Читать книгу The Ride - Tom Ph.D. Anderson - Страница 5

Nimbus should have been referred to as an agricultural planet, the majority of the planet’s population worked by growing or processing food. The second largest group was the merchants and service workers who supplied the needs of those farmers and laborers. A relatively small number of citizens worked in the mines, but the mines produced the vast majority of the planet’s wealth. As has always been the case, the people who make the money make the rules and rule the planet.

My first day, at my first job, the mine entrance was a constant flow of miners hauling ore filled carts out and empty carts back in. I had a shiny brand new tool kit on my belt, a satchel with my lunch on my back, and a map showing the location of the atmosphere regulation equipment in my hand.

A man named Eddie was my trainer. He was a short stumpy man with a smile that immediately made you want to like him. He checked my tool kit and highlighted the regulators I would check today. Eddie walked in the mine, then turned and looked at me with a big smile on his face.

As I approached I could feel the sizzle in the air. I was told about the invisible spiderlike webs, but touching my first one was unnerving. I knew the web was just a manifestation of the natural gloride emissions. I knew it wasn't real. I knew it wouldn't hurt me. I knew it would stick to me for only a moment before dissipating. I also knew that every few steps I would break through another one. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. It was soft and feathery and sticky. Walking through that first web was the bravest thing I had ever done.

No animal that moves under its own power will cross a gloride energy web, only men and gloride monsters will cross them. I looked at my supervisor as I felt the first web dissipate.

“You get used to it,” he said.

Eddie turned and walked farther into the mine. I followed. The first three boxes I checked needed no work at all. The next box needed one module changed and a gear needed lubrication. The next box needed to be completely rebuilt.

After I was done, Eddie offered to buy me lunch at a nearby lounge. He said the food was passable, but the beer was wonderful. I had packed a lunch, but needed a beer.

The Nimbus mine is one of the largest gloride mines in this sector, 250 levels but only one entrance. Most of the mine workers lived in the mine. Only the surface level ore haulers slept on the surface every day. There were lounges, dormitories, and even a small arena which occasionally had live entertainment. Mostly it was just used for the over-sized viewers.

I was assigned a bunk in one of the dormitories and there was no reason to ever leave the mine. It was usually a brisk two hour walk to the surface from my clock out. From the surface, the public land transport was cheap and efficient. I would happily have gone through twice as much for an hour in the sunshine in one of the local gardens drinking beer and watching the girls walk by. If I could talk one of the pretty local girls into having a beer with me, I felt twice blessed. Occasionally I was thrice blessed and I could talk one of them into sharing more with me than just a beer. On those rare occasions I spent the entire night on the surface. Most nights I spent in my bunk.

Gloride caverns are naturally luminous so lighting is never a problem, but a man misses sunlight. Other than the lack of sunlight and the total absence of green growing things, the most disturbing aspect of working in a gloride mine is the possibility of being killed by a gloride monster. Gloride monsters are huge rock burrowing, flesh eating creatures that are native to gloride formations. The odds of running into one of these creatures are very small. Of the ten million or so working gloride mines in the galaxy only about a thousand a year suffer a gloride monster infestation. Gloride emissions, which only begin in a concentration of gloride ore several miles in diameter, make metal brittle and most electronics impossible. Modern weapons don't work in a gloride mine, so generally when a miner sees a gloride monster; it is the last thing he ever sees.

The weeks went by. The two hour brisk walk became a one hour jog, and the gloride webs, when I noticed them at all, no longer bothered me. I had just finished adjusting a regulator on level fifty five, when an alarm was sounded and I headed for the nearest conference room.

A mining team of five had been cut to pieces and their soft tissue eaten. A croc had invaded the mine. This variety of gloride monster was larger than a ghoul, with more powerful shoulders and a single sharp claw on the end of each arm. The claws of a croc are made for slicing, while the claws of a ghoul are made for tearing and holding.

A ghoul hunter team was being sent for. In the meantime mining would go on. A miner who decided it was too dangerous to work until the croc was killed or captured would not be fired, but that miner would not be paid. Miners who continued to work would receive a hazard bonus, effectively doubling their pay and ceramic blade weapons would be provided.

There also was a bounty placed on killing the croc. The bounty was a little more than I would receive in ten years pay, and I was a very well paid mine employee. Better yet, the planetary government had agreed not to ask for taxes to be paid on the bounty. Employees were encouraged to form teams and hunt the croc in their off duty hours. I decided to continue working, but wanted no part in the croc hunting.

