a bit of trouble," his father answered. "I've been thrown into space and my jetpack isn't working."
"I'll come get you," yelled Frosty with panic in his voice. He flipped the switch to turn on his jetpack, but nothing happened. He flipped it again and again, but still nothing happened. "It's not working," he screamed in desperation. "Oh my God, it's not working."
He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled toward the spaceship. "I'll put on another one, and then I'm coming for you."
He stumbled faster. The ship was only a hundred yards away. "I can make it," he cried, his voice breaking into sobs. "I can make it."
"Not this time," answered his father resignedly. His voice came in so faint over the communicator, it was almost inaudible.
"I can make it," sobbed Frosty. He was now fifty yards from the ship. The hiss of the escaping air from
his canister was growing louder, but he didn't care. He only wanted to save his father.
"Listen," his father yelled as he knew his voice was becoming less audible, "there's not much time. So, listen to me. I have had a great life with a loving wife and a loving son, and I regret nothing. Now, my last wish in life is that I want you and your mother to have a great life." A slight pause, then he yelled, "repeat that." Even with the yelling, his voice was hard to hear.
Frosty was choked up and could hardly say a sentence. Finally, he blurted out, "You want me and mom to have a great life. That is your final wish."
"Will you do that for me, son?"
"I'll try dad. I'll try."
Silence.
"Dad? Dad?" There was a little crackling noise on the other end, and then nothing.
Frosty stumbled into the air lock and got quickly to the ship's controls. He lifted off the asteroid and then spent hours and hours looking for his father, but to no avail. His father was lost in space.
His mother cried every day for nearly three months, then one morning she got up and never cried again. She said it was time for her to follow her late husband’s last request and to have a great life.
Over the years she never dated nor went out with any male friends. When Frosty asked her why she simply said, "I could never meet another man like your father."
Frosty gave up going to the asteroid fields, not because he was afraid, but because he loved his father, and he did not want to be reminded of his death.
When Frosty was 20 years of age he decided to become a space cadet with the idea of someday joining the Galactic fleet. It never occurred to him that he would be lucky enough to be stationed aboard the Galaef's Flag Ship, but after he graduated from cadet school and after all the test scores in psychology, physical dexterity, physical strength, mental acuity, and IQ had come in, it was determined by the scorers and the computer that Frosty was Flag Ship material. He was then sent to Security Training School where he was taught, among other subjects, protocol -for dealing with dignitaries, linguistics -for designing and breaking code, logic, espionage and counter espionage, and combat, including small arms weapons, jujitsu, blades, and various other devices for killing an enemy.
Secretly, and without his knowledge, he and his classmates were continually bombarded with subliminal messages encouraging loyalty to the Galaef and the Galactic Empire. (The professors in pysch conditioning never found subliminal messages to be very effective, but the security school used them anyway. Their conclusion was, "It certainly can't hurt.")
Finally, after six years of training, he was sent to the Galaef's flagship as a top-notch security officer. Only the very best ever served aboard the Galaef's flagship.
He had served in his capacity for eight years, and during that time he met a woman named Lilt, and much to his mother's happiness, they were married.
Six years later Lilt became pregnant and decided to terminate her contract with the Federation. As she told Frosty, "I don't want to raise our child on a space ship." And she moved back to her home planet.
Since then Frosty would visit his wife and child, whenever he could take a leave. With only six years left, it was his plan to finish out his 20 and then retire, so he could be with Lilt and their child permanently.
But now, with this new and terrible situation, he was not sure he would ever see them again.
It had only been a couple of months since he was approached by a secret messenger sent by Thorne. The offer was simple: guard the Galaef in the prison on Ar, and if any one tries to break him out, kill him. In return for this service he was offered five times more money than his father had accumulated.
"If you accept the offer, but fail to carry out your orders, your wife and child will meet with a fatal accident, and you will be hunted down and killed," said the messenger.
"I'm not concerned with any of that," replied Frosty "And, in spite of your threats, I accept the offer." In actuality, Frosty was concerned with all of that, and he knew if he turned down the offer, the three of them would be killed in order to protect Thorne's plan. He had been trained well enough in security matters to know that this was, in reality, a one-sided offer. If he did not accept the offer, there was only one consequence, but if he did accept, there were several possible outcomes. In the first place, Thorne's plan might succeed, in which case he wouldn't have to kill the Galaef, and he could take the money and retire to Lilt's home planet. If Thorne's plan didn't work, . . . well there were a number of possibilities, none of which looked good. He spent his nights going over all the possible scenarios, hoping he could find a solution, but it never came.
As he pulled the phasor from its holster he whirled around to face his partner in this heinous crime. He and Mordrous had been placed on the inside with the Galaef with orders to kill him if the necessity presented itself. The other six guards were placed on the outside to slow down any possible attackers.
"What are you doing?" asked Mordrous in a threatening tone.
"I won't let you kill him," said Frosty calmly.
"What are you talking about. No one's attacking. We don't have to kill him."
Frosty smiled sardonically. "You saw the tower go down, and you know it was a sonic bomb. And therefore you know they're coming." He paused as his smile turned into a frown. "Your tactic of ignorance won't work."
Mordrous let out a guilty laugh like the little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "We have to kill him. You know that."
The Galaef stood up in his small barred room. "What do you mean you have to kill him. Are you talking about me?"
"Shut up," reported Mordrous in a raised voice. "Just shut up." He looked back at Frosty. "We have to kill him." There was a frantic tone of urgency starting up in his voice. "If we don't kill him our families will be assassinated. Do you want that?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" answered Frosty still in a calm voice. "They don't have to know we didn't kill him."
