En Masse

EN MASSE

Kristine Williams

Published by The Velvet Zebra (formerly Midnight Reading)

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Kristine Williams

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On the Web: TheVelvetZebra.com

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En Masse

Kristine Williams

Chapter 1

Bob Dillant felt the satisfying pop as the drill penetrated the chamber. According to the scans, this bubble of open space should be big, at least forty thousand square feet. Plenty of space for the drilling machine and a conveyor platform, but he'd have to wait for the dust to settle before confirming the yield.

Never one to waste an opportunity, he shut off the drill, backed the entire unit up a few feet and shut off the engine.

Core, this is Drill Seven, I'm through, he said over the communicator. Gonna take a break while the dust settles.

Roger that, Drill Seven. Check in when you've confirmed the yield in that chamber, the boss wants to have a look.

Copy. Bob hopped out of the drill's cab and pulled one of his small cigars from a pocket. The light from his hardhat illuminated the tunnel he'd been boring through and living in for the past three weeks, but he had to back-track several yards to get away from the dust kicked up by the massive drill.

When he'd put enough distance between himself and the dust ball, he found a boulder and sat down to enjoy his cigar. It was a nasty habit, and not one he could always afford, but this job had him drilling rock on a moon with an atmosphere close enough to Earth Standard, which meant he could enjoy some of the pleasures in life without worrying about blowing himself and his equipment to hell, or further. During his down time, when he wasn't deep inside the bedrock carving tunnels, he could even take long walks on the rocky surface, instead of dulling his brain playing cards in the usual cramped sealed chambers the mining companies provided in zero-atmo settings.

It was a cushy assignment, as far as mining went. This moon, desolate and ugly as it was -- while it lacked any inhabitants aside from the mining crew -- was a virtual paradise in comparison to most jobs. Close enough in-system for cell reception, but far enough out to avoid any weekend visits home.

From inside his pocket, Bob's phone vibrated.

Yeah, Dillant.

Hey, baby, how's life in the dark?

Bob smiled as the image of his girlfriend appeared on the small screen in his hand. Amber, baby, I was just thinking about you.

Sure you were, she replied. You think of me every time you drill rock?

Bob blushed, thankful for the darkness of the tunnel and the fact that he was alone. She was a lot more forward than the women he was accustomed to being around, and he still hadn't gotten used to it. Just broke through a chamber, he said. Waiting for the dust to clear so I can have a look at what's inside.

Good, 'cause I was just out shopping, and heard the price of Zantiate has just gone through the roof.

Seriously?

The military announced a new contract to build replacements for the entire aging Interceptor fleet, Amber said. Right after that, the stock market skyrocketed. It's all over the news.

Bob felt his face flush, but this time not out of embarrassment. He'd been mining Zantiate on this lifeless moon for the past year, eking out a decent living while the Calphon Mining Corporation raked in the credits. Now, if the company could double or maybe even triple their own profits, surely some of that windfall would trickle down.

Bob squinted at the screen, noting the bags on a table behind Amber. So you were shopping?

Relax, honey, she shifted so the table behind her was no longer visible on his phone. Just a few things. I needed a new pair of shoes to go with the dress I bought for my niece's wedding. You're going to be back in time to come with me, aren't you?

Bob thought about the potential raise coming his way. If this new chamber yielded as much as the scans had predicted, the profit margin would be huge, and that was on the regular rate per ton. Then he thought about the potential drain on the other end of his bank account. If Amber continued to spend what he made before he even had a chance to return to civilization for leave, he'd have little chance to enjoy the windfall.

Yeah, sure honey, I put in for vacation days, he lied. Listen, I gotta get back to work. The boss wants to see inside this chamber as soon as the dust clears. If we struck another deep vein, we might be able to single handedly supply all the Zantiate for a whole new fleet. Even on the little screen in that dark tunnel, on a lifeless moon orbiting a dull sun, two weeks journey from any inhabited world, Bob could see the glint in Amber's eyes.

Hey, babe, seriously, you gotta cut back on the shopping, he said. We don't know yet what's in this chamber, and I'm not bettin' the farm on CMC handing out raises. So just, keep things quiet for a few more weeks, okay?

Amber pouted, then gave a nod. Okay honey, sure. I'll talk to you later, 'kay?

Bob just nodded and hung up the phone, then called up the Solar Stock Exchange and checked for himself.

Damn, she may be stupid, but she wasn't lying. He whistled when the exchange ticker finally scrolled to the current price of Zantiate, which was followed by a quick report of the massive order from the Navy for entirely new ships to replace an aging fleet.

Stock in Calphon Mining Corporation had tripled, as well as three other companies currently working moons where the valuable mineral was found.

Bolstered by the news, Bob smashed out his unfinished cigar on the boulder he was sitting on and walked back to the drill. The dust had mostly settled out, enough to see where he was walking at least, and he was anxious to get a look inside that chamber.