I was sitting in a lounge bar with two other atmosphere technicians. The lounges and the dormitories were safe rooms when the doors were locked. The walls of a safe room are designed so that the claws of a gloride monster cannot smash or cut its way through them. Usually they are made from ceramics reinforced with resins and with similarly made bars covering the doors. The doors to this lounge were locked and barred.

“My supervisor said we should keep working. It's a big mine. The chances of running into that croc are pretty small,” I said.

“We go from place to place. Our chance of running into that croc is much better then a group of miners that works in only one spot,” said Ken not looking up from his drink.

“Come on Ken, people need to breathe. They need us to keep working.”

“You do what you want. I'm not leaving the safe room again until that thing is killed. Ask Carl. He saw the bodies,” Ken said coldly.

Carl already had much too much to drink and would not speak again ‘til morning. Ken helped Carl to his feet and half carried him out the door that led to the dormitories.

“Ken's right you know. You are more likely to run into that croc. That's why we want to come with you on your rounds.” I turned to see three large powerfully built men standing behind me.

“I'm Johan, this is Andy, and that's Isaac,” said the largest of the three.

“I'm pleased to meet you. Are you gentlemen ghoul hunters or amateurs looking to make some money?” I asked them.

“We don't have a ghoul hunter license, but we are hardly amateurs. After we kill this croc we will qualify for a ghoul hunter license. If you let us follow you around we will give you a cut of the reward,” said Johan as he tried to determine what kind of man I was.

I let him know. “Keep the reward. While you are killing the croc I will run for help, and I do mean run. Is that fair enough?” I asked.

“Fair enough,” Johan replied.

I looked at the timekeeper over the bar and realized that my break was over and it was time for me to go back to work. “Would you gentlemen like to come with me now?” I asked as I got up.

“This is as good a time as any,” Isaac said as the three of them followed me out of the bar and past the safe room door and out into the mine.

I was working on an atmosphere regulator when a loud bang from down the corridor caused me to jump up knocking to the floor the device I was working on. Isaac and Johan dashed around the corner towards the noise and Andy stayed with me. Moments later the two hunters came back.

“It was just an ore hauler who knocked over an unbalance ore cart,” said a clearly disappointed Johan.

I realized I was sweating profusely and was having trouble taking a deep breath. “Are you alright?” Andy asked me.

“I’m alright, I just don’t particularly want to be sliced up and eaten.”

“You won’t be completely eaten,” Isaac said with a laugh, “after a croc slices you up they only eat the soft tissue.”

Johan gave Isaac a sour look and then looked at me with a gentle smile, “We want to kill that croc, but keeping you safe is our first priority. We won’t let you get hurt.”

I looked at the three of them standing in front of me. They were a solid wall of confidence. I realized I felt much safer, still… “Johan, if something were to happen to me, I have a letter to my Uncle in my vest pocket. I would be very grateful if you would make certain it’s sent to him.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you while you’re with us. But if the impossible were to happen, I will personally make sure your Uncle gets that letter.”

“Thank you Johan, thank you all. If something were to happen to the three of you who would you like me to make certain is told?”

They all laughed. “We’ve hunted creatures far more dangerous than crocs. It’s just that no one will pay you anything worthwhile unless you kill gloride monsters,” said Isaac.

I looked at them carefully. “Still the impossible can happen.”

The three hunters looked at each other for a moment, and then Andy spoke for them all. “Our three families lived within a short walk of each other. We grew up together. We spent our school vacations on hunting planets. When we graduated mandatory we decided to become Ghoul Hunters. Our parents forbid us. My mother said she would never sleep again if she found out I had been killed and eaten by a gloride monster. Isaac’s and Johan’s mothers said pretty much the same thing.”

“When we earn enough money to retire and go back as wealthy men, they’ll take us back,” said Isaac.

“We had our travel papers and the tattoos on the bottom of our feet altered,” Johan said with a determined look on his face. “If the impossible happens and we are killed there won’t be any way to tell where we’re from.”

“If we are killed we would rather our parents spend the rest of their lives believing we are still out in the galaxy hunting and living the life we always wanted,” Andy said, again speaking for them all.

“We better get back to work,” Johan said, breaking the mood. The three hunters spread out forming a distant semi circle around me as I started to reassemble the atmosphere regulator I had dropped.

