MoonRush (31 page)

Prospector camps and squatters dotted the surface they were passing over, creating a motley pattern that boggled the eye. The camps ranged from those with ultra-high-tech machinery, digging and parceling out the dirt, to the lowest of the low…figures hunched over tin pans, poking at the dust with their fingers. But they all had
one thing
in common. At the end of the day, they all had to do the actual looking by hand. As yet, no one had discovered a detection device for the gemstones.

Jarod’s voice broke into Buton’s reverie, rousing him out of contemplat
ing
the mining process below.

“Got those coordinates?” Jarod asked Rob, who was busy studying a topographical map of the area, displayed in only two dimensions. Had Buton referred to the instrumentation as ancient? Perhaps antediluvian was more appropriate. Rob was apparently having some difficulty adjusting to reading a flat map, as Buton observed
that
the teenager’s eyes cross
ed
several times during his survey.

Rob pointed at a row of hills up ahead. “Our stake should be just over that next ridge. You should be able to—”

As their ship crested the ridge,
an unexpected
sight assaulted their view. The
stake
was fenced off, with red warning beacons spaced every few yards
apart
. The fence appeared to be armored and electrified, at the very least. It screamed armed strength.

Jarod sputtered, “What…
? W
ho…?”

Buton pointed
to
a very large sign off to their right. It was emblazoned with a starburst pattern, and proclaimed that this site was registered to…Interstellar Specialists. Buton awaited the inevitable explosion.

“Gil!” Jarod ground the name to dust in his mouth, looking like he was ready to chew it up and spit it out. “That bastard! We’ve got the papers to prove this site is ours.”

Cleo spoke the obvious. “Like we did in the Bahamas?”

Jarod pounded the console in front of him, causing Buton to wince. One errant blow
,
and this entire ship could disintegrate. He moved forward to forestall any further assault on their vehicle.

Jarod wailed, “What are we supposed to do? The rest of the sites are all low yield. We’ll pull jack out there
!
”

Ah. Perhaps here Buton could be of help. “Perhaps not.” Everyone’s eyes swiveled to him. Buton blinked under the sudden attention. Did they have to stare at him so intently? It was…disconcerting.

“What?” Jarod whispered, as if he were afraid to let anyone else hear.

Buton swallowed,
and
then continued. “It’s unconventional, but I’ve been formulating a theory
while
studying the trajectory of the meteor shower.”

“Yeah, and…?”

“Simply put, I believe
,
from the pattern of the meteor spray
,
that there is a high probability of a larger core that—”

“That’s simply put?” Cleo broke in.

Buton decided to use the one holographic display available to them on this relic. It fritzed and jumped
.
S
tatic
ran
through the image of the
M
oon that appeared in the center of the bridge, but it would be clearer than any verbal explanation Buton could give. Tiny dots sparkled, especially in the upper section of the
M
oon’s surface.

“These are all of the discovery sites as of yesterday.” Buton pointed out the glistening points of light, tracing
them
with his hand. “Can you see the pattern beginning to emerge? Notice
that
the strikes are forming almost a whirling pattern.”

Rob turned his head so that it was almost upside down. “I guess. If I look cross-eyed.”

“That’s a classic gravity vortex.”

Cleo
studied
the map with an intensity that Buton found fascinating. Her passion was quite engaging. She spoke over her shoulder. “Layman’s terms?”

Buton simplified, realized it was still far too complicated for them to understand
,
and simplified again.

“Something larger traveled with this cluster. A stone core
much more massive than
those
tiny shards that everyone is so excited about.” He looked at Jarod, waiting for the question.

Jarod did not disappoint. “How big?”

“In terms you would understand…” Buton drew out the moment, wanting to impress upon everyone just what this could mean. “Larger than an apple,
and
smaller than a dog.”

Jarod waved his hand at the screen. “Nice theory. Now
,
if only someone knew where that baby landed.” He started to turn away, but Buton’s next words whipped him back around, fast.

“I believe I do.”

“You do?”

Buton pushed a button and the map pivoted, far away from where the diamond fields were located. He pointed
to
a spot with his index finger.

“Right here.”