He grabbed a light from the cab of the drill, and a sampler from his tool bin and checked the temperature of the massive metal bit. It had cooled enough to walk by, but not to touch, so he pressed himself against the wall of the opening he'd created and shuffled sideways into the big cave.

The chamber was still too dust-filled to breathe, so he pulled on his mask and flicked the O2 cylinder on his belt to passive, then turned on the light and started moving further into the darkness.

He could feel how large the chamber was even without seeing the walls around him. The ceiling wasn't too high -- he judged it around twelve feet, more in places, possibly less in others. The walls were too far away for his light to reach, but the floor was unusual -- level and smooth, more like a manufactured floor than that of a once-sealed cavern.

For one gut-churning instant, Bob feared he'd taken a wrong turn, and drilled into an older chamber, but there was no sign of mining in this one, and his scanner insisted he was in the right place, very near the belly of the moon. It had taken the better part of a month to bore down this far, but now that the price of Zantiate had soared, he wasn't gonna complain.

Okay baby, show me what you've got.

Bob made his way to the nearest wall section and jammed his sampler's probe into the rock. Moments later the light on the handle turned green, and he pulled it out, reading the results with an appreciative whistle.

That's what I'm talkin' about, he said. He recorded the reading and moved further into the chamber. Before the boss came this far down, he'd want a full assessment of the chamber's yield. Calphon Mining wasn't going to waste time and effort on a minor vein that deep into the moon, when they had so many other tunnels working at the same time.

Bob took three more readings, working his way around the right hand side of the cave. The walls were rough and uneven, as he expected, but the floor remained smooth and flat. After an hour of working the edges, he decided to span the center of the chamber.

As he did, he opened his Comm again.

Core, this is Drill Seven, sampling the chamber.

Roger, Drill Seven, how's it looking?

Is this Mike?

Yeah Bob, it's me, what's up?

This chamber, Bob said as he walked slowly into the vastness of the cave itself. It's weird.

Weird how?

The floor is smooth, he said. I've been sampling the walls, and it's a fantastic yield so far, but the chamber itself is just ... you really gotta see this one, Mike. I've never drilled into a chamber with a smooth, flat floor like this before.

As he walked, his light played over something on the floor, breaking up the smoothness.

Oh, hang on, maybe it's not so -- Bob stopped walking. He'd played the light up and over the rough patch, expecting to find boulders and uneven ground, maybe even a ditch or gathering of stalagmites.

He never expected this.

Bob, I didn't copy your last, Mike said.

Holy shit, Bob whispered.

Repeat that, Bob, your Comm volume is too low.

I said holy shit, Mike, you're not gonna believe what I just found.

What did you just find?

Bob stood in the center of the chamber, playing his light over the scene before him. He had to wonder if he'd smoked a regular cigar earlier, or something with a little more heat, but then he remembered he'd run out of those weeks ago.

You're not gonna believe this, Mike, but I've just found some whadyacallits.

Found what?

You know, those things ... not fossils, but like that.

Have you been smoking again, Bob? I thought you said you were out?

I'm serious, Mike, Bob moved around the objects, his light playing over the whole scene. They're skeletons, but really seriously old. Five of them, all sitting around a table.

Skeletons? There was a pause. Bob, this moon is uninhabited, always has been. You're looking at rock formations. When's the last time you were up topside?

These aren't rock formations, Mike, Bob replied. Seriously, you gotta send a team down here.

Shit, not another one, Mike replied in a hushed whisper. Bob, I'm sending a medical team down for you, I think you need some air.

I'm on the breather, he replied. The dust is still pretty thick in here.

Well that's your answer then, Mike said. Tell you what, Bob, you head back to your drill and get a nap and some food in you. It'll take the survey team a good ten hours to reach you there. By then the dust will have cleared, the chamber will be full of some nice fresh tunnel-air and you can go back inside and name your big rock formations, okay?

Bob was already standing beside one of the skeletons, giving it as close a look as he could without risking an accidental touch. It was obviously human, all five of them were. They sat around a table as if they'd died in the middle of an ancient poker game.

They were old -- seriously old -- and he thought maybe somewhat stony in appearance.

Sure, Mike, I'll go have a nap and some dinner, Bob said into his comm. You're probably right, they're just rocks.

Good man, Mike replied. Core out.

Bob nodded to no one as he shut off his Comm and started back for the drill. It would take ten hours for anyone nearby to reach his location, eleven if they had to debate first on whether or not to send a medical team for a mental evacuation. Calphon didn't like to admit publicly that mining was likely to lead to mental breakdowns, any more than they were willing to ever admit to finding artifacts.

Artifacts meant Archeologists, and Archeologists meant work-stoppage orders from the government, research, and eventually a complete shutdown as sites were declared scientifically or culturally important.