My potential licensed Ghoul Hunters turned out to be men with incredibly fast reflexes and were well trained with the particularly wicked looking ceramic weapons they carried. I had no doubt that if that gloride monster crossed our path, they would collect that bounty.

In the next week two more groups of miners were killed. One of those groups included another atmosphere technician. He was off duty and looking to earn some extra money. I had many a beer with the man and he had no more skill with weapons than I had. I suspected the others killed were no better. As panic set in, less than half the mining crews were reporting for their shifts. The company had assured everyone that a Ghoul Hunter Team had been hired and was on the way. It didn't help because no one believed them. Ghoul Hunter Teams were just not that easy to come by in the Market Sphere. Even among the miners who did show up, very little work was being done.

Even so, men have to breathe and I was very confident in the ability of the three hunters at my back. The day the croc showed up my three hunters gave out a roar of triumph. They had hunted many a large, vicious animal on the surface with these same weapons. The croc was as good as dead. Their only concern was that they kill the croc before it could get away.

They had the gloride monster cornered in a bend in the tunnel. The croc was about to be pierced by several razor sharp blades and the three hunters were finally going to qualify for their Ghoul Hunter license.

The croc appeared to be slow and shambling, but at the last moment a lightning fast claw knocked aside a spear and with the other claw Isaac’s head went flying. The other two spears slammed into the croc with all the force their owners could manage. They didn't penetrate. The two hunters dropped their spears as they backed away and pulled out a long needle sharp spike attached to a handle like a two handed sword. Again they charged the creature and again they didn't penetrate. A claw came down and shoulder to crotch separated Johan into two pieces. The last hunter turned to run as a claw cut him shoulder to waist. I saw the look in Andy's eyes as his head, left shoulder, and arm, slowly slid from the rest of his body.

The croc locked eyes with mine, screamed, and charged. The hammer, which I had been holding tightly, dropped from my suddenly nerveless hands. I was dead and I knew it. As the gloride monster closed with me something clicked in and my body began to move on its own. It was as if I were on a fun house ride. My body was moving, but I had absolutely no control over my movements.

The Ride was running at the croc as it raised its huge claw to cut me in half. At the last instant as the claw came down The Ride swiveled and the claw only brushed the edge of my shirt. The Ride used the force of the swivel as part of the energy used by the fist of my opposite hand as it slammed into the chest of the croc just at the full extension of my bodies arm, all the force and momentum of my entire body balanced on the one knuckle that perfectly hit the edge of one rib bone.

My fist bounced off, but not before I felt the bone break. The croc swiveled to swing its claw at me again, but The Ride swiveled with it. The claw missed and my body was able to strike the croc again, this time with the butt of the palm of my hand. My body pushed a piece of the broken bone deep into the croc's chest. The Ride used the force of the blow to push me back so my body could roll away and jump to its feet. The croc took a step towards me and fell down. Except for the trickle of blood coming out of the croc's mouth, it looked completely undamaged. The Ride was over. I could move myself again.

I ran to the nearest alarm and hit it as hard as I could. I looked at the three men. All three of them were beyond help. I found Isaac’s head and laid it by his body. One by one I closed their eyes and said goodbye. I lowered my chin to my chest and asked that the three men get their wish, that their parents spend the rest of their lives believing that their sons were happily hunting and living the life of their dreams. I hoped they were.

Moments later several hunter teams swarmed into the corridor. I told them that I hit the croc and it fell down and died. My words were ignored. My three guardian hunters, laying in pieces on the floor, were assumed to have inflicted mortal wounds in the creature that eventually killed the croc, but not before the croc killed them. The croc was rolled over and there were no signs of any wounds at all.

The croc must have died a natural death, just as it was about to kill me. A heart attack, a brain aneurysm, some vital organ of the croc must have failed just as it was about to kill me. I was the luckiest man ever born. That I might have had anything to do with the croc’s death was totally discounted. And I believed them. It was coincidence that the croc had died just as I was pummeling it with my fists. I was on the razors edge of death and I was the luckiest man alive, but I was on the razors edge of death and I badly needed a drink. I collected some friends and went down to the lounge with the intention of drinking the place dry.

<><>

The croc was taken to the morgue for an autopsy. The croc’s outside was examined carefully for any wounds, and there were none. Gloride monsters are creatures with very tough hides adapted for tunneling through the soft rock of gloride formations, but this croc's hide was incredibly tough. With great difficulty they finally managed to cut through the croc's hide to find the cause of death. It had a broken bone in its ribcage, and a piece of that bone had somehow been pushed through its heart.