Mordrous' face was turning red with anger. "You fool. You know they'll find out eventually," he growled in a frustrated voice. “If we don't kill the Galaef, our wives and children will be murdered, and after they kill the Galaef, they will find us and send us to the Zi pits.” Mordrous’ anger turned to pleading. “All we have to do is kill the Galaef, take the money, and go home. Don’t be a fool, we can’t protect the Galaef.”
Frosty kept his phasor aimed at Mordrous' chest. "Of course they'll figure it out, but by the time they do, we'll have our families in a safe place."
"I can't take that chance," said Mordrous with a cracked voice as he started to consider his options.
Frosty frowned. "And I won't be responsible for the collapse of the Galactic Empire, and all the wars to follow, and all the countless number of lives lost."
Mordrous tightened his grip on the butt of his phasor. He looked as though he was planning something, probably falling to the left or to the right while pulling his phasor out of the holster on his right hip.
"Don't try anything stupid," said Frosty as he watched the look in Mordrous' eyes. "You know I can get a shot off before you can pull that phasor." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny disc. "But just in case you get off a lucky shot at the same time . . ." He threw the disc into the cell with the Galaef. "Now he has the key to his cell."
The Galaef bent over and picked up the disc. "If you let me go," he said, "I'll give both of you immunity from a court martial. You'll be given an honorable discharge, and you can take the money Thorne gave you and go home."
"Sounds great," said Mordrous, "except for two things. First, I don't believe you and secondly, even if you were sincere that still doesn't save my wife and children."
"By the stars, man, you have my word on it," retorted the Galaef. He sounded astonished that anyone would dare to call him a liar. "And as far as your wife and children are concerned I will personally call and have them relocated to a safe place."
"I wish I could believe that," s
aid Mordrous. "You're the last man in the Universe I want to kill. I wish it was Thorne, instead, but I can't take the chance."
And with that last statement Mordrous dove to his left while at the same time pulling his phasor from its holster. He got a shot off, but frosty moved with agility and lightening speed as he flung himself to the his right. Mordrous’ blue phasor bolt missed its target and hit the ceiling. It was Frosty’s quick movement that saved him from stun. As he pitched to his right he fired at Mordrous, and as Frosty hit the floor, so did the blue phasor bolt hit Mordrous in the chest.
"I told you not to do it," said Frosty, "but you tried it anyway." He pushed himself up from the floor and walked over to where Mordrous was lying. "You should have known it would never work. In fact, I'm sure you did—just a desperate act in a desperate situation."
"Nice move," said the Galaef in a voice of relief. He inserted the disc into the key slot.
"Just a moment," said Frosty as the door slid back. He didn't point his phasor at the Galaef, but the look on his face told the Galaef he would if he had to.
The Galaef stopped and waited. "What? And make it quick. We still have six guards in front of this building to deal with."
“I want you to know that we didn't take this job for the money. We took it because it was a one-sided offer. If we hadn't accepted it, we would have had a fatal accident somewhere on the ship." He paused waiting for the Galaef to indicate that he understood.
But instead the Galaef asked, "And?"
Frosty didn't hesitate. "And I want your assurance that you will hold to your word. That you will get our families into a safe place and that you'll let us go with the money to join them."
"And if I don't?"
Frosty was surprised by this answer and had to stumble around for a moment. "I . . . well, you'll have to contend with the six guards by yourself."
The Galaef laughed. "That's not much of a punishment," he said.
"I've always assumed you were a fair and honest man, and I expected a different answer." Frosty shuffled his feet. He felt uneasy speaking on a one-on-one basis with the Galaef.
"Okay," said the Galaef in a more serious tone. "I will keep my promise to Mordrous." He nodded toward the man lying on the floor. "But not to you."
Frosty was stunned by this last statement. "Why not to me?"
The Galaef stepped through the doorway. "Because at this moment there isn't a man in the entire Galaxy I trust more than you. You've had a test more brutal than any computer or any psych professor could have ever devised, and you came through it with great success. I know, without a doubt, that you will never betray me, and I know you're smart and quick. I saw the way you took down Mordrous and because of this I'm going to make you my chief security officer. You will be in charge of all the security on the ship, and you will escort me wherever I go. The fact is, I still can't believe that Thorne got through my security so easily and without any warning." He looked Frosty straight in the eye. "I need someone like you. It appears I always have."
Frosty didn't know what to say. So, he didn't say anything.
The Galaef turned and walked toward the front door, which was the only door to this small building. "Now let's do something about those six guards."
Frosty caught up with him. "Please allow me, sir."
Frosty made sure his phasor was still set on stun and then he opened the door and stepped outside. He quickly brought down three of the guards before the remaining three could react and then he jumped back inside just as a phasor bolt hit the door frame behind him.
"You three out there," yelled Frosty, "I know all of you by name and rank, and where you're from. I'm telling you now that the Galaef is in here with me, and he orders you to put down your weapons." He paused and then added, "If you do, he will grant you immunity from court martial."
"I don't know what you're up to, but I do know that what you're saying is absurd," yelled Bale. "The Galaef's not in there." He looked at Shast. "Is he?"
"You stupid Mesmalian beast, who do you think we've been guarding all this time?"
"What!?" asked Bale. "You're telling me it is the Galaef?”
“I haven’t known for sure, but I’ve had my suspicions.”
“And you’re calling me the stupid?" Bale yelled toward the door. "You've got to believe me Frosty. I had no idea the Galaef was the mystery prisoner. I'm putting down my weapon." He looked at Shast and Cronlin. "If you're not the idiots I think you are, you'll do the same thing."
"Yeah," agreed Shast, "Let's put 'em down."
Chapter Sixty