In this case, finding human remains could be problematic, seeing as how humans had only been this far out into Sector Nine for the last three hundred years, and Bob was certain those remains were a thousand if they were a day.

When he reached the drill, he put away the sampler and his small hand held light, and set about dragging all the portable spot lights and spare batteries he had into the chamber. It took three hours of sweaty work, but it was worth it when he flipped the switch and the entire scene was illuminated under the bright white of the spots, one light set behind each seated skeleton.

Finished, he stood back and admired his work, snapping a few pics on his phone now that he could see the whole setting.

Five humans, seated around a low table, arms still resting on the surface of the table, a few relaxed on the arms of the chairs. All five of them were staring straight ahead, as if studying something on the table, but slumped slightly from the lack of muscular structure.

Bob still avoided touching anything, but he could see better in the light now and it was clear to his untrained eye that these remains were as old as he'd first guest. He'd never seen skeletons sitting upright like this unless they were wired together, but he was just a miner, after all. He knew minerals and rocks, not bones. Still, these looked nothing like the old dog he'd accidentally dug up in the back yard when he was a kid. His Dad had assured him that one had been only thirty years old, from the previous owners of the property. He hadn't liked seeing it, and made his Father re-bury it quickly, but he did remember what it looked like, and it was nothing like these.

He checked his watch, then dialed Amber and sent her the photos.

What's this? Where did you find that? She asked after receiving the odd photos.

Aren't they something? Bob asked proudly. He felt like he'd just found a litter of newborn Silarus Sloths that all needed homes or something. Listen, baby, you can't tell anyone, okay? Seriously, if people outside this moon find out this is here, we'll be shut down.

But I don't understand, are they human?

Bob shrugged. Gotta be, don't they? They look human, and there ain't nothing else out here in space that looks like us.

But I don't understand. People don't live on that moon.

I know, they never have, that's what makes it so interesting. Bob was regretting having shown her the photos. He was planning on dumping her as soon as Calphon sent through their raises, which might have already happened, as far as he knew, but he couldn't help feeling oddly proud of his little discovery, and wanted to share it with someone before the Company had it destroyed.

But honey, if humans have never been out there, then how do human remains end up buried so deep inside the moon?

You gotta keep this secret, Amber, Bob said again. Just between you and me. Otherwise they'll shut down the mine. They shut down the mine, that means no raises, no huge bonus for mining Zantiate, and no more shoe shopping. Got it?

He saw Amber nod absently on the small screen. Oh, that reminds me, do you want fish or beef?

Bob blinked. What?

The wedding, she replied. Fish or beef?

Oh, right. Fish, he said. Fish is good.

Good, 'cause I already put us down for fish.

__________________________

It took ten hours for a team to reach Bob's chamber. They'd opted against a medical evacuation, but he was a little surprised to see the boss looking so pissed off. After all, he'd just found a chamber loaded with more Zantiate than they'd ever imagined.

All right, Dillant, just what the hell do you think you found down here?

Jack Dean had been a mining Forman for over twenty years, all but five with Calphon. He'd mined everything from diamonds to Zantiate and everything in-between. He was an expert on all things mining and underground-related. Some said he resembled a naked mole-rat, with his bald head, wrinkled, pale skin and constant squint in artificial light, but they never said it to his face.

I think I found the impossible, Mr. Dean, Bob admitted. They look human, but I know that can't be. He pointed toward the chamber opening, wider now that he'd pulled the drill almost completely out of it. I set up some lights, sir, to get a better look, and damned if I can figure it out.

You're not paid to figure it out, Dillant, Jack said, pushing by Bob in the narrow tunnel. Just to find Zantiate.

Which I did, sir, Bob replied as he hurried after his boss, forcing the rest of the team to follow him in the cramped space between tunnel wall and drill. The scans were accurate, this chamber holds one of the largest veins I've ever seen. We'll all be rich when this section's ripped out.

Calphon Mining Company will be rich, Dillant, Jack corrected. You'll be employed.

Yes, sir.

Bob was never one of Jack Dean's biggest fans, so he couldn't help feeling a slight redemption when the full impact of the now well-lit scene registered with his boss and the entire team.

It's fake, someone said. Gotta be.

How in the hell-- Jack stepped up to one skeleton, staring closely at it. It's different than the others.

Don't touch the thing! Mark Roberts, a section leader, put out a hand to stop Jack from getting too close. We're not in hazmats.

It's rock, Jack replied angrily. He pulled his hand back, regardless, then glared around the chamber at the others. It's nothing more than rock. You all understand me? We're falling victim to an illusion here, a trick of the light in this cavern.

This could spell trouble, someone else said.

Bob didn't recognize everyone who'd come down, but he was starting to resent them all being here, disturbing his fantastic scene.

It's a puzzler, that's for sure, Mark said.

I'll tell you what it is, Jack stepped out of the circle of light and pulled out his comm. "It's a damn work-stoppage if