The point recorder in the mine was reviewed. The blows Bob Nesslun had made on the croc were consistent for shattering a rib bone into several sharp pieces, one of which would be pointed at the croc's heart, and pushing that piece of bone through that heart. Bob Nesslun was awarded the bounty. Ten years of pay in one lump.

◊The lounge had several bottles of my favorite wine. It was very expensive, so I would usually only buy a bottle on special occasions. If there ever was a special occasion, this was it. I could have been dead. I was drinking my favorite wine like it was the cheapest beer. I was at the point where I was seriously considering asking the bartender to get me an escort back to my own quarters, my drinking companions either passed out or in as bad shape as I was, when two aides from the mine managers office came in to tell me the good news.

The mine manager wanted to see me immediately, drunk or sober. The manager's office was on the far edge of the mine and up to the surface. Quite a distance to take a man who could barely walk and who had to be half carried all the way. We were going through another lounge area just off the surface run, when we heard screams coming from the bar. The two aides ran ahead to see what the problem was. I was running to the bar area because my bottle of wine was almost empty. The last thing I remember was standing in the bar, wondering where they kept my favorite wine.

I woke up in a bed at the clinic with the worst hangover I had ever had. The nurse sitting beside my bed got up and left the room. A moment later the Mine Manager walked in. The Mine Manager was the most important man on Nimbus. I had seen him from a distance, but never actually met him. I looked at him through a bloodshot haze and he smiled at me. I wanted to rip his face off. He asked me how I felt. I chose my words carefully, deciding not to use the colorful and totally appropriate words I wanted to use. He was the Mine Manager after all.

“If you have a firing squad that's not too busy, I would appreciate it if you would have them put me out of my misery,” I told him.

He laughed. “What do you remember about yesterday?”

“I seem to remember walking into a bar I don't usually go into to look for a bottle of wine. After that it’s a little hazy.”

The Manager dropped a recording into the viewer beside my bed. Two crocs were tearing chunks out of a still screaming man as two men and I entered the bar. One of the crocs cut off the man’s head before they both left their meal and charged us. The two men turned and ran, just barely reaching the door in time to close it before the crocs slammed into it. The crocs then turned to attack me.

I was standing at the bar picking out a bottle of wine and singing to my heart's content. At the last instant I moved just out of the way and the crocs missed me. As one of them passed by me I kicked at his leg and the croc started to fall. As the croc fell I managed to hold onto his head long enough to hear the satisfying crack as the croc's neck broke.

I jumped out of the way as again the second croc swung his claw at me. Again and again the gloride monster tried to hit me with his claw and time after time, in perfect rhythm, I moved so the claw narrowly missed.

The croc was standing between me and the wine bottles and the expression on my face showed I was finally becoming annoyed. I flung the empty bottle at the croc as I turned and ran to the far end of the room. Then I turned and ran at him. The croc was running after me and as the claw came down I swiveled and the claw only brushed my shirt. As the croc went by I hooked his foot with my own and pushed his back so the croc fell on his face. I jumped higher than I would have believed possible and landed with all my weight and momentum balanced on the heel of one foot as it hit the croc’s spine. Again a satisfying crack and the gloride monster would not move again.

As I was on top of the croc anyway I looked at the selection of wines on the higher shelf. I picked one out and sat down on the croc's back to open it. After several large swallows I started to sing again and the manager turned the viewer off.

“You were still singing when the rescue party arrived. Where did you learn to fight gloride monsters like that?” the Mine Manager asked me with a calculating expression on his face.

“I never had any training sir. I don't know how I was able to do that.” He just looked at me for a moment. I knew he didn't believe me, but I don't think it was important enough to him to press the question.

“You have been awarded the bounty times three,” he told me.

I now had the money to travel the galaxy and still have money towards a comfortable retirement.

I wasn't sure how I had killed those three crocs, and I didn't care. I wasn't going to put myself in that position again. With the first croc something had clicked in and I wasn't in control anymore, my conscious mind was out of the loop except as an observer. With the next two crocs my conscious mind wasn't there at all. I saw the recording, I know I killed those crocs, I just don't remember any of it.

I was happy to have the money, but there is no joy in killing gloride monsters when your body is operating on its own and you are just an observer. I just wanted to take a nice long vacation and pretend that this had never happened.