Rob whistled. “That’s
way
out in left field…”

Buton chuckled. “Correct, but my calculations have a 92.722 percent statistical interval of confidence that—”

Jarod stopped him, waving his hands to apparently cut off the data
flow. He pointed at the new location. “Nobody’s looked out there before?”

“Not to my knowledge. But with the current stakes drying up—”

“Wait. What?” Jarod spun back to face Buton. “What do you mean
,
‘drying up’?”

“Over the past week, miners have discover
ed
only tiny slivers, and even those are dwindling in numbers.”

Jarod turned to the marine biologist. “Cleo? What do you think?”

“As Buton says, he’s never been wrong
.
…” She wrinkled her nose as if smelling something rank. “Besides, the farther from Gil, the better by me.”

Jarod clapped his hands together. “All right, crew. Looks like we’re going out to left field!”

Buton started to correct Jarod’s vast oversimplification, but then thought better of it. Left field
,
indeed. He decided he
rather liked the sound of that.

* * *

Gil peered out over his operation. It was impressive, if he did say so himself. His three top-of-the-line UltraDozers moved about the site, casting their distinctive
E
arth-displacement fields that made everything within look a couple of shades darker than normal. Gil had flown over every operation here
,
and
he
had not been surprised to see that his was the largest, most efficient
,
and best equipped. He sighed in contentment. It was good to be king.

Movement caught his eye over toward the northeast sector. He strolled over to get a better look, passing by his second-in-command, Talon, who lowered a pair of binoculars, apparently seeing the same thing Gil was. A very large blur was descending into a deep crater.

The crater itself was gradually sloped toward the southeast, which was the only reason
that
they had spotted the disturbance. Anyone wanting to keep
his
arrival a secret could not have picked a more ideal landing site. Unfortunately for them, Gil had a nose for sniffing out that which others wanted to keep hidden.

As the blur drifted closer to the surface, the
y noticed
a brief flicker. For a moment, Gil ogled a shuttle the likes of which he had never seen. Larger than any standard craft, this beauty made Gil’s own ship look like the ugly
,
redheaded stepchild of interstellar transport. And then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the ship vanished, leaving behind the same hazy shimmer as a strip of hot asphalt. Men materialized from the voided
-
out area, swarming around it like bees, seeking to cover over their landing site.

Talon grunted. “Looks like we’ve got company.”

Gil snatched the binoculars from Talon’s ham fist and raised the instrument to his eye level as he griped. “I thought I made it clear that all perimeters were to be under our—” Gil cut himself off, taking a closer look at the intruders. The cloaking field. The secrecy. The precision of the boots on the ground. He barked out a harsh chuckle.

“Who do they think they’re fooling?”

Talon nodded his gargantuan head. “Military?”

Gil chose not to grace the statement with a response. Who else could they be? He frowned into the binoculars. “Why weren’t we informed of their arrival by M
oonb
ase?”

Talon flipped his
M
oon phone
open. Numbers coalesced in the air above the instrument, swirling into place as Talon sorted through them.

“I’ll make the call.” He located the number and swiped his finger to make the connection. He spoke as he waited for an answer. “There are also rumors that two parcels east, some miners uncovered diamond crust. Want us to check it out?”

Gil spoke over his shoulder while still observing the swarm of military activity. “Yeah. Buy them out if you can. If not, you know what to do.” He frowned, refocusing his attention on his right-hand man. “And I want full status on the fields by 1700 hours.”

Gil turned back to the northeast sector. Now that the landing site was covered, the men were doing an adequate job of impersonating mere prospectors. So much so that Gil was almost fooled. Almost. He allowed a feral grin to creep over his face as he watched the just slightly too precise movements of the men.

The more predators the merrier,
Gil thought to himself with satisfaction. This was about to ge
t a whole lot more interesting.

* * *

Cleo felt her stomach leave her body for a moment as their ship pitched and yawed its way toward the surface.
Ob
serv
ing
the wonky angle of their descent, she found her body trying to compensate for the displacement. She leaned so far to the left that she bumped into Jarod, who glanced over at her. He must have realized what she was doing, as a frown plastered itself on his face. One good thing…he did adjust the yaw, although
his
attitude left a lot to be desired.