<><>

The Falcus, which are a federation of worlds that had been subject worlds of the Sindar Empire, were in a very bad situation. The Sindar wanted the Falcus back as subject worlds. The Sindar fleet was much larger than the Falcus fleet, but the Sindar had many enemies and more than a few subject worlds that did not want to remain subject worlds. Significant damage to the Sindar fleet would have been a disaster. The Sindar wanted Falcus back, but could not afford to lose any warships doing it. The most important factor in favor of the Falcus fleet was its possession of a gloride world with a huge fuel quality vein of gloride. The Falcus fleet was small, but they could burn fuel like water.

Their problem was that a tic had invaded the mine area and production had stopped. Falcus had no huge stockpiles of fuel and they had no supply of fuel from other sources. They either had to remove the tic so that fuel production could resume or they would have to begin shutting down their fleet. The Sindar were aware of the situation and were prepared to strike the soon to be helpless fleet.

◊The Mine Manager gave me a moment to let the good news sink in, then he continued. “The medical people wanted to let you sleep a few more hours. I had them wake you up early because I have a unique opportunity for you that can't wait. The Falcus have a gloride monster they need killed immediately and they are willing to pay you twice what you have already earned if you can kill it.”

“Twice what I earned to kill one or twice what I earned to kill all three?”

“They will pay you twice what you earned to kill all three.” The Manager could see the raw greed taking hold. He knew his commission was safe.

I accepted. Visions of immense wealth can only take you so far. They took me all the way to Serifin, the planet the Falcus mine was located on. My gift, my special ability, was neither sure nor certain. A tic's hide was almost as tough as a croc's and tics were said to be faster and larger. A tic will hold you with its two claws and pull you close. Then a sucker attached to its belly punches into you and sucks all the fluids out of you. Rewards, bounties, and local hunters had not worked, only the hunters had died. A ghoul hunter team had also failed and no others would come.

This tic was a clipper. It would clip the hands and feet off all the humans in an area except the one it was going to use for a meal. It had only used a few dozen miners for food, but literally hundreds had their hands and feet cut off. Soldiers had been sent in with ceramic weapons. They were no match for the tic. The ones that made it out before they bled to death had their hands and feet re-grown, but even under the threat of a firing squad would not go back in.

The tic had shut down the main mine and there was no easy way to mine that vein through another route. The other mines combined didn't produce a tenth of the fuel the Falcus fleet needed. The main mine had to be reopened and soon.

I knew I had made a major mistake as soon as we landed on Serifin. I was no ghoul hunter. I wasn't even sure what had happened the first two times, and had no clue if it would happen again. I wondered what my Uncle would do with all the money I had already earned. He was my only heir.

Trying not to wonder what it would be like to have something hold you while it slowly sucked the fluids out of you, I walked to the area of the mine where the tic had last been seen. There were hands and feet and the bodies of their former owners everywhere.

I turned to the high pitched squeal to see the huge, horrible thing was coming at me. The squeal was followed by a cackling laugh that filled me with terror. Fortunately the Ride began and the Ride didn't care.

As the tic ran at me The Ride ran at him and at the last moment as the tic grabbed for me The Ride ducked and shot my body between the gloride monster’s legs. As my body went through it grabbed at what passed for the tic’s ankles and using perfect leverage the tic fell on his face. The creature popped up almost as fast as my body did. As the tic grabbed for me again The Ride swiveled and the tic missed. My body punched the tic in the chest. This time I felt no crack, although I did feel the bone give way a bit. As the tic turned to try to grab me again The Ride moved so that the tic missed and was off balance. My body pushed the tic’s back then kicked at his leg so he went down. Before the tic could get up, my body managed to kick the tic’s head catching the point of the tic’s chin with the toe of my boot and kicking up. A second running kick to its throat crushed the tic's windpipe. It died gagging for one last breath. The Ride was over, I was in control again.

<><>

Mankind had moved into space and spread through most of galaxy. There were of course incredible strides in technology. Travel between stars was commonplace, communication across the galaxy was instantaneous, and man had become expert at remodeling planets in Earth's image. But the most life changing advance had come in the field of entertainment. A new way of recording reality was developed that was so realistic, so true to life, that comparing it with any other way of recording reality was like comparing an ancient black and white photograph with a Zarstron 3 D image. That is to say there was no comparison at all. The only problem was that there was no way of altering these recordings to appear to be anything other than what they really were. You couldn't add or remove information or even stop and restart the recording without it being painfully obvious. Recordings became accepted as accurate depictions of real events because there was no way to fake them.